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! Let's proceed to creation of a web page so we can
actually put the wonderful activities we create online for use by our students
and perhaps other FL colleagues. Using Netscape Composer, creating
web pages is really pretty easy.
Additional support
Here is a page you might want to keep handy if you decide to try your hand at creating some web activities using authentic materials.
Multimedia
Development for International Communication
This is the entire syllabus and course description
of a multimedia course taught in the fall of 1997 by Robert Ponterio and
Jean LeLoup and taught again in the fall of 2000 by Robert Ponterio.
It 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.
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
Juan Ramón de Arana has created many different
types of exercises that cover topics from grammar to vocabulary to art
and literature.
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
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. Site is continually updated.
French
Civilization
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.
Finding authentic materials on the web
Collections
of authentic materials on-line
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.
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