Welcome to the portal page for participants of the first week of the 2016 NOVASTARTALK Summer Institute. We will use this page to communicate assignments, updates and announcements. Please use the comment area at the bottom of this page to discuss with your fellow participants. Get started by looking through the announcements below.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Before we meet at the Alexandria Campus (Bisdorf Building Room 334A) on Monday, June 13 for our first day, we have three short tasks that we ask you to complete.
One: Introduce Yourself!
We have created a digital wall for you to introduce yourself to the other participants using a program called Padlet.
- Go to the Padlet page at https://padlet.com/agunder/ns2016
- Click on a blank part of the map to open a text box.
- Write your name in the title line.
- Introduce yourself, telling us where you teach, what language you teach and something about you. Feel free to write in the target language.
- (Optional) Attach an image of yourself using one of the icons on the bottom of the text box.
If you need help with Padlet or want a demo of how to post, watch this quick video:
Two: Review and Discuss This Video
As an icebreaker, please watch this video posted below. After watching, scroll to the bottom of this page and write a discussion post using the comment area that says Leave a reply. List three things that you learned from the video.
Make sure to complete these tasks before you come on the first day, as there will be a special announcement made for those that finish beforehand!
GETTING TO THE INSTITUTE
NOVASTARTALK will start on Monday morning at 9:00 am in room 334A of the Bisdorf building of NOVA Alexandria. Please park your car on the top outdoor parking deck across from the Bisdorf Building. If you come in from Leesburg Pike, there is a stop sign right before the Parking deck on Dawes Avenue. You’ll go to the right and up to the designated area in the top deck. Do not park anywhere else on campus to avoid a ticket. Our instructional aids (Imad and Cody) will be on the corner to direct you to the spot. Do not arrive before 8:30 am or if you do, please visit cafeteria on ground floor.
If you are coming from the Ballston or the King Street metro on the NOVA shuttle, be sure to use NOVA Shuttle Route B which goes directly to the Alexandria Campus. The shuttle will stop at the Bisdorf building. Go up to Room 334A where our class will meet. Please leave early enough to arrive by 9:00. Leave plenty of time for transportation to be able to gauge just how much time you’ll need each day. We want everyone to start learning at 9:00 sharp each day.
http://www.nvcc.edu/shuttle/
NOVA has a cafe in Level One of the Bisdorf building with sandwiches, hot foods, noodles, coffee, tea and myriad other beverages. This is your best choice if you just want a little something to hold you over for the day.
If you want to get out during lunch there are quick restaurants off of Rt. 7 (Leesburg Pike) going West. Turn left out of NOVA and in the first major shopping center there is a Giant Supermarket in the center. On the right of the Giant Supermarket, you can see a strip mall with these restaurants:
- Bamboo Buffet (Chinese, inexpensive, authentic)
- Pho Golden Cow (Vietnamese)
- Subway (simple sandwiches)
- Z Kabob (Kebabs, quick)
- Kenji Fusion (Sushi)
- Edy’s Chicken and Steak (Peruvian, cheap and quick)
- Starbucks (Coffee)
- Einstein’s Bagels (Breakfast and Sandwiches)
If you continue on Rt. 7 from the Giant Shopping Center, on the right going west, you will find:
- City Diner (Breakfast, Lunch,Dinner ) Classic Diner and Greek Food
- Bamian (Afghan All-you-can-eat, Inexpensive)
Continue a little further on the right hand site of Leesburg Pike:
- Raaga (Indian cuisine, nice buffet with vegetarian options)
- Duangrats (Thai, fancy)
- Rabieng (Thai, homestyle)
- Hokkaido (Japanese buffet)
- Jerusalem (Middle East and Kebabs)
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Before we meet at the Alexandria Campus (Bisdorf Building Room 334A) on Monday, June 20 for our first day, we have three short tasks that we ask you to complete.
One: Introduce Yourself!
We have created a digital wall for you to introduce yourself to the other participants using a program called Padlet.
- Go to the Padlet page at https://padlet.com/agunder/ns2016week2
- Click on a blank part of the map to open a text box.
- Write your name in the title line.
- Introduce yourself, telling us where you teach, what language you teach and something about you. Feel free to write in the target language.
- (Optional) Attach an image of yourself using one of the icons on the bottom of the text box.
If you need help with Padlet or want a demo of how to post, watch this quick video:
Two: Review and Discuss This Video
As an icebreaker, please watch this video posted below. After watching, scroll to the bottom of this page and write a discussion post using the comment area that says Leave a reply. List three things that you learned from the video.
Make sure to complete these tasks before you come on the first day, as there will be a special announcement made for those that finish beforehand!
GETTING TO THE INSTITUTE
NOVASTARTALK will start on Monday morning at 9:00 am in room 334A of the Bisdorf building of NOVA Alexandria. Please park your car on the top outdoor parking deck across from the Bisdorf Building. If you come in from Leesburg Pike, there is a stop sign right before the Parking deck on Dawes Avenue. You’ll go to the right and up to the designated area in the top deck. Do not park anywhere else on campus to avoid a ticket. Our instructional aids (Imad and Cody) will be on the corner to direct you to the spot. Do not arrive before 8:30 am or if you do, please visit cafeteria on ground floor.
If you are coming from the Ballston or the King Street metro on the NOVA shuttle, be sure to use NOVA Shuttle Route B which goes directly to the Alexandria Campus. The shuttle will stop at the Bisdorf building. Go up to Room 334A where our class will meet. Please leave early enough to arrive by 9:00. Leave plenty of time for transportation to be able to gauge just how much time you’ll need each day. We want everyone to start learning at 9:00 sharp each day.
http://www.nvcc.edu/shuttle/
For effective language learning instructors should keep in mind: learners’ high expectation – integrated problem based curricula- collaborative work – innovative use of technology.
The work of teaching: utilizing authentic cultural tasks – engaging students in cultural perspective – using the target language and assessing learners interpersonal speaking skills – understand how learners think – assessing learners progress.
Teaching unnatural: ask question that we know part of the answer – probing others’ ideas – not assuming shared ideas.
In my view, essential parts of Core Practices are to employ:
•TL as an instructive vehicle
•Grammar as Concept and context
•Authentic Cultural Texts
I learned that teaching is a well-planned unnatural work that focuses on:
•Learner’s point of view
•Dealing learners individually and descriptively
•Monitoring and assessing learner’s interpersonal speaking skills and progress
From the discussion on Core Practices, I learned that a) the instructional moves should be planned, rehearsed and executed. This is in connection with designing lessons and assigning tasks. b) one of the essential parts of teaching is engaging students in interpersonal communication involving negotiation with meaning to arrive at an understanding. c) while interacting with text background knowledge and other related information should be employed in order to interpret the text as well as making suitable inferences from the text.
There are six core practices for effective language teaching that are complex and subject specific; they can be deconstructed, cannot be learned through observation, but can be explained, taught, and coached.
Some unnatural work of teaching includes asking questions to which we know the answer, not presuming shared identify, and “seeing people more descriptively”
Language teachers should “focus on form” more than on teaching grammar points. I would like to learn more about how the Pace model and how it works.
The first concept from this webinar that struck me was the statement that teaching is “unnatural” work that requires carefully designed learning. And because of this, the 6 core teaching practices are essential for learning and teaching.
Second, I learned the characteristics of core practices and the differences between core practices and best practices and realized that I can be a whole new teacher through becoming proficient in the core teaching practices!
Finally, the 6 core practices with detailed moves helps me examine my current teaching skills and I’m looking forward to optimizing my teaching through these practices.
1 Teaching is not something that just comes natural. It needs carefully design, carrying out, and evaluation.
2 Something language teachers should always keep in mind is that using target language as the vehicle and content of language can motivate our students to comprehend and analyse language in a more complex context.
3 Appropriate feedback could be either implicit and explicit.
REFLECTION QUESTION: What do you see as the opportunities afforded and benefits of using the technologies presented today (Kubi, Double Robot, Sphero Robot, Green Screen, Aurasma, VR Headsets, etc.)? How would you use these devices to teach language?
I can see myself using Aurasma in my classroom. I will video tape an aura and demonstrate the pronunciation of new words, print out the character which is linked to the video in Aurasma, and the students can just scan, watch, listen, and practice on their own.
love Double Robot! I want to get one for myself! so I can always talk to my parents who are in China and get into arguments with them lol!
But I can also see teachers use Double Robot and Kubi in class, when there are kids away for sports or vacation, they can still engage with the use of either of those.
It would be nice if we can get kubi, double robot or sphere robot but the cost or even its usage would be hard in a small school like us. But other technology can be used very nicely in classes. Greenscreen can be fun if we can get the green background. Teachers could create some informational lecture about places and have a live background of a place to show the ‘reality’ look of the video. Also record students in video and give them backgrounds for fun, of course students need to use target language in order to apply the background. VR also seems useful for getting students to explain what they see with a target language or do quizzes of what they see.
Kubi allows one to make a more lively recording of a classroom discussion of activity for students who might not have been able to attend. The special benefit of Kubi is that the video can move around the room to capture each participant in the discussion. With Sphero Robot, I could imagine an activity in which students compete to ask and answer questions in the target language. The student who asks the question controls the sphere and steers it to the student who answers the question correctly. That student then asks a new question and steers the sphere to the student who answers that question correctly. The Green Screen allows a student to both explore and make a presentation or demonstration about a place or activity in the target country. I would most likely use the Green Screen technology in my classroom.
I would use Double Robot to teach language between campuses with a single teacher. Having Double Robot as virtual teachers in different campuses/or countries and the real teacher in one location would be a good idea especially to teach less commonly taught languages with relatively less number of student enrollments. As for Green Screen, it is possible to have the teacher or student discuss a remote location and have the 3D version of that location added with the description using Green Screen technology. So, students and teachers don’t have to be in the locations where foreign language is spoken. Green Screen technology can be used to mimic the real world situation with 3D effects. VR headset is a good resource for students watch the 3D locations and narrate their experience as though they are in the actual locations. This will be a great resource for giving a task to students to narrate their live experience in walking through a tourist spot in target language space.
I would like to use Nearpod as a tool for students to get engaged into class. I can create questions that we go over in the class together or give them as an assignment so that they may learn by themselves at home. Technology itself cannot be a goal, but how the teachers ues it as a tool is the key to lanugage instuction. We can give differentiate self learning process to learners and can use the tool for sometimes review, assessment or lecture.
I am surprising that the technology develops so fast. I learn the last year QR code, but the Aurasma is the upgrade version of it. It is more visual display than QR code. Only a weak point is this app can use with ipad only. I can use VR Headset in the class to make geographical lesson because it can give student fun. It also can use a task to find the target letter from the place without traveling there. Kubi is good to use online class because it can easy make live class at the same time at different places.
Green Screen is a good way for students to perform the role play. Students can create skits under different back ground settings.
Aurasma is a good way to ask students to find information under the pictures, posters, ..ect. It’s more interesting to ask the students to read articles or watch videos directly.
I think it would be a good idea to use app smashing method by combining Canva and Thinglink when students do some projects. However, it is not simple to learn the technology for elementary school students, so I would often introduce my project at the beginning of the lesson and make students get the whole picture of the lesson. If students get interested in the project itself and start to have interest about it, and I would let my students do their projects.
In addition, I think teachers can use Nearpod when teachers check up students’ understanding. Teachers could use it during the class and at the end of the class as an assessment.
From the technology that we’ve seen today, there’s a lot of room for ‘App Smashing’. For example, I can make my word walls become ‘interactive’ by linking them to videos of stories I’ve created on other sites, like WeVideo. Students can also scan the Auras and develop their own stories to go along with those words. They can create their ‘images’ through Canva or other online photo editors.
A real world application of Kubi would be a student who is unable to attend class at school (medical, sports or other reasons) and the student can attend and participate in class remotely.
The Green Screen is a interesting and fun tool. For middle school students there would definitely be some time needed to model and teach them how to create videos to tell their own stories in the target language. However, green screen technology can actually be quite low-tech (fabric and lights), so my students could develop engaging content (product of target language).
The Green Screen will be very engaging for students to be in the virtual reality of native environment where they can use the three mode of communication skills to incorporate class projects and implement the world-readiness standards for learning languages.
I can use Sphero Robot in my classroom, I will use it when teaching direction by letting students take turn on it and they tell each other direction in the target language ( north, south, left and right) to get to a place. Another one is Green Screen and let students make their own video about weather. Google cardboard is a great tool for students to tour the Arabic world because in my program on the first day the students choose an Arabic name and adopt an Arabic country, so this tool is great to get a virtual tour of that country.
I’d like to convince my school to purchase a Sphero Robot to use it in classroom activities. When the robot stops in front of a student, he/she will answer the assigned question. The Green Screen is a great tool for students to use their imagination and talent to record a video about places to go. It’s a fun activity in class or home as long as the green screen color is available. I can use the VR headsets for students to visit places virtually. Students can describe what the see and other students will guess the location. I understand the at the headset are affordable. The Nearpod app is a great tool to enhance details in pictures about culture; places, decorations, calligraphy, food, clothing, people, customs, or more.
Students can use Green Screen to create their assignments. And teachers can use Aurasma to create activities providing differentiated learning opportunities.
Technology in teaching is creating a whole new vision and style in learning.it will bringing children to bring on one platform just standing on their feet without moving reach around the world, learn and search every culture and language .