Week 10 Reflection

This week's theme was listening and speaking, which I feel can be greatly aided through the use of CALL. With listening, it is great to use videos or audio clips (from Youtube, podcasts, etc.) because such varied material exposes learners to something other than just their teacher's voice. There is also the idea of extensive listening, and internet materials are great, as students can choose what to listen to based on their interests. Of course, scaffolding and access to some content can affect this decision, but the option is there.  With regard to speaking, CALL is beneficial because there is software that can help with pronunciation and such, but more importantly, students can speak via the internet to people in their class or even to people around the world, thereby encouraging intercultural communication.

I also presented Terantino's article on using Youtube in the classroom this week.  What really interested me about this article is the idea of a "digital native," or someone who has grown up with technology (Prensky, 2001).  Many of our students fall within this group, and to an extent, many students in our CALL class do, too.  Because of this situation, it seems that students approach learning with a different mindset, which is something to keep in mind when constructing lessons.

Lastly, I would like to comment on podcasts. I enjoyed Bek's presentation on the development of his podcast aimed around teaching vocabulary. This is a great example of a podcast that combines listening with vocabulary, but with the images involved, reading as well.  Of course, with teaching vocabulary, there is a little grammar thrown in as well.  For this reason, a podcast like this seems helpful to learners.