Using a Course Website as a Tool to Enhance and Promote Language Programs

1. Using a Course Website as a Tool to Enhance and Promote Language Programs Andrew Scott COFLT Fall Conference 2007

2. Part 1: Theory and Background

3. Student-Myths About Language-Learning • “I will never use this language.” • “I really don’t need to learn language because I won’t use it in my job.” • “Language-classes are all about learning grammar and vocabulary.” • “Math, science, and language-arts are more important than learning a language.” • “I can’t use language outside of class…” • “Why learn the language---I’m never going to go there.” • “Learning language is impossible especially Japanese and Chinese with their alphabets.”

4. Debunking these Myths • Language-Classes are multidisciplinary and deal with social studies, arts, technology, etc. • For those who will never get a chance to travel, a language class provides them an opportunity to “travel” to the target country while never leaving their town. • Learning a language gives you a different perspective on life. • Language-learning provides you with certain skills which are valuable to any profession regardless of the language.

5. Promoting Your Language Program As you may know, it is important to promote your language program. Here are some ways you can do so: • Communicate • Make Learning Fun and Meaningful • Secure outside funding and grants • Reach out to your community or a target-language community • Organize special events • Use fun and authentic materials • Know your students and language • Promote teachers and their professional development • Establish a language/culture club open to all students • Take trips to the target country or establish exchange programs

6. 1. Communication In order to promote your course, you need to communicate with the following groups: Parents 1. Goals and Results (What their student can do in the language) 2. Special events and projects 3. Homework and quiz load/rigor 4. Availability of outside tools for help Administration/Community 1. Goals and Results (What their students) 2. Special events and projects (How does this promote their school) 3. Proof of why this language is important and viable. 4. Your effort and success as a teacher

7. 1. Communication In order to promote your course, you need to communicate with the following groups: Students, too!!! • Upcoming events, homework, and quizzes • Why this language is valuable, fun, and not impossible to learn. • Special events and projects • Outside resources on Target culture and language • College programs and info on study abroad

8. 2. Make Language-Learning Fun and Meaningful • Take field trips • Integrate student interests, hobbies, etc., as much as possible • Give the opportunities to learn authentic language and experience authentic culture, first-hand. • Limit lectures and ST. Let them perform in a variety of tasks and games

9. 3. Secure Funding, Outside if Necessary If funding is scarce for materials, seek out outside grants and funding. • Some grants with a little bit of effort, can provide funding for computers, books, and other materials. • Can support materials development • Can support travel for students and teachers • Can encourage students to take responsibility for their language and have them fundraise.

10. 4. Reach out to your community • In big cities, reach out to your target-culture communities for support, volunteers and opportunities to experience the target culture. • Or reach out abroad to email/penpals • Reach out to language organizations; They can inform you about events, resources much more.

11. 5. Organize Special Language Events and Field Trips • Movies at lunch • Potluck Days • Assembly presentations • Restaurants • In class cultural activities Involve students outside your language class. Word of the mouth spreads quickly.

12. 5. Use of Authentic Materials • Commercials, TV Programs, pictures, audio, newspapers, magazines your experiences in the target country • These are fun to watch and listen to, and when attached to a well-developed language activity, can be very valuable to language learning. • They can give your students an eye into the culture without having to listen to a lecture. • With the web (youtube, etc.) there is a huge and very accessible bank of authentic material that if used creatively, can really benefit your students and the program

13. 6. Promote Your Teachers and their Professional Development • Encourage your teachers to attend conferences and present at them • Recognize fellow staff members for contributions or success • Send emails and give demonstrations to those at school • Any recognition can be placed on the school news or website.

14. 6. Know Your Students and Language • Know what your students want to accomplish by the end of the year • Know their cultural and language interests (e.g. if they are Anime fans, how can you use that to make class more interesting for them) • Know their learning styles • Know about their lives (hobbies, clubs, etc., and try to integrate into your lessons.

15. 7. Set up a sister-school • Even though setting up a sister school may be an arduous task, it can provide you with a wealth of experience for both you and your students. • A sister school can create a constant stream of authentic language and culture materials (penpals, etc.) • You can do all-school assemblies which promote the learning of your target culture and language • Students are given first-hand, authentic experience using language with people their age • Possible homestay opportunities.

16. 8. Take trips to the Target Country • Depending on your funding and the willingness of your school or district to have trips abroad, this is by far one of the greatest experiences a language student can have. • Not only does it give them a brief immersion into the target culture and language, it can dramatically change their perspective on the world. • Rather than experiencing language and culture in a classroom, they can get valuable experience using language in a non-restricted environment • You can integrate multiple disciplines • Students will gain memories that they could never do here.

17. 10 Reasons Why a Course Website Can Promote/Enhance Your Language Program

18. 1. A Course Website as a Powerful Communication Tool • Can advertise positive aspects of program • Field Trips, Special Events, Fun Activities • Student Accomplishments • Projects • Participation in outside activities • Teacher Backgrounds and Accomplishments • Curriculum • Can give the students a great deal of information about how they can use their target language outside of class (in their futures, etc.,), and why language-learning is so important.

19. 2. Provide fun and ‘cool’ activities for students to do outside of class • Fun Activities on the web may include: • Providing students a wide variety of TL video clips that they can access from home (funny commercials, music videos, etc. • Providing students with language games that make learning fun, such as Japanese Alphabet Battleship • Post web-quests in which they can explore the Target culture and come to their own conclusion rather than listen to a lecture • Set up a blog/forum for student-written anime reviews, drawings, websites, etc. • And much more….!

20. 2. Provide fun and ‘cool’ activities for students to do outside of class • Provide a portal for activities such as webquests

21. 3. Uploading Authentic Materials • Your course website and your server can serve as a clearinghouse for authentic materials (not just fabricated language videos) that students may access freely from home: • Videos (commercials/TV programs, game-shows, culture videos) • Audio (Podcasts, Music, radio programs, textbook audio tracks) • Newspaper/Magazine ‘Clippings’ • Links to fun sites about culture or language.

22. 4. Provide online study tools for students • Just as with #3, your site can also serve as a clearinghouse for online study tools: • Powerpoint Flashcards for Vocabulary • Quizzes/Word-Searches (see Quia Web) • Audio Recordings for a Textbook • TL Blogs and Online Penpals • Mad Libs that they can Download • Extra-credit and challenge activities

23. 5. Can provide a forum to post student and teacher accomplishments • Can upload all final projects and show how your students are creatively exploring the target language and culture • Can post information on student successes (winning language/culture contests, etc.) • Can be a forum to show your accomplishments: education/professional organizations, student and program successes, grants, trips abroad and many others. • The website in itself is an accomplishment!

24. 6. Can promote events! • Use the website as an online calendar! • Search your community, language organizations for target culture events around you and post them on your site. • Promote your language/culture club activities • Promote upcoming fun activities in class • Once finished with an event, post videos, podcasts, images, etc….

25. 7. Cost-Cutting, Sustainable • Students lose handouts all of the time. Rather than make a bank of photocopies of past handouts, post them once on the web, and have the students download them in their own time. • No need to print pictures, burn CD’s/DVD’s, send out newsletters • No need to print out handouts such as answers to tests, syllabi/curriculum maps, etc.

26. 8. Organizational Tool • Provide an online calendar of homework, tests and class activities • On this calendar, post digital versions of homework assignments on the web in case the student lose copies • Provide online study guides, test review

27. 9. Creates a Target Language Environment • Even though the website should be in English for parents, administrators, etc., to view, use the target language and elements of the target culture as much as possible

28. 9. Creates a Target Language Environment • Examples • Roll-Overs: When your mouse rolls over a button, it turns into Japanese • Use traditional images and colors as backgrounds (cherry-blossoms, Japanese castles. • Be creative in the setup of your site (for a French class, make your website resemble a Café) • Post articles and student work in the target language.

29. 10. Sets You Apart • Shows that you are willing to adapt to the modern age and accept that technology, especially web-based is gradually becoming an important to for language learning • Shows your creativity and effort • Very few teachers maintain their own well-developed course websites

30. Cautions when Implementing a Course Website

31. Know Your Students • Internet connection/online capability? • What training have they undergone in computers? • What do they want to see on the web? • What do they want everyone to see on the web?

32. Promote and Teach Your Website! • Even though your website is a promotion tool, you have to promote it: • Teach and remind students how to use it (do a scavenger hunt in the beginning of the year to force them to go through the site.) • Inform them of updates and when you upload (do it often!!) cool and fresh things • Inform the parents and administration about your website

33. Involve Students in Your Site • Try to integrate their interests and abilities • Have students submit digital work, Powerpoints and create cultural websites than you can integrate into your own • Possible have the students create your logos and images around your site.

34. Making Sure it Is Interactive and Eye-Catching • Do not just creates a site that simply informs students of information; create a site that has students do something with it. • Put effort into making the site look good. • Even though the first edition of your site will be text-based, experiment with: • Colors (always use high contrast!) • Using images as navigation • Integrating Animated Icons, Flash videos, audio, etc. • Make sure though that your site is not overwhelming

35. How is the balance between digital copy and printed copy • Documents on the web such as articles, language activities, etc., may be hard to read for some students. • Make sure you always provide them with the option to print out large blocks of text

36. Make sure it is user-friendly • Is it easy to use? • Can it be navigated smoothly and efficiently from every-page? • Is the organization clear for someone who has never used it? • Clear titles? • Easy to read? • Good contrast in colors?

37. Make sure it is Accurate • Make sure the information you post is 100% accurate, and not plagiarized. This includes among others: student work, syllabi, calendar dates, handouts you post, etc.

38. Make sure it is updated • Especially if you set up a calendar for homework and tests, upload it once a week at least • For fun activities, videos, etc., add at least a couple a month and inform students on your index page and in class • Especially when server space is minimal, get rid or archive stuff that you do not need anymore. • Change the last updated date every time

39. Privacy Concerns • Never link student faces and names, unless the site is protected • Never post student test scores, missing homework, etc., unless you take measures to insure privacy • Never put phone numbers, student email addresses, etc. online. • If a student or parent is opposed to you putting some work or information on the web, take this into consideration.

40. Maximizing Your Website

41. Consistency, Consistency, Consistency • Be consistent in: • Navigation • Colors, Fonts, Backgrounds • Organization of website, and folders • Your update schedule and informing students • Information through the site

42. Keep Adding • Keep it fresh for the students and add videos, audio files, and fun activities whenever you can!

43. Keep Organized • Put files in the appropriate folders and do not move them around • Set up a schedule for updates and a to-do list when you do so • Always make digital versions of your files to make them ready for uploading • Get rid of stuff you do not need!

44. Keep Promoting • Keep reminding the students, administration, and parents about the site’s updates • Make sure to actually use and make the students use the website when it is finally uploade.

45. Keep Learning • Keep experimenting with technology that can enhance your website: • Flash: Animations, Photo Galleries • Dreamweaver: A wonderful website authoring program • Powerpoint • Audio/Video recordings • Moodle?

46. Part 2: Building a Course Website

47. Section 2.1 Viewing and Evaluating a Course Website • Please use the links provided on the handout (digital version) to view the website. • Please answer the questions on the handout. We will be using these as discussion points. The main website address is:http://inside.catlin.edu/site/japanese

48. Section 2.2 Building Your Website (Activity 1) Organizing Yourself • Build directories for images, audio/video files, and documents. • Decide on major topics • Create page-level organization with blank files, and set index.htm as your home/frontpage.

49. Section 2.2 Building Your Website (Activity 2) Creating Navigation • Create a series of text links for all of your pages (see handout) and “HOME” • Copy and paste this series into every page to insure that you have consistent navigation • Open the index.htm file in your browser and check all links • Begin editing pages. If using Word, always remember to save as a webpage.

50. Section 2.2 Building Your Website (Activity 2) Uploading • Talk to your network advisor, system administrator or computer teacher about how to upload. All schools/districts have different methods of doing so