Meebo, Youboo, Weallboo

So I think Meebo is a good conferencing tool and I would probably use it for suprasegmental instruction if the connection was fast enough. I'm not sure I see value in having multiple people signed in at the same time, but with some practice I believe that some practical applications would avail themselves. Video conferencing in L2, however, just sounds like a recipe for confusion.

Online Discussion

The use of online discussion tools, while practical in some settings, is a good way to exchange ideas and information, but I’m not sure a real-time discussion is the best way to facilitate an academic conversation. One of my classes uses threads on blackboard as a way to clarify the issues behind student presentations, and it’s remarkably valuable, but I don’t think a mandatory real-time discussion will necessarily elicit valuable output—I have experience in that environment too and it always felt really forced.

Project Proposal

Twitterface


Aja Gorham
Jay Grahovac
Jesse Ackles



CALL Project Proposal: Making Simple Requests



Set up:



· You are going to dinner with your boss or the father of your significant other. How would you pass them the butter?

· You are going for coffee with a friend you have not seen in a while. How would you ask the barista for your drink?

· Making a request in English can have gradations of politeness that speakers use depending on who they are talking to. Your job is to go out and collect data! Find out how native speakers use different polite markers to make a request.


CALL Activity: Using Twitter.com, record native speakers making requests in public spaces, such as:



· Starbucks - "Can I have a grande mocha no whip?"

· The cafeteria - "May I have a diet coke?"

· The movie theater - "Two tickets for Avatar, please."



Text a request you hear to twitter via a pre-established account or record the request you hear and post no less than 6 tweets; one request per tweet. The tweets will be displayed in front of the class and discussed as a group. The discussion will revolve around common usage and ask students to make guesses as to the context of the situation. With guesses regarding the context of the situations students will be assigned a situation:



· Dinner with the in-laws

· Asking for directions from a stranger

· Asking a good friend for a loan

· Etc.


The students will then be asked to write a series of requests, including in their list a tweeted request. These results will be posted on the class blog for student references and an online catalog of phrases.



CALL Activity: Podcast. In the theme of Mission: Impossible



· A daily podcast modeled after the famous TV show, Mission: Impossible will be used to inform the students of their “mission” for that day.

· "Your mission, should you chose to accept it, is to go lurk around some strangers and tweet what they say but don't look like a terrorist. This message will self-destruct in 10 seconds."



Call Activity: Blog

· The class blog will be used to tie the two above activities together and report on the success of the students’ progress.

IMing in L2

I think there is a lot of value in the potential of real-time communication to facilitate language acquisition. I've always enjoyed polishing up one of my super-rusty L2s in IRC or similar media.

In the interest of accountability, I think a mechanism should be implemented to give the activity some long-term value. Editing a printout or something might be one solution, maybe peer editing on googledocs or something like that.

And, IM works well for English but a lot of other languages have diacritical marks that aren't convenient or even available in most real-time exchanges.

Everyday Expressions: Exploring Common Phrases Defying the Dictionary

http://matesol.podbean.com/

Immersed in the English language and American culture as ESL students, advanced level students are seeking to step beyond manuals to grasp a large, but difficult to teach, concept: idioms. In this ESL podcast, speakers Aja Gorham and Jesse Ackles, examine how common phrases or expressions are used in speech, as well as possible meaning for these expressions, and a helpful tip for thinking about the use of expressions. This podcast steps away from English as theory to transition into decoding the cultural puzzles that define expressions.

While students do not need a particular vocabulary set, it is important to understand phrases as a lexical unit, and not just as individual words. For classroom use it may be helpful to reacquaint students with phrases such are “ how are you” “ I’m fine” “ what’s up,” etc. Reminding students of units acquired as phrases may prove helpful in introducing expressions as a collective unit. Though the abstract nature of most idiomatic expressions make the units impossible for common translation, it is important that students be introduced to non-literal phrases as a means of gaining fluency and confidence in exchanges with native speakers.


For more information regarding the abstract nature of expressions or definition of common idioms please visit the websites below.


http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/

http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/Default.asp?dict=I (you can even follow this one on TWITTER!!!! omg!)

Concordance? But I'm a terrible dancer...

I think with concordance that it’s important to remember that conjunctive thinking is an acquired skill. We may be dealing with people that are unable to use the tools available for reasons that have very little to do with language processing. In fact, I’d like to open this issue up for general discussion, if anyone is willing.

Podcast Info

Tackling Tipping: A Discussion of Paying for Service

In this two-person podcast English Language Learners living in the United States will hear differing opinions on the act of tipping. Speakers, Aja Gorham and Jesse Ackles, present two different views on popular American practice of tipping to rouse class debate/discussion amongst beginning and intermediate students about tipping practices and beliefs in the classroom. These opinions do not represent rules about American practices, but two viewpoints on a large scale.

For more thorough, researched facts regarding tipping practices please consult the independent website listed below:

* http://www.tipping.org/tips/us.html
* http://www.essortment.com/all/tipping_rdef.htm

This podcast can be incorporated as the cultural competency component into a restaurant-themed lesson: set-up by the restaurant subject matter, used the crux of a listening activity with the question serving a follow up activity.

Vocabulary

While this podcast is intended for cultural competency purposes, students may need to know the following words:

* Waitress
* Job
* Service