/tekˈnɑ lə dʒi/

The past couple of years has demonstrated to educators everywhere that we must prepare students to use technology as an integral part of learning.  In my new venture, I am delving into the world of technology and connecting the dots with digital tools that have been designed for learning environments.

Please join me as I share new educational technology and how it can be used in the language acquisition classroom.  Additionally, I will share tools that can be used in the workplace and in personal living.  As we live and grow, we will encounter new technologies in every area of our lives.  Let's explore them together!

Check out this video I created while studying at Mississippi State University. I believe this resource can help students whose language proficiency is increasing, but may not be where they can navigate every space requiring advanced levels of comprehension. The resource with live links can be found here.

Feel free to comment and share your feedback on the featured technology. 

Thanks in advance~

Greene Earth

Wearing Sanskrit while Translanguaging...

Retrieved from https://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock
-images-om-sanskrit-symbol-round-image32976229

Mindfulness

There are always buzzwords that float around in the Education arena.  Mindfulness is one of them that is very dear to my heart.  Of all of the languages that I have in my repertoire, I have newly added Sanskrit, which is an ancient Indic language of India that can be found in classical Indian epic poems.  Religion aside, Sanskrit is used all over the world, including in the United States among people who consciously practice mindfulness. Adding just a few words to your and your students' language diet can have calming effects.

Translanguaging

When thinking  of bi-/multilingualism, a new concept I discovered this summer is Translanguaging.  It is a tool that teachers who have multiple languages represented in their classrooms are able to use to promote content learning and production of that language in projects that reflect comprehension of individual students and small or large groups.  It incorporates the funds of knowledge students possess from home, in addition to those funds of knowledge they share among their peers in English. The end result is learning and a tangible product of that learning that can be in any language and/or English and is also assessed by the students themselves, their peers, AND their parents.  What a concept, right?!?

The main question becomes HOW?   As educators, we really want to go along with our mandates, plow through our curriculum standards and work towards closing all learning gaps.  But translanguaging does not remove any of those goals, it creatively adds to them.  If all of the ingredients to a recipe you desired to make for your family were incomprehensible, you would be unsuccessful in creating the dish.  However if you were able to leverage what you do know about your ingredients and instructions in your language and share them with someone else, joining what you already know to what you are learning, how much further would you be in accomplishing your culinary goal?  It would be simply delicious!

In March of 2016, Francois Grosjean, Ph. D., interviewed García for Psychology Today, explaining what Translanguaging is and clarifying the idea of idiolects.  It further expresses what we already know about monolingualism and how it affects the complexity of one's language repertoire. There is no doubt that monolingualism is not the norm, but a rarity. It is also frowned upon on the world stage.  According to Abbott (2018), monolingualism has diminished the global status of the United States.  Her opinion can be found on The Hill.

I know I've shared a bit much today, but I'm full.  I simply believe that I can wear a (San)skirt while Translanguging in the classroom.  I hope this has opened some creative boxes for you, especially if you had never considered espousing these terms (mindfulness and/or translanguaging).

Happy Translanguging with Mindfulness!

Abbott, M. (2018). Monolingualism diminishes America's stature on the world stage. The Hill online. Retrieved from http://thehill.com/opinion/education/376707-monolingualism-diminishes-americas-stature-on-the-world-stage

García, Johnson, & Seltzer (2016). The Translanguaging Classroom: Leveraging Student Bilingualism for Learning. Philadelphia, PA: Carlson

Garey, J. (2018). Mindfulness in the Classroom: How it helps kids regulate behavior and focus on learning. Retrieved from: https://childmind.org/article/mindfulness-in-the-classroom/.

Grosjean, F. (2016). What is Translanguaging? An Interview with Ofelia García. Psychology Today  online. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/life-bilingual/201603/what-is-translanguaging.

My Sincerest Apologies

Life has its way of bringing you full-circle, but at times, there is a whirlwind of situations that may have you forget your true passion.  For me, it is language.  Over the past few years, I have been navigating my way through the "New Teacher" experience, and it has been challenging, to say the least. So, I extend my sincerest apologies for not maintaining the blog as originally planned.

In the classroom, I have been attempting to find strategies that work for my particular groups of students, and I have found that encouraging the learning of new languages has been a joy.  I heard Hmong for the first time and it is such a beautiful language.  Although I only learned a few phrases, I have found a friend who I can count on to teach me more.  My daughter prepared to visit Thailand by learning some essential phrases in Thai and I must say that I have also added a bit of Korean to my language diet since my last post.

Some of the pages here, although dated some time ago, still bear information that is timeless and essential to bi-/multilingualism.  I hope my summer blogging and the ideas I have for upcoming research bring great insight into this discussion of helping connect our students to other languages.

I have been inspired by Ava, whose toddler conversations sparked interesting discussions among my sixth graders, this year.  Thus, proving that Sign Language, although not completely universal, has great benefits to those learning it.  The research in bilingualism has confirmed that teaching babies to sign or even having them exposed to more than one language during infancy improves cognition.

Maria Polinsky, professor of Linguistics at the University of Maryland and author of the upcoming title Heritage Languages and their Speakers (August release date) also authored an article that explores Sign Language as a heritage language.  She further shares the advantages bilingualism has on cognition from infancy to the mature years, decreasing or delaying the occurrence of dementia or Alzheimer's.  Her interview can be viewed here.

I look forward to sharing more with you in the weeks to come.

Happy Multi-Languaging!

Ndbesse (2016). Ava (24 months old) British Sign Language Dinner Chat [Video]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=655nxnpkkBw

Polinsky, M. (2018*). Heritage Languages and Their Speakers. Cambridge University Press.

Polinsky, M. (2018) Sign Languages in the Context of Heritage Language: A New Direction in Language Research. Sign Language Studies 18: 412-428.

Serious Science (2015). Cognitive Advantages of Bilingualism - Maria Polinsky. [Video] Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-ml2dD4SIk

* Polinsky's title is set to be released, this summer.  Check her website for more accurate details.

Welcome to Summer!

During the summer months, students have greater opportunities to play.  And play they might.  There are some apps and online games that will assist them in sharpening or honing in on language skills that can improve their language learning and acquisition.
Please take a moment to experience these helpful resources that can be used any time of the day.  Parents can join in on the learning fun too!

Duolingo

This interactive website can be obtained as a smartphone app and offers: Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Irish, Danish Swedish, Esperanto, Turkish, Norwegian, and Ukrainian, just to name some.  This company believes that everyone should have access to a free quality language education.  I use this only 5 minutes a day, but have seen great improvement in my own experience with Portuguese, a new one for me...

Transparent Language

This website is offered through my local library's website and has free resources, like newsletters, blogs and a word of the day,  They offer over 100 languages (too many to list here), but through your library or educational institutions, you should be able to access it.  I used my library card to open the account and it can be used at the library or from the privacy of my home.  They also have a mobile app.  Check this out!

Memrise

In my research, I discovered this site.  Before looking into it, I had not heard of Memrise, but I discovered that my daughter was using this app for reinforcement in Korean.  "It has topic words, but it isn't like what you think it is.  It is more like lessons, rather than a course," she said.  But it can be used to access more than 200 languages (also too many to list here). I'm definitely going to try this one out this summer.

Busuu

This app and website offers:  Chinese, English, French, German,  Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Turkish.  It also allows video/audio chats with native speakers and appears easy to use.  I have not tried this one, yet, but have seen that it received high ratings


                                                                                    LiveMocha

This online learning community connects people from around the globe to experience authentic interpersonal communication.  My eldest daughter used it to enhance her Spanish and Japanese, while helping others with English.  It is definitely one to try!

All of the images are copyrighted by their owners and can be found on their perspective websites.

Have a Safe and Happy Multilingual Summer!

Reflections (Spring 2014)

  

 Taking on the blog-job of "Embodying a Multilingual Perspective"

     When I take a moment to reflect on all that I have personally learned, I must say that this semester has been, by far the most challenging, yet the most rewarding task that I have had since returning to school in 2010. Life for me had been mostly about finishing my coursework with whatever it would take, but I have been challenged to think creatively and to apply what I have learned in a manner that goes beyond what I originally thought I could do. Thus, the blog-job of "Embodying a Multilingual Perspective," was conceived.

     I love languages ... I adore language-learning ... I am enthusiastically looking forward to language-teaching in grades K-12.  In the months (and years) to come, I hope that time will allow me to increase in knowledge and experience that will develop into applicable wisdom that I may become the dynamic instructor I aspire to be.  In the future, I will post on a monthly basis and hope to be able to embed videos, music, and other features that will enhance the blog experience.

Please share whatever you feel may be beneficial to other language educators.  Thank you in advance!


Image retrieved from http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/2009/07/blog-for-teacher.html

Digital Literacy (05/05/14)

Technology and Language Teaching

If there is one place to find acronyms, technology would be that place.  There are non-computer based and computer based technology that are beneficial in the language-learning environment.  By now you might know that a CD is a compact disc, and a DVD is a digital video disc or digital versatile disc.  Believe it or not, some of us still use audio- and videotapes, along with stand-alone overhead projectors.  Thanks to the evolution of technology and the constant development of new applications and devices, many of the things we have become comfortable in using are now, or soon will be obsolete.

With this in mind, Brown (2007) gives us some information about the practical applications of CALL - Computer-Assisted Language Learning.  CMC, or computer-mediated communication has become more widely accepted as an alternative phrase to CALL.  Technology-mediated language learning (TMLL) attempts to capture the essence of efforts to integrate technology into pedagogical theories, allowing for it to go beyond computer science.

In the classroom,  there are multiple uses of CALL:

* Collaborative projects

* Peer-editing of compositions

* E-mail

* Blogs

* Web-based discussion boards

* Web page design

* Videoconferencing

* Reinforced class materials

* Podcasting

* Games and Simulations

* Speech recognition software

* Word search - context and collocations

* Multimedia presentations

I have had the awesome opportunity to experience new advances in language technology. Last year, I conducted an interview with a Taiwanese English teacher and continue to use technology to maintain active communication.  At one point in life (as recent as last year, sadly), I could have been considered a Luddite (one who dislikes technology to the point of attempting to destroy it).  However, I have given in to the fact that new advances in communication and learning technology will make the task of language teaching an exciting and adventurous task.

Which of the above pictured tools have you been able to use in your language teaching?  Please share in the comments below.  Are there any that you did not see that you would be willing to share?  Thank you in advance!

Brown, H. D. (2007). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language 

             pedagogy (3^rd edition). White Plains, NY: Pearson Education.

Image retrieved from http://blogs.ihes.com/tech-elt/?p=1384 

Assessments - How to evaluate langauge skills (05/07/14)

Assessments help educators gauge their students prior to, during, and post learning concepts. Some accepted and not so revered standardized test acronyms are below.  Which one(s) are you familiar with?  I have heard of TOEFL, and believe I heard of CALP in the past, but was introduced to TOEIC and IELTS, this year.

TOEFL® -Test of English as a foreign language.

TOEIC®- Test of English for International Communication

IELTS™ - International English Language Testing System

CALP - Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency

Assessment is a continuous process that goes beyond simply testing students. A good teacher never ceases to evaluate students, whether those assessments are incidental (informal) or intentional (formal).  In the language classroom, the principles of assessment can serve as guidelines for the design of measuring tools that appraise the efficacy of an existing procedure.  These principles are:

• Practicality - a practical test is within the means of financial limitations, time constraints, ease of administration, and scoring and interpretation;
• Reliability- a reliable test is consistent and dependable;
• Validity - test validity is the degree to which it actually measures what it is intended to measure.
• content validity - the test actually samples the subject matter about which conclusions are to be drawn;
• face validity- convincing the learner that the test is indeed testing what it claims to test;
• construct validity- based on theoretical constructs (proficiency, communicative competence, self-esteem, etc.);
•  Authenticity - an authentic test has characteristics that correspond with the given language test task and the features of a target language task;
• Washback - feedback about student competence that is established by performance, but  based on useful diagnoses of strengths and weaknesses

There are numerous types of tests, but Brown (2007) highlights five types that can be found in the language curricula: Proficiency, Diagnostic, Placement, Achievement, and Aptitude.   Within each of the five categories (types) exists a variety of techniques and procedures that range from open-ended to structured response options and written to oral performance modes. Also mentioned are those that range from multiple-choice to fill-in-the-blank item design formats and objective to subjective scoring procedures.

In classroom-based assessments there are practical steps to test construction.  Brown suggests the following:

1. Test toward clear, unambiguous objectives.
2. Design test specifications based on your objectives.
3. Draft the test.
4. Make revisions to the test.
5. Final-edit, word-process, and print the test.
6. Utilize feedback after administering the test.
7. Provide ample washback.

What really piqued my interest was the section devoted to alternatives in assessment.  These alternatives emphasize the responsibility to apply all assessment principles to such options, and do not to treat them as strange deviations from normal assessment practices. This blog actually began as a creative alternative assessment and not because I could not do the original assignment, but because I desired to take the opportunity offered to do something creatively different. I am so grateful for this option to demonstrate that I have been actively engaged in my own learning process.  Additionally, I hope to maintain this blog as an educational professional for the benefit of pre-service and veteran teachers. 

Alternative Assessments, though, can be in several forms.  Those that are most common are:
Portfolios 
A purposeful collection of students' work that demonstrates efforts, progress, & achievements in given areas;

Journals 
Language learning-logs, responses to readings, and reflections on attitudes and feelings about oneself;

Conferences
Ungraded student-teacher meetings that produce dialogues to encourage student self-reflection;

Observations
Assessment done frequently and discreetly so that the naturalness of linguistic performance is maximized;

Self- and Peer-Assessments
Encourage autonomy and increased motivation because of self-involvement in the learning process;

Some other alternatives not listed above are works of fine art, websites or blogs, videos and video blogs, songs, poetry, and short story creation.  The list of alternatives could be endless, but the concern would be whether or not the alternatives will maximize practicality and reliability in the procedures, while focusing on the students' actual language performance.

I love the English language and believe that there are so many ways for students to experience success while learning it.  Assessments are an important part of helping students know where they are and determine what they may need in order to progress and reach their language goals.  Let's make sure we are fair when we consider what we teach and what we want students to learn.

Brown, H. D. (2007). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language 

             pedagogy (3^rd edition). White Plains, NY: Pearson Education

Image retrieved from http://www.behaviorbabe.com/assessments.htm