Friendship

     Friendship is something most people have experience with or an interest in and that is why I liked the Spanish podcast  "Cancion por Ti"  which means "Song for You."   The song would be truly handy as part of  a Spanish lesson.  It is by the singing group  "Ella Baila Sola"  which means "She Dances Alone." It  is a song about love and friendship.  The translation is as follows:

     I want to give you words, be your support when you fall, hold your hand when walking and tell you things in your ear. I want to be your blanket when you are cold and I want to be your shoulder to cry on.  For you, I  pledge my life to seeing you smile for one moment. For you,  I sell my soul in exchange for time that you need to be happy.  I drop everything for one of your kisses. I want to be your sword and your shield, to tell you that I want you one more time. I want to be your wings and your sky. I want to be the ocean and your sailboat, the ground and your feet for walking.

    I could imagine a mother saying these lyrics to her child.  Students might select one or two lines of the song to create a friendship card and draw or find a picture to match the words. Students could create a story about who the words are addressed to, why the  words are said, where the people are, what a person's response would be,  if the characters are friends, relatives or pets as well as what happens before and after the song.  This song could be used to practice subjunctive by replacing subjunctive verbs such as "caigas"  with other subjunctive verbs.  This song could also be used to reinforce the difference between "por" and "para" by dramatizing or by  creating pictures pertaining to sentences with "por" and "para."  Nouns could be replaced by other nouns.  If  students feel comfortable enough with each other, this would be an ideal song for karaoke.  In an intermediate or advanced conversation class, this song could be used to spark a discussion about important qualities to look for in a friend.

     In conclusion, possibilities and learning opportunities are abundant. Depending on the learning objectives, this song could be used to enhance grammar, vocabulary, speaking, writing and listening skills as well as spark debate about what is important in a relationship with a friend, family member and/or  pet.  
  

     


    

Erudition via ePals

     In2books is such an amazing idea that I don't understand why other countries don't replicate it, with permission of course.  In2books requires adult pen pals of the students to be "carefully" screened.  Five books are read each year by both the adult and the student. Subsequently, six to ten emails are exchanged.  One is an introduction or "getting to know you" letter and then five to nine letters are about the previously read book, to share opinions and ideas about important parts.  I am so impressed with in2books because rather than simply focusing on passing a course, students would be motivated to communicate with their pen pals.  I would implement in2books by first researching students' interests and subsequently finding pertinent books to match the learning objectives.  Then we would begin the in2books pen pal project regarding the chosen books.. A detailed in2books rubric is provided on the website but I might add an activity of asking students to write  brief reviews of their books to be published in a classroom newspaper. Also important is that teachers have the option of making comments or suggestions to each other.   In2books is a feature of a learning tool entitled "ePals."
     As a free email service, ePals targets students in Kindergarten  through 12th grade.  According to the website,  educators can monitor e-mails, block attachments, limit correspondence and ePals is ad free.
Students can  learn about other cultures and become role models to peers in another country who are learning English. Teachers post to request pen pals, participants for projects or to seek advice.  One wonderful feature was the ePals global community forum in which people post general information about their classroom or their learners in order to find a match with another class or group.  Features such as games, poems, lesson plans, curriculum and art creation (via the ePals clubhouse) sounded wonderful but were inaccessible to me unless I were willing to sign up.  
      "Junior Folklorist Challenge"  is also a project presented  as a contest on the ePals website.  The idea is to find somebody in the community to interview and tell that person's story in seven minutes or less via podcast, video or slide show.   The story might be about work, a hobby, celebrations or anything of interest to the interviewer.  I like the idea but initially I would modify it by limiting it to my classroom rather than involving the community.  Students would write  a hobby, skill, interest, recipe or anything unique about themselves.  I would distribute the information so students interview one another and create a presentation such as a video which might be in the form of a news report.  Although the interviewer would not choose the topic, everyone would be interviewed and the interviewer perhaps might discover a new passion.  Such a project would inspire learners (from various countries) in an ESL class to enhance knowledge about different cultures.
     Another ePals project is "The Spark Lab Global Invent-It Challenge."   People ages five to 18 would select a real world problem and then find a solution individually or as a group.   This is a quintessential activity because it requires creativity and imagination. I would ask learners to brainstorm genuine problems and together contemplate solutions. Subsequently, ideas could be presented to the class and if appropriate to politicians or journalists.  This project might be modified to be about problems in the school or in the classroom.   
      In conclusion, communication is a critical motivator of all the projects featured on the ePals website and communication is the reason for reading and writing in the first place.  I very much look forward to implementing in2books, the Junior Folklorist Challenge and the Spark Lab Global Invent-It Challenge as a unique way to accomplish learning goals. 

Lost Husband

     "Lost Husband" is the name of my comic strip.  It is about a woman who is looking for her husband and the person giving her directions is her husband in disguise but she does not realize this until the end of the story. .A comic strip about a  bank robbery was my first idea and that idea would have been effective as well. I wrote this story to reinforce imperative verb forms, adjectives such as "tall,"  "dark" and "handsome" and the names of places.
     After everyone is familiar with the story, it could be transformed to a skit. Students could rewrite it by changing the words to other vocabulary of the same category.  For example, names of other locations could replace "supermarket" and "school."   "Husband"  could be replaced by other words such as "wife," 'brother," "friend" or "cousin."   Students might substitute a variety of adjectives for tall, dark and handsome."
     I would  research an appropriate mapping tool for learners when they are finding the "lost husband" because  "Scribble Maps" and "Community Walk" as amazing as they are, do not seem suitable for this particular comic strip story.
     Comic strips are an ideal strategy to meet a variety of  learning objectives because there are infinite ways to implement them  in the language classroom.  I also believe that all ages and learning levels would benefit from exposure to a well written lesson plan which features comic strips. 

Love

      I wanted this story entitled  "Love"  to have  a fairytale Disneyland aspect and so it is about a leopard and a lion who fall in love with each other. They live happily ever after.
      I would use this as a review after expressions such as "happily ever after"  have been taught.   The past tense, the present tense (via the music) and adjectives would be reviewed as well.   To reinforce adjectives such as "strong," "nice," "clever" and "beautiful" this video would be ideal. The adjectives could be replaced by their opposites, as in a cloze exercise.
     The story could become a skit with some added elements such as a day in the life of the lion.    
     Another possibility would be to change this story by substituting other verbs. For example  other  verbs could replace "loved."  How would that alter the story? 
    This video could be used to spark debate about what is important in a relationship.  A story could be created about the lion's and the leopard's life before they met each other, using adjectives such as "sad" "lonely"  or "incomplete." The lion and the leopard could become people, other animals or any being.
     The lyrics "I just want to make you happy" could be discussed as well.  For example, an advanced ESL discussion topic after watching this digital story might be whether happiness comes from within or if others make us happy. What are some examples? 

Getting Personal with Digital Storytelling

     Digital storytelling is about using multimedia to tell a story.  "Images, maps, sound, video and a strong emotional component" should be implemented according to an article entitled  "7 Things  You Should Know about Digital Storytelling."   So tasks would be to explore the topic, write a script and procure images as well as audio and video. Subsequently, the objective would be to put everything together.
     The idea of using digital storytelling as an e-portfolio to showcase progress as described in the aforementioned article  was intriguing to me. I would first seek advice from people who have used digital stories as e-portfolios and any tips would be greatly appreciated.
      "Most digital stories focus on a specific topic and contain a particular point of view" according to an article entitled "The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling."  As part of  a project to reinforce the past tense, I would  ask students to create a digital story about friendship and how they met their best friend or how their parents met each other. Improved speaking, listening, writing and reading  skills as well as vocabulary reinforcement would be  added benefits.
     An "evaluation framework" submitted by educators Barrett (2006), Ohler (2008) and Teehan (2007-08),  would be particularly handy regarding digital storytelling because it includes a checklist for graphics, audio and grammar to be assessed by the student, his/her peers and the teacher.   

Hunger and Hardship

     The Third World Farmer game would be an effective way to practice language autonomously outside the classroom because target vocabulary could be used in context to problem solve. In this game, one pretends to be a farmer who does not have sufficient money or resources to survive.    I chose "Third World Farmer" because it reminded me of effective discussion stimulating activities I used to implement in my classroom before technology was available. This game could be played by beginners to practice numbers, months and food vocabulary as well as  to practice math as native speakers might by adhering to a budget. Solving math problems to stay within a budget is (in my opinion) a preferable way to learn math vocabulary than by  studying from a textbook.   The subjunctive and conditional might also be practiced by discussing possible choices and consequences of decisions made playing the game. How would it feel to be the farmer?
     Although I played this game twice,  after the first time, I felt such empathy for third world farmers and all people who do not have quite enough to survive, despite immense effort.  One drawback of this game is that  it does not seem realistic or possible to ever have enough of anything for survival.  To me, that is very discouraging.
     Language learning objectives in a lesson which features this game would be  to reinforce vocabulary,  to practice answering "why" questions and reinforce the past tense as well as the subjunctive. Students would write (as they play the game) what they bought, why they bought it,what the consequences were and how they felt about problems a poor farmer might face.  After summarizing and sharing  with a peer what they wrote,  students would then write a journal reflection about what they learned from the game. Students' summaries and journal reflections would be my assessment that learning objectives were met.

Escaping!!

     I played Polleke's Blue Room four times because I was attempting to escape from the room just a bit faster each time.  I was intrinsically motivated and engaged which is one of the arguments for teachers to implement such games according to Stephan Franciosi.  In his article   "A Comparison of  Computer Game and Language-Learning Task Design Using Flow Theory"  Franciosi  stressed that games can  facilitate language learning because of immediate feedback and clear, concrete goals.  He wrote "computer games and language learning tasks are fundamentally identical  in that both can be considered goal-oriented and rule-driven activities."  I  never considered such  benefits online games offer to foreign language students until I learned about gamification, which entails using game style logic  in a non-game situation  so  the lesson is more enjoyable and participatory.  Hence, learning objectives can be met by problem solving which includes solving puzzles and working collaboratively.  Completion of a puzzle and a search for hidden objects are  required to escape from "Polleke's Blue Room."  
     "Polleke's Blue Room" would enhance a language learning lesson because as  students converse, they  would  practice using  prepositions, vocabulary words and  imperative verb forms as well as reinforce listening and reading comprehension skills.  So, reinforcement of prepositions, key vocabulary and imperative verb forms would be the language learning objectives. Prior to this game, students will have studied necessary vocabulary.  Each person would also be given pictures of the room (as shown online) as one way to anticipate what will happen in this lesson.  I subsequently describe how to play the game showing images of the room and a walk through.  This way, students  sharpen listening comprehension skills. Reading comprehension skills are addressed when I distribute a script of the instructions to escape from the room. I would add about four or five questions at the end of the walk through script to ensure understanding. Students  help each other answer questions after first attempting to answer the questions themselves.    By labeling items in  pictures, and making notes about where things are, students practice vocabulary and review prepositions.  Working in groups of three, so one person would  write what their group does to problem solve, one person would explain what to do using imperative verb forms and prepositions and the third person would be actually playing the game.  Roles are switched partway through the game.
     To assess learning, students would write their own reflections about this lesson in a journal.  Journal entries would be in response to teacher questions such as where the particular items were found (to assess preposition knowledge) or how they would tell another person to escape from the room (to assess knowledge of the imperative verb forms and vocabulary).