Blogging from Abroad

Well, this post may very well be the end of my blogging career. I have tried to embrace it personally, but it's just not my thing; however, given the chance, I will try to use it in the classroom, if only because it would probably be something the students would enjoy.

While browsing the net the other day for novel educational uses of blogs, I came upon a site that contained blog entries of students studying in Europe. This, I thought, is something that a foreign-language or social studies teacher could use in class. If an American exchange student or college-level study-abroad student created a blog detailing his/her language or cultural experiences abroad, students in Hoboken could respond and ask questions (Do they really say ciao in Spain?). This would be infinitely more interesting than reading an excerpt about the country from a textbook that is probably out of date. Students could learn about Spain, France or South Africa through the eyes of another student. The blog could contain all the usual - pictures, video clips, links, etc. The whole blogging experience could be part of the main lesson plan or an extra credit assignment. Even the student abroad could possibly earn regular or extra credit for setting up the blog and participating on a regular basis.

What do you think? Could you adapt this idea to your classroom?

One Nation under English, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

After struggling all week with what to write in my blog, I received an email the other day that made me sit down and start to type. It was the kind of chain email sent to dozens of recipients - and I was going to delete it - but decided instead to open it and see what my cousin had sent me this time. This particular email contained a number of "changes" that needed to be made in this country to make it better and more secure. One of the changes entailed making English the country's official language. Given that I teach a "foreign" language and am constantly trying to convince my students why they would be better off in life by knowing it, I decided to address the subject in my blog.

There is a wonderful website that I frequently visit called studyspanish.com. In addition to the great grammar exercises, it has 10 reasons why someone should learn Spanish. A couple are the standards: it will be beneficial if you travel to a Spanish-speaking area and learning Spanish is fun!

Now, for a couple of reasons maybe you didn't think about:

• Scientists feel that knowing and using a second language will reduce your chances of developing Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia.
• Knowing Spanish will increase your marketability in a world moving rapidly towards a global economy. It is now the native tongue in 21 countries and an official language on four continents. In addition, Hispanic consumers are the fastest growing segment of the market in North America.

Check out the other reasons given for learning Spanish. You may be surprised.

I don't have any real answers for those of you who are looking for something online that will help you learn Spanish or become "fluent" in it. There are dozens of products out there, but I've never used any of them. They can be found at teachspanish.com and also at about.com. My advice, though, is to combine book work with living and working with Spanish speakers, preferably in a Spanish-speaking country. If you've never had the chance to study abroad, do it. It's great and will help your oral skills immeasurably.

Please take a moment and register your vote in my survey. I'm trying to find out how many out there think English should be the official language of the U.S.

Also, please comment on what you think about learning a second language in this country. I'm especially eager to hear what those living and working in Europe have to say.

As the Wheel Turns

As I was thinking about what to write this week, I decided to go back over our class discussion of the pros and cons of blogs and wikis. In one of my responses, I stated that I see no reason why teachers should reinvent the wheel if another educator has already come up with a project, lesson plan, or idea that would work in their classrooms. I also said that teacher-to-teacher blogs could be a way of transporting these ideas around the country, from one classroom to another, perhaps being tweaked along the way into something even better. Given all that, I want to dedicate this posting - if not my entire blog - to not reinventing the wheel. As I find sites (even other blogs) that may be useful to you and save you time, I'll post their links. Although some may be for the Spanish educator (or someone who wants to learn the language), others won't because some good ideas are subject independent. One of those sites, think.com ,touts software that only allows students to publish inside the password-protected community. This may allay some of the security concerns of teachers and parents and could open the door to school-to-school projects that would allow students to comment on, debate and/or exchange information about any given subject.

Bienvenidos to my Blog

Well, here goes nothing. I'm completely new to blogging and am really unsure about its place in the classroom, but I'm willing to try just about anything if it will benefit my students. I haven't had good experiences with the website MySpace but concede to its popularity among today's youth.

I've included a picture of the small PS-8 Catholic school I teach at in Clearfield, St. Francis School, home of the St. Francis Ponies. It has a strict policy regarding websites such as MySpace, as do the public schools in the area.

Perhaps through this blog you can help me come up with ways to use this communication medium in the classroom. It will be tough, though, given school policy and the inability to properly monitor the site. Tough, but probably not impossible. Anyway, let's put our heads together and see what we come up with. Let me know your thoughts.