Three Ideas for the LOTE Classroom.

Language education is a particular area that can benefit greatly from many of the Web2.0 tools and technology advancements in computing. In-built microphones, web cams and the ability to be able create and share content online, has allowed the language classroom to be more than just the student

regurgitating what the teacher has just said. Here are 3 fairly simple ideas that language teachers could use with their classroom to engage their students using technology.  

1. Get your students to create a Voki of a famous person that resides within the country specific to your LOTE class. Students must then give their characters a voice by using the recording functionality of the Voki application.  Students can then embed their Voki into a a class blog or into a PowerPoint and show it to the class.




2. Get students from a senior class (Year 10) to mentor a lower year level (Year 7)  through their learning of the language.  Read this article about student mentoring for language education. By using a collaborative tool such as Edmodo a teacher could add students from each year level to a group he/she has created. Allowing younger students to ask questions or getting the older students to provide video tutorials or listening comprehension tasks.
3. Using a tool such as VoiceThread get your class to discuss a topic or theme relating to what you are currently studying. For a more advanced learning experience make it compulsory for students to use only the proper language for your class, making sure they have a variety of both written and audio comments on various slides. This page in the VoiceThread library provides a good example of the type of task you could complete with your  students.