blogging

What is a blog? (this is a blog!)

• blog is short for a web log or diary consisting of posts
  
• it is linear - the most recent post is at the top of the page
  
• older posts are archived usually monthly and are easily accessed
  
• the posts can have tags or labels for easy searching
  
• it is interactive - readers can comment on the posts
  
• it is easy to create from customisable templates - no knowledge of HTML needed
  

Features of blogs in general

• easy to use, attractive, colourful
  
• immediate update
  
• enable communication across the world
  
• private or public
  
• can upload other files eg photos, audio
  
• can embed widgets and other tools like voki
  
• can have links to other sites
  
• tags for easy searching
  
• record of all previous posts in archive
  
• can be translated into other languages
  
• readers can subscribe to the blog
  
• readers can access at any time - could be homework

Some reasons for using a blog in education
A blog can be :

• a diary of a school trip
  
• a showcase of pupils' work
  
• a reflective blog for teachers (see the blog roll in the side panel)
  
• a learning log
  
• for an audience of pupils, other classes, parents
  
• peer assessment: 2 star and a wish in comments
  
• a record of work, useful for absentees
  

A blog can have one or many contributors

• all pupils in a class
  
• several teachers
  
• another school
  

Comments can be moderated ie you can read and decide whether or not to approve - good if pupils are commenting

examples of some school blogs
East Lothian blog
Woodhill primary's passeportsanté
Yester primary and Finland

There are many blog creation sites: including

• blogger.com free and easy
  
• edublogs.org free, for education, more features, more complex
  
• typepad.com monthly charge
  

This blog has been created in blogger.com which is simple and straightforward to use 

The principle is the same for all blogs - some have more features.

See the post creating your own blog in blogger for how to do it!

creating your own blog in blogger

Go to www.blogger.com

Create a google account -

User name will be your email adress. 

Be sure to note your log in and password!!

Blogger blogs have a URL that starts http://        .blogspot.com

eg this one is htttp://mlpscpd.blogspot.com and readers access it that way. 

When you want to add a post you need to log in via blogger.com and click on Dashboard

Choose a URL for your blog. This can't be changed afterwards so think carefully.

You can change everything else so don't worry too much about other decisions.

You can write a bit about yourself in Profile

(Dashboard> Edit Profile)

You need to choose a Template - you can change it later.

Go to Settings > Format to set the Time Zone to GMT otherwise it will look like you are posting at 3am!

To make your first post go to Posting > Create

Give your post a title eg Welcome

Type your post. You can use the buttons to change font, size, make bold

Add a picture or a hyperlink. You probably dont need to change font colours etc as they are part of your template.

You can Preview your post at any time. when finished you have 2 choices: Save - will keep it as a draft or Publish which will make it visible. You can always go back and edit it afterwards. Publish again to save the changes. 

A word about saving as a draft. When you come to publish it it will publish with the date stamp of the draft which may be some weeks ago. Click on Post Options to change the date stamp.

Blogger has lots of online help including videos

or click on help 

One feature blogger does not have (at the moment, anyway) is the ability to embed a sound file. If you think you will want to upload sound files you would be better with edublogs.org eg

this German blog 

Otherwise you can put a link to a sound file, if you have somewhere to upload it to.

Or there is a work-around described in this blogpost

ICT for Modern Languages

In this session we will be looking at how ICT can be wonderful for

• supporting your own learning
  
• supporting your teaching
  
• finding tools and resources
• being creative

The examples are for French but most ideas are transferable to German, Spanish.

Supporting your own learning - referencing is easy

online dictionaries such as
http://www.wordreference.com// scroll down for examples of use, discussions

http://ultralingua.com/onlinedictionary/ has grammar and conjugation of verbs as well

and a brilliant number to word tool eg type in 1789 and find out how to say/write it

number conversion

for help reading foreign webpages use lingro.com

be very suspicious of babelfish for translation, ok for French - English

Keep au fait with news stories

written news reports for children journal des enfants

short video news clips for children mon jt quotidien

watch French TV eg Paris TV

BBC clips for language and culture

For pronunciation what better than to hear a native speaker saying it. All of these next sites have audio files

French about is a huge site with all sorts of useful stuff eg

http://french.about.com/library/pronunciation/bl-audiodico.htmaudio dictionary

http://www.howtopronouncefrench.com/vowel sounds, tongue twisters, animal sounds - very useful

http://swac-collections.org/?lang=frais a comprehensive list of words, but no meanings.

Word processing

Using Microsoft Office Word for typing French

Word will autocorrect words, often without you noticing it

eg trois comes out as trios and cathédrale will come out cathedral

Either turn off autocorrect (tools menu)

or better still turn this to your advantage by changing the language for he document in Tools Menu>Language to French. Then, with (autocorrect on or by spellchecking) it will put on accents for you and correct your spelling!

Typing accents

on a mac it's easy. The option key is now called alt. The trick is to lift off after typing alt e; then type e again for é

on a PC use ASCII codes or in Word use Symbols

or if online use typeit to copy and paste

Supporting your teaching

Network with other practitioners across the globe and find out what they are doing in languages teaching with Web 2.0 social networking tools eg blogs, twitter.com, delicious.com. This is all about sharing!

See my favourite blogs in the Blog List at the side

I "follow" and "talk" to teachers elsewhere in the UK and in Australia and the US and share ideas.

watch video clips of teachers in action from http://www.teachers.tv/

and http://primarylanguages.org.uk/

teachertube video on using puppets

Join a Glow group!

Finding tools and resources

delicious is a site where you can bookmark and tag useful sites. you can access them from any computer. You can see other people's links (your network) and save them too.

my delicious links look at the tags. click or type them in the box. eg French, primary, whiteboard

flashcards and instant games

mes-english.com is a site for teaching English as a foreign language but the flashcards without words are very useful. you can use them to make bingo cards in the related site, tools for educators

youtube videos

great for all sorts especially songs, karaoke versions, see the actions

pronunciation

culture

Being creative

Here are some ideas to motivate your pupils to write. Their work can be published and viewed by classmates, parents, the world. What better reason to make a good job?

cartoons - there are various sites and pieces of software to create a colourful cartoon

I like http://www.toondoo.com/ You need to create an account but it is free.

Here are some examples

by UWSclass

by UWSclass Create your own Cartoon at www.toondoo.com

Wordle

www.wordle.net is a visual tool to display text, or highlight frequency of words in a text. No account is needed but you need to remember what you called it to find it again.

(You need the Java plug-in installed in your browser)

another way to say "good"

to illustrate "ch" sound

to illustrate colours

words of song

Voki

www.voki.com lets you create a talking character. It uses text-to-speech or you can record your own voice. You need to create a free account first.

There are lots of sites where you can create your own quizzes and games with exactly the vocab or info you want for your class

Explore here

examples

Millionaire - my dictionary skills game

Blockbusters - numbers

Dustbin sorting game- my game on nasal vowels

Quizlet - flashcard practice French nationalities

Mystudiyo multiple choice 7 questions on Paris

Other devices

Apart from computers and internet other devices to use:
mobile phones – have cameras, video and audio recording and Bluetooth to send files to your computer
digital cameras
USB sticks
mp3 players have inbuilt microphones, cost from £10
ipods play audio and video (need extra microphone to record)
dv cameras eg Flip video from £77 - £130 pocket sized, batteries, USB connection
low tech – Talk Time products with recording modules from TTS catalogue

MARDI-GRAS

Aujourd'hui, c'est mardi 24 février 2009, c'est MARDI-GRAS.
En France comme dans beaucoup d'autres pays, c'est le "CARNAVAL".

See links for information, activities and pictures....
in English in Wikipedia and in French in Wikipedia

momes.net

carnaval in Nice

carnaval in Menton

activities in teteamodeler and more in fete-enfants

Welcome

Welcome to South Ayrshire MLPS CPD blog and thank you to Kay for setting it up!
Kay has been a Support Officer for Modern Languages in East Ayrshire and is now delivering MLPS Modules 1 and 2 at the University of the West of Scotland.Teachers have been so enthused that I asked Kay to do 4 MLPS CPD sessions. Kay will be posting her notes on this blog.