Wikis, Student Work & Diigo

I am a fan of the wiki and use Wikispaces with a variety of classes and in a variety of ways. Basically I began using it as a site where students can access the information they need on a particular topic. A place to put summaries and tasks they needed to complete. Now I am in the process of trying to take it to the next level and harness more of the wiki's potential by creating a place where students can work together to create the information that they need as well as present their own creations and digital portfolios. Somewhere to share, to pool knowledge and to discuss issues.

Currently I use wikis in different ways for different year groups.

• For Year 7 it is more like an online supplement to the textbook. One day I aim to make it the textbook. This wiki is visible to anyone but can only be edited by members.
  

• For Yr8 it is as above but in more detail and also a place to share some student work, uploaded by the teacher. As for Year 7, this wiki is visible to anyone but can only be edited by members of the wiki.
  

• For Yr9 I am trying to turn it into a reference text as well as a place for students to work together on projects, upload their own creations and learn from each other; bringing all the work we do into one central location. At the moment this wiki is a private wiki; it can only be seen or edited by members of the wiki.
  

The Year 9 'experiment' began with their ICT assessment task - to create their own wiki page on the class wiki and describe their likes, dislikes and abilities in Japanese. The ICT component of the task was simply aimed at enabling them to learn how to navigate around the wiki, edit pages and become familiar with the different features of the wiki.

The results were quite impressive. Some students created simple but effective pages using the target language, others were able to create visually impressive pages that both used the target language and embedded a variety of media to enhance it.

The next step was to provide feedback on the students' pages. This is when our Diigo class group became the tool of choice. With a Diigo Educator account, I have been able to create a class group for my Year 9 class. The class group is closed but we share bookmarks and there is a Group Forum to discuss sites and Japan related topics. This private Diigo Group could be the key to effective feedback for learning as it allows me to highlight text and add comments on web pages (including the students' wiki pages). These comments are only visible to those in the class group. Students can see the comments on their own page and on those of others in the class. They have simple but effective feedback and (if they wish) can see if others in the class are making similar mistakes.

My apologies for the quality of the screenshot here but hopefully you get the idea. I have posted a sticky note on the students work, providing them with a little feedback. The sticky note becomes visible when you are logged in to Diigo and place your cursor over the highlighted text. Students can then add to a comment to my sticky note if they need to ask a question or seek clarification. Too easy!

So, for all the teachers out there - get yourself a Diigo Educator Account.

If you're still not convinced that wikis can work for you, watch the clip below and simply substitute the word 'boogie' for 'wiki'. Enjoy!

It needs to be acknowledged that I was able to work on this unit of work and others for our language department thanks to funding provided by the Australian Government through the Languages Program.

Need stories or images to help teach Japanese language & culture?

When I first began learning a language, teachers rarely used "realia" to liven up the classroom or make the learning more relevant. I will forgive this as back then it was not that easy to get your hands on up to the date items that enhanced the teaching of language and culture. However, the days of faded newspapers is long gone. The internet has provided an avenue for classroom teachers to access real life and up to the minute articles, images, videos and more that can help bring the target language and culture into our students' lives. But, if you're after images of the 'Tanabata festival' in Japan or of a particular Japanese food, you can get so much more if you know where to look...

Searching on Flickr will reap rewards, especially if you search particular groups (related to the target language). Try these ones for Japanese:

• Japanese Culture
• JapanSoc
• Nihongo Daisuki

To further enhance viewing these images (or any images / video), use Cooliris

Beyond Flickr: Over the past few months I have discovered bloggers and photographers in Japan who can bring Japan to you via their images and stories. Most can also be found on flickr, but you should really check out their sites...

• Kalandrakas
• Kimonobox
• Nihongo Notes
• Shibuya246
• The Nihon Sun
• TokyoTopia

Further to this, yesterday (July 11 2009) two photographers set out to capture 100 smiles in a day, somewhere in Tokyo. A great concept. Have a look at A Hundred Smiles.

Posted via web from Js Nihongo

Language Poster Mosaic

Language Mosaic
Originally uploaded by acjeppo

Ok... been playing with Big Huge Labs again.

I wanted to create a poster for the hallway to replace the mangy old map we had hanging up (I'm still keen on putting another map up), so I went back to the trusty mosaic creator. Using images found through Creative commons search, as well as the newly created Flickr group - Images to teach Language (thanks to Alice Ayel), the mosaic creator was kind enough to produce the image seen in this post. But that's not all...

I then went to Block Posters. This is a site which will enlarge your image; the poster we created ended up 2ft by 2ft but it could have been larger. The quality of the original images will determine how clear it turns out and the end product can be downloaded as a pdf file. Ours turned up as 12 A4 sheets (this can also be adjusted). We then printed each page in colour, trimmed the edges and laminated each page before putting them up on the wall as a large collage. Even though it does not appear as one large image (more like a jigsaw puzzle), it is still quite effective. So, if you're looking for decorative ideas for your classroom or departmental area I recommend Block Posters to create eye-catching posters.

Promoting Languages

Further to the previous post, it's probably about time I embedded the following SlideRocket presentation into my own blog. Thank you to Isabelle Jones for already having done so on her site.

Journey to Japan

Journey to Japan
Originally uploaded by acjeppo

It's that time of the year again when we are trying to attract students to study languages as an elective. So, having already created some motivational posters (see here), it was time to head back to BigHugeLabs to try their "Movie Poster" creator. Attached is one of the movies I have now starred in. Now let's see how it does at the box office...

Winter's coming...

It's getting colder here in Sydney which means our 'kotatsu' has even more of a Japanese feel about it. A 'kotatsu' is a Japanese heated table, usually placed near the TV - or at least in the living room. It is kind of like a square coffee table but one that you sit at on the floor. Underneath it are heat globes to keep your legs nice and toasty. The blanket is draped over the kotatsu, beneath the table top. And... just like in Japan, we have our little bowl of 'mikan' (mandarines) perched on top.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Js Nihongo

Using wikis in the Language Classroom

Not long after I presented to Japanese teachers in Sydney on Saturday and briefly mentioned wikis, Alex Blagona gave a presentation to Language World 2009 (UK) on using wikis in the MFL (LOTE for those here in Australia) classroom. The presentation was apparently inspiring and very practical. The slideshare presentation below is well worth a look if you are using wikis or considering using them in your language classroom.

Using Wikis in MFL - Language World 2009

View more presentations from Alex Blagona.