#8: Open Topic / Reflection

For your final blog post, please feel free to write about any topic related to the course.  For example, you can reflect on what you have learned about in the course and your e-portfolio project and also discuss any future goals or plans you have to use technology in your classroom.

- Computer became inevitable device in modern society. So it is beneficial if a person know how to deal with computer today. Taking CALL class of Hanyang University, I could know tons of tools that I haven't known before. I didn't know that there are a lot of things that I can do with computer. 

  Especially, I became interested in making Podcast. Actually, it was my first time to make podcast on my own. After listening to Quick and Dirty Tips: Grammargirl, I got a real tip to make one about a verb usage. 

  Next, Digital storytelling tool was really attractive to me. I was fascinated the vivid visual aids that such tools provided and thought it would be really useful when I teach young learners.

  After I complete this course, I have a plan to teach young learners as I originally interested in teaching that kind of learners. So I will try to make use of digital storytelling tools to tempt children. 

I really thank CALL class for informing me a lot of tools on computer, and a teacher Ryan, too!

#7: Mobile App Review

Search for a language learning application designed for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.  Provide a link to the application's website. Write a brief review of this application that includes information about the app's functions, which devices it is compatible with, and how it can assist or enhance the language learning process.

1) Link 

   TED: http://www.ted.com/

2) Function / compatible app

    TED means Technology, Entertainment, and Design. It promotes the motto, "Ideas worth spreading." All remarkable people around the world come out and give a speech. It deals with various but not serious topics, so it can be a nice mobile app for extensive listening. Making a digression, I listened to the speech of Korean guy in TED the other day, The topic was Korean archery. He showed how to make arrows and bows and  demonstrated their quality in front of the audience. I thought it was really interesting that he performed his exclusive skill in the world. Anyway, there are some supportive mobile apps derived from TED such as TEDiSUB (it provides subtitle), TED Air and so on.
   I think the app that is compatible with TED is YBM CNN listening training, which is run by YBM company and provides repetitive listening using CNN news. It has two sections: CNN Listening and CNN training. In the first section, we can listen the original CNN news. The second section consists of four steps. We can listen to the news, divide a sentence into a smaller part, shadow the news, and do dictation.

3) How it can assist or enhance the language learning process?

     In my opinion, TED can assist extensive listening. Listening skill cannot be improved all of a sudden. So it is important to listen something steadily. If a teacher uses TED in a English listening class, it would be helpful to train students' listening skills. On top of that, the teacher can make some extra activities like shadowing contest, after listen to one of TED speeches in class.

     

#6: Digital Storytelling

1. Write brief reviews about the two tools you used to create short lessons.

   - First, I used Zimmer Twins at School. This site enabled users to make a movie based on flash player. When I clicked "make from scratch," I could make a whole movie by myself. At first, I chose a character, its action, surroundings. I also could type lines in a speech bubbles. Also, there were four sections at the same page: talk bubble clips, action clips, close-up clips, and star clips. In each section, a sentence was given below the chosen one. When I selected "agrees" in the talk bubble clips, the sentence came up like this: "_____ agrees _________." It meant that I was able to choose subject, and adverbial phrase at my pleasure. As I filled in the blank with a subject and an adverbial phrase, the outcome reflected what I chose, appearing in the screen. I think Zimmer Twins at School is an advanced version of Flash Player. I have used Flash Player before, but I liked Zimmer Twins more because it showed detailed displays and was less simple than Flash Player, which consists of only boring line and flat-colored shapes. 

     Second, I used Pixton. I could start making a comic when I clicked "create a comic." While making a comic, I could choose several things such as layout, character, expression, and pose. Likewise, I was able to add speech bubble, props, background. This site was similar to Zimmer Twins but the one remarkable difference from Zimmer Twins was that I could change character's posture freely (I was very surprised to know that I could move even the joints of characters!). So I thought that users should spend more time working on it  but Pixton could provide broader room for expressing more detailed situation than Zimmer Twins.

2. How could these tools be used by teachers and students? How could they be incorporated into a class?

- Thinking about how these tools could be incorporated into a class used by teachers and students, I came up with two main things. This is an English grammar class. The target students are young learners who are able to use computers well. One session consists of two classes. The first  class is a time for teachers to use these tools. Grammar class might be bored to young learners because they have short span of concentration. So I think teachers can use these tools when making a preview as an introduction in the beginning of a class. If teachers shows an interesting intro using these tools, it would be perfect to draw children's attention. At the end of the first class, teachers briefly explain how to use these tools to make a movie or a comic. Then give homework to children to make one as a review work, noticing them that their products will be on an in-class movie or comic contest. The important thing here is the content of movie or a comic should include what they learned in the first class. 

   In the second class, the time for students, teachers let the children present what they made. The final products by children can act as a barometer showing how much they understood the content of the first class. After seeing end products one by one, teachers can evaluate each presentation, and reward for the best item.

#5: Corpora, Concordance, Collocations, Word Frequency

1. Compleat Lexical Tutor 
 
    http://www.lextutor.ca/

- In Compleat Lexical Tutor I can analyze texts and check word frequency or analyze concordance and then find collocation. Speaking of word frequency, I think this site could be useful for teachers when they are to design appropriate material for class. For example, in a biology class, a teacher can let students go get dissertation or articles and input them to word frequency analyzer. This could make students be aware of what the main terminologies or target vocabularies are without relying only on text.

     In the aspect of concordance, I believe this site would be used when students try to find collocation by checking concordance. For instance, for the students who want to speak or write like a native speaker, teacher can get them to analyze concordance and then figure out collocations. Since collocation is a combination of words that frequently occur together, being well-informed of collocation will benefit students: they can have a good command of English more naturally. 

2. Corpus of Contemporary American English

     http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/

-  As I visited Corpus of Contemporary American English, I could plan four different kinds of lessons, knowing that there were four main categories in a "display" section: list, chart, KWIC, and compare. "List" shows the number of frequency and, as the name implies, a simple list of the sentences that collocate with the target word. So a teacher use "list" to simply explain how many times the target word is used and with how this word can be used in a sentence along with what kind of other words it goes together.

     "Chart" displays bar charts that indicates in which field or in what ages the target word is used the most. Also, it shows the matching words or phrases with the target word if a teacher clicks one of bars. Thus a teacher could use this tool in teaching the history of a target word.

     "KWIC" is an abbreviated form of Key Word In Context. It shows a target word in a sentence surrounded by possible context with colorful marks. Therefore, a teacher can view the concordance by using this option and use this tool when teaching concordance in writing class.

     In my opinion, the most useful tool is "Compare," that shows which word collocates better with the other following word. For example, I wondered about which word would better to collocate with amount. So, I typed "small" and "tiny" in the first two blanks, and then "amount" in the blank below. And the result said "small" is more suitable for "amount" than "tiny". So this tool could help non native teachers teach writing or speaking in EFL classroom.

3. Wordle 

    http://www.wordle.net/

- The most remarkable thing of Wordle is that it displays the result as a visual aid. Since it didn't work at computer lab of TESOL class, I did it by myself at home. When I went to "create" section and typed two to three paragraphs then clicked "go," the picture below came out. The fun thing was that in the picture, the word of high frequency was marked big, and the word with low frequency was marked small. Since this tool showed vivid visual aids, I thought this would be effective when a teacher is to teach young learners about word frequency.

#4. Podcast Review

1. Listen to one or two of the podcasts.
   - I listened to Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing: 326GG "Jealousy"   
       Versus "Envy" on iTunes.

2. Provide a link to the podcast on your blog. Give general information about the content
      and quality.
   - https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/grammar-girl-quick-dirty-tips/id173429229?mt=2
   

     The name of the podcast I listened to was "Quick and Dirty Tips." As I went to the link, I could see the grammar girl standing at the left side of the screen. At first, I simply clicked one of the list called recent tips, and it was "Donut Versus Doughnut." After I moved into that page, I found that there were a lot of ways to subscribe, download, email, print, and share at the right side of the text. Clicking an iTunes button among those, I decided to search something that I confused before in using English. In the next page, I picked one of podcasts titled "Jealousy" Versus 

"Envy," and then clicked "View in iTunes." 

 

     It was a roughly 5-minute-long podcast and about the difference between "envy" and "jealousy." In the podcast, the grammar girl talked about a word "jealous," which is used when a person has an element fear that (s)he might lose someone with an example, "A man is jealous of the best friend of his girlfriend, who is a dude." And then the grammar girl kept talking about "envy," a word for being used when a person wants what someone already has, giving an example, "A man envies his girlfriend's upcoming trip to Hawaii." 

   Thanks to the Grammar Girl, now I'm able to tell the different usages between the two words.
    

3. What do you think about the podcast? Which type of learners could benefit 

      from the podcast?

-  I think Grammar Girl was really beneficial to me because it helped me find out something unsure about grammar before. Also, most items of Grammar Girl ran within 10 minutes so it was very interesting to listen to when I was to kill time or just listen for fun. It would be useful again and again later whenever I try to search for uncertain things about grammar. 

      Basically, podcast enables learners to listen to the same material on multiple devices. Thus, podcast is suitable for the learners who are able to play with a variety of technical devices. Considering that Grammar Girl is an audio recording for the better writing, I would recommend this to the learners who are confused about little grammatical things that hinder their English writing. After all, it can bring about Grammar Girl subscribers' acquiring higher score on writing tests to some extent if the learners can catch out confusing things and use the correct grammar. Next, once Grammar Girl is downloaded, learners would feel really convenient because they can subscribe it without directly going the website everyday. So, it is fit for learners who are willing to study grammar on a regular basis but without inconvenience. Next, Grammar Girl can be played multiple times as many as the learner wants. So, if learners are exposed to it over and over again, it will decrease the possibility of forgetting important grammar tips.

#3: Synchronous and Asynchronous CMC Tools

1) Brief descriptions of the tools and links to their websites

   - A synchronous tool: Among synchronous CMC tools, I am sometimes using skype to have a conversation with my friends in the U.S. with whom I made friends last year. When I log on to skype, I can see the list of my friends on the left side of the log on page. If I click one of friends on the contact list, there comes the button said, "video call." Clicking this, I can make a video call to my friend and we also see each other through the webcams.

http://skype.daesung.com/eng/

  - An asynchronous tool: I chose to visit "voicethread." I knew about the site earlier during the first term of this TESOL program. When I sign in, I can see three main taps categorized as browse, create, my voice. In browse section, I am freely able to leave a comment on the room already made by someone. If I go into a "create" tap, I can make a new room for a specific topic. When I leave a comment, there are several ways of recording: using phone, webcam, typing, or recording. While recording my opinion, I can draw something on the screen. Also, there are some other opinions already recorded on the both sides of a room. So I can listen to the opinions of other classmates by clicking their section. 

http://voicethread.com/

2) Your thoughts about how the Synchronous CMC tool and the Asynchronous CMC tool could support learning and the development of language skills. Are there any similarities and differences in how they could support language learning?

  - I think both CMC tools can get people have a communication mediated by computer. So, they are convenient to use because they are not bounded to space: we can share our opinions with people all around the world just by sitting in front of PC. But in the aspect of time, there are some differences between them. 

    Synchronous CMC tools like skype, and Tokbox has time limit. In other words, they are based on instant communication so everybody can get an immediate feedback. In this situation, speakers might get nervous, being worried about making grammatical mistakes while they are talking. 

    Asynchronous CMC tools like Voice thread, and Vocaroo has unlimited time because it is based on recording. So people can have enough time for preparation such as trying to look good on webcam, or talking perfectly without any mistakes. So everybody can express their opinion concisely.

3) Some of your ideas of possible activities and ways that the tools could be used in a language class to supplement in-class content and instruction.

  -  In my opinion, I can include the both tools within one class activity. I will apply a problem-solving task to this activity. At first, I will present a particular problem that is closely related to our life: a social or an environmental problems.
    And I will let the students brainstorm cooperatively using a synchronous CMC tool by creating a Scribblar room. I think that since a synchronous CMC tool requires a prompt communication, brainstorming that is a result of a quick and instant thinking process  can be well done through this kind of tool.
    Next, I will use an asynchronous CMC tool by having the students express their solutions on the Voicethread. I believe that an asynchronous CMC tool that allows unlimited time for students to think, so it will enable students to ponder and devise the solution to a particular problem.
     Finally, I will have some time to share each solution with students. This will be also feasible by using an asynchronous CMC tool, which is a complete result of possible solutions designed by each students.

#2. Presentation Tools & Screencasting Tools

1. Describe the Presentation Tool or Screencasting Tool you used.  Provide a link to the website.

- I used "Prezi" for making my presentation. When you visit the site, you can simply sign up. Then you will be able to create a presentation. First, you can select a template among several ones. and type in the editing page. If you don't have enough frame, it can be added if you insert new frames. Also, arrows or direct lines  can be drawn. When you finish making the presentation, click disc-shaped button to save your presentation. Or you can have it as a form of PDF file. In the section named "your prezis", the list of presentations made by you will come up.

http://prezi.com/


2. Describe the presentation or activity you created using the tool.  Provide a link to the location of your embedded presentation on your Google Site.

- Using Prezi, I made the presentation which introduces five basic sentence patterns of English. It is geared to being used by teachers of a grammar class and it is for the beginners. My presentation consists of five frames  and each frame, contains the structure of an English sentence, the definition of terms, and the examples of each sentence.

https://sites.google.com/site/hyucallclass/homework


3. Describe your experience using the tool.  Would you recommend it to other teachers?  Why or why not?

- I always used to use Microsoft Office Powerpoint whenever I was to make a presentation. It was because the presentation tool which all that I knew was the only one before I took the third class of CALL. Actually, I saw one of the students in my class use Prezi, but I had no idea what that tool exactly was and how to made it. What I liked the most about Prezi was that it already had a several ready-made templates so I didn't need to spend time decorating the presentation. In other words, it was very convenient to use because all I did was simply to type what I wanted to say about the topic. Also, Prezi had more vivid visual effects than Powerpoint in that it is fun to see slides move to the next slide: it sweeps across somewhere. But the fact that I could not access the more contents unless I pay monthly was the only demerit of Prezi.

  Despite the one shortcoming of Prezi, I would recommend to other teachers to use Prezi because it is simple and easy to use, has a lot of beautiful templates, has vivid and funny visual effects.

4.  Describe potential uses the tool could have in the Korean EFL learning context.

- Considering that the learners are EFL students, they might not have more interest in learning English than ESL students because the former group have less necessity of learning the language than the latter one. As a result, I think that there are a lot of possibilities of getting bored if EFL students just listen to a teacher without any visual aids during the class.

   In this situation, it would be helpful for teachers to make use of Prezi. As I mentioned above in answering question number 3, Prezi has more visuality than Powerpoint. According to my previous experience as a listener of the presentation made by Prezi, I could concentrate more on it because of the vivid visual aids. Likewise, if teachers use this presentation tool in EFL classroom, it would help draw learners' attention more so they could listen up.
   In the aspect of the property of Prezi, it could be perfectly used when teachers are to explain a new concept, especially in a deductive way. It is because I noticed that many of Prezi's templates had a structure that showed categorization. Or since some other templates had a step-by-step process, it also could be effective when a teachers are planning to show the history of English language or else.