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When the Night Comes…. Rita M. Niemann Centre for Language Studies clsrmn@nus.edu.sg. Bridging the GAP: Blogging in German. Bridging the GAP in AY2010/11. GAP: German for Academic Purposes 39 Students under the SEP Language Preparation Programme Semester 4
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When the Night Comes… Rita M. Niemann Centre for Language Studies clsrmn@nus.edu.sg Bridging the GAP: Blogging in German
Bridging the GAP in AY2010/11 • GAP: German for Academic Purposes • 39 Students under the SEP Language Preparation Programme • Semester 4 • 2 lectures & 1 tutorial per week
Bridging the GAP in AY2010/11 • Course Goals: Prepare students for exchange semester at a partner university in a German speaking country in terms of: • Language • Culture • Academic environment
Bridging the GAP in AY2010/11 • Resources: • Textbook • Exercise book • e-daf (Electronic Self-access Centre for German learning students; since August 2001) • Course Blog
Blogging in German • Blog Goals: Bridge ‘the gap’ • Language: FOUR skills • Reading • Writing • Listening • Speaking
Blogging in German • Blog Goals: Bridge ‘the gap’ • Information: • Academic environment • German culture(s) & society • Settling in …
Blogging in German • Advantages of a Course Blog: • Interactive • Participatory • Mobile: anytime & anywhere • Multimedia: text, audio & video • Secure & controlled Environment
Blogging in German • Advantages of a Course Blog: • Productive: • (Un)Rehearsed Learner Language • Written text: concrete tasks & comments • Spoken language: audio & video recordings • Receptive: • Authentic Language
Blogging in German • Advantages of a Course Blog: • Learner support • Links to online dictionaries, grammar notes, verb conjugation tables, vocabulary cards and further exercises & materials • Comments and feedback from other students & teacher
AY2009/2010, Sem II • My first Blog • XCHANGE: D&CH • LAG3203 German for Academic Purposes
AY2010/2011, Sem I • My second Blog • HörenSagen: Ein Blog zum Mitmachen • LAG3201 German3
Students’ Feedback • Weakness: 1. Lecture sessions too short for the content that needed to be covered. Either lengthen session or reduce breath of content. 2. Make more lecture groups if possible, lecture size too big, less individual participation. Strength: 1. Blog created for interactive purposes.
Students’ Feedback • The use of different media in learning German is really helpful and good! • […] Students were constantly exposed to German culture (music, food, movies, literature, etc.), which makes the students interested in more than just the language and encourages them to pursue further lessons.
Students’ Feedback • Learning materials are sufficient to complement the learning. Also, it was good to have the German blog. Podcasts were all creatively used to maximize the learning experience. • Some more interaction perhaps? E.g. with fellow students or SEP students.
Blogging in German • Plans for AY1011, Sem II: GAP • Inform students about studies and life in Germany & Switzerland • Matriculation • Health insurance • Registration • Bank account • Hostel living • Time table
Blogging in German • Plans for AY1011, Sem II: GAP • Engange students in active participation • 3-4 compulsory homework assignments • Voicethread • Audacity • Short Essay (comments) • 1-2 automatization sound file(s) per chapter (listen and react) • 6 podcasts with tasks, handout and answer key
Blogging in German • Plans for AY1011, Sem II: GAP • Engange students in active participation • Authentic audio files with a variety of meaningful listening tasks (bottom-up/top-down) with handout, transcripts and answer keys • Authentic video files with additional information • Authentic written texts with meaningful tasks
Blogging in German • Plans for AY1011, Sem II: GAP • Provide students with rich German language environment • At least 1 video/audio per chapter (music, news, informative clips) • At least 1 relevant written text per week (open for comments)
Blogging in German • Plans for AY1011, Sem II: GAP • Create a strong sense of communuity & ownership • Allow students enrolled in the module to upload content (author rights) • Involve NUS students currently studying in Germany and Switzerland in discussions (by registration) • Involve German speaking exchange students at NUS in discussions (by registration)
AY2010/2011, Sem II • My current Blog • GAP • LAG32302 German for Academic Purposes
Useful Tools • Voicethread: “Manipulating” learning objects Login required.Users: Teacher/ Learners
Useful Tools • Audacity: Audio editor Free download.Users: Teacher/ Learners
Useful Tools • Cobocards: Collaborative learning Login required. Users: Teacher/ Learners
Useful Tools • Wordle: Beautiful Word Clouds No login required.User: Teacher
Useful Tools • Awesome Highlighter: No login required. Users: Teacher/ Learners
When the Night Comes… Most students are online … … and so am I!
When the Night Comes… … try these links: http://voicethread.com http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ http://www.cobocards.com/ http://www.wordle.net/ http://awurl.com/