Wiki french class :)

I think i like better wiki just because it's more appealing to me. On this wiki french class, http://www.sanjuan.edu/webpages/nnaditz/, i finally understood the use of this website for the class that i will teach in the future. This teacher has at least 15 pages to her wiki class and they are all very interesting and helpful to the students. There's a lot of help for the students with different links to go to to help learn french better. Also the teacher added a lot of videos for the students which makes it funnier for the class!! I hope i'll be able to do as well as her :D

How do you think you might use some of the Google tools we talked about in class today in a classroom?

To be honest i didn't know a lot about the Google tools besides Google map and picasa. Each class teaches me something new that i didn't know or wasn't very familiar with. Good isn't it ;)

Because i'm a French major, i think i will definitively use Google docs so i can send assignments to my students or projects without having to print 25 pages of it! Let's save some trees would you :)
I think it's a wonderful tool because i can check on my students and see how they are doing on their homework. Also, concerning projects, i can see which students are really working on it and which ones are just waiting on others to finish everything for them.
The other thing that i like about Google docs is that my students won't have to meet physically to work as a group. They'll be able to see what their other classmates are working on it, what their ideas are and complete the homework by giving or receiving feedback from their peers. It will save time and it will be done right away.

The other tool that i will use from Google will be picasa to show the different parts of France, it's culture, the food, etc, etc....
I will create an album online where my students can have access and see chapter after chapter the pictures referring to the lesson so they have a better idea of what the language and people are in France :D
I think picasa makes it easier for the students to show and illustrate a lesson. I will ask my students to do the same by creating an album and showing me what they understand when i talk about architecture in France or fashion or food, etc.... It will be like powerpoint but using picasa and showing me their point of view about the topic. It think it could be a fun activity for them to do so they can get involved in the class and learn more and their own about the language.

All these Google tools are wonderful because anybody can have access to it for free an use them daily for different purposes. I know that my future students will love to use all this technology to do their homework or projects because they are born in a century where technology is everywhere and easier to use. It will be beneficial for them as for me to use these tools and stay "connected" to each other to see the needs of the class and the struggle of some students.

Internet Safety

We have the chance to live in a century where the technology is all around us. We can have access to our emails 24/7, we can research topics for our different classes online and it will take only a few seconds to access them and use them. Internet is such a great and wonderful tool until we cross some lines. As you all know, there's opposition in all things even internet!

Here are some tips that i would like you to check to see if you are as safe as you think while using the internet:

* Never give any private information such as passwords or credit card numbers through a website. Some people called hackers will steal all private information from you and use them against you without you knowing it.

* When opening an account, create a password with letters and numbers so nobody can find out what your password is (ex: vivaldi=v1v4l51). Do not use your date of birth or your home address as a password because people with bad attention will try these combination first.

* When using a website such as facebook or myspace or others, do not accept automatically people as friends especially if you don't know them. Also do not chat with people you don't know since they can get information from you easily without you noticing and thinking that the other person is just friendly.

* Never open an email or attached document from someone you don't know. It may be a virus or it may contain pornographic adds. To prevent any problem from this, download an anti-virus that will keep you safe from any trouble.

* Never look up or research for pornographic websites, chats or images. These things are poison and will progressively destroy your mind. Set up your computer in a way that you won't have access, even by mistake, to some websites like this. Use a program to block any pop-up windows that we lead to these kind of images or chats.

* Save at least in two different places all your documents in case your computer brakes down. Make sure your file are protected against any hackers that could have access to your information.

* Never make your "sign in" of your email box or facebook or other websites automatic and saved especially if you are using someone else's computer like at the library or even at your best friend's house...you never know what people can do with your private information!

Hopefully all these tips will help you to be more careful and aware of the internet safety. If you encounter any problems please let me know so i can help you out. Also if you have any questions, bring them to class so we can discuss about them with your classmates. There's nothing to be afraid of if you are well prepared.
I'll see you in class next week. Have a nice weekend :)

Ok so here is my video! Instead of to upload it on my school blog i uploaded it on my family blog....dang!!!

Assignment #4:

Ok so for those who don't know yet, i'm not confident at all with technologies. I use internet with no problems but then when i have to use different programs all together i start to kind of freak out. I know it sounds dumb for some but not for me. Some suck at cooking.....but i'm very good at it ;)

Anyhow, this media project was a real challenge for me even if it was very interesting learning about all these programs that allow me to make movies. I think making that movie made me realize that if i can do it, anybody can do it.....believe me! :D

I know this movie can be a great tool for my future students because it's something animated that talks about what we will learn in class. Because we live in the 21st century, my future students will love to see that technology and French (or any other subject) can work well together and be a better help than a book sometimes. I think i will ask my students to do the same, to show me how well they understood what we talked about and to make a video of it afterwards.

This project made me realize that i can do even more videos that will illustrates my teachings better and help my students get a better appreciation for the language and the class!


(Ok guess what?!! I'm having some difficulties putting my video online....i'm cursed i told you LOL But don't go away, it's coming :)

Assignment #3: What is the difference between effective and ineffective media in the classroom?

For me an effective media is a media that is going to improve the learning of the students throughout the teaching of the teacher. The media doesn't take the place of the teacher but reinforce the explanations of the teacher. For instance, when i was junior high my english teacher was always using videos to show us how people in England (i learned british english first) were and their costumes. She was also using tapes to help us pronounce the words better and to get used to the british accent. All this helped us to be more prepared as speakers and listeners.

However, an ineffective media is a media that has no purpose besides making life easier for the teacher ;) It doesn't help the student to learn better so it's a waste of time. For instance my spanish teaher was showing us funny youtube video for 30 min each day and that was soooo boring (and yes it was last semester at BYU :S)

So for this second video, i tried to find something on TeacherTube Videos that will show how a good videos can be with great citation at the end. However, let me tell you that i struggled to find something that was well cited at the end of the presentation or video.
I look for videos in different topics, topics that i'm interested in such as the French Revolution, French painters, Anne Franck and the Olympic Games but everytime i was watcing a great video about one of these topics there was no citation at the end or barely the name of the person who made the video. What a disappointment!!!!
I'm sure i can find a video that will have all its work cited but so far i've been not very lucky!

So here is my video that i found on TeacherTube about Jesse Owens that was a black athlete that competed during the O.G of World War II. That year he won 4 gold medals; personally i think that God gave him the strength and the ability to show to Hitler that not only white, blond people with blue eyes were good people and successful! Hitler was surely not happy to see a black person winning so many gold medals and being appreciated from others; however, i'm sure he remembered Jesse Owen's name his whole life as someone who won the O.G during a time of crisis and hate.