Joe Dale – ¡Vámonos!
 

Category: Joe Dale

Breakout! #ililc3

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Just like @msmfl, I’m so excited and just can’t hide it, so I’m going to

BREAKOUT! 

httpv://youtu.be/nnivOKYyWLY

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I’ll be in the UK in February to attend ILILC3 or to give its full name, the ICT Link into Language conference taking place at the University of Southampton on 9th and 10th February.

Screen Shot 2013-01-04 at 14.59.19

The theme of the conference is Jailbreaking the MFL classroom and there are sessions on


Mobile technologies  

Social Media
Making the most of Web 2.0 Technologies  
The Global classroom  
Developing Speaking
Closing the gap  (SEN, SOLO, supporting learning etc)

There are many many excellent practitioners participating – I’m particularly looking forward to sessions from Clare Seccombe, John Connor, Jo Rhys-Jones, Dom McGladdery, Jen Turner and Amanda Salt (to name but a few!)  and keynotes by Joe and Isabelle,  and I’m really pleased that I’ve been asked to present.

 

#ILILC2013_I-am-speaking-at-with-QR-code

 

I’ll be delivering two sessions –

Screen Shot 2013-01-04 at 14.57.39 In I want to break free  we’ll be looking at ways to break away from ‘chalk and talk’ and involve learners, encouraging them to interact with and demonstrate their understanding as they learn using (mobile) technology. We’ll investigate some ways of doing this using tools such as Nearpod, Socrative and Memrise and whilst I’ll be using my iPad and Mac to present, that doesn’t mean you need a fruity device to join in as some tools are web based and others are both Android and iOS. And on top of that, we’re a friendly bunch so I’m sure people will share!
Let out for good behaviour? refers to leaving the classroom being (often) seen as a treat. There are many ways to ‘break free’ of the walls of your classroom, both physical and virtual, and this session will involve both. Participation is required as we explore activities and games, that will enhance teaching and learning whilst bringing a breath of free air to a stuffy classroom. Technology will be involved but you don’t need anything but your imagination and sense of adventure to enjoy the activities. Screen Shot 2013-01-04 at 15.02.29

On top of the conference, there’s the Show and Tell on Saturday night at which ANYONE is encouraged to share a snippet sized piece of good practice, song or activity. Everyone has a good idea and has something to say so it’s great to hear from new people each year. You can sign up for it here.

Why should you attend?

  • it’s excellent value CPD
  • the speakers are excellent
  • you’ll learn so much
  • it’s the friendliest funn-est conference you are ever likely to attend
  • you’ll learn as much from conversations as from the sessions
  • your batteries need recharging
  • if you don’t, you’ll miss @bellaale ‘s sequel to Academy Copout!
  • I want to meet you!

And, back to the song at the start. Whilst I’m sure not everyone is at the end of their tether (at least I hope not!),  it’s good sometimes to ‘breakout’ from things that are just not working for you, or your learners, look at things from another perspective and find a new ‘way’. Come to ILILC3 and you might just find the inspiration, support and encouragement that you need!Screen Shot 2013-01-04 at 15.13.02

 

 

 

 


 


A while back – actually nearly two years ago – I became aware of a tool called Seesmic on which you could record video clips and others could respond by recording their own short clip. At the time, I used it to join in a few conversations and also to practice speaking Catalan / Mallorquin after a looong break. It was easy to do and fun as well.

I was asked last week by Chris Fuller to make a short video sharing my thoughts on using Twitter in the languages classroom and why it’s such a good idea in my opinion for a presentation he’s doing soon.
As I was home alone, I had to do it in a way that didn’t involve another person filming me, and my hand is unsteady at the best of times! I had never used the film option on Photobooth, and I was also concerned about delivering it to Chris via email in case the file was too large.
I had picked up a tweet at about the same time from Leon Cych asking for volunteers to be involved in a project this year called Remixing Education, and one of his methods of ‘recruiting’ was via Seesmic.
So, having been reminded of the existence of this site, and having recorded a response for Leon, I decided to use it to record my clip for Chris.
It’s very easy! Once you’ve signed up for an account, you press Create a video and start talking into your webcam (iSight camera in my case). Once you’ve finished you can review the recording and start again if you’re not happy. It’s then posted on the site – you can choose whether to allow it to appear on the public timeline or just to keep it on your page.
Once finished, I sent the URL and embed code off to Chris so that he could use the clip as he wished, editing it etc to his purposes.
I thought that would be that, but the ever eagle eyed king of RSS feeds, Joe Dale, picked up the clip on his radar and, having ascertained why I’d posted a clip to some mysterious ‘Chris’, blogged it!
And then I was astonished to receive a lovely response from a lady in Anaheim, USA who had seen the clip and wanted to tell me how good it was! A wonderful surprise and so exciting for someone unrelated to my life – real and virtual (Twitter, my blog etc) – to make such comments about my thoughts and ‘work’.
We all need a bit of encouragement sometimes, so thanks to Joe and Freida for giving me some to keep me going when I’m seizing up with all this cold ;o)

The Language Show

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On Saturday I’ll be in London at The Language Show. So excited!

There is so much to see and do – check it out for yourself here!
I’ve been asked to do a seminar this year – so if you want to know How to Survive Primary Languages, pop by to see me in room 3 at 1pm. And there are so many more too.
You can get in free by registering on the site so whatever your interest in language learning, if you can get to Olympia over the next three days, it’s well worth the effort!
Of course, I’ll post my presentation here straight after the show, and I’ll be tweeting all day too.

My Avatar Editor

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Thanks to the lovely Joe Dale who has just blogged it, I have discovered this marvellous site called My Avatar Editor.

My Avatar Editor enables you to design your own avatar for use as your ID on, say, Twitter or for a tool like Voicethread or as your ‘online persona’ on your blog.

As Joe points out, it’s also great when teaching personal descriptions – either pupils are given a range of people to describe – see below – or are given descriptions and asked to make the avatar to match.

You could also use them to inspire pupils to creativity – eg characters for stories; to demonstrate feelings; talk in the style of….

Great fun! Not sure my hair is quite right though….

BTW – I’m the one at the top, not the very scary Granny ;o)


I was really touched to read the latest post on Integrating ICT into the MFL classroom in which Joe Dale talks about my podcast Lisibo talks!
His opening sentence – ‘Primary language teacher and MFL blogger Lisa Stevens is an inspiration to many thanks to her indefatigable enthusiasm and willingness to experiment with new technologies’ – made me blush furiously as did many of the other kind things Joe said. However, I really do hope that those who read the post choose to watch the video clip from Teachmeet at BETT09 as I really want to encourage people to have a go and experiment with technology and new ideas. And I’ve added the video here too.

[blip.tv http://blip.tv/play/Ae74ZJO3Pw]

PS Just posted a new episode of Lisibo talks! from the eTwinning Spanish links meeting in Manchester last Tuesday.

Photobucket
Language teacher? Fancy finding meeting up with other language teachers for an hour or so without leaving your own home? Why not join in the Bank Holiday MFL Flashmeeting at 9pm GMT tomorrow (Monday). All you need to join in is a computer with speakers although a microphone and a webcam will allow you to get more involved.

The brainchild of Joe Dale, you can read all about it on his blog here including instructions on how to join in by signing the wiki, and how to make sure you’re prepared.

The suggested agenda is –

  • what is your favourite technology at the moment and how is it enhancing language learning?
  • the Rose Review and the proposals that technology be at the core of the primary curriculum
  • the value of creating your personal learning network and does the microblogging tool have a place in the classroom?
  • Web 2.0 CPD opportunities for next academic year – anyone like to organise a conference for language teachers interested in using ICT?

NB – the wiki is looking very full so if you find you can’t get in, please don’t despair. Master of technology Mr Dale will make sure that you can see the replay as soon as the meeting is over and will no doubt blog it too – unless I get there first ;o)


Many of you will know of Joe Dale and follow his marvellous blog, Integrating ICT into the MFL classroom. Joe is an SSAT Lead Practitioner and as part of his role, he delivers an SSAT seminar each year. This year he ran a day in Colchester on Blogging and Podcasting, and I am really pleased that he is going to repeat that day in the Midlands soon – on Thursday 29th January at Shirelands CLC to be precise.

As Joe says –

If you are interested in finding out more about the potential of blogging and podcasting to enhance language learning and offer personalised distance learning opportunities to your students, why not click here and download the flyer to apply to attend the course? It only costs £69 which includes lunch.

I can thoroughly recommend Joe’s seminars as they are always very instructive and full of ideas for enhancing language learning – and the ideas are all easily transferrable to other areas of the curriculum so it would be easy to share the outcomes with your whole school and for everyone to benefit.

If you need further persuasion, check out some of the comments from his session in Colchester– (bottom of post!)

¡Vámonos! is 1

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Having congratulated José ‘Así se hace‘ Picardo on the 1st birthday of Box of Tricks yesterday, it dawned on me that it must be ¡Vámonos!’s birthday soon – and then I realised I’d missed it in all the fun and excitement of the IoW conference!

So belatedly, Happy Birthday to my lovely pink blingy blog ;o)

As I explained in my first post on 23rd October last year, I procrastinated and vacilated for a long time before finally taking the plunge and starting a blog. Having said that, I have loved blogging – it suits the chatty, enthusiastic, got to share the news part of me, and also satisfies the part of me that is frustrated by day to day stuff. And it means that I can write which appeals to the part of me that hasn’t seen much action since my Uni of Sheffield days.

Of course, I don’t just blog for my own satisfaction – I hope people find my blog interesting and useful – but I really think I’d carry on even if I didn’t get read. At times this year, I have hidden from reality by blogging and it has kept me going through the hardest and saddest time of my life.

And it has also restored my feeling that I do have something to say that’s worth hearing – sometimes it’s hard when everyone at school tells you that you’re so good but you know that they actually don’t really know if you are or not as they have no idea of how Primary languages or new technologies work. So it’s important to me that my peers – like Jo and Joe and José (and others whose names don’t start with Jo!)- tell me what’s what.

Added to which, without this blog I probably wouldn’t have met and made friends with so many people across the country and world who have enriched my life so much with their advice, thoughts and funny comments.

So to all those who have read ¡Vámonos! over the last year, keep reading and …. xxx

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTS4PdjbOVs&hl=en&fs=1]


Only a few days left now until the Isle of Wight Conference this weekend.

I’ll be heading down on Friday for two days (Saturday and Sunday) of PD and social networking at its best – there are so many sessions on offer that we’re spoilt for choice – and I’ve got to fit in delivering one of them with the lovely Jo Rhys-Jones with whom I am also hosting a ‘Round Table’ – I hope this refers to a discussion not a piece of furniture ;o) I’m really looking forward to hearing some inspiring presenters like Mark Pentleton, Drew Buddie, Chris Fuller, Adam Sutcliffe – I could go on and on – and meet up with friends, old new and virtual!

To see what’s on offer – and it is a very impressive lineup – check out Integrating ICT in the MFL classroom, the blog of the mastermind behind the conference, Mr Joe Dale.

I acknowledge that it is a long way, but it is well worth the trip, and is a bargain at £100. And it’s not too late to book! Download the booking form from here – you know it makes sense :o)


Having been told not to say anything for a bit, when I was given the all clear to blog about the IoW Conference, I’ve been a bit slow off the mark! But…más vale tarde que nunca as dear Nando would say!

October 25th and 26th 2008 will see many teachers from across the UK (and beyond?) gathering at Nodehill Middle School in Newport, Isle of Wight for Joe Dale’s annual IOW Conference. As usual, the focus is on creative language teaching using ICT, and it promises to be a great weekend. This year, there’s so much going on that it has been extended to two days with a Show and Tell event on the Saturday night so that everyone can share, not just those who are presenting.

And speaking of presenters – look at the line up!

  • Sharon Tonner – ICT specialist, ex- High School of Dundee, now working for a Scottish Uni!
  • Jo Rhys-Jones – AST in MFL, Kingswear Primary School
  • Lisa Stevens – Spanish Teacher and eTwinning ambassador, Whitehouse Common Primary School,
  • Carole Nicoll – Language Factory
  • Drew Buddie – ICT coordinator, Royal Masonic School for Girls and eTwinning ambassador
  • Nick Mair – HoD in MFL, Dulwich College
  • John Warwick – Deputy Head, St Luke’s School and eTwinning ambassador
  • Kathleen Holton – HoD in MFL, Argoed High School
  • Mark Pentleton – Radio Lingua Network
  • Lesley Welsh – AST in MFL, English Martyrs School and Sixth Form College and SSAT languages lead practitioner coordinator
  • Chris Fuller – Spanish teacher, Edgehill College and SSAT languages lead practitioner
  • Sharon Balch – French teacher, Swanmore Middle School
  • Doug Dickinson – Independent ICT consultant
  • Kathy Wicksteed – Languages advisor for new KS3 curriculum
  • Adam Sutcliffe – MFL teacher, The Gordon Schools and Glow Champion
  • Lesley Haggar-Vaughan, Shireland CLC manager
  • Julie Adoch, HoD in MFL, Heathfield Foundation Technology College and her students

They will be tackling topics including-

  • Mobile Phones
  • Wikis
  • Primary Languages
  • Ning networking
  • Songs
  • Virtual Learning Environments
  • Digital Storytelling
  • Games based learning
  • Gender differences
  • Videoconferencing
  • eTwinning
  • Digital Voice Recorders
  • One Stop Animation
  • PowerPoint
  • Interactive Whiteboards and Voting Systems
  • Blogging and Podcasting
  • Assessment for Learning
  • New KS3 curriculum
  • Web 2.0 tools
  • vodcasting
  • eCreativity

Having had the privilege of speaking last year on Primary Languages and eTwinning, I’ve been asked again – must have done something right ;o) – and this year I’ll be co-presenting with Jo Rhys-Jones. It promises to be a highly entertaining session as we always end up in fits of giggles when we meet up, and I’m sure plenty of that fun will be manifest in the session.

So, watch out for the delegates pack that Joe will soon be launching, and take the opportunity as term nears a close (in England – I know Scotland has already broken up) to put in your PD request whilst there’s still money in the budget, and while everyone else is just hanging out for the holidays!!

Check out Joe’s blog for more information and for reports on last year too here and here. See also here, here, here and here. And not forgetting here! And for my response, read Trains Ferries Buses and Ford Anglias. (note to self – go via Southampton not Lymington this year!)

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