View Content #1733
| Contentid | 1733 |
|---|---|
| Content Type | 1 |
| Title | Reflections on online classes |
| Body | We are experimenting next year with creating French 3 and French 4 courses online in an attempt to save the French program. We no longer have enough students to offer these courses face-to-face, but by combining 3 high schools, we have classes of about 20 in each course. Needless to say, language teachers in our district are saying it's a bad idea and can't be as good as face to face. We aren't willing to get into that argument right now. For now, it's better than the alternative, which is no French 3 or 4 at 2 of our high schools. As we try to move our curriculum to an online environment, we find we have to change the pedagogy to suit the learning environment. We worry about listening and speaking (rightfully so, I went into this kicking and screaming that we don't have the appropriate technologies, worried about developing conversational skills which, in my mind, can't be done in an asynchronous environment, and worried about the quality of teaching we will be able to provide.) We will have students meet face-to-face once a week for Cafe Francais which will be all oral conversation kinds of activities. However, in spite of my misgivings, I'm finding this a wonderful challenge. It is forcing us to rethink things like mini grammar quizzes, for example, which we use in face-to-face classes to check kids progress. We are replacing them with more authentic assessments of use of grammar in whole language (dare I say the word) settings - in other words looking at grammar use in context. (Now I know that many of my esteemed flteach colleagues have been doing this since the flood, but, it is surprising how much of this de-contextualized teaching/quizzing has crept into my teaching from various accountability pressures - perceived or real.) What we're getting when we rethink how to present information is, I believe, more authentic contextualized learning for the students. Using powerpoint with graphics and sound, I can "teach" a vocabulary lesson just as richly as I would in the classroom (even in some cases, dare I say, better - like when I'm too tired and we do some lame vocabulary activity like reading the page out of the book) Some perceived advantages of online learning include the requirement that all participate, the ability to create language around topics in threaded discussions (albeit, most usually written, although kids can upload sound files as well as documents). Students can go over lessons as many or as few times as needed to understand the concept. The student will have more access to the teacher (that scares some and workload is certainly something that needs to be managed and monitored carefully). We can provide a rich array of practice opportunities and allow students to choose which to practice in order to prepare themselves for the authentic language task they must complete in incorporating their new learning. We know we are just beginning and that next year's course will be highly experimental as we learn to use the tools of online learning and experiment with creating meaningful assessments and assignments and a language-rich environment in an asynchronous environment. But I can see glimmers of how it can be done and done well. Dosch, L. (17 Jun. 2004). Re: TECHNOLOGY IN THE FL CLASSROOM- to be or not to be Foreign Language Teaching Forum listserv. FLTEACH@LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (23 Jun. 2004). |
| Source | FLTEACH |
| Inputdate | 2004-06-23 20:33:00 |
| Lastmodifieddate | 2004-06-23 20:33:00 |
| Expdate | Not set |
| Publishdate | Not set |
| Displaydate | Not set |
| Active | 1 |
| Emailed | 1 |
| Isarchived | 1 |
