Foreign Language learning through Online Gaming

Previously I posted about using games in the classroom to foster learning. The "escape the room" game" I chose was definitely more of a casual game, where I sort of just made up some rules to promote vocabulary reinforcement. I have found a great website that is specifically for language learning other than just for reinforcing vocab. Digital Dialects is a website dedicated to serious foreign language games. The home page gives you the option to choose a language (they have 70!) Being a Spanish teacher, that was obviously my choice. Once you pick your language, the site brings you to a page where you can chose basic/introductory vocabulary, but there are also tabs at the top that lets you work with more grammar-oriented topics. There is a section on games, verbs, spelling, and even advanced vocabulary. Lets say I chose "greetings" under the "games" section. It gives you a list of about 20 words that are commonly used, as well as their English translation. There is also a button to click on to listen to the pronunciation of the word. Underneath the list, there are two game options that are audio or text only. It's basically a matching game, but definitely good for vocabulary reinforcement. What I really like is the verb conjugation part. They give you four different subject pronouns (you, I, he, we, etc.) and a verb that is conjugated. The object is to match the conjugated verb to the right subject pronoun, and it tells you if you're right or wrong.

I've played a number of these games under the Spanish language section, and I would definitely use it in the classroom, especially for verb conjugations. There are also a number of learning objectives I could come up with in any of the games: Students will be able to tell time in Spanish; SWBAT talk about foods in Spanish, etc. I think the primary use for me would be more vocabulary reinforcement. Assessing these games are not as easy, however. Lets say I'm learning about months of the year. If I choose the wrong one, the game will take me back to the list of months to show me what the correct answer is, then takes you back to the game to re-do it until you've completed all 12 months. I suppose this would be more of a self-assessment for the students, so they know what words they have to study harder, or maybe I could give them a mini-quiz on the vocabulary they have reinforced through these games.

With the availability of technology in schools now, I feel it is important to keep up with these trends. Luckily there are so many options we can find to use technology and games in the classroom to promote authentic learning, while keeping students engaged and having fun.

Learning with Games

 

Gaming (weather online or not) is something that everyone has done at least once in their lifetime. With the current trend of using technology in the classroom, I ask myself, "can we make gaming a part of learning?" It would definitely keep the students' attention. I recently read an article that discusses "gamification" in the classroom. In 7 Things You Should Know About Gamification, it is described as "the application of game elements in non-gaming situations, often to motivate or influence behavior." The example given in the article is a game used for an introductory forestry class. The students are sent out to explore different plants and identify them, while taking pictures of the plants with their cell phones as they go along. The teacher gave them a rubric to follow as well, and two weeks to complete the task. While something like this wouldn't work for all subject areas, we are able to use computers in the classroom that would accommodate any subject. Clearly there has to be some guidelines to use games in the classroom, to ensure the students are staying on task. I asked the same question you're thinking: How much real learning is going to happen with a game? In the same article, they discuss ways that games are effective for learners:

• Competition gets students more engaged
• Stimulation from the game can help students sharpen an ability
• Gaming forms learning communities to foster teamwork
• Encourages more complex, interactive scenarios that extend beyond the classroom
• Higher-level thinking

Of course there are some downsides (as with almost everything,) like trying to effectively implement gaming in the classroom, ensuring that the program works properly, etc. The game I tested out that could have its use in a foreign language classroom is called The Great Kitchen Escape. It is an "escape the room" game where the player has to find certain clues to, well, escape the room. While this could be difficult as a one-person game, there is a "walkthrough" option that shows the gamer exactly which clues to click on and "collect" and how to beat the level. This particular game has to do with kitchen vocabulary. If I were to implement it to reinforce vocabulary (which would be my main learning objective for this game) I would have the students work in pairs. One student will be the person searching for the clues, and the other student will watch the walkthrough video to tell the student what to do (in the target language of course!) For example, if the walkthrough video shows that you need to click and open the drawer to grab a knife for something, the person watching the video can give instructions to the other student using the vocabulary for "knife."

I've personally played the game once, but have played others a few times (The Great Living Room Escape, The Great Bedroom Escape, etc.) It would definitely be used with a walkthrough because most of the vocabulary would be hard to verbalize for a level I language class. The student watching the walkthrough could say, "Go to the drawer, open it and click on the cuchillo (knife)." As long as it reinforces some vocabulary words, I think it would be put to good use. As a teacher, I would have to walk around and watch the students to simply monitor what they're doing, to make sure the task is being completed. The images in the game (or the clues) would be where they would have the chance to use the vocabulary words related to whatever topic they're learning.

Assessing whether or not the learning objectives were met would be hard. Obviously the teacher would have to play the game first, but if it were me facilitating the gaming, I would make a check list for both students to fill out, and maybe have them make a list of what vocabulary words they used for the game.

If used properly, I think gaming could be a very effective tool in the classroom. It's just a matter of finding the right game that serves you and your students, and being creative!

Twitter for Professional Development

Social media can be a great way not only for personal use, but for developing a professional learning network (PLN) for educators. While it is always best to do what is right for yourself, we could always use help or suggestions to make social media more effective for educational purposes. Two articles I read about using Twitter for professional development (The Teacher's Guide to Twitter and 10 Twitter Mistakes You Should Avoid) have really good insight on how to make Twitter right for you.




The Teacher's Guide to Twitter

This article is very concise and has many suggestions to use Twitter effectively for education. One of the issues that is brought up is how to weed through microbloggers to find the ones right for you. Hashtags are very important. One suggestion given is to find educational hashtags and keywords relating to your topic to develop a PLN. The article also advises to create and share your own resources, not just consume others. As for following others, make sure you find experts on your topic to follow. There is also a lengthy list of 100 ways to use Twitter for more effective usage: Talk to people about their interests, use hashtags, don't try to read everything, share your information and credentials, as well as many others.




10 Twitter Mistakes You Should Avoid

This is a very short article giving anyone advice on what not to do:

• Don't over-tweet
• Don't re-tweet compliments
• Don't tweet about food

The list goes on. I think it's good advice to have a better following. I think about it this way: I don't want to see certain things people tweet about (food, specifically) so I wouldn't tweet about those things either.




Overall I think Twitter is a very good way for developing a Professional Learning Network to help find resources, share information, and ultimately connect with other like-minded individuals to help teachers be more effective in the classroom.

Educational Tweeting

             

I recently attended a general educational chat (#edchat) on Twitter as a means to communicate and collaborate with other teachers and colleagues. I found that Twitter in general can be put to good use in the classroom. As long as you follow the right people, you can find a ton of resources. One of the educators I'm following (+WeAreTeachers for example), posted a really cool article on how to use icebreakers in the classroom using technology. As far as using Twitter as a means of professional development, I feel like it could be very useful. For me however, I found that the times for specific Twitterchats are inconvenient. There are some that go on from 8-9 p.m. on weeknights, which are almost impossible for me to check out. Users are able to search hashtags to find relevant topics geared toward the same topic of the chat, but sometimes they talk about specific topics only, and users can't participate if they're not on Twitter at the right time.

The topic that was chosen for the Education Chat in which I participated (12-1 p.m.) was "What purpose do blogs have in the life of educators?" I found a lot of pros and cons from other tweets.

Some of the pros:

• It helps with learning and reflection
• Students are able to connect with other students and improve their writing
• Blogs can help keep a timeline of students' learning progress
• Teachers can build professional learning networks
• Gets students motivated and keeps them engaged
• Enhances 21st century learning skills

Here are some of the cons:

• The quality of blogs need to be monitored (if students are using them)
• It's hard to tell the focus of the blog without quality
• PRIVACY (There must be guidelines established)
• How do you decide what to put on a blog?
• Is a blog the most appropriate form of reflection?
• How do we stay motivated when no one reads our blog?

Overall, I thought it was interesting to see other people's insight on this topic. If it were more convenient for me to attend Twitterchats, I would really like to see what other topics are brought up, and check out other chats. I do believe this is a great way for networking, and to get new ideas and perspectives on certain issues regarding education. You are able to freely share any information you choose, as well as download any information. The hashtag feature really makes finding the right topics accessible and easy to find appropriate microbloggers for educational purposes.

Collaboration in the Classroom

 

Being actively involved collaborating with colleagues can greatly help in the classroom. I've recently joined a Social Networking group on Yahoo for Spanish teachers called MaestroDeEspanol which has about 1700 members. Here, anyone who joins this public forum can exchange and share information and files that are very helpful in the classroom. It's also refreshing to see other ideas from people around the country. Since foreign language has the same topics (family, house and home, food, etc.) sometimes teaching can become a little stale. This forum has tons of ideas and files free for download, and it even has its own group website where you can hold small conversations and message other users. There is no limit to how much information you can use (since it's free,) but they do advise as an "unwritten" rule to share as much as you download. I really enjoy how there's a whole section for interactive whiteboards (like a SMART board) to be used, so technology is even integrated and considered when other teachers create files. This particular group also has a section for message history, so any user can go back to January of 2010 and look at any comments or questions that were asked.

In education today, it is very important to stay current and use fresh ideas to keep students engaged. By collaborating using social networks, we can stay relevant and "work smarter, not harder!"

The Learner of Today: Connectivism

No matter how many foundational theories we learn as educators on how to teach, we'll always come into problems, or try something that just doesn't work. From my personal experience, everything I learned in school went right out the window in my first year of teaching. We learn that not everything we were taught works, and education is dynamic: What worked twenty years ago in the classroom isn't necessarily appropriate for the classroom of 2014.

An alternate theory called Connectivism by George Siemens proposes that as educators, we must find a different way to teach, given the technological advances we have today, to implement in the classroom. "It is a model of learning that acknowledges shifts in society where learning is no longer individualistic..." To me, the learner of today is like social software: There is a need to connect with others to stay current, and not in isolation. (This could go for teachers, too.) This is where connectivism comes in: It is "driven by the understanding that decisions are based on rapidly altering foundations." With all of the technological advances we have today, we need to keep our teaching current and to also keep our learners engaged. Learning is a process that occurs within multiple environments with shifting elements; it is not necessarily under the control of the individual, according to Siemens theory. We need to nurture and maintain these connections to have up-to-date knowledge.

 

 

Siemens talks about the impact of social media on learning in one of his videos, and I believe it relates back to connectivism a lot. He basically says that "through social means, we're able to connect and share with each other." This goes hand-in-hand with classroom teaching too. Since education is dynamic and not so much based on the individual anymore, we can use prompts or certain things to initiate conversation and discussions, rather than lecturing. He refers to Flickr as an example of how we are able to share pictures and images. Anyone who has an account can comment on these images. Basically it is a conduit that leads to conversation. We are able to do this in the classroom. We can stimulate conversation and learn by doing and discussing, rather than just listening. We are social beings that need mental stimulation to learn.

 

I believe that this theory can do great things in the classroom, especially in relation to technology in the classroom. We need to start changing the way of instruction to change with the times. Education should not be a static thing, and we need to also recognize that.