Three years ago, I was still an ESL teacher that taught adults reading and writing online. And also, I used to travel a lot, especially to the U.S., so it was inevitable for me to teach during my trips. And once by accidentally, I came up an new idea that why not posting my travel pictures and journals in English on my Facebook page so I can ask students to leave comments for me there in order to let them practice their writing and reading skills, since I was in a English speaking country which I thought it was win-win situation( I don't need to prepare extra material that they might think boring and also let them see what a real English speaking country looks like through their teacher). Then I tried it, and their response was great! They all loved the idea and asked me to post more in the next following weeks. So that was a good experience.
As for answering professor's question, I would like to use this idea here. I'm really insterested in teaching Chinese in the future, and I enjoy online course a lot, so when if I have oppertunity to teach Chinese online in the future, I'd like to open a blog, write journals several times a week in Chinese, and then ask my students to check them first and then leave comments under it for me also in Chinese, so after that, I can respond them and make correction under their comments so the whole class can see it like the idea of our Disscussion Board. Besides this way of improve reading or writing skills, I'd like to ask the to post their own Chinese journals on their blogs that open to public, so I can comment under it and also other students.
Also, I'd like to set a public blog area so once or twice a week we can talk about a set issue on it, everybody needs to give their own opinions on it, so it is pretty much like a Chinese learning club.
And hope this type of blogging activity demonstrates learning standard performance indicators:
-LOTE.ML.1.2.C.A:
Students can comprehend the content of most texts of interest to native speakers
-LOTE.ML.1.2.C.C:
Students can write multi-paragraphed essays, journals, personal and business letters, and creative texts in which their thoughts are unified and presented in an organized fashion; errors in form may occur, particularly when the students are writing about complex themes or issues requiring the expression of opinions, or when the topic is outside their realm of experiences.
- LOTE.ML.1.2.C.D:
Students can use culturally appropriate learned vocabulary and structures associated with a broad range of topics, and structures such as simple and complex sentences to communicate through the full range of time frames.
And see the learning standard here.
Students can use culturally appropriate learned vocabulary and structures associated with a broad range of topics, and structures such as simple and complex sentences to communicate through the full range of time frames.
And see the learning standard here.
I think your blogging ideas are great! I think you could even incorporate the first idea you were talking about and set up a travel blog about travel in China. You could do a similar thing and post your photo's from China and students could comment on them in Chinese and maybe discuss them in class.
ReplyDeleteOne of the best things you will learn in teaching is to always get a "two-fer" out of every situation. Such as yours: you were already traveling and taking pictures and posting so why not use that for students? I set up a Twitter account for my students when I went to Italy and Greece to share with them my experiences. Anytime you can get 2 things out of 1 task, you're good!
ReplyDeleteThe authenticity of your picture posting while traveling is so great! As a language learning student myself, I tend to get bored with book topics that I find synthetic and un-useful. Hearing about that idea is honestly very refreshing and gives me ideas for how to find authentic "two-fer's" in my own practice/life as Kate said. :)
ReplyDeleteHey Quan Li, I really like your ideas on integrating Language learning into a blogging platform. I too believe that the best way to learn a new language is to do so actively, no matter how embarrassing it may seem at first. The good news is that blogging gets rid of a lot of the social awkwardness that comes with learning a 2nd language. Incorporating teaching into a informal group setting is a great way to trick the brain into passively retaining information, I have learned that fear or anxiety negatively affects one's ability to learn new concepts or even commit them to memory.
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