World Languages Through Digital Collaboration

Content Area Standards

(see here for full Common Core Standard Course of Study; note in particular 8th grade standards)

• IL.CLL.1.1 Carry out unrehearsed conversations on familiar topics with some details. 
• IL.CLL.1.2 Use questions to exchange information in familiar situations
• IL.CLL.2.1 Summarize main ideas and a few details in short conversations and some forms of media. 
• IL.CLL.2.2 Summarize main ideas and a few details in texts that contain familiar vocabulary.

ISTE Standards

(See here for full teacher-oriented standards)

• 3b. Collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools.
• 4d. Develop and model cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures using digital age communication and collaboration tools. 

Objectives

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

• Read, interpret, and then explain the basic information presented in a commercial Facebook page presented in the target language. 
• Identify challenging vocabulary in a commercial text presented in the target language.
• Develop strategies for reviewing difficult vocabulary using digital tools. 
• Using the target language, summarize information from a commercial Facebook page.

Technologies Employed

Facebook

Description: Facebook is an international social networking site. In this lesson, students will use Facebook to identify a company, band, or other commercial identity from the target culture. They will then find that group's page, in the target language, and interpret the information on that page.

Rationale: From a pedagogical standpoint, this website has two advantages. First, it has relevance in the sense that many students already engage with Facebook for personal purposes and understand its uses and importance; communicating in a foreign language over this platform has the potential to seem "authentic." Second, Facebook is a legitimate commercial platform many companies use to legitimately sell their products. Because of this, entities using Facebook are liable to use language in a way that is authentically commercial and not necessarily manufactured for pedagogical purposes.

Quizlet

Description: Quizlet is a digital flashcards program students can use to create, share, and download review materials. In this lesson, students will identify difficult vocabulary on their Facebook page of choice. They will put the word on the front of the flashcard, and they will put the word in the context of a sentence on the back. In this way, they will review vocabulary by learning to associate the word with its real-world use.

Rationale: Quizlet provides students with an efficient digital alternative to traditional note cards that also provide an option for easy sharing and collaboration.

Skype

Description: Skype is an applications that supports instant messaging, voice chat, and video chat. Students will use this service to collaborate with other students in the target culture who will have completed an assignment similar to this one.

Rationale: Telecommunications technology allows for students to engage with native speakers in a somewhat authentic setting. This allows students to practice their conversational fluency, which is essential to mastering the language.

Materials and Skills Needed

• A computer with a working internet connection for each student. This may require the use of a computer lab.
• Collaborators from the target culture who also have a working computer with Skype and high-speed internet.
• Projector Technology

Description of the Lesson

Day 1

• Begin by priming students with questions about how they use social media (Finish @ 3 minutes).
• Use the projector technology to explore an example Facebook page from the target culture. During this time, demonstrate that students do not need to have an account or be logged in to explore Facebook. Model basic navigational skills online. (@6 minutes).
• Explain that students will now identify similar pages on their own and that they will attempt to translate those pages. While they proceed through this stage, they should take note of any sentences that include difficult vocabulary (@9 minutes).
• Provide students with around 5-10 minutes to identify an appropriate Facebook page. Observe students and provide support where needed (@20 minutes).
• Repeat instructions for interpreting the pages students find. Then, give students around 15 minutes to finish translating their page, providing support where needed (@35 minutes)
• Once students have finished translating, briefly demonstrate how to access and use Quizlet. Instruct students to create a set of flashcards reviewing the difficult vocabulary they had previously identified. Encourage them to put the word in a sentence on the back rather than an English translation. Allow students to use the remaining time to review this vocabulary (@50 minutes)

Day 2

• Explain to students that their world language collaborators have completed a project similar to them but using an English Facebook page as their material. Explain that at the end of the period, students will be paired with partners and will discuss the page they observed, using the target language (@2 minutes).
• Provide students with time to write out notes for their conversation using the Quizlet notes from before. Have students also prepare questions for their partners about the collaborator's Facebook page (@ 20 minutes).
• Facilitate collaborative Skype calls in which students present their summaries and listen to their collaborator's summary in English. Once these presentations are past, encourage students to continue having conversations about what they have learned (@50 minutes).