11/11

As I was not in class last week, I cannot comment on the Powerpoint presentations that were given. However, I know from my own presentation that a lot of work must go into the final product, and I'm sure they were well-done.

Chapter 6 talked a lot about "hypermedia," and tools that assist students in things like graphic design, music recordings, videos, etc. Something I didn't realize was that simple graphics such as wordart and clipart fall under this category. Presentation software was also included this, and "electronic slideshows" such as PowerPoint was mentioned. More simplistic types of hypermedia such as PowerPoint and basic Word graphics are things I can see myself using in my classroom. Although the graphic design aspect didn't apply to me and my idea of what I will be doing with my students, there are other hypermedia tools I can incorporate. For example, several language teachers I have observed have assigned video projects for their students, conducted in the target language. Learning the technology basics of video-editing software may be essential to these types of projects, and refraining from using such a valuable learning tool because one is not familiar with this type of hypermedia would be a shame. The same could be done with an audio piece. Instead of performing dialogues in front of the class (a popular in-class assignment for foreign language teachers), a long-term project could be to record one in an audio file. Again, knowledge of this software is necessary, although an alternative to contemporary and potentially confusing software would be to use the basic sound recorder device built-in to most computers.

PowerPoint presentations are also great tools for research projects. In previous language classes, I have had to do research on countries that speak the target language, and PowerPoint is a great way to visually present information. Going along with this idea, the book also mentioned interactive research tools such as encyclopedias, almanacs, atlases, newspapers, etc which are available through software as well as online. A common misconception about foreign language classes is that writing, researching, and presentation skills are not applicable because the students are simply learning vocabulary grammar and pronunciation. However, the cultural aspects of the course are just as important as the language portion, which is where the research and project skills definitely come into play. Tools to assist with these aspects of language learning could be really beneficial.