Square Pegs
The global community is ultimately the perfect venue as an audience for communicating with second language learners. I view the Web 2.0 as the long-awaited spark to connect with not only heritage Spanish speakers, but also with Spanish students in high schools who are also at various levels of Spanish language development.
David Jakes challenges the classroom teacher to break the boundaries of the traditional classroom's focus of teacher-oriented lectures presented to bowling-alley rows of students in his article, Square Peg, Round Hole? World language teachers have embraced his ideas with cooperative pair-groups and collaborative learning for years and view the Web 2.0 options with enthusiasm. I have attended numerous workshops to incorporate technology into my classroom, but have to deal with several obstacles, the logistics of policies at school and the difficulty of connecting with language contacts in other countries. I encourage anyone who has done successful Spanish language blogging or creating a Wiki to provide some suggestions.
David Jakes challenges the classroom teacher to break the boundaries of the traditional classroom's focus of teacher-oriented lectures presented to bowling-alley rows of students in his article, Square Peg, Round Hole? World language teachers have embraced his ideas with cooperative pair-groups and collaborative learning for years and view the Web 2.0 options with enthusiasm. I have attended numerous workshops to incorporate technology into my classroom, but have to deal with several obstacles, the logistics of policies at school and the difficulty of connecting with language contacts in other countries. I encourage anyone who has done successful Spanish language blogging or creating a Wiki to provide some suggestions.
posted by Kathy @ 3:10 PM
4 Comments:
At August 7, 2007 at 9:26 AM ,
jghost said...
I agree the Web 2.0 tools will be the perfect vehicle to get your students communicating with Spanish speakers. I can see how school policies could get in the way; but with connecting with the right people and showing them what you would be doing, they can't say no to the great learning that would be taking place! Maybe if you start small with creating a Blog or Wiki for your classes (i.e. responding to simple posts in Spanish: About Me, Favorite Things, etc...); then maybe you could find another Spanish class or speakers to blog with after your students have had some Blogging practice.
At August 7, 2007 at 9:31 AM ,
Anonymous said...
Kathy,
I was intrigued by post regarding David Jakes Square Pegs article. Being a tech integration specialist, it thrills me when teachers embrace new technologies and incorporate them into their curricula. I agree that the web 2.0 tools will open up new avenues of communication. How exciting for you and your students to be able contact people, with a click of a mouse, living in the places you're studying and communicating with them in Spanish. With the potential of how these tools could impact your curricula and other teachers' curricula, how can we not advocate the use of these tools. I believe that if you connect with other staff to spread your excitement and the potential impact on you and your students, you can encourage your colleagues to hop on and explore the potential impact these tools could have on student learning. Another suggestion may be to connect with other world Spanish classrooms in the states and conduct some collaborative communication/writing activities amongst each other. I have two teachers in my district that would probably welcome this opportunity. Let me know if you're interested and I can share their contact information. Good luck. Anna
At August 7, 2007 at 9:37 AM ,
Anonymous said...
I find your comments very interesting, as I had not thought of the impact of web 2.0 on second language students. The connection to and practice with students in the language they are learning offers interesting incentives for the student.
At August 7, 2007 at 9:53 AM ,
Kathy said...
@anonymous: I would like to connect with the two teachers in your school. Last year I exchanged with another school via a letter format which I was planning to use through an email experience, but both of our school had a block for student emailing to other school. Rats! We went the snail mail route, but the continuity was wayyyyyy delayed. I would love to have a connection in Mexico, Costa Rica or Spain, the countries in which we travel. I'd love to have their emails. thanks Kathy
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