A few wee gems for engaging learners

Ok so it took a little longer to blog than I promised but here I am and raring to get back to work. For those not on Twitter or Facebook with me, I broke my ankle on 2nd January (don't ask, a random act of kindness gone wrong) and was off until the last week before Easter. It really took all my energies to get into work that week and catch up with where all the classes were so I'm looking forward to teaching properly this week. One advantage of being off is that I've had time to check out some cool websites and make some nice resources.

Dobble 
Some people may have heard of the brilliant kids' game Dobble (Dobble Game on Amazon) There are a number of different ways to play including dealing the cards out and the players turn the card one at a time, trying to find the image their card has in common with this card. At the time, I wondered about using the game in class but the icons are tricky enough in the target language. Then a month or so ago,  I happened to spot a link to a Dobble card generator on Twitter  http://www.gorfo.com/dobble/#/home/ Here are the cards I have made for Form 2 Spanish after I have introduced prepositions http://www.gorfo.com/dobble/#/share/56fe880ed6f6b/en



Meme Generator 
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/meme-generator-free/id645831841?mt=8
Coffee with teacher friends yesterday and one of them happened to mention her new favourite app. Which is now mine of course. Within a few minutes, I had created these four memes to illustrate Si clauses for my A level Spanish classes. (For those non Spanish speakers, they translate as "If I study, I get good marks", "If I study, I will get good marks", "If I studied, I would get good marks" and "If I had studied, I would have gotten good marks") I foresee hours of fun ahead..

   
      


Quizizz 
This is an online quiz website http://quizizz.com/ which allows you to play in real time or to set it as homework. You can browse and duplicate existing quizzes which obviously can save you a lot of time and select two, three or four options. You choose how many questions you want in the quiz.

Once you have finished, you then can play live or set it for homework. Useful features include jumbling the questions for the students (which avoids too much collaboration between computers 😀) and a Quiz Review whereby the students see all the answers at the end of the game. 

As a teacher, I can see how students answered the questions which enables me to better inform my teaching for the next lesson.




Quizalize
https://www.quizalize.com/quiz/welcome
This is another quiz website, similar to Quizizz and Kahoot. Again, you can browse for existing quizzes to use or adapt and you choose how many questions you set.


The quiz adds a competitive element as with Kahoot, as the students gain more points, the faster they answer. Whilst some would argue that this is detrimental, it does add to the ambience in the classroom and can engage boys particularly.


Interestingly, when you set up the classes and assign quizzes to them, it does this via https://live.zzish.com/learninghub  which also allows you to assign Kahoot quizzes to the class as well. I really like the look of the post-quiz features such as 'who needs help' and 'what we need help with'  NB A word of warning that the free account only stores the last five quiz results.

#ililc5 James Gardner @langnut Takeaway Homework

James Gardner says that electing to do Takeaway Homework (whereby pupils choose what they are going to do from a list of options) gave him and his department an opportunity to make something meaningful out of something which many schools struggle with. He found loads on @teachertoolkit's blog which was his initial inspiration. He also recommends reading Mark Creasy's Unhomework book. What is the purpose of the homework we set? Why do so many pupils not do it? What can we do to make it purposeful for pupils? 

They started with Homework grids but they were hard to make up for staff and there wasn't much benefit for the pupils re more doing it, etc 

For all the sessions, there were a lot of good ideas from the audience, and this was no exception. Prim aka @chapeluser said that she asks for evidence of WHAT they have done to learn the vocabulary set as homework. Jonathan aka @trekkiep mentioned that his school has a 5 period day with period 6 for kids who don't submit HW during the day. Their parents are texted to let them know and whilst there are some who avoid it due to buses etc, there has been a reduction in the number of pupils who don't do their homework. 

In James' school, there are set Prep sessions with subjects allocated specific slots.  Whilst there are advantages to this, the drawback would be that ICT homeworks are more limited as a year group of students cannot get onto PCs all at the same time. 

Prim suggested adapting the above menu to have a points score, a little like Vocabulary Man which is often mentioned on the MFL Resources forum. The pupils could be set a tarif of 50 points so they could do 5 x 10 point tasks or one 50 pointer. This would allow for differentiation as well as more technically complicated tasks. 

Sometimes pupils must do something specific eg vocabulary revision but generally all homeworks are a free choice from the menu. 

James showed us some fantastic results eg two girls doing a video on personal details. 

However he added that there is a danger that they choose something they haven't done in class and therefore they struggle with the target language or they just don't put the effort in. He has therefore added instructions on the takeaway homework menu not to do a task unless the topic has been covered in class or it is a research HW. He has also added tasks with more chillis for differentiation and to make it more challenging. Finally he has added vocabulary desserts. Taking feedback on board, pupils now have printouts for their books and it is also on his door in case they lose it. 

James stated that there had been mixed feedback although generally good at year 7, but that year 8 more negative.  Again, acting on feedback, he is going to add a tickbox. And one complaint from pupils was that they couldn't ask their peers for help if they were all doing different tasks but actually this has proved to be a positive thing from the staff point of view.  

Ways to move the takeaway homework on would be to have an online version with hyperlinks to Quizlet etc; to have tick box management or Idoceo to monitor / track tasks; to think about Google classroom. 

James concluded that overall the quality of work on a weekly basis is higher and there has been whole department buy-in. 

I do a form of Takeaway Homework with A level already but this session has made me think seriously about how to introduce it at KS3. The issues we face are the Common Assessment tasks that already form part of our Schemes of Work which would be non-negotiable homeworks as well as the fact that there is a varying level of access to tablets and PCs at home. However it is a concept that we will be introducing over the next year or so and it was great to hear James' experiences and see what to do or to avoid. 

#ililc5 The annual (and much-loved) ICT Links into Languages conference

Those who may have strayed onto this blog before will know that I go to Southampton every February for the ICT Links into Languages conference. And every year, I bubble over with enthusiasm for how amazing it all was, from the speakers to the delegates. And this year was no exception. I have made loads of notes which I will blog about here over the coming week.

For starters, here's the link to Joe Dale's excellent Keynote links on Flipboard 

http://flip.it/EsiHv

#ILIC3, "When ideas are shared, the result is always greater than the sum of the parts" Rich Willis

Those who follow me on Twitter or have read previous posts on this blog will know that I am a huge fan of the annual ICT Links into Languages conference (ILILC) held in Southampton. And not without cause. This event is a superb form of CPD, no matter what your level of ICT proficiency or years of teaching experience. There are a wide variety of talks and workshops, offering delegates the opportunity to put new ideas into practice and ask for help if needed. Over the next week or so, I will blog about the workshops I attended as well as the two I delivered. There are also two keynote speeches as well as the now legendary Show and Tell on the Saturday night.
Joe Dale's keynote looked at ICT and the need to move on. He talked about the use of iPads in the classroom, referring to @elearninglaura as well as pointing us towards www2.hull.ac.uk/ifl/ipadresearchinschools.aspx with research into the use of iPads in education. Pupils learn best when there is a perfect balance between "have to", "need to" and "want to" Joe also pointed out how information overload is affecting our learning and that it is important to have time off. There are 10 million active Twitter users in UK - as educators, we must consider the importance of how we move education on in light of this. Should we ban or embrace mobile technology? There is an issue of kids with no home Internet, even with lunchtime access and we must remember this. At this moment in time, there is a lot of stress on teachers, lack of professional consultation although Joe did point out that Gove is pro MFL.
Joe tied his talk together by mentioning crowdsourcing to get ideas and feedback, such as #mflstar by @bellaale It is important to "harvest"your own CPD and go for authenticity in the classroom. We have to stick together, ask for help, share ideas.
Of course as the affable "Godfather" of the MFL Twitterati, Joe Dale knows better than most the value of sharing ideas and inspiration. The ILILC conference once again proved that the MFL Twitterati are as close in real life as on Twitter, that as teachers we have so much to offer each other in terms of ideas and support, and that a little bit of love and shared enthusiasm can take you a long way. People are already talking about #ililc4..

ICT HELP FOR PUPILS

The comment is sometimes quite rightly made that pupils are not all digital natives, and some of them find using websites totally baffling. We are heading to the computer room tomorrow to create some individual work on a topic of their choice. Given that I am giving the pupils free choice re the website they use, I am anticipating that some may struggle. Bearing this in mind, I have made some quick 'how to' notes for each website and put them on our wiki with the embedded link to said website. I have posted instructions for the lesson and the link on Edmodo and am hoping in this way that the pupils will learn and work more independently before they call on me for help

#ILILC2

So my second visit to Southampton for the ICT Links in Languages was much anticipated and did not fail to impress. There was much excitement amongst the attending members of the #MFLTwitterati on Twitter in the weeks leading up to the conference, both from those of us lucky enough to have attended last year, and those who were coming for the first time.
There was a gathering of the clans on the Friday night, with the unveiling of the wonder that is Suzi Bewell's #mfltwitterati t-shirts.

This set the tone for the whole weekend. The workshops and talks were excellent, led by Joe Dale and José Picardo's fab keynotes, and the chance to network, meet new enthusaistic language teachers and chat was superb. I am going to blog about the brilliant workshops and talks I attended over the next week or so, but suffice to say there was plenty of expertise, stimulation and humour on show.
The highlight for many was the Show and Tell on the Saturday night, with just the right level in terms of weightiness of topics combined with singing, dancing and general euphoria. It is enough to mention human dominoes, Tchik et Tchak, turnips and barmen to provoke sniggers and laughs from all who were there.
In these days of pressure and stress, #ILILC2 was a much needed tonic and a wonderful opportunity to catch up with many of my PLN whom I now consider true friends.

#ILILC2 LANGUAGES AND THE OLYMPICS

Here is my presentation on how we will incorporate the Olympics into our teaching at KS3. I am heavily indebted to Rachel Hawkes, Neil Jones and Greg Horton amongst others, who kindly gave permission for me to adapt resources they have made

Los juegos olímpicos ililc 2

View more PowerPoint from Amanda Salt

The inaugural ICT and Languages Conference held in Southampton last February was easily one of the highlights of my year. There were so many facets to this, it is hard to explain.
It was difficult to choose which sessions to go to, there were so many choices, although many people blogged about the event which made it easier to find out about sessions you missed.Here is my blogpost. There was also a live Twitterstream with the #ililc hashtag which made it easy to see what was happening.
Aside from the vast amount of new information I learnt, the social side was a joyous bonus. Many delegates stayed in the same hotel, so the networking happened from the pre-event dinner on the Friday night, through the breakfasts and also with the all-important Show and Tell on the Saturday night.

I left ililc last year enthused, brimming over with ideas and notes on new resources, and buzzing with the feelgood factor of making new friends as well as meeting old ones, and with a desire to do it all over again. In fact, those feelings are flooding back just blogging about it now.

And so, it is happening. This year the plenary speakers will be Joe Dale and José Picardo and the workshop speakers are: Annalise Adam, Wendy Adeniji, Alex Blagona, Vanessa Burns, Joe Dale, Catherine Elliott, Stuart Gorse, Esther Hardman, Isabelle Jones, Helen Myers, Carole Nicoll, Juliet Park, Bertram Richter, Jo Rhys-Jones, Clare Seccombe, Lisa Stevens, Jenny Turner, Sara Vaughan and myself.

The great news is that the deadline for the Early Bird rate has been extended until 11th November. Register now for a place at
http://www.languagessoutheast.ac.uk/events/ict-and-languages-conference-ililc-2012

Creating a buzz

Pupils in various year groups have been using ICT in a variety of ways over the course of this year, and there is definitely a bit of a buzz about the place. They have been given the option for several homeworks of choosing to create a Voki, Toondoo, Goanimate or voice recording. Some of the results can be seen at http://spanishingrosvenor.wikispaces.com, on the various class pages, as well as the Voki page.
What are the benefits to the pupil and to me? Well, there is the enjoyment factor, which can never be overrated, in my opinion. Pupils are enthused and are charging off home to do homeworks which they then email to me or embed directly into the wiki. Many of these homeworks come in early, and there is a definite improvement in terms of getting the homework done, and on time.. One of the great success stories of my year has to be the boy who showed an open dislike for Spanish last year yet has sent me the last two homeworks (created on Goanimate) early, and is visibly more relaxed in class.
The latest ICT project has been through the Virtual Voices programme we are engaging in, with podcasting being the focus of the Spanish department. In Second and Third Year (ages 12-14) pupils have been working in pairs or threes to create podcasts at the cafe, with an accompanying worksheet. Form 4 have recorded dialogues 'At the tourist information office' and again, have made worksheets to go with them. In all three year groups, we have then gone to the computer room for a period and worked individually listening to the various podcasts and doing the associated worksheet. Pupils have been engaged both at the creation stage and in the final process, which is a form of peer evaluation.
I am delighted with the efforts that have been made, both recording and creating the worksheet. The benfits are that every pupil has their turn in the spotlight without the pressure of performing tlive to their peers, and they are much more focused on pronunciation and grammar than they would be ordinarily.