Must-have Tool for Learning and Instruction: Podcasting

Podcasting (Personal On Demand + Broadcasting) is a must-have tool for English language and Instruction in this digital age. As Lee LeFever said in his video Podcasting in Plain English, using podcasting you can capture a new show on TV and listen to or watch it later whenever and wherever you want. Podcasting has distinctive three features as follows: (1) Anyone can do it without special technical devices; (2) you can subscribe the new show which will be created and watch it anywhere anytime as much as you can; (3) you can use all sources of devices such as a computer, I-pad, mp3 player, and any other portable devices.

[www.commoncraft.com]

I reviewed several podcast episodes on Podcast Awards, among which I will use the Public Speaker in my future classroom for Korean EFL/ESL undergraduate students. In this world overflowing with storytellers, communication and presentation skills are considered crucial to get a chance or attention at school and at work. Taking account of this need, 7 Trends in Public Speaking and Presentations (Part 1) and (Part2) will guide my future students in preparation for their public speaking or presentations more effectively and efficiently. 

 [www.quickanddirtytips.com]

In addition, I reviewed 'Absolutely Intercultural!' and I will make use of the following episode: absolutely intercultural 163 +++ internationalize yourself at home +++ simulations in teaching +++ social barriers +++ culture shock +++ BARNGA. 

[www.absolutely-intercultural.com]

 
In this episode, you can listen to several students' interviews about their study and internship abroad. Considering anyone goes through culture shock when they go abroad for study or work, the students' tips or suggestions to overcome culture shock will provide my future students with a good opportunity to make a well-prepared plan for studying or doing an internship abroad someday.

ePals is a good educational community where teachers, learners, parents, and school administrators across the globe can experience quality digital content and collaborative learning.

[www.epals.com] 

ePals provides a wide range of projects including Criket, Cobblestone,ToolsforSchool, In2books, and SchoolMails365. Criket and Cobblestone are a library of America's favorite children's stories, poems, games, and other digital media, which encourage students to learn at home with fun and ease. In2books is a good program, but it has a weakpoint of being only available for the U.S. schools. SchoolMail365 is a useful program which facilitates the school management and student monitoring by school administrators.

[www.toolsforschool.com]

I as a teacher will be able to make the best use of the good features of ToolsforSchool program which provides classroom resources tested and approved by teachers from around the world, especially rich in K-12 language learning materials. I think I will refer to those resources when designing my curriculum and lession plan in the future.     

  

Chirp Chirp! Share a Story with Storybird!

I wrote my first fairy tale, Doolydoo in the Underground Wonderland, for my future adult L2 students on the Storybird. It is a weird but compelling story that Doolydoo goes through in the underground wonderland! It was a fun experience that makes me feel like I am a real writer. However, I did not complete the whole story because I wanted to give my students a chance to finish the story the way they want as a kind of storytelling activity. I am looking forward to a wide range of interesting endings my future students will make.

Storybird is full of resources. Classroom management tools, the ability to issue assignments and a library of creative story for students are all at my fingertips here. I as a teacher can use Storybird for the longitudinal examination of student progress in the classroom via the student portfolio application. Storybird will also offer aspiring writers a communal hub for expressing their creativity and gaining valuable feedback from a cyber audience. In addition, Storybird can be used for homework, book reports, and research projects. It could bridge any distance gap through the use of distance learning tools. It is cool, isn't it?! 

Happiness in the hand of Windows Movie Maker!

I made an approximately 4-minute video by Windows Movie Maker for my future students to see it when they feel gloomy.

Throughout making this short video, I was thinking about feasibility in an actual classroom setting and educational benefits which can contribute to L2 learning and instruction. I came to a conclusion that making a storytelling video would be a quite challenging but instructive task for the students. 

Using Window Movie Maker, the students will import and edit photos, videos, and music easily the way they want. They can print captions with which they deliver what they want to say. When their work is done, they can save the final work for computer, YouTube, and other social networking sites with just one click. It is very easy and simple. 

I as a teacher believe that I will be able to employ this digital storytelling activity in a real L2 classroom lesson, which will have a positive effect on the students' language learning and development. More than that, this task of making their own movie may have advantages of helping students create more sophisticated presentation and showcase it online with the worldwide academic community. In addition, videos made by a teacher would be great supplement materials full of high-tech visual aids and music, which enrich the lesson. Consequently, it could foster student creativity and collaboration.  

Why not become a Digital Storyteller?

We all make our own stories every moment, and they have as many shapes as our different faces. It is quite exciting to share them with many others out there. Sophisticated 'Digital Storytelling' could lead us to the world of creative communication.

[http://www.socialbrite.org]

What is Digital Storytelling? 

Digital Storytelling is "the practice of combining narrative with digital content, including images, sound, and video, to create a short movie, typically with a strong emotional component(quoted from 7 Things You Should Know About Digital Storytelling)." 

In the process of creating a digital story,as mentioned in 7 Things You Should Know About Digital Storytelling, people/learners can develop a wide array of skills including choosing appropriate topics, reflecting on their experiences and lives, expressing themselves with their own words or in their own voices,and increasing their digital technology and media literacy.

[http://edudemic.com]

In this regard, Digital Storytelling provides people/learners with educational benefits as well as with excitement.

How to use Digital Storytelling for L2 Teaching?

According to The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling, today "in the field of education, teachers and their students, from early childhood classrooms through graduate school, are using digital storytelling in many different content areas and across a wide range of grade levels." 

Given its popularity, Digital Storytelling is considered an efficient and effective tool to keep EFL/ESL learners engaged in language learning tasks. At this point, the most important thing is how to teach L2 learners using Digital Storytelling.  

In accordance with the following lesson objectives, I will encourage my future students to create their own stories using digital technology in my future classroom.

Students will be able to 

1. create their own stories anytime anywhere. Without limitation of time and space, they will access the digital storytelling online site. It will help them work on at a more secure and relaxed atmosphere. 
2. write their own scripts freely. They will be free from a writing format and the number of pages required. This will make them more creative and expressive storytellers.
3. increase integrated language skills (i.e. reading, listening, writing, and speaking) simultaneously. They will be asked to read articles, listen to audio materials, or watch video clips related to the topics they choose, and then write their own scripts before telling their stories. Through these activities, they will develop all language skills of their reading, listening, writing, and speaking. 

[http://www.anecdote.com]

In conclusion, I believe that Digital Storytelling will be a great tool or strategy to improve L2 learners in language learning contexts if I encourage students to deploy it appropriately in line with their level of language ability and the topics they choose.   
 

Enjoy Serious Games in an L2/FL class!

Following the casual games, I tried to play some serious games listed on the syllabus, but they took much more time than the casual ones. So, I did not try every game on the list unfortunately, but I did each of them at least three times on average. In addition, I finally found a good game for L2 learners to learn English in an exciting game setting, and it is The Curfew. I tried to play this game a total of three times, and one time for each episode.  

As the game profile of The Curfew says, "the Curfew is an online interactive drama" game that is designed to "challenge young people to examine the freedoms they currently enjoy and the potential consequences if they do not protect them." During the game, I could play through the flashbacks by exploring the interactive 3D environments in each episode. Also, between the scene changes I could play mini games and solve puzzles. Questioning the character on the action he or she has just experienced, I went through the process of completing the mission. 

Compared to the casual games, it was harder to solve because it is designed by the more complicated plot, background, and characters. Despite this complexity, this game gave me a lot more excitement and fun in that I could play feeling like I was in the real world situation. Also, it provides subtitles to every sing word the characters say as well as the narration for the game story.

In much the same way as I mentioned in the review of the Griswold The Goblin in the previous post, I could assess whether my learning objectives had been met. This time, I set my learning goal taking the definition of Serious Game into account as follows: 

Serious games are simulations of real-world events or processes designed for the purpose of solving a problem.Serious game will sometimes deliberately sacrifice fun and entertainment in order to achieve a desired progress by the player.

Given this, I focused on gaining problem-solving skills to achieve the desired progress of each episode and character on the basis of the given audio supported texts and subtitles. Surely, I made a lot of efforts to find hints or messages in a critical and creative way as I did in the casual game. The truth is, however, I felt more seriousness than I did in the casual game. In this regard, I think this kind of game would be a great help for over secondary school students as well as L2/FL learners.

To sump up, a serious game makes learners (or players) serious during the game as its name shows, but it also gives a good opportunity for them to be committed to a purpose-oriented task, and feel a sense of accomplishment when completing the task. Hence, I think the serious game would be beneficial to every learner, not only for language learners.       

   

Enjoy Casual Games in an L2 Class!

Gamification is "the application of game elements in nongaming situations, often to motivate or influence behavior" according to 7 Things You Should Know About Gamification. 

[http://www.epicwinblog.net]

I believe casual games would benefit language learners in an L2 learning setting because its interesting story and well-designed strategy encourage them to get into the game easily and try to solve the problem in a critical and creative way. During this process, the language learners can learn the language of the game, especially English, that they try to play. 

Actually, I tried to play all the games listed on the The Best "Fun" Online Video Games for English Language Development at least three times each on average. Those are "adventure" and "escape the room" online video games using workthroughs. 

Especially, I think Griswold The Goblin is quite useful for L2 learners to learn English because it provides a audio supported texts about game story and some tips to boost my motivation to complete the mission with an interesting background music. 

During the game, I could hear something the main character Goblin said to my try, and read tips or comments whenever I tried to control Goblin or use the objects I found as I wanted. The input spurred me to get more interested in English the game use and fueled my desire to understand what the game says or what the workthrough reads.

              [http://jayisgames.com]

If this game is used in an L2 classroom, students will actively get self-motivated, and try to clear the mission successfully of Goblin saving the world from the terrible evil. From this experience, the students can learn English with more fun and less seriousness as well as gain problem-solving skills using the given strategic tools.

Meanwhile,teachers would play a role in guiding students in using a walkthrough button if they are having trouble solving the problems, and helping them to understand the English text precisely if they have a new word or phrases in it. 

Also, I think it is a good idea to use images from the game in an L2 classroom. Teachers could show impressive or funny images of the characters or background setting to remind students of the game story text. They must arouse their interest of the English language learning as a good visual tool to boost their motivation for learning. 

 [http://jayisgames.com]

Moreover, I myself could assess whether my learning objectives had been met. Actually, my learning goals were to enjoy learning English with a fun game, and gain a problem-solving skill in a more critical and creative way because I believed critical and creative thinking is very important for language learning. As for the former, I think I did a great job in that I really enjoyed this game and tried to use both the language and game strategies reading the workthrough and menu during the game. In the latter, however, I would not say that I did quite well because I had difficulty finding a good and creative way to make Goblin get to the Goblin city getting obstacles out of the way, and also spent much time doing it.

All in all, I think I had a new experience to take advantage of various casual games I have never done before. I could also learn applying these games to an L2 classroom could be beneficial for students to learn major English skills focusing on reading and listening in an audio and visual online setting with more fun.