Right off the bat, if you don't know squat about technology, I suggest that you motor on over to A Communications Technology Module for the Foreign Language Methods Course and get yourself up to speed on the various communications technologies that are available to you as a classroom foreign language teacher.
This site also includes a section on pedagogical issues involved in implementing technology in FL instruction. The National Standards are addressed and sample lesson plans are given that use many of the technologies discussed in the module.
Carrying on
If you are already pretty savy about these things,
congratulations! If you are not, you can do one of several things. You can create your lesson plans in a Word document and--at the last moment--save as web page. That's pretty easy, right? If you want to experiment with software for creating web pages, there are lots of applications out there. Adobe Dreamweaver is good but costs dinero ($190+). Nvu is good, has all the basics you need for this class, and is free. Hmm, which will I choose? For instructions on creating web pages using the latter two suggesetions, please consult the online course instructions for the Multimedia Development for International Communication course taught by Dr. Robert Ponterio at SUNY Cortland. The entire syllabus of this course
is online and has links to many "how-to" pages about communications technologies, materials development, copyright issues, sound, photo, and video editing, plenty to keep you busy for quite a while.
Authentic Materials
Some good models of activities online for FL
instruction and learning:
Some people have already done lots of work for
you! Check out and use the following pages -- they were created for
FL educators to use in their classes.
Spanish
Language Exercises
Ojalá
que llueva café is "una aventura dominicana" created by Barbara
Kuczun Nelson at Colby College. It uses the song by Juan Luis Guerra
in a lesson on present subjunctive. Her Spanish
Grammar Exercises contain many activities for language learners.
Many use audio clips and some use video clips.
Taller
Hispano
French
Civilization
Finding authentic materials on the web
Collections
of authentic materials on-line
Evaluating web sites
Not everything out there is good. In fact,
about 90%+ is garbage (Ponterio, 1999). In order to help you evaluate
what you have found in terms of usefulness for your classroom, try using
these evaluation forms:
Guidelines
for reviewing and evaluating web pages
California
FL Teachers Project
Several web activities developed by FL teachers
during the yearly CA Project Institute. Also some tips for writing
web activities, reading strategies, and a page that discusses Internet
options in the classroom. You will find many examples of web lessons
here, but you need to evaluate the quality yourself.
Juan Ramón de Arana has created many different
types of exercises that cover topics from grammar to vocabulary to art
and literature.
Pages loosely based on topics from the original
Destinos
series. Contains digitized video, audio, photos, and activites with
forms that students can fill in and submit to the instructor.
Project created by Jean W. LeLoup and funded by the United States Air Force
Academy Department of Foreign Languages (USAFA/DFF). I'm actually back there for 2007-2009 teaching again!
I know you are Spanish teachers, but you must
see this amazing site created by Marie Ponterio. Hey, if YOU can't
use it, tell your French colleagues. They need to know about this
site! Over twenty topics about French culture and civilization with
a large variety of formats, digitized video, audio, and photos. A virtual
tour of France is also included. The project was funded by
the SUNY Office of Educational Technology and the original construction
was over two years in the making. Site is continually updated.
An excellent place to start. You will find
collections of collections here, no need to reinvent the wheel in your
spare time. Also present are links to on-line newspapers and magazines
in many target languages. For aural comprehension, several links
to streaming sites for audio and video are listed by language.