TPACK Chapter 5- Reflection
An integrated framework for educating world language teachers
I loved the comment in the chapter that said “today’s teachers are confronted with a broader range of needs than teachers were a few decades ago” (p.107). I feel that teachers today have a lot on their plates. We are involved on many more committees, larger demands on academics, and the integration of technology. That doesn’t include class make ups and all the needs of each child in your class.
We have a few students in Wilton who are bilingual, but their parents are non-english speaking. The chapter suggested that being immersed and continually exposed to a language helps you to learn it quicker than those who are not. The children are constantly being exposed to English on a daily basis and therefore they have picked it up more quickly than their parents. In my experience, children pick up foreign languages much more quickly than adults. Learning a language is not pure memorization, but also social immersion and frequent use. People need to be exposed to meaningful conversations to pick up the emotions and the context in which the language is being spoken.
The more I am becoming aware of technology, I realize that if I understand how technology enhances the learning process I will be more apt to use it in my classroom. Technology needs to be used when it would be impossible to accomplish the learning in other ways. Some examples would be virtual field trips to museums and art galleries. Studying abroad is expensive and not an option for many. Students could visit the Louve and other famous far away places to learn the culture that is trying to be taught.
TIME for teachers to explore and learn new technologies is very limited. Teachers need inservice days and workshops to help keep up with current and changing technology trends. I know I would benefit tremendously from this.
NEW Vocabulary...CALL= computer-assisted language learning
Some of the ways technology can be used to teach foreign languages is through online chat sites. Students can chat with others from different parts of the world. They will be exposed to the reading, writing, and speaking of other languages. Hypertext and hypermedia technology is proven to be a great benefit for the retention of new vocabulary in a new language. Internet, chatrooms, email, video-conferencing, and digital communication help to shape the ways teachers introduce culture to their students in foreign language classes.
TPACK helps provides foreign language teachers a venue to enhance classrooms with technology while making them more culturally and linguistically valuable (p.123). Technology helps us to learn about the world around us. It exposes us to information that is otherwise not easily accessible to us.
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Ruth-
ReplyDeleteI loved your coffee hour site. What a great way to hear people speak other languages. There is really no better way to learn a language than to be fully immersed in it. The newspaper site is pretty neat too! I get a lot of information from the newspaper. I think you had a site that compared English to another language newspaper. Very interesting.
Hattie-
I loved the ASL site. The CODO brothers were hilarious. I teach sign language to my kindergarten children. They love it. I am anxious to see what happens in the Carmen and Dave soap! That will be some good evening entertainment.
Thanks for wonderful presentation. It was very lively and exciting. Both of you had great sites.
You're too cute! I'm glad that you liked the CODA brothers. They're just awesome and I bet that kids really connect with what they're saying. I think that it's awesome that you teach little ones some sign stuff. I love that ASL is becoming more and more acceptable and less stigmatized. Maybe you could connect with Lori Lewis at the high school and have her and/ or her students come into your classroom to work with your munchkins?? I bet Lori would jump at the chance!
ReplyDeleteI was just reading this entry and you are so right. We as teachers need more TIME. Much of our "unstructured" time is taken away for all the reasons you say. I wish we could have a teacher meeting that started out "Pair up with someone and explore a topic together and report back". That would make for some great tech sharing I think.
ReplyDeleteAs for learning languages...I know of several people who learned English by watching MTV and using the computer to chat and explore sites in English. There is so much out there to expose yourself to. While I don;t think watching MTV teaches the best formal language, it is just like our little ones watching Dora and learning Spanish that way. No worksheets or tests!
Christine,
ReplyDeleteI agree that hearing people speak a foreign language is much more engaging than reading from a book. The Internet does offer more authentic learning opportunities for world language students than ever thought possible. When I was trying to learn French, I wish iPods had been invented!