Blogging

Communication in action

This communication tool can be put to good effect in the ELT classroom.  Blogging fosters interaction and, a well-structured blogging task can build confidence in reluctant writers.  

Many students find writing the hardest skill of all, and some avoid doing writing tasks when they are set for homework.  Many writing tasks appear meaningless and outdated in today's digital world.  How many young people will need to write a formal letter of complaint?  Nearly all communication is done online nowadays and students need to be working in appropriate platforms in order to value their learning.  

Blogs (or web logs)  are very easy to set up.  Blogger is a Google application, accessed through Chrome, which simply requires a gmail account. Students can blog individually or as a group and chose who they share their blog with.  Sharing is an important factor, as fundamental to blogging is the role of audience.  This gives writing tasks a real purpose - not just to practise language and engage with ideas, but to use writing as a genuine means of communication - sharing ideas, discoveries and opinions with others and receiving comments in return. Receiving comments can encourage and motivate bloggers to write more, in that they feel their thoughts and opinions are valued and acknowledged.  

Blogging can promote:

motivation      language awareness     self-expression      self-evaluation    learner autonomy

However, tasks need to be thought through and carefully managed, with learning outcomes clearly defined.  The teacher needs to guide and support, ensuring that peer-feedback and interaction takes place.  Teacher feedback will enhance self-esteem and promote motivation and lead to students evaluating their work, bringing higher-order thinking skills into play. 

I would use the following YouTube video to explain to my students what a blog is and why and how they are used. 

 

Blogging has the power to change your life!

In the movie Julie and Julia, we see someone's life turned around through the medium of blogging.   I'm not claiming that blogging will change my students' lives, but signposting them to the film could be a fun and engaging way to show the power and potential of this tool - with the added benefit of being immersed in the target language for entertainment purposes.  A lovely, heart-warming film - I recommend it.

Podcasting Tools

As I write this I'm still waiting for my trial recording to download. Every time the download is near completion, there is an error and it all starts over again. Not only is this very frustrating,  I find this tool quite complicated. However, the added value of being able to offer written feedback to student's recordings makes it worth persevering with.

All students learn English to be able to communicate in the language, and speaking is probably the most sought-after skill and sometimes the most difficult to get to grips with.  There's a lot going on at the same time - forming ideas and appropriate words, putting words in a coherent order, producing the necessary sounds and appropriate stress and intonation.  There's also register to think about.  Self-confidence also comes into play, with some students preferring to remain silent rather than utter an inaccurate sentence.  Exams focus is on accuracy in pronunciation, grammar and lexis and being fluent involves being able to keep talk flowing without hesitations.  I remember the stress of my French A-level orals and wish I could have had access to the technologies available today to practise and rehearse.

Podcasting Tools

Audio Recording

A very easy audio tool, which I can see as being useful for speaking practice, focusing perhaps on pronunciation.  Students can save their recordings and use them to track progress. The recording can be shared or downloaded onto MP3.

Audio recording software >>

Listening Skills

No more worries about archaic tapes and missing CDs!  There is now a plethora of authentic listening material on the web, which learners can access at any time and use in ways to suit themselves.  Learners can choose what they listen to and when and how they do it.  This turns them into active listeners - not the passive recipients of the outdated listening materials we have in class.  It gives them time to reflect and having control enables them to pause and replay, allowing them time to understand the content. 

www.audioboom.com

Audioboo is a podcasting site, which not only provides lots of listening materials but also where teachers and students can make and post and share their own podcasts.  It could be used to send a pre-session listening task or listening materials could be sent after a lesson for students to review and develop.  

More ideas on how to use Audioboom and easy-to-follow instructions can be found on Russell Stannard's Teacher Training Videos site: http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/audio-podcasting/audioboo.html