Week 3 - the story continues

Bonjour mes amies and welcome back to another week of blogging with Coralee as she continues to investigate and interrogate the affordances and constraints of language learning technologies.  I have recently been introduced to yet another suggested technology which I will be incorporating into this week’s activity.  Voicethread is a cloud based program that allows users to upload and share pictures, documents, and presentations as well as audio and video.  

This technology sits well within an asynchronous learning environment as it allows a learner to participate at a time convenient to them rather than more synchronous styles of learning such as a classroom. Greater flexibility within a learning environment affords learners, including language learners, additional opportunities for improvement and development. My experience with VoiceThread prior to tutorial was nil.  I can now say that my skills have greatly improved (despite some frustration with the technology and how to embed the program into my blog). 

Click on the play button above
 to go to my VoiceThread.

While there are tutorials available which are relatively simple to follow, I found that without creating a hyperlink, I was unable to insert the link.  Nevertheless, if you now go to the link above, you will be taken to the streets of Paris with some written, spoken and visual commentary from me.  Certainly a benefit of VoiceThread is its capability to be multimodal however I would argue it’s major affordance is interactivity.

  Certainly a benefit of VoiceThread is its capability to
be multimodal however I would argue it’s major affordance is interactivity.

Technology #1 – Coffee Break French 


Following another podcast from the team at CoffeeBreak French, I have now learned a little about our next student Alf, a retired English teacher who with his wife, is moving to the south of France and renovating a house.  However for something slightly different this week, I have reviewed the way in which VoiceThread could be utilised with this technology.  As the podcast currently offers no interaction between teacher and student, by embedding the recording into VoiceThread, students could share information and discuss the subject matter.  Written text could be included thus providing explanation of the grammatical points raised in the podcast.  

Technology #2 - Tex's French Grammar

In this week’s lesson with Tex, I have been revising the use of French adverbs, including their formation and placement.  The program follows the same structure as previous lessons ie. Instruction, practice and assessment /evaluation.   Once again, I have considered in what ways VoiceThread would enhance this technology and I have again concluded that being able to discuss the subject matter with a community of likeminded language learners would offer significant benefits.  Not only is there for participation from L2 learners but native French speakers could provide valuable authentic advice and /or instruction.  Copies of the Tex Grammar lessons could be commented upon, the text could be spoken and recorded and through the doodle or drawing capability, participants could notate in real time key points of interest.

The Last Word

It’s been quite a journey this week.  Despite being somewhat challenged by VoiceThread, I have discovered a useful aid to add to my arsenal of language learning strategies.

“Boy, those French! They have a different word for everything.”

― Steve Martin