Hi all-
If you click here, you have access to my teaching philosophy with technology.
Questions? Comments? Suggestions? They are more than welcome.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
Intercultural Communication and Technology
I strongly believe in the insertion of culture in the teaching of a foreign language, since it is in this way how the value of intercultural communication can be perceived. I believe that thanks to the growth of the Internet, the use of foreign languages have increased from different perspectives.
Originally, the Internet facilitated communication between a huge number of people with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. After having put this into practice, the use of technology started being implemented in our classrooms, as a way to bring the target culture. I think that delving into the electronic interculturality, as well as investigating areas on action would help in order to conceptualize international communities.
Likewise, I find extremely interesting to look at the opportunities and challenges of virtual com
munities for intercultural communication, in order to enable barrier free communication. Needless to say, I also perceive these possible barriers for people to engage in this virtual communication, such as: it is typical to run into struggles with technology for a lack of technological competence, the communication turns out to be more reduced when written, since paraverbal cues are not always visible, a lingua franca emerges at some point of the communication.
On the other hand, I believe that studying or working abroad for some time is the best way to interpret or perceive Intercultural Communication, since it is then when one needs to open his/her mind, in order to understand the foreign culture.
Amongst the points discussed this week in class, I believe that recul is quite important for learners’ development, since it could better future Intercultural Communication interactions. Culture is learned through language and social interaction. Hence language and culture are closely related. If we are learning about TIFLE, it is now when I personally stress the importance of taking advantage of technology for cultural purposes, since if we prescind from the culture, as Griffin (1973) stated, “we exclude from the classroom the values and life styles of the people whose language we teach, we virtually exclude the supreme viable dimension without which language study is not much more than a sterile linguistic exercise”.
As the readings say, when our students work on an intercultural communication project, we should let them know about some tensions that may arise. For instance, we should encourage them to be open with their partners and ask them about their learning expectations, the time they could dedicate, and the reasons for them to be in the class. Likewise, these studies share the same point: when our students succeed to communicate with others, they also succeed to challenge possible stereotypes, as well as learn a new culture. For those of you who teach Spanish, I highly recommend to you a book which relates to this topic Contenidos culturales en la enseñanza del E/LE (Soler-Espiauba, 2006) and might be of your interest.
Originally, the Internet facilitated communication between a huge number of people with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. After having put this into practice, the use of technology started being implemented in our classrooms, as a way to bring the target culture. I think that delving into the electronic interculturality, as well as investigating areas on action would help in order to conceptualize international communities.
Likewise, I find extremely interesting to look at the opportunities and challenges of virtual com
munities for intercultural communication, in order to enable barrier free communication. Needless to say, I also perceive these possible barriers for people to engage in this virtual communication, such as: it is typical to run into struggles with technology for a lack of technological competence, the communication turns out to be more reduced when written, since paraverbal cues are not always visible, a lingua franca emerges at some point of the communication.On the other hand, I believe that studying or working abroad for some time is the best way to interpret or perceive Intercultural Communication, since it is then when one needs to open his/her mind, in order to understand the foreign culture.
Amongst the points discussed this week in class, I believe that recul is quite important for learners’ development, since it could better future Intercultural Communication interactions. Culture is learned through language and social interaction. Hence language and culture are closely related. If we are learning about TIFLE, it is now when I personally stress the importance of taking advantage of technology for cultural purposes, since if we prescind from the culture, as Griffin (1973) stated, “we exclude from the classroom the values and life styles of the people whose language we teach, we virtually exclude the supreme viable dimension without which language study is not much more than a sterile linguistic exercise”.
As the readings say, when our students work on an intercultural communication project, we should let them know about some tensions that may arise. For instance, we should encourage them to be open with their partners and ask them about their learning expectations, the time they could dedicate, and the reasons for them to be in the class. Likewise, these studies share the same point: when our students succeed to communicate with others, they also succeed to challenge possible stereotypes, as well as learn a new culture. For those of you who teach Spanish, I highly recommend to you a book which relates to this topic Contenidos culturales en la enseñanza del E/LE (Soler-Espiauba, 2006) and might be of your interest.
Friday, March 21, 2008
On MovieMaker
In the last two meetings we have learned about the digital video recorders and digital video software. After the MovieMaker tutorial, Vinodh and I strived for making our goal true: filming. Since we found certain problems with technology, we started to look into video projects and video editing.
Although we have not yet decided on a concrete topic, we agreed that we would be interested in making something as real as possible, always taking into account the pedagogic perspective. We believe that bringing to class authentic material is a propitious manner to encourage our students. Thus students could identify themselves someway with the content of the video, as well as this material could serve as a source of information for them.
As far as the nature of different projects with MovieMaker in the classroom is concerned, I have noticed that film depictions of partial or entire texts are being more and more employed. For instance, the classical and popular coming-of-age novella of The House on Mango Street (by Sandra Cisneros) is represented by students from a literature class. Taking into consideration this piece of literature, let us check how the vignette “Sire” is filmed by the own students.
However, out of the ample of fields we have talked about, so far we have thought of simulating a more realistic situation, that is, a typical visit which a student makes when s/he has just arrived in a foreign country. In other words, how students copy with reality the very first days in a different country. Since s/he is in an abroad context, s/he needs to contact different administrative people to find out some piece of information.
As brainstorming, we would need to have: a couple of native speakers of Spanish (i.e., “us”) to serve as the undergraduate coordinator and the study abroad program director, who inform the students about the registration process, about the school, etc. ; and, on the other hand, a couple of students who asks about the possibilities of taking specific classes, about the requirements they should meet, etc.
All in all, for us this representation would resemble a very common situation in which students are when they begin to consider the possibilities of studying abroad. However, we are still working on this!
Although we have not yet decided on a concrete topic, we agreed that we would be interested in making something as real as possible, always taking into account the pedagogic perspective. We believe that bringing to class authentic material is a propitious manner to encourage our students. Thus students could identify themselves someway with the content of the video, as well as this material could serve as a source of information for them.As far as the nature of different projects with MovieMaker in the classroom is concerned, I have noticed that film depictions of partial or entire texts are being more and more employed. For instance, the classical and popular coming-of-age novella of The House on Mango Street (by Sandra Cisneros) is represented by students from a literature class. Taking into consideration this piece of literature, let us check how the vignette “Sire” is filmed by the own students.
However, out of the ample of fields we have talked about, so far we have thought of simulating a more realistic situation, that is, a typical visit which a student makes when s/he has just arrived in a foreign country. In other words, how students copy with reality the very first days in a different country. Since s/he is in an abroad context, s/he needs to contact different administrative people to find out some piece of information.
As brainstorming, we would need to have: a couple of native speakers of Spanish (i.e., “us”) to serve as the undergraduate coordinator and the study abroad program director, who inform the students about the registration process, about the school, etc. ; and, on the other hand, a couple of students who asks about the possibilities of taking specific classes, about the requirements they should meet, etc.
All in all, for us this representation would resemble a very common situation in which students are when they begin to consider the possibilities of studying abroad. However, we are still working on this!
Friday, March 7, 2008
TIFLEing on CMC
Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is any communication that is enabled or aided through the use of computers.
We distinguish between two primary modes of CMC: synchronous and asynchronous, for instance:
Asynchronous: Mail (Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, Hotmail); EFL Penpals (Penpal, Pal-Pen); Forums (Quick Topic, Tag-Board, Mailman); EFL Forums (ESL Café, Floe-Joe, Language-Exchange); Listserv;
Synchronous: Chat (Yahoo, Hotmail, GMail, AOL); Instant Messaging (Yahoo, MSN, AIM); Chat with Voice (Wimba, Skype, PalTalk); Video-Conference (PalTalk, Voice Café, CentraOne); MOO (Tappedin).
For applications of these tools, check here.
We distinguish between two primary modes of CMC: synchronous and asynchronous, for instance:
Asynchronous: Mail (Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, Hotmail); EFL Penpals (Penpal, Pal-Pen); Forums (Quick Topic, Tag-Board, Mailman); EFL Forums (ESL Café, Floe-Joe, Language-Exchange); Listserv;
Synchronous: Chat (Yahoo, Hotmail, GMail, AOL); Instant Messaging (Yahoo, MSN, AIM); Chat with Voice (Wimba, Skype, PalTalk); Video-Conference (PalTalk, Voice Café, CentraOne); MOO (Tappedin).
For applications of these tools, check here.
Monday, March 3, 2008
“Blogging during my sojourn abroad”
I am posting my Mini-Project #1, which essentially is based on the implementation of a blog software – an asynchronous interactive computer-mediated-communication (CMC) tool composed of, as Laford & Laford define, "Web pages where an individual (or a group) posts messages and invites comments; it is a form of threaded discussion, but less structured and its themes are often personal" (2005:687). This project will be designed for students in Advanced Spanish II (SPA310) during summer semester (June 2 – July 23, 2008) at the academic study abroad program The Center for Cross-Cultural Study , Seville, Spain.
The ultimate goal of this project will be based on perceiving how the writing and reading confidence and attitudes of students increases, as well as how they improve their cultural awareness through the journal-type blog practice while their sojourn abroad.
The structure of this tentative project is divided into 3 main parts: 1. explanation and rational for project; 2. the actual project set up for a potential student; and 3. a teacher guide.
All in all, as Eric Schmidt claims, I consider that "this notion of self-publishing, which is what Blogger and blogging are really about, is the next big wave of human communication. The last big wave was Web activity. Before that one it was e-mail. Instant messaging was an extension of e-mail, real-time e-mail".
Comments and suggestion for bettering this project are more than welcome!
The ultimate goal of this project will be based on perceiving how the writing and reading confidence and attitudes of students increases, as well as how they improve their cultural awareness through the journal-type blog practice while their sojourn abroad.
The structure of this tentative project is divided into 3 main parts: 1. explanation and rational for project; 2. the actual project set up for a potential student; and 3. a teacher guide.
All in all, as Eric Schmidt claims, I consider that "this notion of self-publishing, which is what Blogger and blogging are really about, is the next big wave of human communication. The last big wave was Web activity. Before that one it was e-mail. Instant messaging was an extension of e-mail, real-time e-mail".
Comments and suggestion for bettering this project are more than welcome!
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