Technology for 21st Century WL Teachers- Catherine Ousselin

"I have compiled over 10 years of language teaching resources on this site, along with the latest methods and research in the field of applied linguistics and second language acquisition . There are links throughout this site to other places on the internet where you can also get great ideas and more information."

Learn languages, watch videos, news, etc through the BBC.

BBC French

BBC Spanish

BBC German

Technology in the World Language classroom video

University of Chicago

"The Networked Teacher" by Sylvia Rosenthal Tolisano

"The Networked Teacher" by Alec Courosa

Click photo for a larger image

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Gadgets and audio programs

Shopping for electronics?

These are sites that I use regularly to find the gadgets that I use in class. Many of these sites offer refurbished products at discounted prices. Always check the warranty and return policies!

Woot.com

Woot is a website that has 1 item for sale each day. I have purchased my MP3 players and Flip cameras on this site at deeply discounted prices.

Need a free, spyware-free audio program? Download.com compares and rates the best available.

Audacity

If you are in need of free sound recording software, Audicity is a great solution.

It is freeware and is easy to use.

Talk to your tech people to install this program in your classroom and school lab.

GarageBand

From Wikipedia

"GarageBand is a software application for Mac OS X and iOS that allows users to create music or podcasts. It is developed by Apple Inc. as a part of the iLife software package."

Mini Language Lab! SanDisk Sansa Fuze (2,4,8 GB)

Sync this MP3 with pictures, language podcasts, books/ textooks on CD or video podcats. This inexpensive MP3 player also has an internal microphone for recording audio and the ability to transfer the files onto any computer!

Look for new and refurbished Sansa Fuzes at the shopping links above or at: Overstock.com / Amazon.com.

iPod Touch / iPhone / iPad

Possibly the most powerful, impressive tool for World Language learning!

On the newest generation in the iPod family, there a two cameras, internal microphones, WiFi adapters, and an amazing fleet of Apps (programs) that will make language learning a truly connected experience.

Canby, Oregon school district has purchased an iPod touch for every student in the district. Learn how the teachers and students have benefited from this incredible tool.

1. iPod touch users Wiki - Joe Morelock, technology director

2. Lee Elementary School

3.. iPod touch project

iPod Touch and iPhone options for recording !

There are several apps (applications) available on the iTunes store that will allow you to record student projects. If you have the 1st-3rd generation iTouch, you will need a headset with a microphone. Please read the comptability carefully, I have ordered the wrong microphone in the past!

If you have the iPhone or 4th generation iPod Touch, the microphone is internal! No microphone required.

These small, but powerful cameras are wonderful for the World Language classroom.

Flip:Internal memory and a USB connection make uploading videos stress-free.

Visit Woot.com to see if they are offering refurbished cameras. I bought five cameras at $70.00 each!

Flip video cameras - Electronics-Expo

Flip video cameras - Ecost.com

Flip video cameras - Amazon.com

Kodak Zi8: No internal memory, but it has an external microphone jack for a lapel-type microphone and it takes 5mg stills. HD quality videos, rugged!

Kodak Zi8 - Buy.com

Kodak Zi8 - Newegg.com

Headset with microphone

Choose from a variety of styles and prices. Headsets allow students to record themselves and to listen to the vast array media available to World Language learners.

School Outfitters (discounted options!)

Amazon.com (search for headset earphone with microphone)

LifeChat headphones

Cyber Accoustics headphones

Webcams

Webcams work with computers and normally stay mounted on the computer or workstation. Use a webcam to connect with schools on SKYPE! You could also record student presentations or video podcasts for absent students.

Logitech Webcam C250

Microsoft LifeCam VX3000

Interactive Classroom Response Systems (clickers!) and Slates

ActiveExpression from Promethean

This is a very nice system. The program that runs the assesments is quite easy to use, tracks students, and offers solid reports on progress. Texting (with accents!), graphing, and multiple choice questions are only a few of the uses.

SMART Response Systems - XE

This is the second system that I tried recently. The XE clickers use a QWERTY keyboard which studnets prefer. However, the software is not language-friendly and accents are not available. This is the first edition of these clickers, so there may be updates.

eInstruction - CPS system

I have only test the CPS response once at home and not with students. The program was slightly involved to learn and texting function is quite basic on this system. While it is good for basic multiple choice questions, it did not meet my needs.

eInstruction - Mobi Slate

The Mobi slate is a helpful tool that allows the teacher and students to write and draw from anywhere in the classroom. The image and words are projected through the computer and LCD projector. A wonderful tool for kinesthetic classrooms!

Qwizdom - Audience response system

Encourage your quieter students to participate! The games and quizzes are as easy to make as a PowerPoint. Students are easily addicted to this game system!

Activities for Interactive Whiteboards (SmartBoard and Promethean Board) NB: You do not need an Interactive Whiteboard to use these activities. By projecting the sites on your regular screen, your students interact with the activities on the presentation computer. If you have a wireless mouse, pass the mouse around the class to increase interactivity.
French	Spanish	All languages
SmartBoard Forum on French activities	Promethean information about Spanish downloads	Triptico Word Magnets Create interative word magnets to use in sentence organization, adjective agreement, and verb conjugation activities.
Languages Online Example - Chez le papetier	Spanish Flashcards Vocabulary review with pictures and sounds Smartboard geared, but usable on a Promethean board as well.	Languages Online Choose your language and find the activities based on the themes. Students are able to interact with these games.
Bonjour de France - Games Example - La trousse scolaire	¡Oye! Interactive activities for Spanish teachers and learners	The Game-O-Matic Make basic vocabulary games to use with your curriculum.
Crikweb vocabulary games Crikweb for Promethean	Francisco Villatoro's Spanish exercises Review vocabulary and grammar based on "Caminos" textbook.	The WhiteBoard Blog 20 Interactive Whiteboard resources for teachers
La France ! Connais-tu la France ? Interactive games to learn about France More puzzles ! Cartes en puzzles	Digital Dialects Spanish Exercises	Digital Dialects - Main page 60 languages to choose from with fantastic interactive games.
	Literacy Center Education Network Practice colors, numbers, shapes, and the alphabet	Alien Language Practice body parts and other vocabulary in English, Spanish, French and German.
		Promethean board users French and Spanish language tools
	YouTube - Promethean boards Videos on how teachers use their Interactive White Boards.	TES Connect Modern Language Interactive Resources : Mainly for Promethean boards, but there is a good number of ready made PowerPoints for all teachers.

Photo and Video production, editing, and sharing

Animoto for Education

Look at my example!

Use photos and videos to produce quality productions that can be posted to your class blog, YouTube, or social network. Choose the music, the transitions, and special effects for a personalized video.

Stupeflix

"Mix images, videos and soundtracks. Add titles, transitions, oohs, and ahhs.Mix images, videos and soundtracks. Add titles, transitions, oohs, and ahhs."

Xtranormal

"If you can type, you can make movies"

Create a script, choose your characters from the available choices, organize the scene, and you have a movie!

Paint.net

A free alternative to PhotoShop! Edit photos for Storytelling and Class collaboration projects.

Be Funky

Turn your photos into artwork. 147 different effects. Free and a bit quirky!

Spanish example: Nottingham High School

Spanish videos from Nottingham

This school uses a variety of Web 2.0 tools to enhance language acquistion.

Visit their site to explore great examples.

Image and video hosting

Looking for a picture? Want to share your students' work? Create an online photo gallery to share? These sites offer numerous services. Some are free and others are through subscription.

Flickr photosharing

Photobucket Image Hosting

SmugMug Photo and Video Sharing

iPhone and iPod Touch applications for language learners

Apps store English site

I have compiled a fairly comprehensive list of Apps designed for Apple products (iPhone, iPod, and iPad). These Apps are helpful for both the learner and the educator. Many are free, some are under $5.00, and a few are major purchases (+$15.00). These lists will all update regulary with your input.

As I am not familiar with the Android OS, please send me your suggestions!

If you want to share Apps with your students and you have synced your school computer to your iDevice, click here! (CNET video)

French

View the listing of all apps in French for the iPhone/iPad/iPod touch.

App store English site

Catherine Ousselin's French App list

Spanish

View the listing of all apps in Spanish for the iPhone/iPad/iPod touch.

App store English site

Catherine Ousselin's Spanish App list

German

View the listing of all apps for the iPhone/iPad/iPod touch

App store English site

Catherine Ousselin's German App list

Japanese

View the listing of all apps in Japanese for the iPhone/iPad/iPod touch.

App store English site

Catherine Ousselin's Japanese App list

Apps for any language!

Storytelling apps

StoryKit

Free

With this app, learners can use pictures that they take with a 4th generation iPod/Phone or that they find on the the internet mixed with text and voice. Extra characters and backgrounds are $0.99 each. Very addicting!

My first 3 minute trial. So easy, so fun!

Puppet Pals

From iTunes description

Free

Create your own unique shows with animation and audio in real time!

Simply pick out your actors and backdrops, drag them on to the stage, and tap record. Your movements and audio will be recorded in real time for playback later.

StripDesigner (for iPad only!)

$2.99 From iTunes Description

Impress your friends with your own personal comic strips, created on your iPad, iPhone or iPod using just the photos from your photo album or iPhone camera.

Select one of the many included page templates. Add photos to the cells. Add a couple of balloons with fun words.

Photos can be added from the camera, your photo-album, or downloaded directly from your Facebook account.

Once you have finished your masterpiece you can save it to your photo album, email it to your friends, upload it to Facebook or Flickr, or create a Tweet with Twitter and Twitpic.

Audio/recording apps

Audioboo

From iTunes description

Free

Audioboo is an application for recording and sharing your voice with the world. This free version allows you to create audio up to 5 minutes in length and post that to your own account on the web. You can add titles, tags, geolocation info and a photo to the recording before you upload it and we'll save all that with the file. The audio can then be shared with your followers or via Facebook, Twitter & more social networks.

iPadio

From iTunes description

Free

Broadcast, record, play back and share high quality audio up to 60 minutes in length. Pause and resume recordings, add up to 4 high resolution photos and automatically geolocate your call.

Now ipadio also converts your voice to text using Spinvox API, or you can stick with manual entry if you prefer.

Ipadio integrates your calls direct to Twitter, Facebook, Wordpress, Posterous, Blogger, Live Spaces and LiveJournal.

Dragon Dictation

From iTunes description

Free

Stay connected, even when you are “Hands- Busy”

Dragon Dictation 2.0 is an easy-to-use voice recognition application powered by Dragon NaturallySpeaking that allows you to easily speak and instantly see your text content for everything from email messages to blog posts on your iPad™, iPhone™ or iPod touch™.

With Dragon Dictation 2.0, you can dictate status updates directly to your Social Networking applications (Facebook and Twitter), send text or email your friends, send notes and reminders to yourself … all using your voice. The new Dragon Dictation 2.0 also features multilingual capabilities, giving you the option to switch between a variety of languages.

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Podcasts for language learners Podcasts are ideal for supplementary language exposure. There are podcasts designed for native speakers (news, shows, music) and for language learners (French word-a-day, German idioms, Spanish grammar conjugations). A variety of both may be used to enhance the listner's experience. Podcasts are FREE internet-based audio or video programs (think radio show) that are distributed periodically. Listeners/viewers DO NOT need an iPod or mp3 player to listen to or watch podcasts. Podcasts can be streamed directly from the computer. Most people use iTunes (free, PC and Mac) to organize their "subscriptions." Additionally, podcasts aggregators such as Juice and PodcastAlley allow non- iTunes users to search for and subscribe to their favorite sites. If you use podcats and know of a helpful addition to this list, please send it to me. My e-mail is at the top of the page! To access these podcasts: Download iTunes or use a Google search for the titles that I have listed. To add a podcast to your iPod : Connect your iPod to the computer and sync with iTunes. In iTunes Store, type "Français" (or your specific language) in the search and choose "Podcasts." To add a podcast to your mp3 player: Download the podcast from the website to your "My Music" folder. Connect the mp3 to the computer. Drag and drop the podcasts from "My Music" into the mp3 folder through Windows Explorer.
French	Spanish	German	Japanese
NEWS	NEWS	Coming soon!	Coming soon!
RFI Journal en français facile Website provides a script of the podcast.	Spanish Podcasts for Beginners with Maria Fernandez (iTunes)
Académie Rouen Podcasts scolaires Young journalists at this school prepare podcast reports.	Alt.Latino (NPR) Podcast link NPR's podcast dedicated to Alternative Latino music and issues
France3 Website offers all local editions of the news and regional languages!	TecnoCasters Information about technology and gadgets in Spanish.
iTélé (Official website) Le journal (Podcast downloads)	Noticias Univision Video podcast of the news from Univision.
Europe1 L'Actu	El Mundo.es Podcast of the news from El Mundo.
TF1 JT	More podcasts below!
LCI Le journal du monde
Sciences Actualités Each week, a report about science-related news.
Terre TV La télévision des générations futures
Le Monde 60 secondes
CULTURE
Easy French Poetry Website offers free language podcasts and a subscription-based website.
Château de Versailles History of the château and Marie Antoinette (français)
Comme au cinéma Bandes annonces pour les films
Allociné Bandes annonces pour les films
Language learning	Language learning
Français facile Website offers scripts and exercices to accompany the podcasts.	Spanish A+ Bilingual Podcasts for language learners.
French verb drills French today is a website that offers free podcasts and for purchase material.	Notes in Spanish: Intermediate Our free Spanish audio and video brings you authentic, real Spanish conversations about real-life topics, making you totally confident with your Spanish.
The French Podclass Sébastien produces a great podcast and website to assist learners.	Spanish Para Todos Designed for people who have had some Spanish training.
Coffee Break French Radio Lingua Network offers free language podcasts and a subscription-based website.	Audiria.com Podcast link Audiria is an online tool which freely supports your learning of Spanish, offering podcasts to increase your knowledge of the language.
Daily French Pod Website offers free language podcasts and a subscription-based website.
Learn French with Alexa Website offers free language podcasts and a subscription-based website.

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Educational games and Quiz sites

Quia.com

Make your own quizzes, activities, and class pages when you join Quia.com

Browze already made activities and quizzes to add to your blog or website.

Hot Potatoes

The Hot Potatoes suite includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web. Hot Potatoes is freeware, and you may use it for any purpose or project you like.

Hello World: Languages at home

Nice site for young learners. There are many different activities, dialogues, and games to choose from. Some parts are free, others through subscription.

La Tortuga Taruga

Listen to Spanish songs, watch short videos and read bios about animals.

Alien Language

Practice body parts and other vocabulary in English, Spanish, French and German.

Qwizdom - Audience response system

Computer program - Not Free!

Encourage your silent students to participate! The remote controls (Clickers) are similiar to texting. What student doesn't want to show off his or her fast fingers? The games and quizzes are as easy to make as a PowerPoint. Students are easily addicted to this game system!

French resources

Catherine Ousselin's non-exhaustive list for French teachers. Please send your suggestions!

Phonétique : virelangues et activités auditives

Les activités sont destinées aux apprenants intemédiares et avancés, mais elles sont excellentes.

Spanish resources

With more suggestions for games and activities than one can count!

Please send you own suggestions to Catherine Ousselin

German resources

Games and activities abound!

Same author as the Spanish resources.

Japanese resources

Same author as Spanish resources.

Japanese resources #2