May 23 2007
NING – Conversation beginning to happen…
Well conversation is beginning to happen on the French Connection El Alsson Network. The teachers in the French department were at first surprised with the fact that every time the students added or discussed something within the social network related to them they were emailed to show this.
One French teacher explained how she had realised that it was important that they were answering and being involved with the French discussion in a very active way. But also showed concern at how much time this might actually take especially with limited access at school for her department with ICT.
The other obvious and interesting feature is the difficulty not only with access but trying to fit such a radical and different way of teaching and learning within a very traditional classroom environment. Simply it does not fit! However the initiative shows some interesting signs that given more time and it could be a success. Starting the initiative for the final two weeks of school limits the time to develop such a community and also eats in to time that the French department are concerned should be set aside for revision for final examinations.
Of great success is the videos that although take time and energy to setup, are giving the students valuable practice to see how they speak and pronounce their French. More to follow as the initiative continues next week. Drop in to see the videos which are public here (note the social network is private for obvious safety reasons.)
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