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Are dictionaries changing to become more phrase-based rather than word based? There are now a number of ways to look up the meaning of phrases online that make me to think that the very nature of (online) dictionaries is changing.  Paper-based dictionaries let us look up one word at a time, whereas online search tools allow us to enter strings of words.

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Language classes account for a relatively limited amount of the student’s learning – and much (perhaps most) of the learning is done informally, out-of-class.  So, how can we as teachers change what we do in lesson to better support what the learners are doing out-of-lesson?

This blog post is a set of notes of my thoughts about out-of-class learning and how it can be supported by in-class activities.  The video shows me explaining a mind-map of these ideas, which itself is available as a photo so that it is easier to read.

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The new Skype (4.1) has a screen sharing facility that allows one of the participants to show his/her screen to the other.

So far it is limited to just one user (not both sharing at the same time). However, it is a very simple way to show the other what is happening – especially useful for using Google Street View.

More information on the Skype website.

Thanks to Alexei for keeping me up to date on this!

Last Thursday I met with other language educators in Second Life to discuss Augmented Reality Language Learning and in particular the ideas and suggestions I presented in the “Augmented Reality Language Learning – virtual worlds meet m-learning” blog post last week.

Photo of Dennis’ Villa in Second Life (image by Sanja).

Carol Rainbow kindly recorded the audio of the meeting and you can listen to it on Blip.TV or download/play this mp3 recording of the discussion about Augmented Reality Language Learning in Second Life.

The event took place at Dennis’ villa on EduNation – so thank you Dennis for hosting the meeting. And thank you to all for attending and making it such a interesting conversation.

I think you can only hear 3 voices (most participated via text-chat within Second Life) and they are of Dennis Newson, Scott Thornbury and me.

I intended to write this blog as a follow up to the one on students writing for Wikipedia – and I checked back to see when it was written – almost exactly a year ago. Since then quite a few articles have been written by our students for Wikipedia. And now we are looking at other wiki sites, such as Wikitravel…

Language learners often travel and so they have plenty of travel experiences to write about. Even those students who aren’t travelling much can write about where they live or another place they know well.

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The previous blog post on Dogme 2.0 sketches out how the web is becoming increasingly a normal part of our lives as well as an enormous source of both language learning content and opportunities to interact with others as part of the learning process. However, it is really the questions of relevance, meaning and motivation that are the key links between Dogme ELT and web 2.0.

If we see learning as a process of constructing meaning, and therefore one where relevance is key to enabling the learner to both find and create meaning, then the actual medium (be it online or offline) is not necessarily so significant. What seems more pertinent is the ability to create excitement and engagement such that language learning opportunities surface in class.

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Jane Petring of Collège Édouard-Montpetit (Longueuil, Québec) asks this very question in an article and forthcoming discussion at TESOL 2009. She notes that “materials writers need to take an honest look at how Web 2.0 is changing the way people interact and learn if we want to remain relevant in the 21st century”. Petering is not alone – the future of the course book is also being discussed on the IATEFL Cardiff Online forum.

The web 2.0 is clearly changing how we work, communicate and learn. So, if the textbook is to keep up with these developments, what should it look like?

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How about drawing all over a website in class – web 2.0 style?

Twiddla is an odd concept, but one that is proving useful in language lessons.  It is a free website that combines a whiteboard with other webpages.  The result is that the teacher and student can look at a live website and then joinlty draw all over the site at the same time.

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The Forbidden Palace in Beijing has been rebuilt as a 3D mini-virtual world by IBM and could be used not just for virtual tourism, but for language learning too.

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We are launching lessons in K’iche’, which is an indigenous language in Guatemala…

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