Making Use of Blogging and Wikis in the MFL

Classroom

Alex BlagonaLanguage College CoordinatorNorthgate High School, Ipswich

25th February 2008www.northgatemfl.co.uk

Is this the future?

“Young people’s familiarity with ICT offers a great opportunity to language teachers. It seems to us that a determined commitment to use this world, which is so familiar to young people, is a key to increasing the engagement of young people of all ages with languages. New technologies can facilitate real contacts with schools and young people in other countries. They can also provide stimulus for creative and interactive work.”

(Lord Dearing - Languages Review March

2007)

Improving language skills by Blogging…

A Blog…• Lets you READ the content…• Gives you the opportunity to WRITE

both comment and content…• Offers a format to present SPOKEN

media…• Which you, er…LISTEN to!

Can we keep up with the kids?

Using Blogs• Web + log = Blog• Used as an online diary, journal, source of

news, and publishing of students’ work

What did we consider?

• Purpose

• Audience

• Content

Why are we doing this?

Who is going to bother reading it?

What do we put on it?

How can we use a blog?• Sharing good ideas and resources.• Raising awareness of MFL across the school

(and beyond!)• Online diaries of school trips and exchanges.• Getting students to assess each other’s work.• Broadcasting podcasts and mp3s

“Es war ziemlich gut, aber die Musik war sehr langweilig. Bob, Sam und Alpal war lustig, und ich habe Pizza gegessen.” Callum

“Funky music!!! It was well good. Well done to all the people who did it!!! Oh and I loved Sam, Alex and Robert’s laugh! “Hahaha, Oh Alex!” However some people could have tried to do it in a clear German accent.” Sophie

“Mr Cobbold's class thinks - very good! Jack B. liked the music, Billy said it was funny - but the challenge is now set - can 9BGn1 do better? We will see…”Anonymous

It was very good because everyone took it seriously. The music was really good, but some of the other people could have tried to do it in a German accent! Alex

It was very good and I liked the accents everyone was doing - it made it sound really German. I didn’t like the music and I don't think that it went with the kind of thing that we were talking about so that could be changed and I liked it how everyone was talking really clearly and greeting them and saying goodbye. It was really good and I really want to do another one soon!! Louise

What are the problems?

• Keeping it up to date

• Technology over Teaching?

• Building an audience

• Overcoming fears and concerns

Are the students safe?

Students only use first names Never give out email addresses Never give out home addresses Never give out telephone numbers Always respect others Do not use rude or threatening words Do not use text talk or chat language Do not copy other people’s work You will be responsible for everything you write You will check your spelling before posting

Where are we now?

• Audience

• Resource - used by over 100 students a week to download/revise/extend

• Reference - used by schools across the world!

What’s so good about it?• Creativity and global citizenship.• It’s not new for pupils who use

Bebo/MySpace/Facebook.• Helps subject to be more relevant to kids.• It’s quite simple to use.• Writing for a purpose (real audience) increases

standards at all levels - it’s real communication.• Allows for peer assessment through comments in a

safe environment - electronic form of assessment for learning.

Making your blog funky!

Make your blog more interactive!

Make your blog more interactive!

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Using a wiki to get your students working together

A ‘wiki’ is a simple to use website that allows users to create their own entries, which can then be edited and changed by other users.

In MFL we can use ‘wikis’ to get students to create, share, correct and discuss their work with each other in a secure and personalised environment.

What makes wikis remarkable?

•Anyone can add, edit, or delete a page.

•Users control the design and organisation of the wiki.

•On most wikis, what you write is more important than how it looks.

Useful examples of MFL wikis

edgehill-spanish.wikispaces.com

northgatemfl.wikispaces.com

irsdeutsch.wikispaces.com

langwitch.wikispaces.com

Wiki as a Collaboration tool•Students like the ability to collaborate.•The wiki facilitates, but doesn’t teach collaboration skills - the students need time to get used to the idea!•Students need help organising collaborative writing projects.•Wiki management is ideally controlled by the students, but monitored by the teachers.•Students need to develop wiki-skills - but it is a great way to aid independent study.•The “history” and “recent changes” tools can help with assessing participation

Wiki as information pool/resource•Students can create learning materials!•Wikis allow a variety of authorship/ownership combinations.•Wikis break down the dynamics of traditional writing assignments.•It is very hard to let go of the idea of “ownership” of the text.•Wikis can expand both the audience and the participants in writing projects.•Plagiarism can be an issue.

“What I like best about the Wiki”

• “The chance to be creative was great - and it’s better than just writing it - we could put whatever we wanted on there (pictures, responses, content).”

• “I like to see my classmates’ work. It was also fun to see [their] comments on my work.”

• “Seeing some of the phrases used in people’s essays made me want to make my essay better.”

• “It gives you a chance to feel part of a group - we can learn from the rest of the group - and it makes sure you do your homework.”

• “I liked the flexibility a lot.”

New, corrected text in green, deleted text in red.

Want to start your own blog?

www.blogger.comwww.typepad.comwww.wordpress.comwww.wikispaces.comwww.pbwiki.comwww.northgatemfl.co.uk

Want to create a wonderful wiki?

northgatemfl.wikispaces.com