Learning English via Video

Games

Where do you know all those words from?

-I just play games!

   Almost in every group there is one student who is typically not very proficient in grammar but shows a remarkable range of vocabulary. In most of such cases the student is either a regular gamer or movie watcher or is engaged in any other activity whose content is engaging and relevant to his/her interests. 

   A typical modern child is born surrounded by a variety of technological gadgets.  By the time  the kid starts school, his mind is full of characters and adventures from GTA, Sims, Call of Duty and a myriad of other games. These are words that have no limits except that of imagination. And a child's imagination, as is universally known, needs no additional kindling!

  Arguably, this new technologically abundant world changes  the perceptions and the ways we get and process information (McGrew-Hill, 2008). Children, used to fantastic, fun, graphically mesmerizing worlds with a lot of mysteries to unfold and challenges to overcome, are sent to schools where the processing of information is linear and the students' main role is that of a passive listener.

  A number of studies have been done to assess the effectiveness of video games in L2 learning. The results, though tentative, suggest positive outcomes. The main challenge of anyone that would integrate games into teaching is to to find a meaningful balance between fun and educational gains.  The question, in short, is the following "Can we integrate gaming into language learning without losing the fun aspect of it? Can games be manipulated and structured to serve pedagogical goals?".

Though there is no magical formula, these questions currently inspire heated discussions in EFL and ESL.

  Let's look at one specific case. Can the PC game The Sims be used to teach vocabulary? A study done by Jim Ranalli yields a positive answer. I tried to get a first-hand experience on the subject myself. The implications I got, which are briefly summarized in this presentation, are mostly promising. Though no way an alternative to traditional course-based learning, Sims and games in general, if scaffolded and structured appropriately, can help to supplement the main language learning course.

   If you  hurry to end reading this post just to articulate a harsh and firm "No", just  pause a second  and read this sentence:

 “In a world of change, the learners shall inherit the earth, while the learned shall find themselves perfectly suited for a world that no longer exists.”

Eric Hoffer   

Video production in EFL

A step on a shaky field

  This week I have had a video production experience with my peers from the TEFL program. Our main goal was to get an experience in video shooting and editing with the purpose of evaluating the potential of video production in EFL.

  Creative projects are fun, engaging and sometimes inspiring. However,  all these often go hand in hand with a lot of time investment and , if technology is concerned, sometimes with a good deal of frustration. 

  The implications I got from my experience are still vague and non-conclusive.By itself, video production is a powerful tool but it's true application in  EFL environment is rather unclear to me. What would be the linguistic goals that would justify the massive investment of time,energy and creativity used in producing videos? This is the main question that I have. Right now there seems to be a lack of solid theory and research on this topic. The picture is still blurry. Any teacher using video production in EFL should be ready for an unsteady and uneven ground. The results, however, can potentially be rewarding.Now the next question is "Who will be(and already are) those pioneers ready to bring video production to EFL?". I suppose, as is the case with every innovation, the driving factors will mainly be passion and interest in the subject. We will see what comes.

   “Watch for the thing that will show itself to you. Because that thing, when you find it, will be your future.” 

Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha 

Digital Storytelling

Stories come alive

   Stories are inherent in human culture. We all love hearing and telling stories. In EFL classrooms, stories have had and will most probably continue to have their well-deserved place too. However, the only constant in the world we live in is the change. Modern technology enables us to refresh our understanding of the traditional paper and pen story writing. 

   Digital storytelling is the art of combining storytelling with some mixture of digital graphics. Digital stories abandon the notion of paper-based storytelling and make full use of sound and picture to enhance the story-telling experience. Have a look here to see some examples of digistories.

   The integration of digital sound and picture in EFL seems quite an intriguing and promising idea. The benefits are many and, arguably, outnumber the possible caveats. It's no surprise that a story with good visuals is a treasure for every child.  Remember how you turned the pages of the book with the hope of finding the pictures? Remember how words alone weren't enough for you? Or how you relished the changes in your mother's voice as she read a story at your bed? Confess to yourself, as a child you sometimes refused to give a chance to a pictureless book. This is because a book with only text is an almost-dead book. In a sense, it's like an unsociable child, reserved and reluctant to communicate. This may not be a problem for a book-loving adult but teenegers and especially children will probably cherish  good, powerful visuals and sound effects.

   Having said all of the above, I'd also like to stress out that making good digistories is an art. Both the visuals and the sound need to supplement the story and enhance the experience and not just repeat the same story. Therefore, a good deal of skill, talent and creativity is needed to make a good digistory. 

  So should our students create and consume  digistories? The research and the numerous examples in the net eloquently enough say "yes". You never know the potential of a tool unless you give it a chance and explore. In my opinion, digistories are worth to be given a chance and have quite a future.

  On a final note, here's a digistory I created myself. I used one of the 3D templates of Prezi which immediately set my story in the right context: a deep, maigical forest. I also added some sounds and ... ok, let's leave the old-fashioned texting. Let THE STORY come alive.

Wikis

 "Multiple pens, one paper"

  Remember the times people wrote long letters to each other to receive or send information? Well, that's clearly old-fashioned, isn't it? But would you think that even emails are now becoming, in some respect, old fashioned too? Suppose two people are working together over a distance on the same project. Suppose this project is a translation of a document. Each writes his own piece separately and sends it to the partner. Then, they have to proofread each others' writing  and again send the documents to each other. Finally, one of them takes the pain to merge the two pieces and make the translation a holistic piece. Two pens working separately on two different pages.

  Now imagine those two (and you can have three, four, ten collaborators!) pens working on the same document! One of the writers translating  a piece, the other simultaneously proofreading or writing his own piece, a third one maybe helping the first two with the vocabulary, etc. Do you see the magic? Wikis do this magic. They create, what can be called, a real-time collaboration, a platform for multiple individuals to join their efforts at the same time, at the same place.  Intrigued? Here are two wiki platforms you can start from: Pbworks.com, wikispaces.com.

  On a final note, have a look at this simple yet informative video on Wikis. These people know how to explain things.
Wikis in plain English.

Podcasts

 

"Ears, I say, not the eyes "

   I love podcasts. I really do. In the world where eyes are the main medium of getting information (reading, watching TV), many of us are running the risk of exploiting the natural capabilities of our eyesight. I often feel tension and pain in my eyes and this often leads to feeling demotivated to read. This is a shame, since I find a great pleasure in reading.

   This inner conflict of mine has recently been resolved by the introduction of podcasts and audiobooks into my life. I started to listen to wonderful books and to lively discussions via podcasts. It only takes me a few minutes to download them and to to send the mp3 files to my mobile phone. The rest is magic. 

  Podcasts are liberating and empowering in the sense that they help you to shift the tension from the eyes to the ears, to use the multiple mediums that human body has for getting and processing information. Podcasts are my absolute heroes. They are with me in the public transport, while washing the dishes, taking the dust and even while walking out the dog. 

  Given the amazingness of podcasts, why not use them in education as well? While researching the topic ideas such as "student-created podcasts", "teaching skills like synthesizing via podcasts", "giving the students the ability to meaningfully participate in the world", "real audience" ,etc invaded into my mind. Are there any disadvantages of using podcasts in EFL? Apart from some possible ethical and copyright issues, which are clearly not podcast-specific, I see none. So why not? I am very optimistic in the potential of podcasts in EFL. One of our responsibilities as teachers is to empower our students with choices. Podcasts seem a very viable audio alternative to the heavily text-dominated way of getting knowledge in our world. 

So close your eyes and get your ears ready, they have relaxed far too much :)

Using Blogs and Twitter in an EFL classrooms

 "Feedback, Collaboration, Community"

  In this post I will try to outline a sample EFL project that makes use of blogs and twitter as learning tools. My hypothetical situation is a group of teenage EFL learners who attend a course that develops learner's creative writing. Learners would be asked to read Margaret Mitchell's novel "Gone with the Wind" and write a sequel to it afterward . Each group of 3/4 students would write its own ending to Mitchell's unfinished novel and would post the sequals in a blog created specifically for this project. Learners of the group would have to read the sequals of other groups  and leave feedback be either adding comments in blogs or making updates in twitter. Each students would have to post at least one comment for each sequal. The sequals will be both peer-assessed in the form of peer comments and tutor assessed. The latter will mainly be in the form of comments on the content but will also include some feedback on the accuracy and the organization of the narrative. 

  The main challenge might be to overcome the learners' fear of writing creatively in a foreign language. Activities of pre-writing stage, such as introduction and practice of free writing, narrative, descriptive writing, may help to lessen the anxiety related to writing in English.

  This project would be aimed at fostering collaboration among the students and would help them to have a first hand, authentic practice in creative writing. The technology used would help to realize the project in a cost and time efficient manner.

Blogging and Microblogging

 "Blogs are much more than a diary",Will Richardson

    We live in a world where every person from every part of the world (where internet is accessible) can share his ideas with the rest of the world without having to pay anything. This is what blogs and microblogs have done for us. What's more, blogs have enabled us to comment and to discuss each others' ideas. Finally, we can spread  the information via as many channels as we have (Twitter, Facebook,etc). The world has never been flatter. 

  The potential of blogging for teaching purposes has scarcely been researched. However, the changing world requires changes in the way we view education as well. Bellow are some of the benefits and caveats I see in using blogs as a learning tools. 

Benifits 

a) authentic, worldwide audience

b) improvement of research skills

c) the opportunity to make choices about what to read

d) improvement of reading skills 

Caveats

a) a lot of messy, sometimes inappropriate content

b) distracting factor of social networks

c) the need to work a lot in front of the computer screen and not paper, which some people (including me) find demotivating

No one knows what the future holds. However, it's relatively easy to assume that blogs will most probably enter the field of education as well. Will they prove to be effective triggers of learning? With all the irrelevant but attention-grabbing and easily digestible information floating all over the net, I am a little uncertain of whether the learners will be able to concentrate on more serious and intellectually demanding topics.  In any case, time will show.