Blog 11- Week 14: “What was your final activity?”

Video for activity:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiDOyQCCpKs

 

Overview and purpose: 

–  To encourage students to formulate their own identity by thinking more in depth about certain words.

–  To encourage students to help their peers formulate their identities through in-depth discussion

–  To sharpen students’ interpretations of abstract words and relate them to the real world and their own lives

–  To encourage students to share different religious and cultural perspectives

Grade Level:  College 400 level L2 course                                      Time Duration:   50 minutes

	Teacher Guide	Student Guide
Goals (General skills/knowledge that will be learned)	–  To help students sharpen their oral and listening skills-  To help students think critically in the L2	–  To sharpen oral and listening skills-  To think critically in the L2	Materials needed:projector, paper/ handouts, pens/ pencils, computer, speakers
Specific Objectives (Specific skills/knowledge that will be learned)	–  To help students learn new Vocabulary-  To have students discuss their perceptions and experiences through their blogs.	–  To understand a rap song in the L2 and relate aspects of it to their own lives through discussion and blogging.
Activity /Procedures: Describe the independent activity that you designed to reach the goals of the lesson, how technology (ie.) will be used to support your activity)	1. Introduce the activity by asking students questions about their preconceived notions of the genre. So they like this genre? Do they have a favorite artist in this genre?2. Provide vocabulary list and lyrics.3. Play song once and ask questions about the initial meaning/message.4. Provide instructions. Play song ~2-3 more times to fill in the blanks.- If students have blanks left, play song/part of song as needed.5.  Have students engage in a group discussion: see bottom of lyrics handout. 6.  Give HW: bottom or lyrics handout.	–  To understand new vocabulary in the L2 genre of rap/religion.	Other resources: blogging website (e.g. wordpress)
Assessment (Steps to check for student understanding including dynamic assessment)	Grading the blogs on students’ abilities to explain an abstract term using an image and their own or others’ experiences. (holistic) They are also required to comment on one other person’s blog.	Complete the HW assignment, as it will be graded on whether students used, explained, and related an abstract term to their lives appropriately, providing a picture from a website. Furthermore, they will be graded on their comments to their peers.
Reflection (reflect upon your role after and student’s active learning)	-Teacher did well in helping students think in depth about and understand abstract terms.-Teacher was impressed with blogs,; they turned out to be great outlet for students to share their religious/ cultural views.	-Students enjoyed activity but thought it was hard.-Students learned a lot about their peers’ religious/ cultural views.-Students encouraged each other in discussion and blogging.-Students felt accomplished because it was hard but they were successful in the assignment.

Rational for Technology Integration:

We chose this activity because it integrates several aspects.  First, because it is a video, it integrates a visual aspect.  Second, because it is a song, it integrates an aural/ audio aspect.  Both aural and visual aspects are important to many individuals for learning as they help us remember things better because they appeal to our senses.  Not only does the video use a song, but it’s a rap song that brings in Christian values.  This music genre provides listeners an opportunity to engage in the message and to think about our own perspectives of the topic.  For instance, the rap video that we will share in class talks about the artist’s life growing up.  He looked up to a certain number of men because his father died when he was young.  These men influenced his choices all throughout life, and he felt that if he were to be like these men, then he would be satisfied.  However, he found himself to be wrong.  He did what they did, and instead of finding fulfillment, he found himself thirsting for something greater.  That is when he found God, who fulfilled his longing for something greater.

Van Lier (2007) states that “meaningful activity itself is part of the dynamic system of the classroom” and so when people listen to the words of a song like this, they are almost forced to think about their own opinions and experiences” (p. 1).  They can agree or disagree that the lifestyle depicted in the video is unfulfilling, or if they can relate to the song.  All of these things help listeners think about their identities. The more they ask questions and try to decide what they think or believe, the more they formulate their identities.  Also, when students share their views on their blog-sites and then comment on their peers’ blogs, they are yet again considering their identities.  “Action-based teaching is an approach to teaching that puts human agency in the centre of attention” (van Lier, 2007, p. 1).  Because the idea of agency is more prominent in collaborative learning in classrooms, students will share their perspectives and help them learn about others’ perspectives, which give them yet another opportunity to consider their own views.

References

Van Lier, L. (2007). Action-based teaching, autonomy and identity. Monterey, CA: Monterey Institute.

Blog 10- Week 14: “Tell me about your final activity.”

For my final class project, I was asked to work with a group to develop an activity which would demonstrate activity-based instruction.  This means that what I use as tools for teaching language should encourage students to develop their identities.  So, my group and I decided to share a rap video with the class. This rap video was by the artist Lecrae, called “Just Like You,” and was about a man who lost his father when he was young.  Growing up, he looked to other men in his life as role models, thinking that if he does what they do and acts like they act, then he would be satisfied.  What he found was that following in their footsteps of drugs, sex, hussling, and more, he actually began to feel empty.  He began to long for something (or someone) greater.  That’s when he says “Jesus stepped in.”  He found his satisfaction in Jesus towards the end of the song, because Jesus is everything we need.

A video such as this one provides the affordances for students to think about the message and to develop their own opinions about it.  No one is asking the listener to agree with the message, but in showing the video, we were trying to encourage students to consider different aspects and to relate them to real life.  Students were given lyrics with a small number of blanks to be filled in.  After students filled in all of the blanks, they were asked to get into groups to discuss 1. the words they filled in 2. the message of the song and 3. to identify metaphors or verbal images.  The words that were filled in were abstract terms, such as emptiness, rebellion, sacrifice, and more.  These are great words for students to try to understand in the context of the song, and to discuss what these words mean to them.  If students were willing to share personal experiences about those words, then it really added to the discussion and probably helped others consider their own experiences and their own identities.  After the discussion, students were asked to blog about a single word of their choosing, using a picture that they found from a website. The pictures they shared on their blogs should represent the words they chose, and they should be able to explain it, relating it to real life.  Then, they were required to comment on someone else’s blog.

I felt that our activity went really well.  Students were introduced to a new genre of music, christian rap.  For some, it was a great experience because it allowed them to listen to rap without listening to vulgar language and inappropriate messages.  And for some, the message seemed appealing…but not for all, which is to be expected.  One criticism that we received was questioning the appropriateness of asking students to share personal experiences about certain terms…the one mentioned was “darkness.”  It is a great criticism, but in my defense, students were given an option of things to discuss.  We did not require people to share their individual experiences.  Students were given the option to explain the terms in the context of the song and/or to share what it means to them: personal experiences or experiences of other people were encouraged.  And, students could have identified metaphors/ verbal images in the song if they did not want to discuss an abstract term, such as the meaning of “the Jack Sparrow of my Caribbean.”  Perhaps these options were not made clear, so in the future, I may need to explain things better, so as not to force students into answering questions that may be uncomfortable for them.  Overall, I think the activity went well.

Blog 9.5- Week 14: “What was that video called?”

For  my final project of the class, I shared the following video. Please enjoy!

Video: “Just Like You” by Lecrae

Blog 9- Week 13: “Tell me about your Second Life experiences!”

I am not a gamer, so my second life experiences are very limited.  However, if we consider second-language experiences as second life experiences, then I have had many of those.  And yes, I have had my share of unexpected outcomes.  When I was first placed into the German elementary school, I did not understand German, and my peers and teachers did not understand English.  We had our miscommunications.  For instance, my mother would ask me if I had homework, and being that I didn’t understand that we had been given homework, I would tell her no.  The next days, I would get placed in the corner of the classroom and get scolded for not having completed my homework.  Other unexpected out comes were when I would treat my peers with kindness and some would not reciprocate the kindness.  Perhaps I said things in a way that was offensive? Or perhaps it was just that I was an American in an all-German school. When I went two summers ago back to Germany, I had other unexpected outcomes. For instance, I was walking along the left side of the sidewalk when all of a sudden someone on his bike started yelling at me, telling me that I was on the biker side of the sidewalk.  I had been unaware that there were two sides of the sidewalk, but after getting yelled at, I knew.

As far as Quest Atlantis, which is a virtual word that my class and I explored previously in the semester, I do not feel that I learned anything about the language during my experience with it (but I am a native speaker of English anyway); nor do I feel that I learned anything else that could prove useful to my existence. If I were to learn anything from the game, I would expect it to be following instructions/ directions because, to get anywhere in the game, one needs to follow the instructions. Otherwise, people are wandering around the virtual world aimlessly.

Blog 8 – Week 12: “Answer these questions!”

Q: Tell me about how you would go about having students create a restaurant in a target language and country. How would you use technology?

If I required my students to create a fictitious restaurant in a target language and country, then they would have a lot of things to consider. Some of the things to consider would be what types of foods the restaurant would include in the menu. Another thing to consider is what type of music do they want playing in the background at the restaurant. And how about, what type of decorations would the restaurant have. I am quite sure that ideas for all of these things could be found on the website youtube.com. Students can access videos that provide ideas and information about almost anything. They can learn through these videos about culture, language, food, traditions, music, and much more. Once students gather their ideas from such a site, they can go ahead and begin to design and develop their restaurants. Another website that could prove useful is facebook. Students can send messages to their friends from the target language, asking them questions about the restaurants there. They can ask about culture, music, their friends’ favorite foods there, and much more. In addition, they can also open up their questions to the public to gather information they didn’t know they needed. Sometimes other people think about things we didn’t even consider, but are necessary.

Q: What do you want to do for your final project?

As far as my term project, I think I would like to find a simple German song to share with the class. I want the song to include a particular type of vocabulary, such as numbers or the alphabet, and to include a lot of repetition as well. If the song calls for physical gestures/ motions, that would be even more effective for learning. I want to use this one song to teach a certain set of vocabulary.

Blog 7 – Week 10: “Tell me about your video podcast.”

This week, we were able to share our video podcasts with the class.  The video-podcast project was a somewhat challenging project, but I kind of enjoyed the challenge.  We were required to create a video 3-5 minutes in length that included at least one minute of video and some text.  I decided to do “how to” type of video for baking a New York Cheesecake covered strawberries and whipped cream, with the video-assistance of my husband.  Everything presented was home-made, and since cheesecake alone takes a long time to make, you can imagine how long the project took.  The entire mixing-baking-topping process took about 15 hours minimum- but of course I wasn’t busy every moment of the time (such as during refrigeration).  There was approximately 30 minutes of video to edit after the process (only 30 minutes because we just video-taped the important steps).  Editing the video also took a long time for me.  I believe I worked on the video at least 1-2 hours a day since last week Tuesday.  I would estimate 8-10 hours of editing.  It took a lot of effort to shorten the video down to four-and-one-half minutes and to add transitions, music, text, photos, and fun sound-effects.  So, all said and done, it took me over 20 hours to complete this project.  I am actually proud of my video- probably because I spent so much time on it.  I also liked the videos shared by the class.  It seems like there were quite a few instructional-cooking videos.  There was also some interesting creativity in others, such as Sugano’s video, in which her main character was her finger :-).    Tankia’s video was also interesting, as she interviewed a professional belly-dancer who demonstrated some dance moves.  My classmates did very well on this project.  I think we all learned a lot about movie-making to an extent, and now when we watch videos, we might  also consider the time and effort put into making them.

Blog 6.5 – Week 10: “Can I see your video?”

Of course you can!  If you want to learn how to make a delicious cheesecake covered in strawberries and whipped cream, then this video is for you!  The recipe takes time, but it’s worth every minute.    This video uses music, transitions, text from iMovie.

Food for the Soul: New York Cheesecake

 

Blog 6 – Week 9: “Tell me about this week’s class reading.”

In the article “‘Bridging Activities,’ New Media Literacies, and Advanced Foreign Language Proficiency” by Thorne and Rheinhardt,  the authors discussed a lot about the new types of media literacies we have today.  For instance, they mention instant messaging with synchronous chat, blogs, wikis, remixing, and multiplayer online gaming.  Of these media types, I am only familiar with blogs, instant messaging, and online gaming (though I don’t usually use these types).   As for the remixes, I learned that this media type includes taking old genres or pieces of text and making them your own, like doing song remixes.  As for wikis, it seems that this type is just a general term for sites such as wikipedia, where people can publish their knowledge online without having to go through the complex process.  These are all media types that the authors believe students should be learning about in schools, and for this to occur, teachers need to be familiar with them as well.  I don’t believe I completely agree.  I think that a lot of these can and should be learned primarily at home rather than at school.  Don’t get me wrong- there are times when media does come in handy in the classroom, but I, personally, would not want to focus on them in class.  I think they should be introduced every so often and it should be considered a privilege when it does happen.  In fact, introducing a lot of these things can cause complications due to bias.  There are many families who cannot afford to have these technologies at home, and perhaps schools cannot afford to either.  If some schools introduce them but others don’t, doesn’t that leave poorer schools at a disadvantage? And if students cannot go home and practice using the technology learned about in school, doesn’t that put the poorer students at a disadvantage?  I personally think that what we have been doing the last several years with little incorporation of technology has been effective- but perhaps I am just old-fashioned.
The authors also discussed advanced language learning in the classroom.  They pointed out that higher levels usually have low enrollment, small classes, lack of finances, and little focus on language.  They said the following, “Related to the dominant concentration on literature at advanced levels of foreign language coursework, there are relatively few language-focused pedagogical texts or materials that focus on mastery of subtle features of interactive spoken and written discourse […] (23(3)).”  From my experience, this is very true.  It seems to be assumed that once students have surpassed a certain level of language proficiency, they no longer need to learn the language, rather they need to learn content.  I disagree.  My language might be good enough to communicate my ideas, but there are a lot of small mistakes that I still make, which I want to improve upon.  My upper-level German classes did not help me to do so.  Rather, they had me read numerous pieces of old literature in German, most of which was very difficult to understand and was not interesting to us students.  I think that if upper-level courses used modern literature and topics as well as focussing to an extent on language, the enrollment would be much higher, and therefore the financial problem would not be as bad.  Furthermore, students would leave the courses having learned a lot more than they are learning now.  This is my personal opinion based on my own experiences.  Last semester, I had a professor who decided to change up the way our upper-level courses were instructed.  She introduced new pieces of literature, as well as different genres of literature, such as poems.  She taught us about modern issues in Germany, teaching us new vocabulary and language aspects while allowing us to discuss our opinions amongst each other.  I believe I learned the most from her course than from any of my other upper-level German courses because the teacher took into account our needs and interests.

Thorne, S. L. & Reinhardt, J. (2008). “Bridging Activities,” New Media Literacies and
Advanced Foreign Language Proficiency. CALICO Journal, 25(3): 558-572. Retrieved January 5, 2010, from http://language.la.psu.edu/%7Ethorne/Thorne&Reinhardt_CALICO_08.pdf

Blog 5 – Week 8: “I have questions for you.”

Q: How was your experience with Quest Atlantis?

Watching the Quest Atlantis trailer, I was really skeptical about engaging in this program because it seemed to portray the “Arch of Wisdom” as some sort of god in the virtual world of Atlantis.  The trailer said that all people went to this arch with their problems, seeking guidance.  The arch doesn’t provide answers, it said, but it leads you to further questions in order to find the answers yourself.  This is the perception I had of the program prior to engaging in it.  Our entire class logged in to play this program, and we were all given avatars to clothe and to use to explore the virtual world. We were directed to read a dialogue of instructions on the right side of the screen, but even when reading and following these instructions, I always ended up lost.  I would go “talk” to the individual I was supposed to talk to, then I would follow his/ her instructions.  Somehow I would still end up back where I started.  So, I never quite figured out the goals of the program and how it may be beneficial to learners.  The most fun I had on the game was watching all of the other avatars dance, sleep, and throw tantrums for no apparent reasons.  Based on my own experience, I don’t know how such a game can be used for learning; however, I was unable to get anywhere in the game, so my experience cannot determine the quality of the game as far as its effectiveness for learning a new language.

Q: How can we use Negotiation for Action in the classroom?

A question that was discussed in class on Thursday was “How can we use NfA in the classroom?”  Well, based on my own experiences, I think that role-playing is an effective way for students to negotiate for actions in a second language.  This means that students can be required to participate in a scenario such as going to a restaurant in a second language.  For instance, one student could be the greeter, who brings the guests to their designated tables and answers any immediate questions they may have.  Another student can be a waiter/waitress who is required to take the orders of the guests and ensure proper delivery of food items.  Other students can play the roles of the guests, ordering food, and more.  Each of the roles requires some sort of action to take place.  Therefore, I believe that taking on different roles allows students to practice NfA in the classroom, because actually going out to restaurants as a class is far too expensive, time-consuming, and challenging.  Role-play can simply be done in a classroom setting.  Furthermore, to extend role-playing abilities, it is possible to use computer games.  If I am not mistaken, there are computer games that can be used to simulate those types of situations, enabling students to encounter just about any situation, and requiring their appropriate responses.  I have never personally tried out a game like this, but I do believe that it can be useful when a situation cannot be simulated in the regular classroom.  One quote I found interesting in the article by Zheng, et al. (2009) describes an intentional spring, which is “when two people’s actions are closely coupled, the intentions of the more experienced partner can be transferred to the other one through action” (493).  I feel that this describes the process that takes place in role-plays either in a regular classroom or even a virtual world.  The learners work together to achieve a common goal, and one student’s actions may influence other students’ actions. For these reasons as well as my own positive experiences, I would suggest role-play as a useful tool for learning a second language.

Zheng, D., Young, M. F., Wagner, M., & Brewer, B. (2009). Negotiation for action: English language learning in game-based virtual worlds. The Modern Language Journal, 93(4), 489-511.

Blog 4 – Week 7: “Can you answer my questions?”

Q: What did you think about this week’s reading?
In the article by Rebecca Black, I found it interesting that she said there is a new capitalism in today’s word.  She stated the following, “[the] New Capitalist focus [is] on the production and exchange of information rather than commodities” (p.116).  Interesting, because it seems to be an accurate statement.  We have so much networking as well as many technological ways of communicating our messages across the world.  Information, such as language, is highly valued, and therefore, frequently exchanged through different means. One such means of exchange is affinity spaces, in which people share common passions, and are therefore very engaged in the conversations and writings that take place on those websites.  For example, if I had a passion about anime or cartooning, then a website focussed on anime/ cartooning would be very appealing to me.  For that reason, I would probably spend a lot of time engaging in conversations with others in order to learn more about the topic, or to share my own knowledge.  Furthermore, I could get to know other individuals who share my passion. This is one way of exchanging information from which we can learn.  Networks are another mean which was mentioned in the article.  More specifically, FanFiction.com.  Black said that this website has helped many of our youth “develop ‘communicational links between people and organizations’ as well as between ‘people and various sorts of tools and technologies’ (Gee 2004, 99) in ways that traverse temporal, spatial, and linguistic boundaries” (p. 117).  I’ve actually never heard of this website prior to reading the article, but based on the article as well as the presentation by Kelly Bright, it seems to be an effective way of learning and improving one’s language when it comes to writing.  An example of success for this website is from a Chinese-speaker who was learning English.  She would write Love Letters and ask for her readers to make kind constructive criticisms on her work.  She gradually improved her letters over time and received many reviews and readers. What an interesting story.  However, I am led to wonder about her speaking skills. I believe that writing skills can impact the speaking skills because one enhances their vocabulary as well as grammar skills when one improves in their writing.  So, perhaps she speaks English really well because of her many Love Letters, but with an accent.  I wonder.

Black, R. W. (2007). Digital design: English language learners and reader feedback in online fanfiction. In M. Knobel & C. Lankshear (Eds.), A New Literacies Sampler. Peter Lang.

Q: What do you want to do for your video podcast?
For my video podcast, I was thinking about doing one of two things.  The first thing I had thought about doing was inspired by my Father, who wrote a short children’s story.  He was thinking that I could read the story and show all of the pictures, but I wasn’t sure how I could make it more than just a video of me reading a book.  I would want to find a way to make it more exciting than that.  The other idea I had in mind was that I could share one of my favorite recipes and demonstrate how to cook it.  If I did this, I would have to video-tape the whole process, cutting out a bunch of parts such as the waiting while the food cooks.  It would be good to get close-up shots of me turning the oven/ stove to a certain temperature, of the ingredients, of the ingredients after they’ve been cut-up, and demonstrations of cutting/ mixing the items.  I would want some music and of some written text of the important facts of the recipe, such as the ingredient names and quantities, the temperatures, and more. These are my two ideas for now- they might change some just as they did for the audio podcast. We shall see.