Monday, August 2, 2010
Using Blogs to Teach Standard English
I was impressed by the use of blogs to help learn foreign languages, especially Spanish and French. The article "Adventures in the Blogosphere: from blog readers to blog writers” focussed on a year long project involving using blogs to help students learn German and French. Of course, the same project can be done with learners of Spanish in this nation. Students were able to practise communication in the language thus strengthening their writing, reading and grammar skills. They were also able to learn about another culture and ignite a friendship online. Additionally, they realized that although their nationalities were different, they still had some things in common. The project mentioned in the article can also be used in Trinidad and Tobago to help our nation's children learn Standard English since for most speakers of this country, Standard English is their second language, Creole being the first. Indeed, our children need to strengthen themselves in Standard English and blogging provides an opportunity for them to do so. They would have more practice reading and writing Standard English and thus become more familiar with grammatical structures in the language.
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Hi Janice,
ReplyDeleteI have not read the article, but anything that would help me teach my students to read and write effectively in Standard English I am willing to try. I correct the same mistakes over and over for my students are greatly affected by the creole influence. I like the idea of using blogging as journal writing to assist my students and have them assist each other. I guess Wikis may have a similar effect, we should try it.
I found this entry on your blog so interesting because I am a Spanish teacher. I agree with you 100% when you say that Standard English is a second language for many of our students. Blogs are so useful in getting our students to write and the more they write, the more we as educators can help them with the mechanics of the language. I loved the fact that I had my own space to air my views and opinions on certain topics related to this course. I also felt proud of my creative input into the layout and the use of pictures. I think this would have an even greater impact on a child and prompt them to want to write more on their personal blogs.
ReplyDeleteI have always found that though the vocabulary is different and sometimes the grammatical constructs are different,nevertheless,language learning complements each other.So yes if the blogs work for standard english they will also work for the foreign languages thereby providing a whole range of learning opportunities
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