I love what the Chester County Intermediate Unit’s Migrant Education Program has done here. The picture is getting brighter here in Haines City, as many more of our Latino students coming into Boone Middle School are children of parents who have decided to remain here in the city rather than continue their migrant work. These students are becoming more digitally aware through computer usage at home and through “take home PC” programs offered by our school. However, we still have students who miss a great deal of school due to having to relocate with their migrant parents. Programs like the one at CCIU are surely worth replicating at schools like mine, and I am now in the process of trying to secure grant money for a one to one laptop program that will allow students to sign out laptops for use at home as well as in the classroom.

Technorati Tags: digital divide, migrant students

I especially loved the fact that the Boone Students – each of whom speaks fluent Spanish and English – acted as “teachers” modeling proper pronunciation and word usage for the beginning Spanish students at BCA. The girls and Luis were ALL SMILES at the end and are rarin’ for another go around – perhaps as part of a regular Skype chat w/ the BCA students! Ms. Durff reported after the conference that her kids were really buzzing about the experience and can’t wait to do it again!

A special note: Many schools block Skype – a FREE video conferencing, voice, and chat tool – and I am thankful that my county has kept it available for our use. This amazing opportunity would never have been possible without it!

Technorati Tags: spanish esl

Podcasts are free to listen to, while paid members receive bonus support materials like .pdf language guides and additional podcasts containing practice quizzes, musical reviews, and relaxation techniques. Hmmmm…. I’m a middle school teacher. Yes, I’ll have some relaxation, please! You can hear a sample of the bonus materials via the following link:

Lastly, members receive .jpeg flash cards as well as the ability to add iPod Notes to their downloads. Payment options for these extra features break out as follows: Monthly ($16) or Quarterly ($44) via Paypal subscription.

An extra cool aspect of this service is the fact that the show’s hosts, Mark and Kara, are Scottish! I don’t know why that’s extra cool, other than the fact that it’s one more accent my ears get to listen to… I like the setup, though. Mark is an experienced Language teacher with more than 10 years experience delivering online lessons, while Kara is a beginning Spanish student – someone we can learn with – who also knows a bit of French, Japanese, Mandarin, and Norwegian!

Forget Netflix, I’m Sticking with Coffee!

In an earlier post about the PodcastPeople, I mentioned my on again, off again relationship with Netflix. Coffee Break Spanish might delay me from re-igniting that love affair for a while.

I teach at a middle school with a Latino population hovering around 65%. I would venture to say that 20% of these 6th, 7th, and 8th graders are enrolled in the ESOL program, and I can count on at least three to five Spanish only speaking students in my classes – leaving about 20 or so who speak English, but are still working on its Standard academic uses. These numbers fluctuate throughout the year, but you get the picture.
As you can see, I have a functional need to learn the Spanish language. Sure, I could take Mike Gallagher’s “This is America, please speak English” approach, but the simple fact of it is that learning Spanish makes me a better educator, because I am able to forge relationships with my Spanish-speaking Technology students as they see me floundering about making mistakes that quite literally crack them up!

You see, by putting my self out there and being willing to make what can be some fairly embarrassing mistakes, I am modeling the type of academic behavior I want to see in my ESOL students. Trust me, as a man, when you are trying to say “I am embarrassed,” and it comes out “Yo soy embarasada,” you turn a deep shade of red once you realize that you have just explained to your students that you are pregnant! Woah, Nelly!

Risk taking is a huge part of learning. I can challenge my ESOL students to be bolder with their English language skills, but by modeling it, I can show them.

Technorati Tags: Coffee Break Spanish, EFL, ESOL, language acquisition

I have decided to start an ongoing post category on this blog called EFL Connections, which will be dedicated to collecting and sharing Web 2.0-enhanced EFL information and resources across the K-12 curriculum. I teach at a Central Florida middle school school that services a very large EFL/ESOL population, and I have to date felt that there was little I could do to help some of our mainstreamed EFL students succeed in my classes – save for pairing them with bilingual students, which is an option that is at times required, but one I hate – because it ends up providing both students with limited exposure to what’s going on in the class.

I believe the Web 2.0 collaborative learning philosophy can and should be applied in ways that are specifically designed to assist limited English speakers. It is my hope that by sharing our experiences with you here, and by relaying interactions we have with other EFL teachers and students across the nation and abroad, this ongoing post will serve as a point of information for those of you who want to do everything you can for your English language learners.

EFL Connections: 9-12-2007

Today I had the pleasure of speaking with José “The Coordinator” Rodriguez about how Web 2.0 technology can be used to better serve EFL students. We discussed the benefits of using blogs, podcasts, and presentation sharing software such as Bubbleshare. These tools encourage active engagement and interaction in English, and they provide creative outlets for students who may be shy about speaking in English as well as those who actively speak the language, but need to improve their grasp on its more Standardized characteristics. My mind is still buzzing with all the possibilities we discussed, and I’m still amazed at how open professionals like José are to helping those of us who are just now trying to learn more about the pedagogy behind Web 2.0. Thanks, José!

I don’t speak Spanish very well (or write it well, as you can see above!). But I have many Latino students who do not speak English. How am I to help them overcome their language barrier? I think Web 2.0 can help, and the video below, created by Mr. Graham Stanley got me thinking about it.

David Warlick’s July 26th article detailing his findings regarding first year teachers and their familiarity with Web 2.0 technology painted a picture that seemed less optimistic than it was in all actuality. After stating that only two in attendance were bloggers, RSS was a mystery, and virtually no one knew what a wiki was, he followed up by saying that:

“It’s not a bad thing that these beginning teachers hadn’t heard of Web 2.0. They’re certainly doing it. Most of them IM, and have MySpace or Facebook (etc.) sites. They communicate online with individuals and groups, and they’ve used these conversations to teach and learn, though they probably haven’t thought of it that way.”

This leaves me with a feeling of hope. But hey, I’m a pretty optimistic guy! I guess I just believe that one by one, as the collaborative online learning and networking mechanism powers up in more and more classrooms, we’ll keep heading in the right direction – towards all things Web 2.0 settling into the realm of tried and true versus novel and experimental. Like many of the educators I have come to call friends and colleagues over the past couple of months, I will be starting and maintaining a consistent grass roots effort on my school campus. If I can encourage five teachers at Boone Middle School in Haines City, Florida to reach out to the world via even one community authored blog and a shared wiki (heck, throw in a podcast .. who knows!?), then that’ll be my little success story for the year. For if they in turn do the same, I think we might find ourselves making progress after all.

Technorati Tags: ESOL collaborative learning education