“Smart” Technology in the
Foreign Language Classroom
Starring these resources!
*AUTHENTIC *
*LANGUAGE LEARNING *
*CULTURE *
Today’s Agenda
I.
 II.
 III.
 IV.
 V.
 VI.

Preview of SUPERSITES for “SB” use
Vision/ Goal’s of FL Learning/ 5 C’s
SB role in achieving those goals.
SB teaching tools for everyday
Planning/ Daily Teaching w/ SB
Assessments that motivate and
promote communication skills
Final Hour 1-2pm

You will prepare a powerpoint and lesson
plan for this week that includes these:
Setting the Stage
 Providing Input
 Guiding Participation
 Extension Activity

SUPERSITES
http://www.merlot.org
 http://cortland.edu/flteach
 http://clta.net/lessons/index.html
 http://langlink.net/langlink
 http://nflrc.msu.edu
 http://eleaston.com
 http://www.uni.edu/becker/french31.html
 http://www.uni.edu/becker/Spanish3.html

SUPERSITES
VIDEO :
http://bbc.co.uk/languages
http://langmedia.fivecolleges.edu
http://laits.utexas.edu/spe/index.html
http://laits.utexas.edu/fi

http://www.ashcombe.surrey.sch.uk/curriculum/modlang/index.htm
http://www.utm.edu/departments/french/french.html
Latin only!
http://www.perseus.edu/
 http://www.apaclassics.org
 http://www.stoa.org/diotima/
 http://www.aclclassics.org/index.html
 http://www.archaeological.org
 http://www.ccel.org/fathers2

How can this technology improve
foreign language teaching?
 First,
let’s identify the goals, vision or
“Standards for Language Learning in
the 21st Century”
What are the Standards for Foreign
Language Learning in the 21st
Century?
Communication
 Cultures
 Connections
 Comparisons
 Communities

The 5 C’s
What does this mean to FL teachers?
Foreign Language is a “content” area which
requires meaningful, comprehensible,
interesting “input” in the classroom to
promote communication skills and
knowledge of the target culture.
COMMUNICATION

1.1 INTERPERSONAL Communication
Students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information,
express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions.

1.2 INTERPRETIVE Communication
Students understand and interpret written and spoken
language on a variety of topics

1.3. PRESENTATIONAL Communication
Students present information, concepts, and ideas to an
audience of listeners or readers on a variety of topics
CULTURES
Gain Knowledge and Understanding of Other Cultures

2.1 Students demonstrate an
understanding of the relationship between
the practices and perspectives of the
culture studied.

2.2. Students demonstrate an
understanding of the relationship between
the products and perspectives of the
culture studied.
CONNECTIONS

3.1 Students reinforce and further their
knowledge of other disciplines through the
foreign language.

3.2 Students acquire information and
recognize the distinctive viewpoints that
are only available through the foreign
language and its cultures.
COMPARISONS

4.1 Students demonstrate understanding
of the nature of language through
comparisions of the language studied and
their own.

4.2 Students demonstrate understanding
of the concept of culture through
comparisons of the cultures studied and
their own.
COMMUNITIES

5.1 Students use the language both

5.2 Students show evidence of becoming
life-long learners by using the language
for personal enjoyment and enrichment.
within and beyond the school setting.
The 5 C’s:
Standards for FL Learning
COMMUNICATION
 CULTURES
 CONNECTIONS
 COMPARISONS
 COMMUNITIES
Each class we should include several
“standards”-- and keeping them in mind will
improve the quality of our teaching.

What are you teaching now?

Let’s think about these 5 Standards for a
moment and see how they could lead you
to a more enriching teaching experience.
Teaching numbers…
To teach the “numbers 1-100” I thought
about how I could teach “content” and
promote interpersonal communication:
I remembered I had heard “If the world
were reduced to 100 people….” How
many would be….? I googled it!
This is available in English, Spanish, French.
http://www.miniature-earth.com

“Smart” technology promotes …
All 3 modes of COMMUNICATION
1.1 Interpersonal communication skills
1.2 Interpretive communication skills
1.3 Presentational communication skills
There’s a teaching model that includes all 3!
How do we teach these 3 forms of
communication in the classroom?

Interactive model to integrate the 3
modes of Communication
Interactive model to integrate
the 3 modes of communication
INTERPRETIVE
Teacher presents interesting oral
presentation (online, video clip, dialog) or
written text in interactive way w/students
INTERPERSONAL
Students in pairs have guided questions to
more clearly understand
PRESENTATIONAL
Students present opinions, answers, analysis
My daily teaching model involves

Setting the Stage (focus students on
topic, activate background knowledge)

Providing Input (oral “input” on topic)

Guided Participation (grammar in context)

Extension/ Pair work
From the first day of class….

Where is Spanish spoken?

This lesson can be done all in Spanish
involving students in an interactive activity
via “smart” technology.

www.sheppardsoftware.com
Interpersonal Communication

Teaching names?

Why not show the common nicknames for
the names in the target language and the
background of common last names?
http://www.juegosdepalabras.com/hipocor.htm
 http://behindthename.com/nmc/spa.html

Interpersonal Communication

Teaching articles?
Use art and point out interesting details.
 Where is “the”____.

Google and paste any painting!
Picasso’s Guernica
www.mala.bc.ca/~lanes
/english/hemingway/p
icasso/guernica.htm
Interpersonal Communication
What art might you choose to use in your
teaching? Any favorite artists?

Ask students to circle items of interest in
the paintings that you or students mention
Interpersonal Communication

Teaching numbers 1-1,000,000?
Every teacher does this at some time!
 Why not imbed it in meaningful “content”
and have the students learn about the
world at the same time?

www.bbc.co.uk/spanish/especiales/mundolatino/map_yellow1.shtml
Interpersonal Communication

Teaching nationalities
Use an interactive current map of
languages spoken in the U.S.
http://www.mla.org/census_main

Interpersonal Communication

Describing families?

Why not use websites on artists in the
target culture that depict families in
different periods?

http://www.carmenlomasgarza.com
Interpersonal Communication

Teaching verb tenses

http://colby.edu/~bknelson/exercises
Telling time (for the “kid” in you!)
http://concurso.cnice.mec.es/cnice2005/115_el_reloj/index.html
Interpersonal Communication

Teaching weather expressions?
Why not frame discussions about which
days in the 10 day forecast are looking
good using the real weather forecast?
 http://weather.com/espanol
 http://weather.com/french
 http://wunderground.com (latin too!)

This technology promotes the
development of conversation skills

Interpersonal Communication
is developed through meaningful
interaction in the classroom on varied
topics which are presented in an
interactive and interesting format.
Interpretive Communication

Listening to songs, cultural video clips,
poems, narratives.
Students can demonstrate that they
understand written and spoken language.
 http://colby.edu/~bknelson/exercises


http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages

http://www.ashcombe.surrey.sch.uk/curriculum/modlang/index.htm
Interpretive Communication
Unscripted video series:
http://langmedia.fivecolleges.edu
 Scripted video series
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages
http://lepointdufle.net
 http://TV5.org
www.yleradio1.fi/nuntii/ (Latin radio!)

Interpretive Communication

Reading about the target culture
http://www.red2000.com/spain
 http://mexico.udg.mx
 http://elbalero.gob.mx


http://www.cortland.edu/flteach/civ/Index.html
Interpretive Communication

http://cortland.edu/flteach

http://clta.net/lessons

http://merlot.org

http://www.langlink.net/langlink
Interpretive Communication

What “authentic” materials are available to
us through this technology?
http://spain.info/tourspain/?language/=es
 http://thepaperboy.com
 http://sportec.es

“Authentic Materials”
Made by native speakers
for native speakers!
Art
Music
Newspapers
Travel
Shopping
TV
Sports
Can students “interpret” authentic
materials?
* Choose newspapers from a particular
country and compare headlines.
www.thepaperboy.com (reading)
* TV programs
www.TV5.org (listening)
• Songs
www.espacefrancophone.org/audiovisuel/fiche.htm
This technology allows students to
build “interpretive” skills

LISTENING: video clips, songs, stories,
poems, narratives….

READING: stories, newpapers, tourist
info, advertisements, restaurant menus,
travel guides….
Presentational Communication

Students present information, concepts,
and ideas to an audience of listeners or
readers on a variety of topics.

This technology is ideal for students to
“present” and showcase their oral or
written skills. Powerpoint and oral
presentations are great learning tools.
What teacher aids are easily
accessible?
Grammar aids
 Currency exchange rates
 Dictionaries
 Weather reports
 Pronunciation guides
 Verb conjugations
 Other high school FL websites

Teacher aids easily accessible
Videos
 Podcasts
 Accents in FL (for writing assignments)
 Maps galore (google Earth!)

….more teacher aids
Videos on every topic you are teaching!
See “supersites” for video.
http://langmedia.fivecolleges.edu
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages
http://laits.utexas.edu/tex
http://laits.utexas.edu/fi
http://laits.utexas.edu/spe/index.html

…more teaching aids
Podcasts
 Ipod + broadcast = “podcast”
 http://nflrc.msu.edu
(type in “podcasts” in the materials box)

What about grammar?

Grammar “in context” is provided to
promote real learning of the language and
not mechanical practice.
http://colby.edu/~bknelson/exercises
 http://laits.utexas.edu/tex
 http://www.latis.utexas.edu/fi
 http://lepointdufle.net

Instant currency exchange rates
available at a touch!
http://xe.com
Instant verb conjugations

http://spanishverbmachine.com

http://leconjugueur.com

http://www.polarfle.com
Instant Dictionary

http://wordreference.com
Latin:
http://archives.nd.edu/latgramm.htm
Typing Accents

http://spanish.typeit.org

http://french.typeit.org

http://german.typeit.org
Podcasting

I-pod + broadcasting = Podcasting

http://nflrc.msu.edu
Pronunciation

http://phonetique.free.fr

http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics
High School Website

http://www2.ignatius.edu/faculty/turner/languages.htm
Maps
Google Earth!
 http://sheppardsoftware.com
 http://maps.live.com
 http://lib.utexas.edu/maps
 http://www.sitesatlas.com

How do we plan lessons
on a daily basis?

Let’s look at two lesson models:
1. Interactive model to integrate the 3
modes of communication
2. Daily standard lesson plan
Lesson plan model
Interactive model to integrate the 3
modes of communication
(see handout explaining this model)

1.1 Interpersonal Communication
 1.2. Interpretive Communication
 1.3 Presentational Communication

How does this work?
Interpretive Communication
Teacher presents oral or written text of
interest
 Interpersonal Communication
Students in groups have guided activity to
better understand
 Presentational Communication
Students present information, answers …

My daily lesson plan
1. Setting the Stage
Teacher presents oral or written text of
interest for students to “interpret”
2. Providing Input
Teacher provides “comprehensible input” on
topic engaging and interacting with students
3. Guided Practice
Grammar in CONTEXT on SB to “guide”
4. Paired activity with feedback!
Examples of actual lessons on SB

It’s always helpful to see how someone
“actually teaches a lesson” using the SB!

Here are few examples of lessons I’ve
taught and how they were presented.
Strategies to promote
Interpersonal Communication

Setting goals

Daily teaching strategies

Formative and Summative Assessments