ePals in the Classroom

ePals is a fascinating website that can connect teachers and students across the globe.  What makes ePals so great is that it's limitations for classroom implications seem almost limitless.  Like the world around it, the classroom is becoming more and more a global space for learning and participation.   With internet tools like these it offers students chances to interact with other students from all over the world.  With partners such as McGraw-Hill, the Smithsonian and National Geographic ePals can boast some serious learning potential.

There are a lot of things that you can do as a teacher with ePals.  One thing that I found really interesting as an ESL teacher was the ability to connect with other language classrooms.  On the website they mention "Teachers use the free ePals Global Classroom to create real world, culturally-enriching learning experiences for their students.  With ePals classroom atching, a high school class studying Chinese can connect with a class studying English in China, or the classes can work on a special project together."  Although this is reference to an American foreign language classroom, a similar idea can be used in an American ESL classroom.  You can easily implement something like this in an ESL classroom.  Authentic learning situations and culturally-enriching learning experiences are crucial to second language acquisition.  Both play a significant role in stimulating motivation by the learner.  By allowing ESL learners to interact with native English speakers learning their language as an L2 can be an incredible opportunity for growth as a learner.  Using ePals in the classroom is a great way to take advantage of and properly utilize
technology in the classroom.

Using Animoto in the Classroom

I chose to use Animoto to create a video to practice the question "have you been?"  I think it is an interesting internet tool that can serve a purpose in a modern ESL classroom.  I was surprised at how quick and easy it was to make something interesting and aesthetically pleasing.  There are a couple ways that short videos can be used for ESL purposes.  One way is to create a video that reinforces themes or concepts learned during the lesson.  It can be used to reinforce vocabulary, grammar, and contextual awareness. Teachers can either create videos or have the students create their own videos.  The process of learning how to use Animoto and following the English directions, can also serve to reinforce practical language use by L2 learners. 

It would be interesting as a teacher to see what the full version of the program can do.  The thrity second trial video is just a good example of the potential of the program in the ESL classroom.  With the full version teachers and students can make much longer videos.  For example a teacher could make a video discussing a certain grammar structure or set of vocabulary words and have the student respond with their own videos explaining the grammar or unseeing the vocabulary.  Animoto is another great resource for teachers and students and has great pedagogical implications for the L2 classroom.

Twitter Use in the Classroom

Twitter is a rapidly growing social media platform where ideas and thoughts are exchanged between people all over the world.  In the classroom twitter has a lot of potential and usefulness for student and teacher interaction.  In the web article A Must Have Guide on Using Twitter in your Classroom it lists several excellent ways in which one can use twitter in their classroom.  The article is broken down into 5 main subjects: communication, organization, resources, writing skills and twitter exercises.  As a teacher I could see myself using twitter as a means of communicating with students.  For example if a student misses class they could check twitter for a link to the days lesson and assignment that I could post.  Also keeping track of important deadlines for students is another great way to use twitter.  Also there is potential to allow students to tweet either with each other or with the teacher if they have questions about certain topics such as vocabulary or a quick grammar explanation.

Getting connected and sharing ideas with other professionals is another great way to use twitter.  Getting started in twitter is a little tricky and it is important to connect with the right people and topics.  Using hash tags correctly is a great way to connect to the right people and relevant topics.  The online article The Teachers Guide to Twitter  is a great resource for teachers new to twitter who want to get a better understanding of how to properly use twitter.  It offers a lot of useful information with regards to creativity, networking, and resource sharing.  Resourcing is perhaps the greatest benefit to professionalism for teachers using twitter.  As a future teacher I anticipate using twitter to communicate with other professionals and share ESL teaching resources and ideas.