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Flipping a language classroom
Video: introduction to two technology courses we do in the summer at IH Barcelona for secondary school teachers I'm going to quote from Wikipedia on this one (not something I've ever had a problem with!):
Flip teaching (or flipped classroom) is a form of blended learning which encompasses any use of technology to leverage the learning in a classroom, so a teacher can spend more time interacting with students instead of lecturing.
The gist of flipped learning, says Daniel Grafton, starts with the teacher recording and posting "video lectures in lieu of lecturing in class".
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What's the recipe for using technology successfully?
Hi and welcome to my blog, particularly if you're coming to my talk at the Macmillan Teachers' Day in Zaragoza this Saturday, intended for those of you teaching 2nd and 3rd cycle of Primary (ages 8-12).
Rules of hygiene In the session, I'm going to suggest that I'm not so much a teacher as a cook — I cook and serve dishes (lessons) — and that I'm also a doctor, a health inspector in my own restaurant (classroom), and that's the place to begin.
These are my [...]
Things I carry: Nice idea, but is it for class?
What I Carry: 10 Tools for Success from Jonathon Colman @jcolman*
This idea came from the weekly email I get of "Top presentations on SlideShare this week"… but I'm not sure it's one I'd use in class.
Are the images ours? With my learners, I insist that they use only their own images in project work, hand-drawn or taken on phones or cameras, and that they don't steal them from Google Images (etc), or use even images with Creative Commons licences. In [...]
Vine: 6 second videos
Mashable says it's "the video equivalent of Instagram": the newly launched Vine is cool — and could be super creative — assuming, for the moment, that you've got iPhones or iPads in your classroom (there are still few in any classroom I'm associated with).
Of course, there's not a lot of language that you can cram into the six-second limit (though it would be fun to see who can get in most!). But it's like podcasting: there's so much more language practice to be had if you have learners brainstorm and rehearse and have someone [...]
Podcasting 101: Before you start
From my "Podcasting 101" talk at the IH Barcelona ELT Conference last weekend…
Image from my presentation: The 3 Ps…
Although the equipment is important, before you start podcasting with a class, you want what I call the three Ps not just of podcasting but of using any classroom technology:
Permission Privacy Practice
Permission If you're teaching young learners, obtaining written permission from parents is vital before you start posting things online. You've much more likely to obtain it if you provide information on what you're going to be [...]
10 things I take to class.. and one I leave outside
At APABAL, and on recent posts here on this blog, I've described ten things I take to class. There is also one thing that I leave outside, namely any negative thoughts about technology, including the ideas that…
My learners are way better than me at using technology I'm utterly hopeless with technology This isn't going to work Technology never works for me Twitter is stupid Life was better before Facebook My husband hasn't talked to me since he put Instagram on his iPhone Real books are far better than e-books I'd like to smash my son's PlayStation
If you have [...]
Things I take to class #2: Plan B
In recent posts, I've described ten things I take to class. Of the ten, the one I never go to class without (assuming that some technology is going to be used) is a "Plan B".
It's usually literally written on the back of a used envelope (I collect them for that purpose) or else on a piece of paper pulled out of the recycle bin. Occasionally, it's only there in my head, but it's often the very last thing going through my mind before I step into a classroom.
It's never [...]
Things I take to class #5: my geek detector glasses
You can buy geek glasses but not, as far as I'm aware geek detector glasses; so that when I "take" them to class they are, like some of the things in Tim O'Brien's short story, one of the things I carry in my head, rather than on it.
What I mean is this: right from the start of the year, on the first day, go into class and find out which of your kids are good, really good with technology, and enlist their help for the rest of the year.
You don't need "geek detector glasses"; and you don't in [...]
No matter how young (or old) your learners are
Also from my APABAL session…
The above is just a doodle but I'd suggest that what it attempts to illustrate is important to anyone in a classroom where technology is going to get used.
The horizontal scale is age, from small children to teens and beyond; vertically we have the amount the technology gets used, from zero to "limited" and beyond. There are then two lines: "T", the amount of use the teacher makes of technology; and "S" the corresponding amount for the students.
If your learners are very [...]
Things I take to class #9: Photos for speaking activities
From my session at the APABAL Convention in Palma, September 10th…
I like to take good photos to class: ones that will produce a lot of response and thus a lot of language. They invariably do not come from Google Images and never include boring things like watches (which could be drawn on the board), or mobile phones (which could be pulled out of a pocket) or people like David Beckham (who everyone knows anyway).
For the following activity, you need 6-8 photos; in my APABAL session I used photos of baby animals which I obtained from National Geographic's Photo of [...]
How to design good 21st century language learning tasks
View more presentations from Tom Walton.
Hi and welcome to my blog if you're going to be at this weekend's TESOL Spain Annual Convention in Bilbao, where on Sunday I'll be talking about How to design good 21st century language learning tasks.
Comments, doubts, questions etc., arising from the session, do please free to ask them here… !
Technology courses for language teachers These are the two online courses mentioned in the session: Tecnología en el aula de español (a 2-week module for Spanish teachers) and Technology for language learning (a 6-week course for English teachers).
Other resources Among other [...]
How do you correct work learners do with technology?
Correction or encouragement? Which would you rather have scrawled over your work?!
One of the issues teachers often raise on the technology courses I teach is how we should correct work learners have done on things like blogs (including comments they write there) and wikis.
These are things I do and this is the advice I would offer…
DO provide as much help as possible first, before the learners go online; that's sometimes easiest to do face-to-face in class, and what we particularly want to do is provide vocabulary, rather [...]
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All posts by Tom Walton, teacher trainer at IH Barcelona
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Online course for teachers
April 22nd—June 2nd 2013
Barcelona, Sat.8th June 2013