Acquisition App #2---VideoScribe

VIDEOSCRIBE = PURE GENIUS!
Very few apps will ever earn a title like this by the “Appy Family,” butVideoscribe by Sparkol has done it! This easy to use app has some amazing features that blow many other creation apps out of the water.  It creates professional-looking content in a matter of minutes! Here is a link to their website and here is a link to purchase the app.

I have my friend, Sylvia Duckworth, to thank for tweeting me this a few days ago (click tweet to view Sylvia’s animation):

Some quick words of advice on how to get started:

1. Make sure your iOS software is up to date. At first mine wasn’t, and therefore I was unable to launch

2. Play around with the app just a little bit before you start anything serious

3. Watch the tutorials (Even if you’re like me and usually try to just figure it out without the tutorial…I did NOT watch them and wish I had as it would have saved me some time and trouble). Click here to view the tutorials. The first one should be enough to get you started.

4. Plan your video out from start to finish before starting with the app. Include your wording, layout and image ideas. Only when complete with planning, start creating with the app.

5. Plan to create the animation when you have a good chunk of quiet time. I was in a semi-public place and you can hear quite some background noise behind the music. Also, I ran out of alone time well before I wanted my time to be up…the app is ADDICTIVE!!!

6. FYI: When importing images, best to use .svg since those are will draw the best, but you can also try others like .jpg, .png, etc.

7. Have fun! This is going to be an extremely fun app to play around with!!!

Here’s my first videoscribe:

The downsides:

The audio recording feature is  one thing I’d like to see improved. What I don’t like about the built-in feature is that you cannot record small sections of audio as you go…it’s all at once (unless I’m missing something). I know that you can upload your own audio file that you create using another software, however.  I guess I am comparing it to Explain Everything a bit. I really like how with Explain Everythingyou can record small sections of audio that go along with your presentation as you’re creating it. To learn more about this other “Pure Genius” app, visit this blog post. It is possible, however, that I just haven’t learned enough of the advanced features yet…I’ll have to report back if I was mistaken on the above judgement!

Secondly, I was unsuccessful publishing to YouTube or Facebook directly from the app. It stated that it had published it, but it had not. I ended up saving it to my camera roll and then publishing it from there. Not a biggie, but weird that it didn’t work as it should.

Lastly, I’d like to see more images added to the free built-in library with future updates.

Despite these minor downsides, Videoscribe still earns the highest thumbs up ever and has made one very (h)Appy Family! I am VERY happy to report that this is our new favorite creation app!!! It is just too cool! 

I simply cannot wait to see what creations will come of it and neither can my husband…he was quite impressed!!!

Thank you, +Sylvia Duckworth and thank you Videoscribe!!!!!

Acquisition App #1---Tiny Tap

One thing I keep noticing over and over again about children's game apps is the lack of opportunities for language acquisition. Many of the apps my children prefer have little language audio, meaning there's music and sound effects, but very little narration. Often these same apps could have narration that would greatly increase children's' acquisition in first and second languages. Tiny Tap makes acquisition possible! You're in control! I can imagine all kinds of fun learning and creating with your children using Tiny Tap! You will surely help their language acquisition along the way!

This is my second post about the fun Tiny Tap app. I introduced it here just a week ago. I am choosing to write about it again because I have found it to be tremendously fun, easy and a unique app for language acquisition!

Here is how you start a new game or story:
First you create your slides which are the visuals you'll use
Next you add voice. This could be a story, introduction, etc.
Then if you are creating a game, you can add your questions, praise and encouragement for when the child answers incorrectly.
Save and share the link globally for all. You also have the option to submit your game for sale within the Tiny Tap app. This is the option I'll be using and I'm happy to report that my first game has been accepted for sale and is available here ($)! I am very thankful to +nathalie bonneau for giving me permission to use her images of her adorable Mimi the Mouse. To have some fun with Mimi in French, please check out Nathalie's amazingly engaging website here!

Here's a tutorial by Tiny Tap:

I decided to use Tiny Tap for English Language Learners first. Typically, I create resources in French and Spanish, however, this time, I wanted to start with English. I'm realizing that when I start from my native language, it is then easier to then translate into my second and third languages.

Why do I love Tiny Tap?
1. My kids LOVE it!
2. It is amazing for language acquisition
3. The basic app is free and then most games are either free or under $1
4. It allows you to create and publish globally within minutes
5. Kids could eventually learn to create their own games and publish them for their classmates, friends and families. The app is just that simple!!!
6. It allows you to feel like you are creating your own app. In fact I call it "an app within an app." For someone who is seriously interested in app creation, but has no clue where to start, this is the perfect app to feel some sense of accomplishment towards this goal! Yippeeeeeeee!

My first "app within an app" game created with Tiny Tap has been accepted by the Tiny Tap team for the market! It is available for sale ($0.99) by clicking here or by searching "Mimi the Mouse" in the Tiny Tap market. You first must download the free Tiny Tap app.

To create the videos below, I used my new "Reflector" app and this article on how to record via +Stephen Lai. Also special thanks to +Sylvia Duckworth for tweeting and telling me about the app!  It is awesome!!! The rest of the game (not seen below) includes increasingly more difficult levels.

I hope you have fun creating with Tiny Tap. I'd love to have your share your ideas and creations in the replies! It'd be great to see what unique ideas you come up with!!!

Happy Creating!!!!

P.S. I'd also love to hear about the apps you consider to be awesome for language acquisition!!!! (Preferably those that could be used in multiple languages) Thank you, merci, gracias!

Au Revoir, Leisurely Life of Summer!

My level of French around the home with my children is at an all-time low. Ce n'est pas bien!!! Not good! If I were to blame it on something, then I'd blame summer...and it's relaxing, restful, vacation-style living one is afforded when both parents are teachers. But really, let's be real. It's my laziness! French is not my native language and by not being at school teaching languages (Spanish/French) these days, I have let my brain turn to English for this leisurely life of summer!

Well, it's time to get back into the swing of things. I start work tomorrow and my husband starts next Tuesday. Time to jump back into "pas d'anglais" (no English) with my children! It'll be a perfect year for this as I am able to finally fully implement AIM this year!

The good news is that I have kept up with story time every other night in French throughout the summer. My husband reads to them in English on the other days. I have also been speaking some French throughout the day, but it has been a lot of mish-mashed franglais, to be honest. Whenever we watch a movie together (and there's no monolingual friends around) we will put on the French audio track and add the English subtitles for daddy. We have hosted 4 "Sunny Earth Camps" in French, which have been amazing for my kids! (Future blog post required!) Plus I ran a week long camp for my town's summer rec program and the kids were able to participate in that. So, maybe I'm being too hard on myself? "Lazy"? Am I? Well, perhaps not, but I definitely could have made a more concerted effort to keep en français during our daily routines around the home.

Today was the turning point...my last day of summer vacation! I spent the day at work, meeting my new students at orientation and arranging my classroom just so...so the turning point didn't actually start until about an hour ago. We made the kids go to bed early tonight as they've had a very eventful long weekend and we need to start working their hours back to the normal work-hours that will start next Tuesday. Neither child could fall asleep. This was a perfect opportunity for extra snuggle time and a little number game en français to help unwind their minds. Well, it worked! They are both quiet now as I write this! Here's how the game went with my speech-delayed four year-old. 

I have not been asking my son to speak French that much as he has had issues articulating English. I still speak to him in French and most times he'll answer me in French when I give him a couple choices, so that's how I played the game. To read more about my son's speech, check out his blog Geo's World of Words.

The game is basically like this, in case you don't speak French:
What's the number that is bigger? 1 or 2? 2 or 4? 10 or 5? etc.

After playing with my son, then my daughter was up saying she couldn't sleep. With her, I extended the game into higher numbers and also asked the opposite question...which number is smaller? Here's how she did:



So, if you are French or a French teacher, perhaps you'll notice some errors? I noticed I used "c'est quoi..." instead of "Quel est..." and I'm not even sure if that's proper...the thing is, I could go crazy double guessing every word out of my mouth. When I learned French in France, mainly, I acquired it. I didn't learn it. I acquired it by completely surrounding myself with French people and by being a social butterfly. When I speak French, I speak without thinking...but when I stop and listen back, like I did tonight, I start wondering how many errors I could possibly be teaching them. This has been one thing that has made me question my efforts. Luckily, for my classroom, I have AIM. That'll help me stay on track with my French!

What do you think? Am I doing the right thing raising my children in my non-native French? Would you ever consider this? If not, why not? If yes, why?

Mimi la souris

Mimi la souris is an adorable creation by our friend, Nathalie Bonneau (aka @jeannedelalune). Her website has a variety of fun animations that the Sunny Earth Kids keep coming back to time and time again. There are many fun resources for French on the Internet, but to be honest, there are only a handful that have attracted Soleil & Géo's attention. Nathalie's website is one of them!

Mimi is definitely a favorite! Soleil, who is now 5 1/2 years-old, wanted to write a story about Mimi. She cut up a bunch of papers, told me what to draw and asked me to help her write the phrases in French on a separate sheet of paper. She then colored the pages and copied down the French for each page. I photographed the pages on colored paper with the iPad, then uploaded them to Explain Everything. Soleil and Géo have been learning French from birth, but they are still not entirely comfortable speaking in French. The Explain Everything app helped Soleil record her French speech in small comfortable chunks. Here's what we ended up with:

Soleil insists that it is not the end...that Mimi's story must go on. We will see what other adventures Mimi will have! Soleil's current obsessions include egg hunts and sleepovers...it will be interesting to see what Mimi will end up doing next! Perhaps we can get Géo's help on the next one!!! :)

Thank you, Nathalie, for making French come alive for our children...complete with fireworks and iron-eating robots! We are so grateful you exist!

Advocacy Resources

Last Friday, a childhood friend sent me this facebook message:

Our school board just made the decision on Monday to cut the K-5 Spanish program at our school. I am very much against it and would like to write a letter to voice my opinion. I know you are passionate about this subject so I was wondering if you could share any resources that I could read through in an attempt to educate myself on the multiple benefits that come from leaning a language, particularly in the early years. I want to make sure that I touch on all the high points in my letter.

Of course I said yes and I immediately tweeted to @PreKlanguages to see if she had any tips. This is what she recommended:

I  updated my World Language Advocacy pinterest board and delcious links with Marcela's suggestions and sent it to my friend. I told my friend exactly what Marcela recommended. My friend replied:

Awesome!! Thank you so much for all the info. I have some reading to do before I write my letter. I am part of a mom's club here in the school district that is comprised of about 50 moms. We are all going to write letters. And talk to all our friends too. I like the idea of a petition. I will definitely keep you informed. For now, it looks like they axed the program but I'm hoping that they reconsider. I think it's oh-so- important!!

I  also sent her this reply I had compiled for an interview. I was recently questioned by a doctoral student of a professor I know about my thoughts on early language learning. The question was: How do you think students benefit from second language instruction at the elementary level?

My response was:

I believe that through the proper implementation of early World Language instruction, students will:

*gain higher literacy skills in their native tongues

*have improved standardized test scores in ELA and possibly other areas as well

*gain multicultural awareness through the cultural component of language learning

*have a greater opportunity for proficiency at near native levels

*have greater opportunities as adults in our globalized world when they will be entering the workforce as bilinguals (studying a language from K-12 and beyond would make this a reality)

From the advocacy resources above, my friend came up with this letter, which you can download and edit for you own advocacy purposes by clicking here. You can choose to "download as" by clicking on the "File" button underneath the title.

Re: K-5 Spanish Program

Dear

As a parent of a kindergartner and a preschooler in the _______school district, I urge you to please reconsider your decision to eliminate the K-5 Spanish Program for the 2013-14 school year. My daughter loves her Spanish class and it is not uncommon for her to incorporate at least 1-2 new words into her vocabulary each week. She isn’t one to jump off the bus and start gushing about the details of her day. But one constant that I have discovered is that when asked what she is learning in Spanish, I don’t just get a one word response. She gives me details! There is an enthusiasm in her voice when she tells me that this week she learned the Spanish word for bathroom. “It’s “baño”, Momma”! This eagerness for learning is something to be treasured and nurtured by me, as her parent and also by you, as her educators. I strongly urge you to reconsider your decision to cut this program.

Continued research shows that the proper implementation of early language instruction provides numerous benefits to our children and our community. Learning a second language at an early age has a positive effect on intellectual growth and enriches and enhances a child’s mental development; leaves students with more flexibility in thinking, greater sensitivity to language and a better ear for listening; improves a child’s understanding of his/her native language; gives a child the ability to communicate with people s/he would otherwise not have the chance to know; opens the door to other cultures and helps a child understand and appreciate people from other countries; gives a student a head start in language requirements for college; and increases job opportunities in many careers where knowing another language is a real asset. (Center for Applied Linguistics).

Right or wrong, we are living in an age when much emphasis is being placed on test scores. It seems to me that we as a school district, should embrace early language learning as a proven vehicle "to increase listening ability, memory, creativity and critical thinking - all of which are thinking processes that increase learning in general" (Dr. Mary Lynn Redmond, Wake Forest University) and will, in turn, improve standardized test scores. Our Spanish program sets our district apart and should be promoted and fostered as a tool to better prepare our children for the ever-changing, globalized world of the present and future.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

My hope is that some day there will no longer be a need for such letters...that the United States will awaken to the benefits of second language instruction that goes from Kindergarten through 12th grade and beyond! :)

Please don't forget to check out my Advocacy Resources:
World Language Advocacy pinterest board
Delcious links

And I also now have a new Pinterest board geared towards parents raising multilingual children that could be useful:
Multiliteracy Mania

Global Peace through Language Club Project: French ABCs

Apprendre en chantant! Singing to learn!

This song is now available for sale here!!!!!!

Hi! I am the advisor of a new club that I started a couple years ago called the Peace Through Language Club. The PTL Club is a language-loving, technology-using, peace-promoting club. For almost two years now, I have been working with students to create resources for teachers and students of English, French and Spanish. Students in grades 7-12 and I enjoy working together to share our love of language learning with the world. The work is slow-going, but it's extremely rewarding!

The most rewarding of all is when the work involves other teachers and cross-curricular collaboration. The “French Alphabet” project started over a year ago and includes the collaboration of many teachers and even more students at the Marcellus Central School District. Two years ago, I started talking with the Visual Arts and Performing Arts teachers in all three buildings on campus about their curriculum and my club’s purpose. These discussions led to ideas, which led to cross-curricular projects. I will describe one here.

Brian Ackles is one of the teachers that I have been working with on this project. He teaches Vocal Music at the High School which includes a Music Theory course. Students in Brian’s theory class have always composed original songs as a part of their classwork. Through our collaboration, we realized we could give these students an authentic purpose to their compositions while hopefully finding a way to use the final product as a PTL Club fundraiser. So last year, for the first time, the students in Music Theory were given lyrics and were informed about the purpose of the song. The song is meant to teach the French Alphabet to elementary students with little or no previous exposure to the language. The song would be used within our district, but also globally via the PTL Club website. Instead of composing songs and performing them just in Music Theory class, now the students were composing and ultimately performing for a global audience.

The group of students in Music Theory came up with several options for the French alphabet song. On one of the last days of class before finals, the students in Music Theory performed the songs for me, under the direction of Brian Ackles. All of the songs were beautiful! During finals week, Brian and I had a meeting where we took the three compositions and edited them together. We needed to create a score of music that would be long enough for the expanded version of the French Alphabet song. I added a section of alphabetical verbs to the song, appropriate for a wider audience.

Next we had a jam session with Maureen Henesey who is another teacher in our school. Maureen stars in two local bands as lead vocalist! The three of us recorded this practice version the day before our big recording session. Brian and I sang and Maureen hummed the harmony. The next morning was the first day of summer vacation for students. Luckily, we managed to bring back the students from Music Theory along with several volunteer musicians from the high school band. Brian and I also enlisted the help of Maureen Henesey again as well as Mike Cirmo, Director of Bands, to record our audio files. Although I am always amazed by the ability of students at Marcellus, I was awestruck by their willingness to give up their first day of summer vacation, and their ability to take a simple melody and create a rockin’ song within minutes of practicing! They took a basic melody and spiced it up with some major instrumental expertise!

Thanks to twitter, the work I’m doing with the PTL Club caught the attention of Nathalie Bonneau (a.k.a. @jeannedelalune) who is an educator and a talented animator of children’s animations for language learning. To learn more about Nathalie and her work, visit her website. To our amazement, Nathalie generously offered to create an animation for our song!!!

Here is a very short preview of the animation and here’s a short video of two young cousins, Geo and Travis, as they preview the animation by Jeanne de la Lune! They seem to really like it, don't you think? When the song gets to letter “F,” the animation ends because that’s as far as Nathalie had animated at the time the video was recorded. You can see that the animation leaves the children feeling so good that Geo just wants to hug his cousin Travis...and so he does!

We hope you will consider supporting our club by purchasing our song if we our successful in creating an online fundraiser! Please stay tuned to our website and blog for updates!

The feedback from the teachers and students involved in this project has all been positive, despite the setbacks we have had. The project has fit in perfectly with current curriculum and has provided students with an authentic reason for the creation of their songs. We all hope that this project is just one of many to come.

Edmodo is 24/7 Education

Edmodo has been a transformative educational tool for my students and me. It has revolutionized my teaching and my learning. Edmodo has changed the way I share digital content with my classes and the way I share with and learn from other educators from around the globe. With edmodo, I can provide content with students for the days they are absent, offer enrichment activities, assign and collect homework, quizzes and projects all without printing a single page. Edmodo has also provided the means for me to deliver a lesson on days that I have not physically been in class. To do this, I used SchoolTube’s embed feature paired with edmodo to share videos I’ve recorded for lessons.

Edmodo allows you to share virtually anything. In the past semester, I have used edmodo to share videos tutorials and guides for student projects, songs I’ve made to go with units, a VoiceThread project for students to add their voice, websites, polls, delicious stacks, vokis, prezis, glogs, SchoolTube videos and an exit survey. Edmodo offers a rewards system with badges for students and teachers as well as a “sharing score” for teachers. With every item a teacher shares, they gain a point. This is my favorite feature!

Sharing is caring...and with Edmodo it's EASY!!!

Furthermore, edmodo has completely changed the way I collaborate and connect with teachers from around the world. This free educational tool has opened up opportunities to connect my classes with native speakers of French and Spanish from Canada, Argentina and Spain. Last week we spent our last minutes of class connecting with a classroom in Argentina via skype. Next year, this group of Argentinian students will be connecting with my Spanish II students for a year long exchange. We will use the versatility of an edmodo group to share VoiceThreads, SchoolTube videos and other various cloud-based projects with one another.

Edmodo has helped me grow as an educator thanks to the World Language community and other various Professional Development and technology groups I participate in on a regular basis. Edmodo is a virtual conference room of educators sharing ideas, resources and helping each other out. I am amazed at the generosity and expertise of the educators who have chosen to call this venue “home.” Also, I am delighted with the “Spanish Teacher Share” group that I created in order to share resources and ideas more efficiently. In this group alone, we have almost 200 members who have shared over 60 folders full of hundreds of Spanish language learning resources, just waiting to be used in classrooms around the world. There simply is no better way out there to connect, communicate and collaborate. Edmodo is 24/7 education for teachers and students alike.

Students have benefitted from the 24/7 access to library items. I have organized our digital library on edmodo into unit folders that include language learning videos, PowerPoints, websites and other pertinent files and links for that particular topic. With just a click of a button, students have access to resources I have created and collected from my generous edmodo (and twitter) PLN. Students also take advantage of edmodo’s “backpack” feature that eliminates the need for thumb drives as it allows you to store files in the cloud.

I have learned that students have been spending their free time on edmodo. One of their favorite things to do is to log into edmodo and then go directly to view our SchoolTube videos of various French and Spanish classes here at Marcellus. They enjoy watching themselves and others learning, singing, presenting and dancing in French and Spanish class. On an exit survey for Exploratory Language, one out of every three seventh graders answered that edmodo was among the best tools we used during the year for language learning. This choice was in direct competition with other popular strategies such as singing, dancing and playing games. Some students have expressed this love of edmodo in their public posts on our wall and in private messages to me that have read “I love edmodo.” On the exit survey, students stated that they enjoyed edmodo because you could login on your own time and pick and choose the resources you wanted to use while learning at your own pace.

This year’s projects have allowed students to tap into their creative side as they have written stories, songs, dialogues, created games and made videos of their daily routines. After using their creativity to make their projects, students were taught how to use embed code to share projects such as glogs, GoAnimates and vokis. They also learned how to upload files such as PowerPoints and how to post links to VoiceThreads. I created our groups this year by subject and therefore whenever students share their content on edmodo, it reaches a wider audience than if it were just presented in class. Additionally, some students have been able to share their video projects globally via the use of SchoolTube. The pairing of SchoolTube with edmodo has allowed me to use student-generated videos as content for written discussions on our “wall” and even as a component on edmodo assignments. Students are assigned a student video to watch, then asked questions which they answer and submit using edmodo’s assignment feature.

Students have gained choice in their learning and have gained knowledge about various online tools for self-learning. I believe that learning how to create videos and how to use cloud-based tools will prove useful for future class projects across the curriculum. This year's wider range of cloud-based projects has provided students with more chances for creativity while edmodo has given us a wider audience. If I were to choose the one innovation that has provided the largest overall student benefit and has proven to be the biggest motivator for student achievement and excellence, it would be the expansion of our target audience. This year’s student work has proven to be the best of my career. Now that students have created exemplary projects that can be shared as examples next year, I believe there is no limit as to how far the students at Marcellus Central Schools will climb! Thanks to edmodo, we will be sharing our journey with an amazing global community of teachers and their students!

P.S. We currently have over 1,200 members in the Spanish Teacher Share group! There are over 150 teacher shared folders with thousands of free resources for all members to use! I’d like to say a very special “GRACIAS” to all who have shared your links and resources with us all in this group!!! Edmodo Spanish Teacher Share ROCKS!!! If you are a Spanish teacher looking to grow your PLN, join edmodo and connect with the most generous, hard-working group of Spanish educators I have ever had the pleasure of knowing! Once your edmodo account has the “verified teacher” badge, use this link to join!

P.S.S. Please visit my Edmodo profile or this google doc to find more information about my Edmodo groups for teachers.