teaching languages to today’s digital children

TEACHING LANGUAGES TO

TODAY’S DIGITAL CHILDREN

Saturday October 30, 2010SLIC Conference, Edmonton, ABPresenter: Carolyn L.M.KingB.A.(Hons), B.Ed, M.Ed.Dip. en Enseignement en Immersion

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Session Overview

What IS the children’s Digital Background?

What does this mean? How can Teachers use it to

advantage? What sort of ideas/ items are

included? Why is this aspect of any

importance at all?

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Children come to school now....

With many & varied skills in working with digital items

Well-versed & practiced in operating new items

TV & DVDs. CDs are known to them before they can walk/or speak

Many are adept with computers, MP3s, iPods,iPhones, Blackberry,Wii at 4yrs old

Many are happy to share their skills with any adult

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Errors as Steps to Learning -

Children are extremely quick to learn new gadgets

Children have NO difficulty in accepting different ways of using gadgets

They are happy to try out new things They pit their skills against themselves – They never tire of learning new things... And therefore of making mistakes. This is their secret to success & they

know they can win.

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Their method & motivation -

Two Important Points:

They build on their errors systematically to achieve Learning

Their motivation is to master the skill they are working on

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Without Error & Persistence, NO progress would ever be achieved.

These children have experience in Error & Persistence

They push themselves to improvement & success

Teachers can use this in the language classroom

Let’s discuss HOW!

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Global Learning:

With easy access to worldwide sources – We can enhance three important areas KNOWLEDGE - of other world regions,

cultures, economies & global issues SKILLS - to communicate in Languages other

than English, to work in cross-cultural teams & to access information from sources around the world

VALUES - of respect for other cultures & the disposition to engage responsibly as an actor in the global context: to understand that people can be different & right

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Definitions -

Webcast Webcam Podcast iPod / MP3 Smart Board Webinar E-Game E-Zine E-Interviews Readers Theatre Role Playing – video recording Music, song – audio recording Access to video streaming from Computers Access to music & cultural songs Increasing use of group dynamics Email News websites available in many languages Email available for the blind Store sites available in many languages

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Resources to Explore: Interactive Whiteboards/ Smart Boards Webcams Laptop computers Notebooks iPods/ MP3s Flip Cameras Photoshop Webquests Webcasts Podcasts Web design tools E- Interviews E-Zines Video conferencing Cell/ Mobile phones - Languages CD Roms DVDs Electronic research Electronic Field Trips News sites in many languages Websites providing Cultural connections in the target language E-Games Wikipedias - in 270 languages Recorders – audio & video Wii – games & learning Electronic equipment Inspiration software

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Activities for Involvement in L2+

Web search Report on Website/ subject Webcast/ Pod cast listening “Webcast” production Readers Theatre Mind mapping projects ?

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Practical websites for L2+ Teachers

www.vocabfish.com/ flash cards, games

www.omniglot.com/links/language.htm www.internetworldstats.com www.freelanguage.org www.c4lpt.co.uk

Podcasts, courses, information, lessons www.utm.edu/departments/french/french.html

(Tennessee Bob Peckham) 10,000 sites for French www.word2word/pod.html

(Podcasts in many languages) www.songsforteaching.com www.mp3languagelearning.com www.language-learning-advisor.com www.chinesepod.com http://nclrc.org/webcasts/russian www.bbc.co.uk/languages www.cnn.com edtech@smartbrief.com

Cities of the world : check out the museums, art galleries, historic sites, new aspects etc

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Teacher Associations Contacts: www.caslt.org www.aatg.org www.frenchteachers.org

Check for sites in the target language you teach.

(also through CASLT site, you will find Links to many other associations useful to Teachers of Languages).

carrieking@shaw.caclmking@rogers.blackberry.net