Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Citation preview
Videoconferencing for language learning in primary schools
Nathalie Terrades, Ministry of Education, France, subdirectorate of ICT
The project
September 2007 : the Minister of Education announced the project. Launched in November.
Videoconferencing with anglophone native speakers to support the early learning of english
Principles
In addition to the english class, should not replace it
Language learning is in the curriculum in elementary school
So far …
Letters or emails
With the internet tools : new opportunities
Real communication, synchronous, interactive, more dynamic
Technical requirements
Computer / internet Headphones Microphone Webcam
Little groups
can communicate
Lavoisier elementary school, Tourcoing
a camcorder an IWB
Let us add …
loudspeakers
=> the whole class can communicate with another class
And …
The steering committee
• Subdirectorate of ICT• Schools directorate• General Inspectorate• Local inspectorate• ICT advisors• Language advisors
The two stages of the project
Select 20 schools in the first stage (nov 2007 – jan 2008)
980 schools in the second stage
(may 2008)
First stage :
A call for project was published on the Ministry website, and sent to rectors and local inspectors,
Pedagogical and technical specifications were also published
First stage (2) :
The schools that were interested had to fill an application form to describe their project, and sent it to their local education authority.
Each local education authority could send up to 5 projects to the Ministry
The criteria :
The french teacher already teaching english, and preferably with an experience of videoconferencing
The technical diversity : it was interesting to see different technical solutions being experimented. Both solutions (French school and partner school) had to interoperate
The criteria : pedagogical project The French school finds another school, in any
Anglophone country. Can be based on an existing partnership (etwinning)
Or, the French school works with an anglophone teacher. Some private businesses have released a complete offer : the software for videoconference, the teacher who is an Anglophone native speaker, and the pedagogical material (exercises and so on)
Financing the project
40 projects were selected (instead of 20 initially)
The Ministry payed for the videoconferencing equipment The software A subscription with a private company
sometimes.
Budget : 300 000 euros
Second stage (may 2008)
960 schools should be equipped
Languages to be used : English, German, Spanish, Italian
The municipalities provide the equipment
The local education authorities
They manage the project
They choose the schools
One person in charge
Evaluation
The french teachers said that :
Partnering with a class takes more time to prepare the sessions, but it’s more rewarding and the pupils learn more about the culture
Partnering with a teacher : the pupils learn more about the language, but less cultural openness.
Evaluation (2)
In both cases, their accent improved
The pupils are more motivated when partnering with a class
Additional budget
An additional budget has recently been allocated by the Ministry (1 500 000 euros) for 500 new schools to become part of the project
Technical advice
It’s much better for the teacher is somebody can assist him/her with the technical aspects, so that he/she can concentrate fully on the pedagogy.
it’s better to use the same device for all the schools of the local education authority, for ex. on a same web portal.
Activities
presenting oneself, the school, the city teaching songs to the other class playing Simon Says, bingo, pictionary celebrations (christmas ...) ordering in a restaurant describing someone or something debating on a subject ....
In the papers
Learning a song using videoconference …
Miannay elementary School, Abbeville
