Podcast for ESL students

English as a Second Language Podcast

ESL Podcast 1097 – Landscaping a Home

             I would like to introduce a podcast named 'ESL Podcast 1097 – Landscaping a Home' for ESL students. This podcast made by native speakers of English and deals with daily conversation. This podcast provides short daily conversation and its script for students to help them understand. As the speed of speaking is not that fast, intermediate level students are able to understand it easily. It consists of slow dialog (1:15), explanations (3:03) and fast dialog (16:15). It is about conversation between a man and a woman who are interested in growing lawn in their yard. The speaker has us listen to the dialog first, and then explains us the meaning of some target words and key expressions. As his explanation is easy and explicit as well as includes spelling of the words, ESL students can understand and even note some words after his explanation.

             The following is the script of the conversation the speaker provides. The conversation is relatively short and easy to understand.

Mona: I want a lawn. I’ve always pictured our new house with a lawn.

Kellan: Lawns require a lot of water and upkeep. I think we should use hardscape for most of the yard and plant only drought-tolerant plants.

Mona: I don’t want my yard to be full of gravel and rocks. I picture a water feature in the middle, with annuals and perennials planted all around it, surrounded by a big, beautiful lawn.

Kellan: We can have some kind of slow-growing ground cover if you want to, but the rest isn’t practical.

Mona: I don’t know what you mean. We can plant a hedge over there and install planters along the walkway.

Kellan: Who will do the pruning and mulching? Who will pull the weeds and mow the lawn? Who will rake the leaves when the seasons change?

Mona: Well, I guess I will, with your help.

Kellan: Don’t count on me. My motto is: No muss, no fuss!

Script by Dr. Lucy Tse

             For my future lesson using this podcast, my specific language objective is L.4.3.a Understand vocabulary and discourse features of content areas from Michigan department education. I will use this podcast for my future students’ listening activity. I am going to make this podcast listen to my students and memorize the target words and expressions for daily life, especially growing lawn. They will learn the vocabulary related to growing lawn and plants. Then, I will distribute the script for students who cannot catch the target words well. And I will ask them details in conversation such as ‘who is the speakers?’, ‘what are they talking about?’, ‘why do they have trouble?’ and so on. 

My picture book for flipped lesson

My Storybird link

Mary's one fine day

            I made short picture story in Storybird. As they provided nice drawings, teachers can make their own teaching materials especially based on reading. My story is about the day of mole mom Mary and her two sons. I refer to Michigan English Language Proficiency Standards for K-12 schools, especially R.5.2.c restate fact and details of fact.

             Making this story, I tried to put useful expressions frequently used in daily life. The target students are from pre-school students to elementary third graders. As my target students are young, I focused on their ability to restate the fact and details. Through making their own story, students can use the words and expressions I used in this material. 

            Students will be able to make their own story with very short sentences and beautiful drawings. They can review what they have learned through the lesson. I will give them an reading quiz to ask them what they have read in this story.

My first photo story for flipped lesson

My Animoto link

Sports and activities

         I made the photo story about English words related to sports and activities. Through this photo story, my students will be able to learn the phrases about sports more interestingly. I refer to Michigan English Language Proficiency Standards for K-12 schools, especially S.1.1.a Use learned phrases to respond to questions and directions. 

      Using photo and music, students will be more likely to get involved in my lesson. After learning phrases related to sports and activities, student will be able to use these expressions in their speaking activity. During speaking activity, they can demonstrate what they have learned in my photo story lesson.

      They will get their own assignment as well, which is supposed to put their own pictures. In the assignment, students will find some words related to the pictures they choose and learn them. Then, I will give them oral test to check whether they have learned through their photo story assignment. 

My learning objective and how to check it from TED-ED

My TED-ED link:

Erin McKean: Go ahead, make up new words!

My language learning objective is based on Michigan English Language Proficiency Standards for K-12 schools, especially L.3 Identify main ideas and supporting details from spoken English.

In this talk, Erin Mckean who is an lexicographer, explains the diversity of new words and the benefit of making up new words. She encourages us to make up our own new words to express our ideas and get our meaning across.

To see if the objectives had been met, I make two multiple choice questions for main idea and details of the talk.

1. What is the main idea of this talk?

(A) making up new words

(B) finding the history of new words

(C) learning how to use dictionary

2. What is not included in the ways to make up new words?

(A) compounding

(B) stealing

(C) deleting

And to enlarge our students thought, I also made an open-ended type question.

3. Why does the speaker encourage us to make up new words?

The review of "Flipping Your EL Classroom: A Primer" written by John Graney

I would like to review the article named Flipping Your EL Classroom: A Primer written by John Graney. Teachers are bound to be frustrated when the teaching material or instruction they prepared do not work well. The author of this article suggests that teachers bring students assignment into the ‘flipped’ classroom and their instruction parts move out of the classroom to help learners engage in more cognitively demanding activities with the teacher present. The frustrated student, the confused learner, the student in danger of tuning out gets attention and support when they need it (Bergmann & Sams, 2012). Like all good homework assignments, these activities still challenge students to use what they have learned. 

The author of this article argues that teachers can break a flipped classroom lesson into three parts: work at home, work in class, work after class. In exemplified lesson, it is intriguing that teachers insert a quiz into the video which students are supposed to watch at home. Then the teacher sets up activities and prepare some needed materials.

According to the author, what happens in the flipped classroom revolves around the learners' needs. The activities help learners elicit the misunderstandings and take the students deeper into the subject. In addition, the author refer that by moving instruction outside of class, learners gain control over their learning. Students who cannot follow or understand the teacher’s instruction are able to review again and again until they understand well. They can use Internet and freely find more required information.

As video are closely related to the flipped classroom, the author also introduces some way of choosing video materials for class. First of all, as the flipped classroom becomes more popular, better instructional videos should become available, such as finding an Existing Video in YouTube or TED-ED. Creating a Video also can be a good way to use video material for class. With regard to other nonvideo Options, the author advises that the videos are the important part of flipping, but teachers can use a variety of resources for the initial exploration of a topic.

In conclusion, teachers can encourage their learners find their answer, changing the methods of teaching, so-called ‘in flipped classroom’. And they are also responsible for explaining the instructions well and making their learners get involved to their class. 

Serious game _ Third world farmer

I played the serious game. According to Wikipedia, a serious game or applied game is a game designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment. The "serious" adjective is generally prepended to refer to products used by industries like defense, education, scientific exploration, health care, emergency management, city planning, engineering, and politics.

I chose Third World Farmer. It helps students experience some of the hardships of farming in a poor country. This game provide us the opportunity not only to know the English language but also to think about poor countries’ farming conditions including unexpected bank corruption, lack of basic necessities, disasters people would encounter or economic disadvantage. It means that this game is designed not just for language learning. Through this game, students are able to think about the poor countries and difficulty of farming besides the language learning.

I have played this game three times. The more a student plays games, the more he can get more points to buy utensils or farm plants. Clicking the person or items, students can see the details of the picture they clicked. The instructions and explanation are provided and students can buy necessities for their farm. Reading the instructions, students can learn vocabulary and expressions about farming and economy.

In addition, in the end, it provides ‘annual report’ including data such as plant they put or items they bought. The most interesting thing is that they also provide the information about some natural, social or political reason for the farming result this year such as bankruptcy, big fire and so on. Through this annual report, students can expand their vocabulary knowledge and be aware of some natural or social phenomena around the third farming country.

With regards to my learning objectives, I have chosen Michigan English Language Proficiency Standards, especially for reading and comprehension, R.5.2.c Restate facts and details of text. According to Kyle Mawer's task types, I can assess ‘story telling’ including narrating a game story or writing the narrative of a game. As an activity, I would like to have students play this game first, and then, have them to write what they did including the expression they’ve learned in this game. In addition, they are supposed to write about the reason why their farming was not successful reciting the reason presented in the ‘annual report.’ 

Goodgame Empire – Encouraging my students’ problem-solving ability by themselves

Goodgame Empire

Link

http://empire.goodgamestudios.com/?country=us&lppid=30&lppla=www.ogigames.com&lpref=http%3A%2F%2Flp.empire.goodgamestudios.com%2F%3Fcountry%3Dus%26pid%3D30%26gid%3D12%26network%3Dd%26creative%3D41379680045%26placement%3Dwww.ogigames.com%26keyword%3D%26matchtype%3D%26camp%3D3%26adgr%3D115%26gclid%3DCPXx2sCFpsQCFUQ6gQodRAEAZw

          

              I played this game three times. It took a relatively long time (over 30 minutes for a one time) because it is based on building a castle and manipulating the army. However, it is worth to spend time because it’s so interesting and arouse intrinsic motivation to finish the stage or complete the assigned task.

             In terms of language performance indicator, this game provides systematic level-up experience and specific instructions. This game aims to build the castle, collect the source to buy or upgrade my own property in the castle and take care of ‘my people’. In other words, learner can be the knight to protect my people’s safety and prosperity. The background of this game is the medieval times, and also it provides good back ground music. This back ground setting encourages learners to get involved in the situation as they seem to be there and gives a kind of sense of reality.

             As I mentioned above, learners do not have to be scary about being stagnant on their own level. According to the specific directions on each level, some ‘arrows’ let learners know what to do and how to do. At each stage, Wilhelm and General Sir. Ulrich assign the tasks and learners can do exactly what they have to do. And also they provide the specific instructions for each assignment. For example, when I was confused with how to collect my sources to upgrade my property in my castle (its name is Barracks), some arrows presented the area what I should click and Wilhelm gave me advice for upgrading my property. 

             I think the most important benefit of this game is making learners be accustomed to some new words and sentences given as instructions. All sentences not only are made of good sentences without any grammatical error but also have clear message to understand the task. It would be very helpful for learners because they can learn not only how to solve the problem in the game but also well-made sentences with the instructions. If learners have no idea about the word presented in the instructions, teacher just let them know or encourage them to think what they mean. Teacher’s role is limited in this game but the teacher can be a good interactor to student, helping them to solve the problem or accomplish the assigned task by themselves, with minimum external support.

             The game proceeds to collect some resources such as wood, coins, bread (food for people) and the knight (army). Learners have to concentrate on the screen because they can find those sources above of the people’s head (in the game) such as bread, coins and so on. When learners find those sources, they have to click on that and get that source. Collecting the sources, learners can buy the new property such as ‘stone quarry’ or ‘storehouse’ and they also can be used to enhance the castle’s barrier. After completing my task, even if it was a very small task, they praised and encouraged me to go to the next steps. Through every step, learners feel the sense of accomplishment, and even have a passion to complete the task in allotted time.

             If I show the ‘walk through’ to my students, it would be the following:

1.    Build your castle: First, follow the instructions and arrow.

2.    Then click the button. Then, set the building you want where you want to put.

3.    Collect the sources: Take Wilhelm and General Sir Ulrich’s advice.

4.    Keep your eyes on the above of the people’s head in my castle. Sometimes, one person have the picture of source over their head. When you see it, just click and get it.

5.    Then, use collected source to upgrade your castle and army.

6.    After, you upgrade your castle and army, your level also will go up.

7.    According to your level, you will get more challenging but interesting task.

         Specifically, with regard to my specific learning objectives from Michigan English Language Proficiency Standards for K-12 Schools, especially R.3.2.b, students will be able to use meaning clues and language structure to expand vocabulary (pictures, background knowledge, context clues). 

       To assess whether my learning objectives were accomplished or not, I can encourage my students to follow specific written directions or instructions to perform activities.

      I will give students the first quiz with a written form. I will use pictures, putting 10 pictures in it to match students’ word knowledge from this game. Pictures encourage students to remember the words more easily. For example, my students are bound to learn some words in this game such as ‘knight’, ‘coins’, ‘foods’, ‘employ’, ‘tools’ and so on. I will put 10 pictures of the words from the game. Students are supposed to match each word to each picture.

        Then, I will give students the second quiz with 10 questions. This quiz aims to check they can expand their word knowledge from the game. I will ask them to fill in the blank. In terms of ‘fill-in-the-blank questions’, I will ask one words from the game for each question. In other words, I will give a context/sentence with a blank and students have to choose only one word among 4 words choices and fill in the blank with the word. These are formed as multiple-choice typed questions.

       Through this activities, my students will be able to make sure what they’ve learn from the game and expand their language according to my learning objectives, Michigan English Language Proficiency Standards for K-12 Schools, especially R.3.2.b.

The concept of gamification and a rational for using games for language learning

The concept of gamification

Gamification is the use of game thinking and game mechanics in non-game contexts to engage users in solving problems and increase users' self-contributions. According to the article < A Comparison of Computer Game and Language-Learning Task Design Using Flow Theory>, the author mentioned that learning is an active process which alternately involves skill-challenging experiences and reflective thinking.  

Educators realized that the interactive dynamic of games has the potential to benefit teaching and learning, and recent years have seen considerable activity surrounding the use of game mechanics in higher education. Educational gamification proposes the use of game-like rule systems, player experiences and cultural roles to shape learners’ behavior. To understand the potential of gamification, however, we must consider how these techniques can best be deployed in practice.

A rational for using games for language learning

According to the article <Gamification in Education: What , how, why bother?> by Joey J. Lee and Jessica Hammer, gamification, or the incorporation of game elements into non-game settings, provides an opportunity to help schools solve some difficult problems.  In addition, according to the article <Technology—“Just” Playing Games? A Look at the
Use of Digital Games for Language Learning B> by Julie. M. Sykes, digital game principles offer a way to overcome challenges of the language classroom that are difficult, if not impossible, via other means. Also, digital game design provide the new framework for overall understanding about the language learning and thinking. 

Learners can benefit from many aspects of playing games in their language learning. In terms of orienting their own learning goal, learners are able to set their learning goal independently as they do in the game situations. This orientating goal experience function as a motivator to proceed to their goal at the same time.

In addition, they can interact with a lot of characters in games or interlocutors in ‘real world’. They provide useful feedback to encourage learners to solve the problem in some situation. All these problem solving tasks are provided in  contextualized environment.

With regard to intrinsic motivation, as games for education are based on Problem based-learning,  learners are able to improve self-confidence and courage to overcome the difficulties by themselves when learners encounter them in game situation.  After experiencing the game situation, the learned ‘problem-solving ability’ applied to their language learning process. Learners are more likely to be motivated to solve the problem of language learning by himself or herself.

Participation report in Twitter chat

Participation report in Twitter chat_

Promote and reading and literacy

Hashtag #titlechat

Participated Twitter chat: Promote and reading and literacy (every week Sunday 8 pm)

I have been quite interested in students’ performance in literacy task such as writing dialogic journals and peer-share reading and writing. I believe they can make our student’s literacy ability improved. However, the thing is students are reluctant to read assigned reading materials because they were boring. When they were poor at reading classroom material which can be good sources for their wiring, their journal or short essays could not express exactly what they really wanted to say through their writing. When I have taught in English for a year in Korea before coming to the US, I have concerned choosing reading materials to be read with ease and interest. For this reason, I asked this concern via Twitter chat. Some experienced teachers answered and recommended.

I think Twitter chat had pros and cons. In terms of providing educational sources, it could be a good channel. Actually, when I asked how to choose the appropriate reading materials, some experienced teacher recommended the reading materials name and useful links. But there are also a lot of deceptive advertisements which distracted teachers.

In addition, in case of some Twitter chat which people rarely come and go, teachers can even a piece of useful source or advice with that Twitter chat room. The one I participated in was also very ’quiet’, so even if I posted my questions, teachers rarely answered or the speed of their answering was too slow. In this case, it can be time-consuming for teachers who want to get some useful information. If teachers want a lot of sources about what they are interested, they had better navigate first which Twitter chat provide them and how many people usually participate in it. In this sense, I agree just partially Twitter chat can be a good source of professional development.

The potential for Twitter in Education

The potential for Twitter in Education

[1] Twitter: Potential for Use as a Pedagogical Tool?

http://www.atelier.net/en/trends/articles/twitter-potential-use-pedagogical-tool_430928

This article is intriguing because it introduce some controversial opinions about the use of Twitter for the purpose of education at students’ and university’s respective perspectives. It argues that there is still some way to go before Twitter becomes accepted as a pedagogical tool in its own right.

Twitter as a ‘complementary’ pedagogical tool

Oliver Ertzscheid mentioned that Twitter is ‘one piece of the puzzle’ among a range of tools that can be used in the classroom. Twitter use as a pedagogical tool depends on the particular type of learning, such as for a class on the sociology of networks. However, in terms of the use that might be made of Twitter during actual class work, academics are basically seeking ways to expand their audience among the general public and are much less interested in using the platform in an unnecessary way with their own classes.

Overall Twitter use differs according to the users

I totally agree with this article. University administration and students seem to use Twitter for the different purpose. In terms of what they use Twitter for in the university context and discovered that they find Twitter useful for different reasons than the staff, the vast majority of students wanted to receive practical information on their classes via Twitter. On the other hand, events at the university were being widely publicized on Twitter, despite the lack of interest on the part of the students in receiving this type of information.

[2] 30 Ways To Use Twitter For Education

https://www.hashtags.org/platforms/twitter/30-ways-to-use-twitter-for-education/

This post realizes for sure the benefit of using Twitter for the purpose of education and deals with specific and effective ways to using Twitter in education. I would like to introduce this writing to all visitors on my blog including my LAI 590 classmates.

First, it introduces Initial Steps for using Twitter. From making Twitter account to following interested person or twits of topics. Second, it explains the way to use Twitter with good online manners such as reading a rules, posting original things, separating public and private things and updating and so on. Third, it mentioned several ways to use Twitter as ways for effective communication and professional learning. Among these effective ways, using Twitter chat to be related to topics I’ve been interested. For professional learning, it advises to exchange idea and look for a mentor. Finally, it recommends some ways to apply it to the classroom setting. It contains building a community, giving assignments, providing materials and receiving feedback. 

Some projects from ePals

            

ePals

http://www.epals.com

              I would like to introduce some projects posted on ePals. ePals is Project-based learning website and it encourage teachers and learners all over the world to development their understanding about projects they are participating in. Through communication with global groups, we can share our ideas and develop our thought about teaching and learning.

1. A National Geographic Project

In this project, students will engage in a collaborative learning experience. Through email exchanges, students will build friendships and learn about the daily lives and characteristics of the local environment of students who live in another region of the world. This unit may be taught to both lower elementary students (grades 2-4) and to upper elementary and secondary students (grades 5-7). Their class is in North Carolina, USA.

2. A McGraw-Hill World Languages Project

This project is designed for native speakers of English who are learning Spanish, and native-Spanish speakers who are learning English. Only classes that meet this description will be accepted. Classes will be paired together for project collaboration so that students have the opportunity to practice the target language with native speakers. Personal interests, values, and beliefs all influence a person’s identity. Culture also plays a role in how humans see themselves and how they identify with the world around them. Through getting to know other people, especially people from different cultures, we have the opportunity not only to gain insight into how others view themselves but also to learn more about ourselves.

3. Education Around the World Project

This project is designed by Ms. Megan Wood, an education student in college at Missouri Western State University. She is a pre-service teacher looking to start a project about education curriculum and systems around the world. She wants to present this information at a conference. She wants to deal with communication (emails, letters, video chat) with elementary schools around the world, Media (pictures, videos, etc.) and contact with students, teachers, and administrators. As a teacher getting ready to go into the workforce, she wants to experience and learn as much diversity in the global education system to prepare herself.

Actually, I could not find lots of language learning projects in this website. However, there are many projects every age groups and interest such as culture, music, nature and so on. Especially, I would like to use 1. A National Geographic Project. Because I will be back to my country after graduation and teach Korean students, I want to apply this project in our EFL educational environment. Without visiting the real classroom of other countries, my future students will be able to communicate with students who live in other countries via email. Through this process, my students will not only learn other cultures and practice their English with friends all over the worlds. 

Connectivism through Social Networking_Classroom 2.0

YouTube video reference:

Alan Levine- New Media Consortium

Classroom 2.0 

http://www.classroom20.com/

           Using social networking, for example, Alan Levine referred to his personal experience that he could put out his ignorance and people who connected with him through social networking group can help or give him an advice for the problem. It takes some time to build up the network, but we can learn more than we expected and share our ideas with them through Facebook, Tweeter, Email, blogs. It is really important for us (teachers) to be able to stay connected to other teachers or learners than are smarter or experienced than us because we cannot know everything. For example, starting to learn new technology applied out classroom (or future classroom) can be intimidated first to know about them as a novice, but it can be very exciting as we learn and discover with help and advice for social networking group members.

             I would like to introduce Classroom 2.0 for social networking cummunity. This is social network for those interested in Web 2.0, Social Media, and useful Technologies in the classroom. It is also a free, community-supported network. Even beginner, anyone can use this community network because many experienced and supportive group members help them navigate and find the information through digital dialog. Participating in the discussions in Classroom 2.0, teachers and learners get useful information about their teaching and learning activities through Forum. In addition, teachers and learners can watch keynote recording videos in Recordings (button located in the upper side option bar).

Today's learner

Journal reference: 

Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age (George Siemens, 2005)

http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Jan_05/article01.htm

YouTube Video reference: 

The Impact of Social Software on Learning

       Today’s learner is like an explorer not only for new knowledge itself but also for the capability of increasing their knowledge. Today’s learners use social media such as facebook, twittter, and so on to develop their current knowledge and find the way to increase their knowledge for the future. In this journal “Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age (George Siemens, 2005)”, Siemens cited that Art Kleiner (2002) explores Karen Stephenson’s “quantum theory of trust” which “explains not just how to recognize the collective cognitive capability of an organization, but how to cultivate and increase it”. It means that learners are getting smarter to find how to get the information or knowledge, not just the information itself what they want.

       Also, today’s learners express their opinion and share their ideas with others. They know the importance of expressions of their knowledge and its impact. The more they express, the wider their knowledge gets. In the YouTube video named “The Impact of Social Software on Learning”, George Siemens referred to Vygotsky’s statement that “words really give the life to thought” and argued that “our Ability to express ourselves and our knowing increases as we express ourselves externalized our knowledge.” Through the process of ‘externalization’, which is the opposite concept of ‘internalization’, people also can teach and learn the new knowledge and concepts and spread it among others. Today’s learners also know the importance of knowledge’s expansion through interaction with people who want to know it. Therefore, exchange and transfer of knowledge through social media can be a very effective way to expand the learner’s knowledge and their learning. 

Diigo vs Pinterest (social bookmarking & curating)

Trying to use Diigo and Pinterest, I would like to write something I felt while using them. 

<Diigo>

<Pinterst>

-Can you highlight text in saved sites? 
With Diigo, I can highlight text in saved sites. On the other hand, I just chose the interesting website and pin it with Pinterest. 

-Can you use multiple tags? 
Both are good to add multiple tags. It is very convenient for users to find the website or blogs they want to visit.

-Can you copy and paste from original article to appear in comments about site? 
Yes. Both are convenient for copying and past text from original article. However, in case of Pinterest, I have to go into the original website for that. 

-Can others post comments on your site? 
I can put comments on Diigo and Pinterest. When someone feel something about the posts or websites I'm sharing, they can put comments on my Diigo and Pinterest pin post anytime.

-Can you follow others?  Can they follow you? 
Of course. We can share our interest with others! I followed many English teachers boards and blogs, and they also can follow me if they want.

-Can you message people you follow? 
Yes, using Pintest, I can message to them pushing button shaped paper plane.

-Are you offered suggestions for related articles? 
Yes, they show me related articles automatically when I click some pin posts. 

-Would you continue to use either of these?  Which?  Why? 
I would like to use Diigo and Pinterest both. Diigo is so useful to assess to my favorite websites, especially any devices! And Pinterest is so nice to see all the post I've interested, in one site at the same time. 

According to the purpose of using these social bookmarking and curating websites, we can use these tools effectively. It is certain that these website are quite useful for teachers and learners in that they provide various opportunities to access others' creative thoughts about the ways of teaching and learning.