Leonard+Muaka+-+W2T

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Course information
SWA 1311 Elementary Swahili Leonard Muaka Fall 2010


 * Context **


 * Swahili Language and Teaching Challenges **

**Elementary Swahili is the first level of Swahili language learning as a foreign language. Given that Swahili is a less commonly taught language, it has very few native speakers that students can interact with and it also has very few teaching resources. Web 2 tools that I design are therefore very critical in helping my students acquire the desired proficiency at their level. **

My Teaching Style I would say that my approach in teaching strives at allowing my students to communicate in Swahili. I embrace communicative methods in my classes. However, in order to achieve the results that I desire, I usually employ scaffolding. Since my goal is to see my students succeed, mediation is a key element in my classes. The models I use help my students to know what I want from them. However, I am always open to creativity on the part of my students.

My Students' Major Characteristics For the most part my students are very hard working. Their goal and happiness is when they can say something in Swahili and they get my approval. I have a good time every time we try something new. They also like things that are interesting and that has kept me thinking constantly so that the lesson can remain vibrant but at the same time informative.


 * Targetted Inovations for the Course **

In this course my goal is to introduce activities that will enhance speaking and writing in Swahili. I will use Voice Board, Flip Videos, Blogs and quizlet as my main tools. I will as I go along try other tools that enhance my primary goal of ensuring that my students can communicate in Swahili.

Processes
**First two weeks: ** The first two weeks were used to set up the right tools based on the students I had. The first task that I had really wanted to do was using the webcam for my students to introduce themselves. I also wanted them to use audacity to introduce themselves. To me these were great plans. But you know what, none of them worked because our language lab did not just respond. The commuters with audacity had a problem. And yes, the computers do not have web cameras. I therefore did not do what I had intended to do.
 * Implementing Technology in my class **

**The second two weeks: ** I talked to Dr. Galvis who supervises my project. I was particularly amazed at some of the technology that I had proposed to use in my class. His questions and suggestions were tremendous. Although I had planned to use different web 2.0 tools in my classes something at the back of my mind kept telling that I was perhaps overdoing some of the things. For example, I had wanted to ask students to set up a facebook account to comment on certain elements such as pictures and their schedules. However, Dr. Galvis’ suggestion that I could use the Voice board and blog in Blackboard made my work a lot easier and more user friendly to the students. I did not want to bog them down with a foreign language that was already a problem with the task of remembering passwords. As a matter of fact I am very forgetful when it comes to remembering my passwords. Following his advice redistributing scores so that even technology tasks had high rewards made the use of web 2.0 tools have more justification in my class. To salvage my earlier fiasco of introduction using technology, I told my students to use flip cameras to introduce themselves. It came out so well and my students really liked it especially after I put together their different clips and played on a bigger screen. As a foreign language the student is always amazed at what s/he is able to do. What I told them was that we would revisit the issues again to see how much they had gotten better in their speaking skills.

**The third two weeks: ** After sorting out my technology problems I thought I had hit a jackpot by being allowed by Dr. Galvis to use O’Kelly 203 multimedia lab. I was so excited that I told my students I would be there thirty minutes ahead of time. Unfortunately other people had different plans. Apparently that room is shared by different colleges/departments and I was to say the least an uninvited guest. I felt uncomfortable even though this was one place I had hoped to have the best success of the tools I wanted my students to try. I had for example seen web cams and JING tool for video as well as audio recording. I wanted to my students to use these tools to talk about their families. I was hoping they would have a picture which they would then formulate a video of their family by taking their listeners through the video. I got help from Shira from CETL just to show them how to use the tool and promised to revisit the tool again. They recorded something but the room environment was not conducive as I had eagerly anticipated. That 203 fiasco did not deter us from achieving our web 2.0 excitement. I skipped the reservation I had made for the following day and instead gave my students a digital project as homework where they were to use Voice Board to talk about their family with a sample that I had pre recorded. There were a few technical problems but the students were able to provide good reports and it really helped them to work on grammar elements of Swahili as well as enhance their speaking skills. Here is an example of their products and it just shows how technology can fully enhance the skills we work so hard on.

**The fourth two weeks: ** Last week was midterm as well fall break. We decided to use flip cameras so we could not only speak about different topics such as greetings, introductions, family and fields of study. Granted some students are shy and given that it was an exam the stress level goes up. Some of my best students did not quite rise to the occasion. On the other hand, there are students who really showed that they have made progress and the camera if anything motivated them to do their best. Therefore, although the week was very short, students utilized their technology very well. As we started this week we only had two days with only one of them with a lab option. A very good website for beginners for grammar elements is what the students were introduced to. They practiced on how to conjugate verbs using the correct tenses and tense and they are happy. Next week we will revisit different tools as we begin to work on cooking and recipes.

Today is November 06, 2010 and it is the 11th week and we have made tremendous effort in my language class to have students improve not only their speaking but their listening skills in Swahili. Last week, the students were expected t watch a homemade clip and respond to the questions asked. They also presented their recipes using PowerPoint and their presentations were very encouraging. The colorful presentations allowed them to explain how to prepare a Swahili meal. While the graphics were excellent, it was also clear that crucial language elements such as imperative verbs were learned. At the end of the week I reverted back to Voice board because some students had difficulties pronouncing new words which they had researched on the Internet while preparing their meal. I gave a sample of words with my own pronunciation and then asked them to repeat them. They were then asked to pronounce fifteen more words that they I had given them. When I listened to what they had recorded I was impressed and for the words that they did not pronounce to my satisfaction I gave each student a voice feedback so they could hear how I wanted them to pronounce the words. This is so good.

<span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Today is November 19, 2010 and it is the 13th week of the semester. The topics that I had for this week and last week allowed me to integrate web 2 tools the way I have always wanted to. Last week my students got to showcase fashion around the world focusing specifically on African countries. Their findings were displayed in PowerPoint Presentations. The colorful presentations ensure that students learn about traditional attire of African people and they also remember how to talk about different colors. This week which ends today my students started on a new topic-talking about health. Students were able to role play the roles of a doctor and a patient. They recorded their dialogues using flip cameras. This is a very good way of ensuring that students plan ahead and seek to find different language skills. I also had my students enhance their health and body parts vocabulary by creating quizlet flashcards. To test oneself quizlet lets you race the questions, scatter cards and then match them and also simply test you with multiple as well as fill in blanks questions.

Products


<span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">The teaching of foreign languages puts so much pressure on students. The teacher-student interaction is very important but students need time on their own to try some of the things that the teacher introduces to them in class. In this initiative I focused on three important innovations that I thought would be very helpful to my students. The first tool that I introduced was the use of the flip cameras which would allow students to rehearse and then produce language on their own. The second tool was the quizlet which allowed students to practice their vocabulary and build new words. The third important strategy was the use of voice board where students would write, read and then say what they had written. There were a few other tools that I introduced such as the blog and Powerpoint presentations but most of the time, the first three remained my main priority. <span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">As far as the blog was concerned, students used it to comment on how the teaching was being conducted. This was an important step in helping me know what was going on in my class. I obviously was using their feedback to improve on areas that I thought needed some work. There may not have been any but it was a good forum to see what was working and was not. Here is a screen capture of some of what was said on the blog.



<span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">One skill that I really wanted to see students improve in was speaking. I used both in class tasks and video recording to facilitate student engagement in speaking. Flip videos were a major boost for students because they gave them opportunities to practice several times among themselves and then record once they were fully confident of what they wanted to say. Below are a few clips that demonstrate how these activities helped them. Also, students did better after such tasks because they worked together and helped each other. Each process involved thinking, constructing sentences and saying it facing the camera. As such, while the main task was speaking, students still worked on their writing, listening and reading.

Presentation at the beginning of the courseÑ
 * Use this link Introducing yourself in Swahili to view an initial verbal presentation.
 * In this link2 a student talks about herself

<span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">As already noted, within Blackboard itself, the voice board was a major tool that allowed me to give students tasks that would help them to practice pronunciation as well as write and read text in Swahili. This was one of the best ways to have students work on their own on different skills of language learning. I was very happy with the results that I have now decided to transfer the same idea to different classes that I teach.





Lessons learned
<span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">I have learned so much from this project. Students come to your class with different skills but also with different levels of anxiety. As teachers, we may not know what learners go through in their attempt to grasp what we teach. When I used Web 2.0, students who were anxious because Swahili was a new language to them, managed to gain skills they would not have gotten in class. As I also came to realize that there are many Web 2.0 tools but as an instructor, one needs a good grasp of the ones that fit your objectives if they have to benefit students. I did not know all the technological innovations that were presented to me at the beginning of the semester. However, after knowing my own weaknesses, I decided to focus on those tools that I understood and manipulated well enough to be able to transfer the knowledge I had acquired to my students. This worked for me but I also learned that one has to be consistent in using these web tools and to make sure that students buy into the idea and use them constantly. In my case, I was fortunate to have very cooperative students who became very resourceful in making the course a success. The group I taught in fall 2010 was very passionate about Swahili and they supported every activity I planned for them. I also attribute this success to their high intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. For example, their willingness to record each other’s speaking tasks and not to shy away from cameras made my assignments contribute to their significantly. Lastly, and more importantly, I came to the conclusion that Web 2.0 tools are here to stay and I must adapt and not shy away from the many Web 2.0 tools that always presented to us.

Future actions
<span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">The success of my innovations means that I have to work beyond this moment and see how I can make these innovations a perpetual part of my language classes. I would like to increase the use of web 2.0 tools because they keep students engaged and they facilitate students’ learning of the language. I would now like to add some authentic material in the videos database that they watch. This step should increase the amount of cultural material that students are exposed to and allow a huge inventory of such material that I can always draw from when teaching different levels. If there is enough space such material can be stored and be used for distance learning. Positive comments from most of my students of how pleased they were with the material that I prepared for them, motivates me to collaborate with CETL so I can benefit many more students willing to learn Swahili. This is an important step that can also help preserve important cultural information inherent in less commonly taught languages. In my view language teachers should utilize Web 2.0 tools frequently because of how they boost students’ morale and motivation.