Sign in, Sign up. The challenges of email in an ESL class

Last week, i spent one session working with Chris at Reservoir Neighbourhood House, in her "very beginner" English as a second language (ESL) class. One of the English students was having a terrible time trying to sign up for a gmail account. They had tried to connect week after week, and kept getting some kind of "verification code" message.

Fortunately we managed to resolve that issue, and she could sign in for the first time. First task was to send Chris a message. After that, send a message to one of her classmates.

I was so impressed by Chris' patience as the student struggled with the basics of navigating the screen and its functions. Not even a glimmer of impatience or irritation. 

So what does this group need to learn next in the world of email and computers?

• Send an attachment (for example send a narrative or recount to Chris via email).
• Work with folders on the student network drive.
• Work with documents and formatting.

Language issues

How do you explain this with your students?

• The difference between "Sign IN" and "Sign UP".
• Login is the same as "Sign in", but we don't say "Log Up" do we?

Photo by [auro] (creative commons at flickr: cc-by-nd). Thanks.

Blogging for English as a second language (ESL), with "intro to blogger" (visual guide)

Kate M, one of the brilliant English as a second language (ESL) teachers at PRACE is thinking about using a blog to connect with her students. We talked about a few different ways to approach the idea:

(NB: You can find these ideas also in a larger document over here at google docs.)

• Start with a single blog in broadcast mode. Put the teaching and learning activities up and send students to read or listen there. Dale Pobega's ESL Club is a great example of this.
• Embed a video into one post, with an activity where students post a reply via the comment form - Kate's doing recipes and cooking in the class, so she thought it would be good to embed video from one of the SBS cooking shows.
• When you start, you can make commenting open to any anonymous visitors, to save students from having to log in. 
• (Later on, you could get them to sign in to comment.)
• As you get more confident, you could add a form under the video where students answer questions and you get the feedback automatically (eg using google forms).
  
  (..more after the break, including the PDF document..)
  

Email with students - Help File!!

I wrote before how Chris Mooney was trialling some email activities with her English as a second language (ESL) group. And i'd promised to make an easy-to-read visual guide to creating a google / gmail account.

So here it is:

• Link to the PDF document in google docs 
• (..where you can download and print a copy - i've printed it in booklet form on A3 paper).
• The guide is licensed creative commons (cc-nc-sa)
• feedback very welcome. 

I tried to embed the file directly here: it works, but then the page loads directly on the embedded file every time, instead of at the top of the page. So, dis-embedding now.

More email tips - using the gmail "labs" settings

It's always challenging to learn your way into a new software tool.


You know how the old application behaves - its shortcuts and folders. 


The new application might confound your expectations, with different models of behaviour^^. 


At PRACE, we are now using the google-owned gmail to send and receive messages in-house**. And while using the PRACE gmail account to send messages, you may be interested in the more experimental side of things. 


Did you know you can set up a default text styling, for example?
That you can have your text looking a particular way in each message you send, without having to re-format every time...? 


(more after the break)

How to manage your contacts in the gmail

A few people around PRACE were asking about how to create groups of contacts in the google-based PRACE email system. (Also known as gmail.)

So Michael's written a help guide for managing email contacts.

You can create a list of people, for example language and literacy teachers, and then use a shortcut to send a message to all these teachers in one go.

Here's the help file. It's in PDF format (Link), and it's in the google docs system - meaning you'll need your PRACE login to get a copy. Sorry about that, but there's a few teachers' names in the document.. so i thought i should protect the document behind the login.

"e-learning - why?" Come to a showcase in June

Registrations have closed now (22May) as it's completely full. A very popular day. 

Looking for ways to integrate technology more easily with your classroom activities? 

This could be the event for you. 

"e-learning - why?" A showcase for LearnLocal people and organisations. 

Hold the date: 22 June 2012 for your diaries. Come and meet your colleagues face-to-face, share ideas, build your networks, ask questions and learn more about the worlds of e-learning. 

This day is free of charge. 

• To register please follow this link.
• Here's the showcase wiki being developed: eshowcase12.acfe.vic.edu.au/

..and if you'd like to post your experiences of this day, or any kind of e-learning at PRACE here, please let michael know. 

Copy files into multiple folders (How To)

Barb and I were working together one morning, looking for a way to copy the same file into all the student folders. There are many ways to do this, but perhaps the best is a combination of keyboard and mouse action.

Essentially, you need to
1) Hold Down the Ctrl Key, and
2) drag the file across the screen, from one folder into another.

Here's a video screencast by Michael Chalk, where he shows one way to do this:



What about you - how would you share files with your students?