Lynne Horn

I took my first faltering steps into using mobile phones in class this week.

Last week S3 used them to time themselves to see who could keep a conversation going the longest, this week some have used them to record a couple of irregular verbs as we chant them together - I had generally good verb test results from the class, some had spelling mistakes but had obviously taken the sounds on board, so there maybe something in it.  Only time will tell.  Tomorrow some of S4 are going to have a go at recording their talks, we can also record them as mp3 files for them to email to themselves or take away on CD, but using phones will give them a more instant recording.

As for me, I’ve only just found out how to record sound onto my phone - yes, I did have to get a pupil to show me.

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I wish!  Andrew asked in a previous comment how filming and animation worked in practice in the secondary classroom.  I’ll come back to these later in more detail, however there is one of part of technology which drives me nuts and that is charging…

This morning my vocational class were visited by a former pupil who is currently working in Japan.  Back for a holiday he agreed to be interviewed for our website (coming soon!).  So at 8.00am this morning I was charging a DV camera, a stills camera, 2 mp3 recorders and 4 iPods which were for another class later in the day.  Is there an easy and quick way?  If only all the chargers were the same and could just fit any gadget…I can dream!

However the interview went well and has been both filmed and recorded, and can be seen when the European Day of Languages section of our website goes live on September 26th

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Welcome to my 3rd blog…

Back in March I was quite cynical about blogging, until I was asked to present a workshop on blogging and its use in languages at Communicate 06 with Peter Ford and John Johnston, however I was persuaded of the benefits of writing as well as reading blogs, especially in relation to language learning.

I teach languages in Tobermory High School and enjoy using technology in my teaching.  I have used everything from an interactive whiteboard to digital video in languages.  A lot of my ICT knowledge comes from working with Partners in Excellence (www.pie.org.uk), a virtual centre of excellence for languages working in Argyll and Bute, East Ayrshire and North Ayrshire.

I hope to continue exploring new technologies in language teaching this year by using wikispaces to improve writing, iPods to help with listening and looking at how mobile phones can be used in class - pupils are teaching me about the last, but more about phones in the language classroom can be found on the MFLE (www.ltscotland.org.uk/mfle)

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