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    Wordle: Language
    Thursday
    Jul222010

    Ed-Tech: For the Right Reasons

    DateThursday, July 22, 2010 at 10:28AM Author[Marcy Webb] in CommentPost a Comment

    The following is the comment I left recently in response to a post on this blog.  Certainly proverbial food for thought for foreign language teachers.

    I think this is what turned me off to Twitter when I joined the first time back in 2008. It had been appropriated by the tech-ed folks, talking about this, that, and a third, and many talking about nothing much in order to advance real learning and teaching. Not sure where they all went, but, Twitter is a much more interesting place now to be. Just a little rant. LOL

    Anyway, as a FL teacher, tech-ed is just now beginning to permeate the ranks here in the US. It seems to have saturated the ranks in the UK. In fact, much of my UK Twitter colleagues talk ed-tech and not much else when addressing matters related to the FL classroom. Me? I’d rather have the kids engaging with me and with each other in the target language, than figuring out how to use the latest bell and whistle to communicate in the target language. After all, isn’t this what communicating is about? To me, it isn’t about using Twitter, FB, Glogster, etc., it’s about demonstrating what one knows and is able to to with the *language*, not what one knows and is able to do with via a tech tool with the language. I’m all about the four skills and culture. If there is a tech tool that can enhance the way I teach and the way my students learn, I am all for it. Otherwise, I guess I’m old-school in that regard.

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    Thursday
    Jul152010

    Trying to Play Catch-Up

    DateThursday, July 15, 2010 at 9:25PM Author[Marcy Webb] in CommentPost a Comment

    I thought this article re: the struggles on the part of US government agencies to learn and translate languages was interesting, and speaks to the continued need to fund and support foreign language education at the K-12 level.

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    Tuesday
    Jul062010

    Student Engagement in the (FL) Classroom

    DateTuesday, July 6, 2010 at 10:02AM Author[Marcy Webb] in Comment1 Comment

    One of my colleagues is currently engaged in a spirited online conversation re: student engagement.  Today, she asked for the contribution of resources.  Here is one that is specific to foreign language teaching.

    I encourage you to visit my colleague's blog, and to add resources of your own.

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    Tuesday
    Jun292010

    World Cup 2010 Inspiration

    DateTuesday, June 29, 2010 at 3:32AM Author[Marcy Webb] in CommentPost a Comment

    As I was watching the World Cup matches on this past Sunday, listening to the national anthems for Argentina and Mexico, and Twittering, a thought came to me: Teach my students the national anthem of each Spanish-speaking country.  One of my foreign language colleagues, who teaches in Germany, thought it a wonderful idea. I think that teaching students the national anthems of the Spanish-speaking countries is a viable way to access culture, for each national anthem conveys a unique political and social history.

    In light of the aforementioned, I located via a Google search nationalanthems.info.  It's a fantastic repository of all things related to national anthems, including recordings, lyrics and sheet music for national anthems by country.

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    Tuesday
    Jun292010

    Hire Rosetta Stone To Teach Your Foreign Language Classes

    DateTuesday, June 29, 2010 at 3:19AM Author[Marcy Webb] in CommentPost a Comment

    This is what a school district in New Jersey has decided to do as a cost-cutting measure for its elementary foreign language program.  Now, to be fair, I have let my thoughts be known regarding foreign language programs at the elementary level.  But, this goes beyond the proverbial pale. What's almost as ignorant as the school district's decision is some of the reader comments.  There are obviously people who hold a lot of resentment for teachers, for various reasons.  However, there are also some intelligent, thoughtful comments, the following being one of the best. I appreciate the reader's sarcasm:

    Why bother with language instruction at all? In fact, why have any specials? Let's get rid of music, phys ed, and art as well. After all, there are computer programs that can teach those subjects.

    Do we really need to teach our children anything but reading, writing, and math? Science can go out the window as well, as 95% of children will not be going into science or engineering careers.

    Really, if we cut educatiion to the bone, there is no reason for chldren to be in school for more than 3 hours a day. Have two shifts for each subject and in addition to eliminating gym, music, art, science, and foreign language teachers, you can also get rid of half of the math and English teachers as well.

    Cut the librarian as well. Kids can use the town library. They'll have plenty of time during the---oh, wait a minute, I forgot how many people were chomping at the bit to cut public library services. Well, take your kids to Barnes and Nobles and help pump some money into the ailing private sector.

     

    I support the use of technology in teaching.  But, when we convert education into what I call, "Mc Schooling", what, exactly, are we offering to our youth, and at what price?  The costs are not just monetary.

     

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