Checking out ePals

This week I spent some time exploring the ePals website, a site that helps teachers guide their students in global connection making through interactive culture or language projects.

The current global cultural challenge featured on the website, for example, helps students learn about and take on the role of a folklorist. Students can read about the work of professional folklorists, do research projects of their own by documenting local traditions, and submit their final project to the website. I think this project is a wonderful opportunity to study community, journalistic style writing, and cultural differences. I also like this project because it gives students a major goal to work toward in their study--having them produce a final piece that will be submitted for something outside of my classroom. This could really motivate students to work hard and create a final piece that interests them and that they can be proud of.
Another cool thing about the ePals website is how customizable it is. As a teacher searching to make connections with other classrooms, I can narrow down my search by type of desired collaboration (cultural, language, or subject area,) age range of students, languages spoken, and country of origin.
Based on the fact that the Folklorist Challenge is labeled with the year 2016, I assume that there willl be a new challenge on this website each year. I am excited to see what challenges come up in the future and I will definitely consider having my class participate in them someday.

Personal and Collaborative: Two ideas for blog use.

Having read Blogging in Language Learning and Seven Reasons Teachers Should Blog, I can clearly see how making use of a blog can be both useful to the teacher--professionally--as well as to her students' learning process. There seem to be two main ways to utilize a "Teacher Blog." First, the teacher can use her blog as somewhat of a diary, reflecting on her classes and what she learns about teaching as she practices her craft. For example, I might use this method to work through the problems I have encountered in my lessons and brainstorm how to fix them for the next time the lesson will be used. I can also seek out a network of other teachers and welcome their ideas of how to fix these problems by inviting them to comment on my post.

Second, the teacher can use the blog as a venue for student interactive activities. For example, I have Halloween on the brain as many of the small businesses I support are beginning to release Fall/Halloween themed items, so I thought of a Halloween themed ESL activity. According to the NYS Standards for intermediate ESL learners, students should be able to compare and contrast oral traditions, myths, folktales, and literature from different national and international regions and cultures, including the students' own, identifying similarities and differences and universal cultural themes (ESL.C.9-12.5.1.5.)

As the teacher, I would initiate the activity by posting a brief Halloween myth, such as that of the Headless Horseman, including the vocabulary and grammar points from the unit. We would read my post together and discuss it in class. Then students would be asked to create a short post in English about a myth or creature from their own culture as a homework assignment. The next class could be spent scrolling through the posts and orally comparing and contrasting the myths (ESL.I.5-8.3), while having a simple Halloween themed "party" with decorations and treats.  This activity would hopefully be a fun and challenging way for students to share about their cultures in relation to American Halloween, practice their reading, writing, and speaking skills (specifically using descriptive and comparing/contrasting language structures,) and enjoy a holiday party!