LoopSkool Chinese App Review

                                           LoopSkool Chinese App Review

LoopSkool Chinese is a great app to learn to speak and read Chinese for L2 students.  The creators of this Chinese language learning app utilizes the concept that language can be remembered better and learnt quicker and more easily with the use of rhythm.  I have actually used this method before with my classes and found this method beneficial to language learning. Chinese is a tonal language and once you incorporate rhythm with language learning, at least at the early stages of learning Chinese, it does actually help students learn.  

I think the creators of this app are onto something good with this unique and different approach to learning and teaching of language.  This will definitely be a hit with students as its a fun way to learn as well.  Students will soon be tapping their feet while learning Chinese at the same time.   

The app has lots of practical functions and well thought out activities to help the students gain mastery of the content in the lessons.  Check out my video for a quick introduction to the app, sorry about the sound quality, I'll get that fixed for next time.  

LoopSkool Chinese 2 is available as well.  I'd suggest you ask your students to download both while they are free on iTunes, at the time of writing this post.  For some reason, LoopSkool 2 costs $0.99 on Google Play.


           

Writing Fit and Why We Need to Keep Handwriting

Image:  images.clipartpanda.com

With the digital age coming at us like a tsunami, well its already here, its difficult not to be overwhelmed by what to do about whether to get your students to hand write or type responses.  Just recently, I had this discussion with a colleague and it got me thinking.  Here are some things to consider when teachers are faced with how to get their students writing their responses by hand with so much tech about.  Every teacher and every class will have their own unique situation, so these are just suggetions.  

For us in NSW, the HSC is going to be with us for quite some time in its present format and that means, although responses may be marked on screen, the way students produce their written response at least, will be by hand.  The Chinese Beginners, Continuers, Extension, Heritage and Background examinations all require students to write various text types within a limited time frame.  Students will need to work out with their teachers, the best strategies to deal with each exam element.  One of the things you can do beforehand, to give your students the best chance of succeeding in these exams, is to prepare them early.  In regards to handwriting, which require three responses totaling 30%, students need to be efficient and writing fit.  What I mean by writing fit is that students need to be able to hand write quickly and effectively and have the stamina to finish their responses within the time frame and importantly reach the required word limits.  How many times have you seen your students shake their hand after half an hour of writing?  Is a sign their hands are fatiguing?

There is data out there indicating that the thought processes involved with writing by hand is different to the thought processes used for typing, you can read the article and make your own conclusions on that.  But for HSC teachers, I don't think having their students ONLY typing their responses on the tablet or computer and rarely hand writing is the best preparation for the exam.  Will your students be writing fit? 

Chinese writing and calligraphy is such a beautiful thing, it would be a shame if our students and us as teachers, were to abandon the pen and brush totally for the keyboard.  Even if you think that digital responses are going to be inevitably typed some time in the future, then, the fact is for the foreseeable future at least, hand writing will be required for HSC responses.  Here are some tips on how you can help your students to be writing fit.  


Here is a link to another article by Ephrat Livni, Keyboards are overrated, adding her thoughts and research to the debate of hand writing versus technology.

Blending tech with hand writing 

When setting writing activities, and if you and the students have to use your device to type responses, try to blend technology with hand writing.  Here are my suggestions.

Method 1.  Drafting with tech, producing by hand

1. Students draft out the response on the tablet or laptop.
2. Teacher corrects the response online or digitally eg Word review.  
3. Student re-drafts corrected response.
4. Student re-writes corrected draft by hand (1 - 2 times, or best, memorize it)

Method 2. Drafting by tech, producing by tech (+ hand writing)

You could do use this method and keep totally to a device, but I would suggest hand writing on paper in there somewhere.  I suggest using the Metamoji Notes app for this one.

1. Use Chinese writing paper or any lined paper in
2.  Notes.  I have a sample writing booklet I used with my students to practice their hand writing.
3. Get a decent stylus, but if students have forgotten them, use the trusty finger pen!
4. Student drafts response in writing booklet in Notes app.
5. Student sends response to teacher for correction.  Notes allows single or several pages to be sent via email or other methods.
6. Teacher corrects and returns corrected draft. 

How to blend hand writing and tech using Metamoji Notes 

Feel free to download the Sample writing booklet PDF  that I created and a sample of one of my students ebooks.

Another other great app that will help students keep writing fit is Skritter.  Here are a couple of intro videos I made on how to use it.  Skritter is available at the Apps Store and for Androids. 

Why we need to keep practicing handwriting and so do our students!

As mentioned above, we need technology for many reasons, but we also need to maintain the practice of handwriting.  Besides preparing students for handwritten assessments, it has been proven by Princeton University and the University of California, that handwriting does have benefits for developing thinking strategies, better memory retention and also motor skills. For more detail on this discussion check out the Wall St Journal's article. 

Progress, Lists, Settings and Help

Writing, Reading, Pinyin, Meaning Functions and Lists

Any feedback on this post?  Please contact me or leave a message, thanks!

iPad's "Define" function for Language learning

The iPads' features bar has a range of useful and powerful tools that helps users complete a wide range of activities.  The one I'll be talking about here is the Define feature.  I did a post on the Speak  feature a while ago which is also a useful tool.  

The Define feature is very useful for language learners when on the web or when reading texts on your iPad.  It works the same way whether reading a webpage or in an ebook or Pages, unfortunately it does not read PDFs or Word docs.  With each new app you use though, you may need to manage  the app by downloading a dictionary the first time you use Define in that app.  

Steps to using Define

1. Press the word you want the definition for.
2. Go to Manage (bottom left of popout).
3. Choose your dictionary from the list.
4. If the definition has more arrows, then you can drill down to more content. 

Define is a very useful tool and one that will support language learners in their reading and comprehension of texts.  As with most support material and tools, teachers will need to plan how to use Define to best help in their students learning.  

I would not recommend using Define, or similar apps, extensions or print dictionaries to translate every single word of a text and I doubt many teachers would.  I taught students to use various strategies to read a new text. For example, I taught students to first skim a text to get the gist, then if they have to translate any word, decide which are the key words they need to translate, there is no need to translate every word.  If the correct text is selected by the teacher, then the student should not be required to translate more than 5 - 10% the text, this can vary depending on text type and nature of the activity. Personally, I do not think it is a good idea or practical to give students an unseen passage that is loaded with vocabulary that the student has not learnt previously. 

The Define feature is a handy in-app tool which provides good support for language learners and when coupled to Speak make a powerful combination and could even be used for planned flipped learning activities. 

Readlang Chrome App

Readlang is a great Chrome Web Store app that easy to setup and can translate a wide range of languages.  Readlang can be set to any language web page, just choose your language preferences once you access the dashboard.  

Readlang has other language learning functions that students and teachers could find very useful.  You can create your own vocabulary lists and flashcards which you can review when needed.  Create an account online to benefit from all the functions available and find more useful and practical tools to help you and your students learn a language.  

To access Readlang, download it free from the Chrome Web Store, then double click on the extension and adjust your settings.  The annotated images below will help to get you started. 

I have only used the free version and I think for most students and teachers the free version is more than adequate.  There's a premium version that may be worth looking into as well.

Readlang basics to get going.

Readlang Dashboard

Review Flashcards
This function takes you to your web account for Readlang.  

Import to Readlang
You can import your webpage to Readlang and work on the text there.  I think it works fine in the webpage, but like all things, play around and see what your preferences are. 

Open Dictionary
This is a useful online dictionary that you could have students open if preparing a text. 

Translation Settings
You have two settings with the free version.

1. Replace: replaces the highlighted or selected word with the translation.  For example, if I highlighted a word, it would replace the word with English.
2. Above: once you scroll over the word you want translated, this places the translation above the word, if you keep your mouse on the word you can also get a boxed translation with its various meanings and for Chinese, the pinyin. I think for students, this is the best option. 

Readlang Homepage (in your web account)

Your Readlang homepage has some very useful functions which will serve as good learning tools for you and your students. 

Library
In the Library are your saved texts.  Public Texts, which are those shared by Readlang users, and also Websites, which are the most popular websites shared and used by Readlang users of the language you have chosen. 

Word List
Once you have highlighted a word, for Chinese it can pick the compound words, Readlang saves this to the Wordlist.

Flashcards
Once you have a Wordlist, Readlang sets up Flashcards with translations and also a voice function so you can hear the word. 

You can even setup an email reminder for you to practice your language. 



Readlang can access webpages in any language, provided its'  one of the languages supported by Google.  This is why I think Readlang is a much better learning tool than Language Immersion which I reviewed earlier.  

I think teachers and students can get a lot of valuable support from Readlang.  Teachers can flip their lessons, scaffold reading texts that they allocate to students on the web so that differentiated learning activities can benefit all learners of any level.  Students can read texts, save vocabulary to their lists and review them later.

You can use it on your iPad, with limited functions (explained below) and I imagine other tablets are similar.  By adding this to your iPad via the Home Screen button, next to your url address bar, you can use the Readlang dashboard functions just like an app. (You can do this for any website) Just note that this will only give you the functions in the dashboard, which is what I meant by limited, not the web page language functions as described above. 

   Look for this symbol if you want to create an app to add to your homescreen on your iPad.

Next, I'll be talking about how to get the same web functions working on you iPad, without Readlang. 

Language Immersion Chrome Extension

The Language Immersion Chrome extension is a useful and practical tool for language teachers and students.  It provides for all the languages that are available in Google translate, but like all similar digital and web translation applications and extensions, its translations are not perfect.

Language Immersion only translates web pages from English into another language, which I think limits its' usefulness.  Please let me know if you have found this not to be the case.  It would be a much better product if it was available to also translate from another language into English or other language.  

Setting up the amount of text you want translated is easy.  By adjusting the level, you can set how much of the web text you want to translate.  If you would like to translate the whole text from English into the target language, this extension will translate it, but as mentioned above, I don't think you could guarantee 100% accuracy.  I would recommend using it more as a vocabulary support or a scaffolding tool.  If you are going to translate the whole text or a large part of it, it would be best to check the accuracy before giving it to students. 

Differentiate activities with Language Immersion could be useful as well.  By setting the  , immersion level for different levels, you could actually create some differentiated activities.  It might be easier for the teacher to set the different levels of the web text, then screenshot the page, then distribute the different levels to the students to work with.       

Language Immersion can be downloaded for free from the Chrome Store.  It may be hard to find so here is a shortened url to help http://bit.ly/LangImmerChrome   

It's rating of 3.5 stars in the Chrome Web Store is probably half a star too generous. 

Below are a few images on how to set up Language Immersion. 

Chinese Continuers Examination

The NSW Higher School Certificate - Suggested Ideas on how to prepare.

The HSC Chinese Continuers examination is a three hour exam that is made up of a 25% listening section, 20% speaking section,  40% reading and responding section and 15% creative writing section.  There is an assessment component that is examined internally in school and the HSC exam is prepared by BOSTES and all students enrolled in the course take the same exam.  You can find details of requirements and past examination papers at the BOSTES site. 

All HSC examinations are rigorous and challenging with the Chinese Continuers course being no exception.  If anything, the Chinese Continuers course has proved demanding for students and much dedication and time is needed to do well in the course.  Recently, I presented a workshop for teachers and students which included resources and suggested examination preparation and strategies.  

Although the presentation was prepared for a particular course, teachers and students may find some worthwhile ideas and strategies to use while preparing for their own courses and examinations.  

The Prezi for the workshop is below.  

             

Games Based Learning in the Languages Classroom

Below is a Prezi that I created to present some ideas and thoughts about using games based learning activities in the languages classroom.  Although this was created for language teachers, you could use these ideas for any subject area.  As the Prezi is basically an outline of my presentation and does not include the discussion around the content with the participants and myself, feel free to contact me to discuss any of the content. 

In an earlier blog entry I discussed some ideas on games in the classroom.  This entry is a recap on that but mainly about how teachers could in a sequential way, develop their own movement/language, paper and digital games.  All games have the same core elements, no matter which format you use to present or play your game.  With these core elements and understanding how they work, teachers can use games in their classrooms to deepen the learning of their students in a fun and engaging way.  

Like all teaching strategies and activities, its probably best practice not to not use games in every lesson, well you could, but that would be too much work and for the students, games may lose their fun factor.  Games based learning though, could be a part of your unit of work where games elements could be incorporated into learning activities or the final activity or assessment could be the a game that the students have developed.  Project based learning or problem based learning fits nicely here as students could work on a PBL based either on a game or make a game themselves.  As most of us would use a variety of strategies and activities in the classroom, GBL could be a valuable and useful additional tool.

Many teachers incorporate gamification into PBLs or classroom activities with a points, leader board, incentives or rewards.  Team work and collaboration is a big part of GBL and gamification and a great example of how you could use a learning management system to record and show progress is Classcraft.  I'm using Classcraft as a course LMS and the participants are enjoying the activity and engagement factors.  

The Prezi contains a link to a Dropbox file of the resources from the presentation.  The files' content includes;
1. Understanding the main parts of a game.
2. "Modding" or modifying a game -  a pre-requisite to making a game.
3. Making your own paper based game.
4. Creating your own basic digital or web based games.
5. Steps on how to create a board game.
6. Game links, resources and references.

If you are a teacher in NSW or if you are interested in furthering your knowledge in GBL, you may want to register and enrol in the Games Based Learning in the Languages Classroom online course they have at the AISNSW. 

Check out @Mr_van_W and his site https://mrvanw.com/ for more great stuff on GBL. 

Feel free to contact me if you'd like to discuss anything in this post. 

Some notes on 

AFMLTA National Conference, 9-12 July, 2015

Opening - Senator Scott Ryan, parliamentary secretary to Minister for Ed, Vic

Saturday, 10 July

Keynote: Diane Larsen-Freeman - Pluralism

- language policy in Australia recognizes multiculturalism, social, economic diversity

-     how do these documents ie Australian language policy relate to pedagogy?  Theory is easy.

-     competencies of pluralism - multilingual, meditating and interpreting, using available knowledge  ie inter-comprehend

-     using pluralistic practice in the classroom, not just a goal - Elizabeth Ellis

-     averages conceal a great deal

-     language as a homogenous, static system is a normative fiction

-     language is dynamic, always changing (using language - changes it)

-     act of playing the game ie using the language - changes the language - language changes, its dynamic

-     using one language to scaffold learning another language, using one language to become pluralingual

-     hybridity with languages -  innovation - creating new words and language

-     arguing against repetition, but promoting iteration - Larsen-Freeman, 2012eg read+Youtube on the same topic

-     teaching adaptation - teach students to take their present system and mold it to a new context for a present purpose (Larson-Freeman, 2013) Stevick's idea of techniques eg 4-3-2 pair off with a partner, A talks for 4 minutes to a partner, then partner re-tells in 3, then you go to another partner and tell the same story in 2 minutes

-     semiotic agility, resources eg non-verbal

Prof Stephen Dinham - The nature and importance of instructional leadership

The Melbourne Declaration 2008

Goal 1: Aust'n schooling promotes equity and excellence

Goal 2: All young Australians become

-     successful learners

-     confident and creative individuals

-     active and informed citizens

Research shows progress

TIMSS study

PIRLS

PISA

-     Aust highly de-regulated education system and PISA test keeps going down, Germany has a highly regulated education system and the PISA is going up

-     teachers are a big influence on student learning approx 30% of learning attributed to teacher

-     Stephen's book to Four Fundamentals of student success

     - Focus on the student (learner, person)

     - leadership - adds value to the school

     - Professional learning for teachers

     - quality teaching

Leadership qualities

1.     External awareness and engagement

-     openess to change and opportunity

-     develop production

2.   A Bias towards innovation and action

-      using discretion, bending rules, procedures

-     bias to experimentation, risk taking

3.  Personal qualities and relationships

-     leaders have positive attitudes which are contagious

-     BMW bitching, whinging and moaning

-     intellectual capacity

-     moral leadership - example you set for other people

-     assist, feedback, listen to staff

-     treat staff and other professionally

-     expect high standard

-     provide professional, pleasant facilities

4. Vision, Expectations, Culture of Success

-     expect a lot, give a lot

-     clear, agreed, high standards

-     the standard things done well

-     recognition of student, staff achievement

-     creates a culture, expectation of success

5. Teacher Learning, Responsibility and Trust

-     Investment in teacher learning

-     all teachers can be leaders

-     responsibility recognition, empowerment, staff development

-     trust an aspect of mutual respect

6. Student Support, common purpose, collaboration

-     centrality of student welfare

-     teaching and learning prime focus of school

-     creates an environment of purpose

7. Focus on students, learning and teaching

-     leadership takes time

-     leaders build on what is there

-     consistency, yet flexibility in policy

-     stand for something

Workshops

CLIL Web 2 tools

App Smashing - Joe Dale

 Sunday - Joe lo Bianco

Impossiblising - the challenging of

- Tube Tongues - London tube languages spoken

-     London - 300 languages spoken in schools

-     Bianco - making schools multi-lingual

-     mother tongue based 2nd languages, ie not the national or "supra" lang eg English

-     Myanmar - home language, plus national language integrated into the school, can be up to 7 languages

-     Papua New Guinea - 800 languages as official languages of the education system (Baki 2005), local schools use local language. Decentralized language decision making

-     Malaysia - National Schools ie Malay medium and Venacular schools - non Malay Chinese and Tamil

-     To increase student numbers in NSW and Vict, offer ore languages

-     NSW 5 out of 6 discontinue lang by Yr 12

-     Principled flexibility - see photo Possibilising MLE

Tony Urban CLIL

Using technology to infuse language content in class. Practicum teachers (pre-service)

Flipped lesson

Teachers had to think about presenting 1 lesson per week using an web 2 tool. These were incorporated into their teaching pracs.

 Sample web 2 tools

-   live binder

-   print friendly

-   Read the Words (text to speech)

-   Present Me - screen record and presentation

-   22 Frames - video editor

-   LyricGaps - find lyrics and create activities

Re-purpose, re-tool, re-mix to present new content Edmodo code in photo or terban@ut.edu

Photos from the conference and around Melbourne