Spokane Regional ESL Conference 2013

Attending the Spokane Regional ESL Conference 2013 today gave me the opportunity to hear several  stimulating presentations. I tweeted about them @ablizzard. However, I'd liked to share here the great online resources Eman Elturki (WSU) offered in her workshop on "The Internet: A Magic Box of Teaching Resources." As Elturki explained, she selected these resources because they met 3 criteria: (1) free, (2) easy to use, and (3) helpful for students and teachers. Here they are (hyperlinked - just click):

(1) Wordle
(2) Tagul
(3) Tools 4 Noobs: Online Summarize Tool
(4) Super Lame
(5) Story Jumper
(6) Glogster
(7) English Central
(8) Voxopop
(9) Voice Thread
(10) Guide to Grammar and Writing
(11) Planet PDF
(12) Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs
(13) Citation Machine
(14) Penzu
(15) Spelling City
(16) Crocodoc
(17) Weblist
(18) Wikispaces
(19) English Club
(20) RubiStar
(21) Voice of America - Learning English
(22) String Net
(23) Eggtimer

Some of these I am familiar with and have used or use in my ESL classes, for example, Wordle, English Central, Spelling City, VoA. Yet, I'm excited to try out many of the others. And, I'd love to hear about your experiences with them as well. 

Thanks again, Eman!

The Flipped ESL Classroom

Recently, my colleague Sheri Decker passed on to me the link to an article entitled "The Flipped Classroom Defined" on the Mind/Shift blog. What is especially noteworthy about this particular article is less the concept of the flipped (or inverted) classroom, which has been around for quite a few years now, and more that it is presented in a great visual format:  

Because ESL classes are primarily focused on skill building and only secondarily  on content, they tend to be "flipped" in the sense that the majority of class time is dedicated to "learning through activity." 

Yet, some of the elements mentioned in the article require adaptation for ESL classes. For instance, recording entire class-length lectures for students to view outside of class might be overwhelming and less beneficial for ELLs, but recording shorter mini-lectures (or explanations / demonstrations) of one concept  (at a time) would be an excellent way for students to prepare and review. 

Of course, when I do create my videos, I'll follow the beautifully simple and effect approach Salman Khan used in creating the Khan Academy. (I was first introduced to his vision in his Ted lecture "Let's use video to reinvent education.")

Yet, even without the mini-lectures I have yet to create, I have long been passionate about  the inverted teaching approach. I dedicate the majority of all class time to active learning. And, I assign listening from Ted.com (and other websites) as well as reading from various sources (our textbook, newspapers, magazines, websites) either as preparation or review. To state it more simply, I try to use the majority of class time for productive skills (writing and speaking) and the majority of homework time for receptive skills (reading and listening). 

So, what have your experiences been with the flipped ESL classroom?