Podcasts

I could use Englishcaster as a warm-up in my class. The website provides lots of songs in English and the songs are short and easy and they have repetition of phrases and lyrics. Especially, I could use Learn a Song as a tool to get my students used to the flow of English sounds. I could also use GenkiEnglish.com for the purpose of practice grammar. Songs in the website consist of grammatical features, such as conditional clauses and modal verbs. Since those podcasts give enjoyable English sources, it could be used to remove students’ negative feelings about learning English and to make learning more enjoyable.
Another podcast I could use in my class is Public Radio Podcasts which has so many varieties of podcasts. Among the podcasts, I could use “How to …” in my classroom. One of the reasons is the duration of each topic. It is a 6-minute lesson, so even I use the podcast during class time, it will not take so much time. Another reason is the content. What we can learn is very practical and pragmatic, such as how to express feelings of dislike and how to get back to a topic. The other reason is it consists of thorough explanations for every phrase and expression, which tells us nuance of different expressions. Therefore, my students will be able to learn something which they can use in the real world. If there is a common topic between a textbook and an expression in the podcast, I would use it as an additional and supportive source for the textbook. If expressions in the podcast cannot be found in the textbook, I would use it as a expression builder; students learn those useful phrases at the beginning of each lesson.

Yackpack for global cooperation

Yack Pack can facilitate global cooperation in learning. One of the merits of Yackpack is that we can send person(s) voices: it can enhance speaking skills. The other merit is that students can have interaction with others in English during the process of their learning.

For example, a teacher invites another class from other place where their first language is not Japanese so that they have to use English and both teachers create a pack (group) for a project or the same topic. Here I will use global warming as a topic to explain for my idea about global cooperation. The students in the pack share the lesson plan about global warming to make sure they share the minimum requirements, such as necessary vocabulary or terms and discussion questions. They will send their pack mates their thoughts about the topic; why global warming is a serious issue, in what way it will affect their life, what measures are currently taken for it, and what they can do for it.

In exchanging their ideas through Yackpack, students will gain the knowledge about more than just the fact: They will learn how similarly they are thinking about global warming and how differently they are thinking about it: They will find cultural differences relating to it: They will be aware of and try to apply good things which are done in each country, etc. Therefore, it is expected that students will not only improve their speaking skills, but they will also increase knowledge about the topic and cultural differences and similarities.

I think any topics can provide students with benefits above; boosting their speaking skills, learning topics, and raising cultural awareness. In addition, their learning will be meaningful through interaction due to the authenticity.

Comparison of Global SchoolNet & ePals

I chose Global SchoolNet and ePals as two sites of global cooperation. First, I would like to briefly describe two sites.

Global SchoolNet:
Global SchoolNet promotes students’ learning in a meaningful project with collaboration with others. Among many programs, I would like to share my exploration of International CyberFair, Doors to Diplomacy, and Newsday.
International CyberFair focuses on a topic in local community, and Doors to Diplomacy focuses on a global topic. For both projects, students choose a task from given categories and do some research about their local community related to the task. Ultimately, they create a website about the topic as their final product. There are many groups from different countries participate in the same project, so it is interesting to compare different points of view about the same topic.
Newsday is the project where students post articles they have written and others can read the published product. For example, one school created a magazine about students’ family. The magazine consisted of students’ stories about their family and shared stories by other students from other places.

ePals:
ePals provides teachers and students with global connection and collaborative learning opportunities.
I would like to talk about Classroom Match and in2Books in ePals.
Classroom Match enables teachers to find other classroom which has the same interests in a topic. After matching classrooms, students work on a project, such as global warming, culture, and weather. Because each project consists of objectives, essential questions, supporting questions, academic vocabulary, culminating activity, materials, assessment, and resources, classrooms which are participating in the project share the same course. In addition, all students interact with students in other ePals, so they really collaborate their learning about a topic. Communication for the project will be done by school blog or school e-mail.
Another program in ePals is in2Books. Students read books and write what they think and what is important in the books to their pen pals who are adults and have read the same books. The pen pals write the students back. This interaction will be done by e-mail.

Comparison of the two sites:
Both sites provide us with interesting programs which offers collaborations. They also increase students' cultural awareness and interests in grobal issues. The main difference I found between the two sites is that ePals's programs offer more interaction with others during the process of the programs while we are able to share final products and facilitate understanding global issues and cultures in Globals SchoolNet's programs.

Application to my future class:
I would like to use ePals in my future class because of more active global interaction. Especially, I would like to incorporate in2Books into a reading and writing class since it will motivate students to read and it will enhance both reading and writing skills. For example, I will choose a book which is widely read in English spoken countries or other countries for English classes. Considering students' levels, probably I will choose simplified virsion of an original book. Besides explanation of vocabulary and sentence structures in the class, I will make time for students to share letters from their pen pals and what they think about their opinions or suggestions in small groups. In a writing class, I will encourage students to write a letter to their pen pals about their ideas and comprehension about the book and their response to letters from their pen pals. By doing so, I think I can raise their critical thinking and comprehension as well as reading and writing skills. Additionally, I will encourage students to thikn how their understanding changes after interaction with their pen pals. After reading a book, students will reflect on the book and the interaction and they will e-mail their report to their pen pals.