I teach high school Spanish and I can see a number of benefits of using a blog in the classroom. I think it can be used as a type of discussion forum, a platform to showcase student work, or simply a writing practice tool. For me, perhaps the most intriguing part of using a blog is that students are interacting with the target language outside of the classroom. Because I live in a part of the country with a very small Spanish-speaking population, the opportunities for my students to use language outside of the classroom are minimal. By implementing a blog, however, students will interact with the target language much like they would their first language. Students are constantly posting things on the internet in their personal lives, so why not harness that interest and use it in the classroom. By doing so, they will be using the language in a more natural setting than in the 50 minutes of classroom time.
My idea for using a blog is simply to post a prompt weekly to which the students must respond. By doing this I can focus on certain skills or areas upon which the students need to improve. It would function as an extension of the topics being covered in class. For example, if we are studying a certain verb tense in class, I could post a prompt that would require students to respond using that structure. Or if I see that students are lacking in vocabulary, I can post a prompt that will be aimed at developing vocabulary about a certain topic.
As the year unfolded and students became more proficient at responding to my posts, I believe that I would also have them respond to their peers' prompts. This may be the most powerful use of blogging in my opinion. Students have a tremendous way of challenging one another's thinking and bringing out the best in their classmates. I think that blogging among peers would assist in developing interactive communication skills that are difficult to fully develop in the foreign language classroom.
I like your idea of posting a weekly prompt for the students to respond to. It would be great for the students to incorporate what they are studying into their weekly responses. I think the goal of having the students interact and reply to each other is an important part of the blogging process. How will you introduce the use of a blog in your short, 50 minute block? Will you have the students blog from home as part of their homework? It would also be neat if you knew other Spanish speaking adults, or community members who could interact with students on the blog, too. Good luck getting started!
ReplyDeleteAs a fellow Spanish teacher, I agree the limited amount of time our students are exposed to Spanish in our classrooms is not enough. We know a person becomes proficient in a foreign language only with continued use of the language. Your blog idea is great. A couple of years ago, I thought of introducing blogs to my students. Because I want them to blog in the target language, I have not yet asked this of them. I teach 8th grade and my students’ limited knowledge of Spanish has prevented me from introducing blogging to my classes. I have thought that it would be difficult for my students to blog in the target language. My classes are at the start of their second formal year of Spanish. Their vocabulary is limited and the verb tenses they “know” are the present tense and some past tense. After reading your blog post, I believe I have not given them enough credit and, although I am afraid they are going to relay on Google Translate to aid them with their blogs, it may be time to try it out.
ReplyDeleteDo you think they will find it difficult? How are you going to assign your blog to your students? Is your blog going to be for enrichment or will it count as a grade? How often will you have them blog? These questions came to mind as I thought about my own blog assignment. What are your thoughts?
I think that blogging for Spanish class is a great idea that definitely thinks outside of the box in terms of what teachers traditionally do with blogs.
ReplyDeleteOne area of concern I would have would be how do you address the situation involving the student who is far behind or doesn't understand the language well enough to blog about it. Personally, I would be pretty mortified to have to post to a blog that I knew all my peers would be able to see, especially if I knew that I was not proficient in the subject.
Again, I think it's a great idea, just curious how you would address that type of situation.
@ Sara,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reply. In response to your questions, I don't think that 50 min. periods will pose a problem for introducing blogs. Most students already know how to blog (I'm at the high school level). I will mostly be setting expectations. And I will will expect students to blog outside of class.
- Bryan
@ Mariza Carbone,
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to see another foreign language teacher in the mix. I often feel like I'm on an island.
In reference to your questions, I will use blogging as a grade. I am sure that some students will find it difficult, but I will use it to reinforce concepts already covered in class. I don't expect students to do something about which they have no prior understanding.
My initial idea is to post a new starter every week. I'll see how the interaction goes from there.
In reference to your comment about using an online translator, it has been my experience that you can spot that quite easily. You know your students and the work they do. So if they suddenly start using structures they haven't studied, you can be pretty sure they are not doing their own work.
-Bryan Horn
@TeacherBill,
ReplyDeleteI would treat that student the same way I would on any other assignment - I would give them the tools and the help that they need to succeed. Because I teach a foreign language, my classroom probably works differently than some. I would say that 75% of work done in my class is interactive. So that fact that a student has to present something for their peers to see is nothing new to my students. I think that blogging might even help that struggling student because they will have time to prepare and present their best work before posting it.
- Bryan Horn
I like the idea of using the blog as a prompt to a lesson. That would engage the students more interactively and get them using the technology on a real world basis. Do you see where doing this might get students off task and start surfing the Internet, rather than completing the assignment in the prompt? Or, do you have a lab monitoring system in place that gives you total access to the student machines and you can control the applications and websites that they can use? If not, you might want to consider that, I use one and it really makes a difference in the classroom management piece.
ReplyDelete