Teach by Video

¡Buenas noches a todos!

I QUICKLY wanted to share a great resource with you tonight.  I know many of us have tomorrow off because it is Good Friday, and for some that will start Spring Break, too.  Perhaps over your long weekend and/or break you could check out this website and see how it could benefit your students.

Introducing:  Language By Video!  This website has a tab labeled "Countries."  From there, you can click on any Spanish speaking country and pull up a list of videos (sorted by Spanish level) that people from that country have made.  For example, I used this video when I met with my class who was preparing to go to the Dominican Republic and knew from past trips that conversations in the markets were challenging.  The video is extremely short and is conducted completely in the target language.  Out to the side, they have a transcript in English and in Spanish of what is being said.

Overall, I think this website provides a lot of videos I hadn't found on YouTube that show authentic, country specific language being used in a variety of contexts.  Other than that, I have been a bit disappointed in the other resources (or lack thereof), but I think experienced teachers can come up with ways to use these videos as the basis for discussion, as a quick warm-up or intro, or even as a homework assignment after a lesson.

Take a look and let me know what you think! 

World Language Week: Celebrities & Languages

For the third day of World Language Week 2016, I wanted to point you in the direction of some great Youtube videos to play in class this week.  What makes them great?  They include some famous actors, actresses, singers and professional athletes speaking a variety of foreign languages.  In my experience, many students were familiar with the people...and very surprised at what was coming out of their mouths!

• Sandra Bullock speaks beautiful German at an awards show.
• Gwenth Paltrow speaks Spanish.
• Bradley Cooper does an interview in French.
• Natalie Portman speaks Hebrew.
• Kobe Bryant does an interview in Italian.

And, just for an example of something we want to avoid...Selena Gomez speaking English in a Spanish interview about how important the Hispanic culture is to her...*face palm*

Last year, I enjoyed playing clips of these videos in class and having the students then say who the person was and what language they thought they heard (I would cover up anything that gave that information away).  Then, we discussed why these people would spend the time and energy learning a foreign language and how it helped them in their career. 

Try them for a few minutes in your classroom and see if students who typically aren't as engaged, lean in a bit when someone they know is on the screen.  For another way to get your students invested in your class, ask them to find a different video of a celebrity speaking a foreign language and bring it in to the class with an explanation of why that language helped that celebrity.

**Fair warning, I only showed a minute or two of each video, so I cannot vouch that 100% of the video is school appropriate.  Please view all videos before showing them to your students.  Always **

Spanish Podcast

Last year, I came across a great resource for listening and comprehension of authentic Spanish (complete with dreamy Spain accent!) :)  As a white, Spanish-as-a-second-language, young, female teacher, I always felt it was important to expose my students to the rhythms and vocabulary and accents of native speakers much different than myself.  This is one great way to do so!

Spanish Podcast is an excellent resource from everything that I have found so far.

From @VSSpanishPodcast

On their website they have a 192 available episodes with their titles.  And their twitter profile is constantly tweeting out links to episodes as well. The episodes are 100% in Spanish, mainly spoken by a male.  The entire transcripts are available online, also in Spanish.  This might be initially intimidating if you are hoping to use these podcasts in a level 1 or 2 class, but I love the explanation that the website gives for why they choose not to translate their transcripts:

"Sólo puedes aprender a hablar y comprender español o cualquier otro idioma escuchándolo, no traduciéndolo. Si hablamos en inglés para explicarte cómo hablar español, sería una pérdida de tiempo, no aprenderías correctamente y nosotros queremos que tengas éxito. Si quieres aprender español o cualquier otro idioma, la única forma es estar totalmente inmerso en el idioma."

What an indictment of the majority of Spanish programs in the United States, am I right?!  Thankfully, there are teachers like you and I out there who know that there has to be a better way than filling in the verb conjugation tables and doing a packet of worksheets each day.  Not to imply that those things can't possibly benefit some students, but they do not typically build fluency.

Granted, I have not used these podcasts in a traditional classroom.  BUT, I have assigned it as preview homework for my group of students traveling to Spain this summer in order to familiarize themselves with cultural customs and to help get their ears used to Spanish.  I gave them much the same advice that Spanish Podcast gives its listeners:

" Simplemente haz lo que puedas para entender lo que estamos diciendo mientras escuchas cada episodio del podcast. Una vez que lo hayas intentado, lee la transcripción en el blog y vuelve a escuchar el episodio."

1.  Listen and try to catch any words you possibly can.  Maybe write them down on a notebook sheet of paper.
2. Read the Spanish transcript and mark it up:  What words do you already know?  What words are new?  Which words are vitally important in this podcast?
3. Listen to the podcast again and make any additional notes about what you understood.  Also, highlight areas of confusion or specific questions you want to bring to class.

From http://www.spanishpodcast.net/faq/

Here is an example of how I used one episode to teach my Spanish travelers about greeting each other in Spain. 

If your students have Apple devices, these podcasts are available on iTunes.  If not, they are easily accessible by going to the website linked above.  They also sell audiobooks and have tongue twisters available for some fun practice with pronunciation.  One of my all-time favorite aspects of the website is their 7 videos that address techniques for how to become conversationally fluent in Spanish:  by listening, repeating, imitating, being consistent, learning from native speakers, NOT translating, and having fun!  What a great homework assignment for students who may be new to the concept of teaching in the target language!  

Have you used Spanish Podcast in class before?  Have you found other podcasts helpful?  I would love to hear from you!

World Language Week: Duolingo Initiative

Last year, I tried to encourage my students to dabble with the app Duolingo , especially during World Language Week.  Although not perfect, Duolingo does an excellent job of making language learning fun and addicting.  It also encourages students to practice each domain:  reading, writing, listening and speaking.  Unfortunately, not many of my students took it upon themselves to download the app on their own time and see the wide variety of language options the app had to offer.

This year, I figured they needed more of a formal introduction.  So, I got approval from my building technician to get Duolingo added on a class set of Ipads.  I also encouraged students to create an account over the weekend so they could log in immediately in class.  When they arrived, we logged in to their accounts (or created them) and I walked them through the basics of the program:  the languages they can choose from, the 3 hearts per skill, lingots, etc.  I also explained how to add friends on Duolingo and gave them my username so they could see how many points I was earning. I then encouraged them to tweet screenshots/share their level, points, and fun phrases they were learning with the hashtag #LMSwlw (Lakeview Middle School, World Language Week) and I turned them loose!  You should have HEARD my classroom as students were talking in German, Portuguese, French, Swedish, Italian, Irish, etc.  It was beautiful!  They had a lot of fun competing with each other or seeing what someone else was learning.  I listened to multiple conversations about comparing grammar to Spanish or translating a word to Spanish...L3 to L2...NOT L1!  I was so impressed by their focus for a whole class period and their repeated desire to try again once they failed.  Success!

I had multiple students speak with me at various other points throughout the week, commenting on how they "passed" me, or asking me if I had gotten to this lesson in French yet.  Students were much more willing to work on their own the rest of the week after having a class period to dedicate to getting familiar with it and getting "hooked."

So far, so good.  I am learning the importance of instilling a love of learning and an interest in all languages and cultures...not JUST Spanish.  I'd say it's working!

Voice Recorder Pro

The way our current tests are set up, students step into the hallway with me to have a quick conversation for their speaking test.  It is usually between 5-8 points, and it involves the student answering a few questions I ask them in complete sentences.  While I greatly value the one-on-one conference with each of my students, the obvious downside to such an exercise involves time.  28 students X 2 minutes each X 3 classes = lots of time spent not "teaching."  I am constantly trying to come up with activities the rest of the students can be doing that are truly worth their time while I am not instructing/monitoring.  Plus, the conversation I am having with one student generally feels rushed and pressured as I am always with one ear turned towards my classroom.

I am convinced there has to be a technological advancement out there that will make this process more efficient.  This year I began experimenting with Voice Recorder Pro.  It is a free app that allows students to record their voice, play it back, alter the speed of recordings and export these files to various locations.  It has truly streamlined our speaking tests!

Pros:

1. Each student can take the speaking test at the same time, instead of waiting 2 days to speak with me.
2. Students can listen to their own answers and learn from their mistakes and my comments instead of trying to remember what they said or how they said it by memory.
3. The anxiety related to conversation being "put on the spot" is greatly reduced when you can think first and re-record later if necessary.

Cons:

1. Instructions took quite a bit of time the first time we used the app together.  There are many options and many different features for the students to sift through.
2. The best option we could think of for me to hear each recording was for the students to export the file to DropBox.  But, each time, it uploaded the MP3 file along with a text coding file.  Our DropBox account had to be cleared out regularly.
3. Each file has 2 names you can edit.  One just changes the name inside the app, but the other will change it when you export it, too.  Trial and error!

I will continue to use this app as often as is feasible while we aren't yet 1-to-1.  I anticipate it being even more helpful when students have a device in class each day.  

EdPuzzle

Thanks to my #langchat family, I was introduced to EdPuzzle a few weeks ago.  Since I have been researching flipping my classroom and simultaneously planning for our switch to 1-to-1 next year, I thought this would be a good app to get familiar with.  Here was my experience and reflection after my first assignment:

Pros:

1. The tutorial videos on their website walk you through each step of the process.  I can normally figure tech-stuff out on my own as I go, but having these videos to refer to was really helpful.
2. Their customer service is unlike anything I have experienced before!  When I tweeted a question/comment, they responded almost immediately.  When our school filter blocked something, they gave us a possible solution. They were ON it!
3. The data you receive from your student's submissions is incredibly detailed.  You can see how many times they viewed each segment.  You can see class averages.  You can see a question by question break down with individual students listed by the level of reinforcement they need.  You can easily export the report to Excel for printing or other manipulation.
4. Students do not need an email address to create an account.  This is just one more way of eliminating unnecessary steps in the process.  They can easily login via their Google account, or they can opt out and create a separate account.  So nice.

Cons:

1. Without being 1-to-1 yet, I had to guarantee lots of notice for my students without internet access to be able to complete the assignment.  After a 5 days' heads up...I still had students in each class that didn't even view the video.  Not exactly "flipping" a class!
2. It was more challenging than I expected to find a video I wanted to manipulate in the first place.
3. Our school security filters currently block YouTube which means EdPuzzle does not function properly on student devices if I get my video from YouTube.  (They did say a future upgrade will fix this problem, though.)

For my first video, I chose an advertisement for Mexico City.  The speaker speaks quite fast and uses words that my students are unfamiliar with, so I did small voice overs in certain spots to make it more comprehensible.  I also included 3 multiple choice questions based on current vocab and grammar structures. Students were challenged but they were not intimidated.  The class average was above 80% on each of the 3 questions.

Overall, this app was something I really enjoyed experimenting with.  I am already plotting my next assignment for the coming weeks.  I took our first assignment as simply a completion grade (which I never do!) so that students could familiarize themselves with the program.  I look forward to when they are confident with it and we can utilize it to its fullest potential!