Web 2.0

Two of the Web 2.0 tools that I could use as a French teacher in my classroom are Quizlet and Audio Lingua.  They both would be really helpful in assisting to learn a new language.

The first of the two, Quizlet, can be found at this link.  When you go to the website, there is a search engine in the upper right-hand corner, and if you type "french" into it, a bunch of different lessons will pop up that you can click on and navigate through.  One of the coolest things about this website is that it has flashcards on it with each lesson.  On one side, it has the word in English, and on the other side, it has the word in French.  Another helpful tool from these notecards is that you can have the notecards say the word out loud so that the students can practice their pronunciation and vocabulary at the same time.  

In my class, I could use this tool both as a homework assignment and as a study tool before a test.  I would probably assign going through one of these lessons as homework and going through the set of notecards a few times, listening to the pronunciation, so that students would be familiar with the words before coming to class.  Also, I could use it as a study tool before a test because it would be great to review as a class using the note cards.  Additionally, the lessons each come up with a couple of games (Scatter and Space Race), which are located right under the notecard, that would be fun to play as a class the day before a test to help review all the terms.  

The next Web 2.0 tool that I would use in my class is called Audio Lingua.  This website is great because it has recordings from native speakers all over the world speaking in their languages.  The website can be found by clicking here.  This would be a perfect teaching tool for foreign languages because this way, the students can practice their listening skills while also hearing the language be spoken how it really would sound if they went to the country where the language they are learning is spoken.

In my class, I would use this as a lesson by first finding and listening to a recording that pertains to the material we are learning in class, and typing out what the speaker is saying.  Then, I would make a document for the students leaving blank spaces in it, and then have the class listen to the recording and fill in the blanks as they listen to it.  I would play the recording a few times, then go over it as a class and filling in any answers that were hard to hear.  Then, I would play the recording again and have the students listen to it again, allowing them to hear it and know exactly what they are saying.  Repetition and listening activities can really strengthen listening skills when learning a knew language!