If Definitions were more like Language

As an ESL teacher, I get asked to explain the meanings of words pretty much every time I'm in the classroom.  ("What's a bamboo shoot?  Is that like a shot of alcohol?" became a topic of discussion in my class last week.)  After years of practice, I've gotten pretty good at explaining words and their interesting nuances.  Sometimes I write "definitions," too - and sometimes I need a dictionary to help me with that.  But what I often find is more useful to my students is when I write a series of examples (common uses of the word) on the board so they can develop their own intuitive sense of what the word means.

Given that, when I read this interesting article in the NY Times about the website Wordnik.com and its new approach to defining words, I was immediately overtaken by geeky excitement.  It's a cool website doing something innovative with literacy!  What could be more full of geeky fun than that?

What's so exciting about Wordnik?  They seek to do for definitions in an online format what I do for my learners.  That is, they give examples - context - equal weight and billing alongside definitions.  And why not?  As the NYT article pointed out so well, the standard dictionary definition format was developed for a medium in which space is limited.  Brevity and conciseness are necessary in a paper dictionary, else the thing would quickly become too unweidly.  So, examples of the word used in context are sacrificed in place of (sometimes difficult to parse) definitions.  This is obviously not the case with a website.  The website can continue to grow and branch and take up as much space as is needed to get across the real meaning of a word.  Enter Wordnik.com.

Take these examples of the Wordnik entry for "suspense."  Which one best conveys meaning?  I find myself thinking that they work best in tandem - the definitions and the examples reinforcing each other.  Wordnik is on to something, I think.  What do you think?  Leave me a comment or send me a tweet @swbrandt.

Flipping the Classroom: A Guest Blog Post

Thanks to my colleague Burgen Young for this guest post!

Flipping the Classroom
Do you wish for more class time for practice but need to use that time to explain content instead? Then flipping the classroom may for you. In a traditional class the teacher lectures during class and students do application exercises for homework. In a flipped class, the content is delivered by assigning students to use resources such as video lectures, podcasts, or screencasts at home, freeing up class time for application.


Why flip? What are the benefits?
The main benefit is that more class time can be devoted to practice. Students come to class with questions and the class can go deeper with the material.
Advantages also include that students can work at their own pace through the resources, absent students don’t miss out on the introduction of new material, and students can review content whenever they want. Students can hit the pause or rewind buttons as many times as necessary without feeling like they are burdening their teacher. Plus, it is sometimes possible for students to watch lectures by experts in the field.


What if students don’t have computers at home?
It is still possible to share resources with students by copying the resources onto DVDs that students can play in a DVD player. If purchased in bulk, DVDs are inexpensive.
If students don’t have Internet access, but do have computers, the resources can be copied onto a flash drive.


Where can I find resources?

There are free lectures available on iTunes, YouTube, TeacherTube, SchoolTube, and other specialized sites. Be sure to check out the great math and science resources available at Kahn Academy.
You can also create your own customized resources. All you need is a recording devise of your choice. Use a video camera, or create a podcast using Audacity and a reasonable microphone on your computer. Create a screen cast using Jing and record your voice while you show PowerPoint slides or other software.


Can language teachers flip?
Flipping works best for classes that are taught lecture style. Flipping can work for some language lessons, such as grammar, vocabulary, or life skills lessons. Check out this example of a vocabulary lesson for a Spanish class.


Where can I learn more?
Check out this article at EmergingEdTech to learn from others who have flipped their classrooms. 

Pic-Lits: picture-prompted writing

I found this little gem of a website this morning and am thoroughly enjoying it!

PicLits.com creates a mechanism for generating writing through providing striking images and drag-and-drop words to layer on them (you can also go freestyle and type in your own text if you prefer).

Here's the PicLit I made:

One small annoyance: their "blog this" feature isn't working so I had to make a screenshot of the image in order to share it here.  But tech glitches aside, this could be a really engaging activity for ESL and ABE students.  How many of us have heard our students say that they don't know what to write about or have no ideas?  A powerful picture speaks volumes.  Using PicLits, those stalled writers may find some inspiration!

This activity could also be done as a whole class on a SmartBoard if you are lucky enough to have one in your classroom.

Digital Photo Project: A Tech Mentoring Story

In my Technology Mentoring work, I have the great pleasure to work with ABE/ESL teachers around the state who are committed to making technology a part of their classrooms.  One of my current projects is working with Jan Olsen Stone's beginning ESL class at the MORE school in St. Paul.  Her class has been working on basic computer literacy (learning how to turn on the laptop computers, learning basic vocabulary like "double click" and "press Ctrl-Alt-Del," and using Google to search for websites and photos).  This week I worked with Jan to plan the next big step for the students - taking their own photos using digital cameras.

The first 90 minutes of the class was spent on learning vocabulary for the camera (lens, shutter button, focus, etc.) and how to use the cameras.  Students learned to make simple sentences like "The camera has a lens," and "Press the button to take a picture."  (A lesson which was periodically interrupted by tornado sirens.  Yikes!  Luckily, no tornadoes.  Whew!)  The second hour was spent on a field trip to the local Sears department store.  Each of the four small groups of students had one camera (all provided by teachers & class volunteers).  The students' task: take pictures of each other with items in the store they would like to know the names of.  You can see some of the results above and the full sets can be seen on the Jan's Class1 Flickr page.

After class, the teacher, class volunteer, and I downloaded all the pictures the students had taken and uploaded them to the Flickr site.  Now that the pictures are accessible, Jan has a wealth of content to mine for language lessons.  Here are some ideas we have for what she and the students will do with the photos:

• write a Language Experience Story about the field trip and illustrate it with a selection of photos
• use the photos to teach new vocabulary (the original purpose!) and grammar such as prepositions
• categorize items in the photos (clothing department - women's - shirts)
• students can copy and paste photos from the Flickr site into Word documents and write sentences to describe them.

Jan plans to continue to use digital photo projects throughout her summer school session.  Other photography assignment ideas for her students include:

• taking pictures of things that are a certain color
• taking pictures of things that surprised them or were new to them when they came to the U.S.
• taking pictures of places in the community (walking around the neighborhood)
• taking pictures of signs in the community (also a walking project)

Working with this class really reminded me that cameras provide a unique and powerful tool for prompting engagement with one's surroundings.  In our students' hands, they can give us such rich content for language learning.  I hope you'll think about trying something like this with your students too!

Learn English Online with Videos

Here's a sweet website for English learners who have access to broadband Internet (at home, school, or the library): www.englishcentral.com.

It features real video clips of all different genres - everything from President Obama taking questions from reporters to movie trailers and TV commercials to business speakers. Videos are organized topically by category, and also sorted into "easy," "medium," or "hard," categories so learners can choose material that is appropriate to their level and interests.

Learners are prompted to record themselves repeating the audio from the video clips, so using this site does require that learners have access to headphones with a microphone.

It's free to use, though users must complete a brief registration form with an email address.

If you try it with your learners, let me know how they like it!