LearningForward

Kent Chesnut's technology in education blog.

Second language acquisition seems to be a recurring theme on my blog!  A summary of the previous posts on learning a language (from oldest to newest):

• Scratch in the foreign language classroom (April,  2008)
  In this post I proposed allowing students to build their own language worlds in Scratch.  Still a very good activity (I think).
• Learning a Language like a 2 year old (January, 2009)
  In this post I compared how I am learning Spanish to how a 2 year old is learning her native language.  I discussed the differences and contemplated ways I could make my Spanish learning experience more like hers (and to hopefully improve the efficiency at which I can learn Spanish).  Major differences I listed were necessity, immersion, and authentic contexts.
• Speeding up the Spanish (January, 2009)
  In this post I proposed a procedure by which my high school age daughter could more effectively use the “intermediate” Spanish podcasts that were assigned in her Spanish III class.
• ¿Puedes hablar con su computadora? (March, 2009)
• Can you talk with your computer? (August, 2009)
• Can you talk with your computer? (Part 2) (September, 2009)
• Can you talk with your computer? (1st Spanish Version) (September, 2009)
  In this series of posts I discussed a program I created that tried to allow for a conversation between the computer and the learner.  The algorithm used a picture for context and compared users’ questions / comments to a list of keywords to try to make a reasonable response.

I believe all of these were worthwhile endeavors… and each presented information that is useful for learning a second language.  But I’m not satisfied that I understand what would constitute great 2nd language learning.

What should 2nd language education include?  I think the list will include:

• Vocabulary (nouns, verbs, adjectives… conjugation)
• Reading / writing in the new language
• Speaking / listening in the new language
• Conversations with other learners in the new language
• Listening / understanding of native or fluent speakers
• Use of the new language in authentic and intensive sessions

What does a very effective 2nd language class look like in the 21st century?  In the next few posts I’m going to try to discuss examples of 21st century language classes that I find on the internet.

Anyone have a link to 2nd language instruction that they consider great?  I’d sure like to see it.

Just a quick update on the foreign language conversation program I first discussed in March in my post  ¿Puedes hablar con su computadora?.  You can review the progress of the project (and its goals) in these posts: Can you talk with your computer? (Part 2) and  Can you talk with your computer? The first Spanish version is now online here.  A screenshot is shown below.

Features:

• Simple conversation engine looks for key words in the users input and tries to respond.
• Response is in textual and audio format.
• Vocabulary is limited.
• Spoken Spanish is rather slow.

Shortcomings:

• No vocabulary page yet.
• Conversation engine needs A LOT of work.
• Auto-selection of the text entry field does not work when program is started (from a web browser).
• My Spanish accent is pretty bad.

 Notes:

• I received no reply on whether it was acceptable to use the Scratch media for projects such as this - so I decided not to.  I have grown fond of my character and decided to use him… he looks kind of like me anyway (unfortunately).

I’m not sure how far to pursue this project.  If any readers feel there is merit to continuing, I’d certainly like to hear about it.

As I discussed in my earlier posts  ¿Puedes hablar con su computadora? and Can you talk with your computer?, I want to build a simple program that will allow foreign language students to be able to practice their new language by having some sort of conversation with the computer.

 In a nutshell, you can practice reading, writing, and vocabulary by yourself.  But you need a partner to practice your conversation.  Now a computer will never replace the need for a human with which to practice communicating… but it may be able to serve as a partner when no one is available.  This conversation needs to be within a specified context to make it more concrete.

 Well the first version of my conversation program is online here.  A screenshot is shown below:

Status:

• A simple conversation engine looks for key words and tries to respond based on keywords it sees in the student’s input.
• The conversation is in English at this point.  I’m not sure if I’ll do the translations myself (the language will be simpler, but probably less accurate) or ask one of my kids to do it.  Best bet would be to do the translation myself (I can control when it gets done) and then ask my oldest to review / clean it up.
• The program is text only (recorded audio is simple, but I didn’t want to record all the English… I’ll wait for the translations). 
• I haven’t compiled the word lists yet; I’ll need to get the translations done first.
• I thought talking to a character might improve the authenticity of the activity.  I’ve stuck a stick figure in there for now.  I’d really like to use one of the sprites from Scratch, but I’m not sure if that would pose a copyright problem.  I’ve put a query in on the Scratch forums to try to find out.  See here.
• For some reason, when running online the focus is not in the text entry box when the program starts up.  I’m sure this is fixable, but haven’t had time to look into it yet.

In the next week or two I’ll try to get the Spanish and audio into the program.  Oh, and I’ll spend some time trying to improve the conversation engine.

 As always, comments are always welcome.

In my post on March 14 called ¿Puedes hablar con su computadora? (good grief, it’s been 5 and a half months!), I discussed an One Laptop Per Child XO program called Hablar Con Sara and how I thought one could add context to such a program and make if more effective.  The objective is to put together a program that allows a foreign language student to practice conversation with their computer.

In March, I predicted I’d have a proto in 2 - 3 weeks.  Ha!  With everything else to do, the project got shoved to the bottom of the list.  As I now have a little breathing room in my schedule, I realize I still want to do this project and think it has merit (see the original post for more details).

My original program idea was straightforward, if not simple.  Put together a context - such as going to eat at a restaurant - and have the student move through the different phases with simulated conversations with the greeter, waitress, …  Limit the vocabulary and provide a vocab list for the student to preview / review.  I still think this is a great idea, but it’s quite a chunk to bite off all at once.  So I’ve put together several simpler ideas to consider:

• Supply a context like a restaurant, but don’t try to sequence the events.  Although this is somewhat simpler (no state machine for what part of the scenario is going on), it is very similar to the previous idea.
• Use a picture as context and try to provide a discussion / conversation with the student about the picture.  In this program, a picture is supplied and the student is encouraged to discuss it with a picture of a kid on the screen.  The student types in phrases to the program.  The program parses the phrases for keywords and uses the results to speak back to the student.  I think this program could be easily expanded to the programs above by using a sequence of pictures that represent eating at a restaurant, …
•  Use a picture for context and try to provide a discussion / conversation with the student about the picture.  Instead of allowing the student to construct phrases and type them into the computer, allow the student to pick from phrases that have been provided as buttons.  This is really simple - but not allowing the student to construct his responses and comments really restricts the program from allowing any resemblance of real conversation.

Based on the included comments, you can probably tell that I’ve decided to start with the middle option.  A simple task flow would be:

• Select a picture
• Put together 15 - 20 phrases about the picture
• Identify trigger words and tie them to the phrases
• Record the phrases

Interaction with the student is pretty simple 

• Allow the student to enter a sentence
• Parse the sentence for trigger words
• Select a phrase that is triggered by the trigger word
• Play the audio file of the selected phrase
• Additionally, one might add a button that says “You start” or something similar to get the program to pick a conversation starter phrase.

So what would be a good development environment?

• Authorware - although I have Authorware (and like it a lot), I’m not using it because it requires a player that is not commonly found on most computers.
• Flash - Flash is a good development environment for such a program as this.  And Flash is easily deployed on the internet.  However, I prefer to use Open Source tools and think this program would actually be easier in Xerte as it doesn’t need animation.
• Scratch - I’d like to use Scratch for this… but how could you get user input.  Then I found that in version 1.4 Scratch allows for users to enter a string.  However, writing the Scratch code necessary to parse the string for key words turned out to be pretty hard… and it appeared to be pretty slow.
• Xerte - Xerte is similar to Authorware with Flash Actionscript as the scripting language.  And it compiles to a standard Flash swf file for easy deployment on the internet.  And it’s open source.  See my earlier post on Xerte Xerte - eLearning Development Tool for more details.   So Xerte it is!

So what’s the current status?  (so am I going to take another 5 months before getting anything done ;-)… No, I should have something to post in a couple of weeks (yea, we’ve heard that before).

The logic of handling the user input is really pretty simple.  I’ll post an early version of the code here for comments…

“Triggers = [
   new Array(”rock”, 3, 5),                                  // Trigger words and phrase indexes
   …

Unsolicited = new Array(4, 6);                        // Phrase indexes for unsolicited / unrecognized input

Phrases = [
     “This picture was taken in southern Oklahoma.”,                  // 0 Phrases - need to be recorded
     …

triggerphrase = RSTextEntry.text;

selected = -1;
for(i=0; i<Triggers.length; i++)
{
   if(triggerphrase.indexOf(Triggers[i][0]) > -1)
   {
      selected = Triggers[i][1];
   }
}

if(selected == -1)
{
   selected = Unsolicited[0];
}
IDFeedback.setText(Phrases[selected]);”

There’s still some things to do, but code complexity certainly won’t be the constraining factor.

Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.  I guess I should quit writing about this project and get to work!

I’ve been thinking a lot about language learning lately.  I’m learning Spanish slowly… OK, very slowly.  One of the activities in learning a language is writing in it… in this case, writing about learning it.   I’ve pulled the following from my practice wiki.

“Estoy aprendiendo la idioma español.  Hay muchos partes aprender una idioma nueva.  Algunos de los partes inclue

• Vocabulario 
  Necesita saber palabras suficiente to tener un conversación.
• Gramática
  Necesita poder hacer las sentencias correcta.
• Práctica
  Necesita práctica genuina construir competencia in la idioma nueva.  Este práctica incluiria escuchando, hablando, leyendo, y escribiendo.

Se puede aprender vocabulario y gramática solo con las estrategias de memoria.  Tambien, se puede practica escuchando, leyendo, y escribiendo solo.  Pero no se puede practica conversacion a solo.  Necesito un amigo, un amigo que sabe la idioma nueva.  Es muy bueno si un amigo sabe la idioma con mas competencia como ti.  Es muy bueno tambien si un amigo tiene los interéses común con ti.

¿Dondé buscaria para este amigo? 

¿En la familia y los amigos?
¿En internet, posible ‘facebook’ or notesinspanish.com?
¿En el grupo (club) de española?
¿En la programa de computadora?  ¡Me gustaria hacer este programa!”

OK, so my written Spanish is pretty sad.  But the gist of the quote is that you can’t participate in conversations by yourself.  You need a partner… who is at about your level… and it’d be really great if they shared your interests.

But… can a computer be your partner?  Could it be effective in helping you practice conversations? 

Well, I found a program that claims to let you have a conversation with it.  It’s for the One Laptop Per Child XO laptop and it’s called Hablar Con Sara.  Click here to get more information on the activity (OLPC for program).  Essentially, you hold a Spanish conversation with the program.  You type in a sentence, the program responds with audio using TTS (Text To Speech).  Can I use it to help me learn Spanish?  Not really.  But, from what I’ve learned playing with Hablar Con Sara I think that I can describe a program that could be used to effectively practice conversations in a new language.

Program elements:

• Interface
  Like Hablar Con Sara, I believe an interface where the user types and the computer responds with audio can be very effective.  However, the program should encourage the user to speak his sentence and the interface should also include a repeat button (to have the computer repeat the previous spoken phrase).  Spanish subtitles of the spoken phrases could also improve usability.
• Context
  Hablar Con Sara has no apparent context for your conversation.  This is pretty open-ended for language learners.  I suggest building a program with several context-based situations.  For example, a context might be something like going to lunch at a restaurant, going to a theater, or asking for directions on the street.
• Limited Vocabulary
  Along with a context that focuses the conversation into a concrete, and usable, situation that the student might encounter, one could limit the vocabulary that the program uses and provide a vocabulary list as a learning aid for the student.
• Better TTS
  Maybe it’s because there is no context for the conversation… or maybe it’s because I don’t have a big enough vocabulary in Spanish… but I have trouble understanding what the computer is saying.  Although I can adjust the pitch and rate of the TTS voice, I still find it hard to understand.  A better TTS engine (or, if possible, recordings - assuming a very limited vocabulary - might be more understandable).
• More Platform Support
  AFAIK, Hablar Con Sara only runs on the XO laptop.  It would be nice if the program ran on PCs, Macs, and other Linux platforms, too.

 Problems with the proposed program:

• Difficulty
  How hard will it be to construct a reasonable context (pictures, …)?
  How hard will it be to construct a conversation engine (that looks for trigger words in the learner’s  input and builds responses)?
• Constructivism / Constructionism it ain’t!
  Use of the program in language learning could not be considered constructivist / constructionist learning.  One solution to this problem would be to create some sort of toolbox that allows students to create their own context-based conversations with pictures, trigger words, …

Strengths of the program:

• The major strength of the program is that it can empower a student to take more control of her learning.

Does anybody see any merit in this type of program?  Does this type of program already exist and is used in language learning (and I’m just in the dark about it)?  Any comments?

Plan: I’ll try to put together a simple prototype in the next week or 2.  Anybody interested in seeing it?

Is it possible to take a teacher-centered educational technology and evolve it in such a way that it becomes more student-centered?  Can it be evolved to the point that it becomes more natural to teach with it using student-centered methods than in conventional teacher-centered methods?

I’m thinking here of the language lab - specifically the audio only learning / language lab such as that manufactured by Educational Media here in Oklahoma City.  Such a lab has many uses in classroom settings, but is most often used in foreign language instruction.  The biggest advantage of the lab (in my opinion) is that students get more practice speaking the language.  The technology, however, is completely teacher-centered; teaching with the language lab appears to me more like what Alfie Kohn would call “doing to” the students. 

This is of particular interest to me.  My main interests are education and technology - and I’m really interested in student-centered, constructivist teaching methods.  As a consultant, I built the user interface and lab control program for the Educational Media lab back in 2002 / 2003.  So far, this has been my only foray into a ”real” educational product - and I am still excited about the product.  The program is very usable and we’ve been updating things over the years… but Ed Media might be about ready to think about a new user interface.  And I might be about ready to consider building one - but I would be much more interested if there were a way to design the program such that teachers would be inclined to evolve their classroom methodologies into a more student-centered experience.  (And face it, if the proposed design were truly revolutionary, Ed Media would be more likely to want it.)

So the question to consider is:

How can the user interface / control system of an audio based language lab be redesigned to motivate the teacher using it to evolve their teaching practices toward student-centered learning activities?

A more basic question might be:

Can a software program controlling a language lab have an impact on the underlying pedagogies used to teach a class using the lab?

I would love to blog here about how this can be done… but, at this point, I don’t really know!  Instead, I’ll put down some thought leaders and blog further about this at a later time.

Some thoughts about student-centered learning:

• Contructivism - students must actively build knowledge by interacting with their environment (hopefully, a carefully crafted learning environment) and other people.
  • What kinds of constuctivist activities are encouraged by the language lab?
  • How can the language lab be used to create an environment conducive to constructivist learning?
  • How can the communication afforded by the language lab be targeted to constructivist methods?
• Project Based Learning is student centered. 
  • Intrinsic motivation is increased as students are empowered to make more choices about their project.
  • What kinds of projects do the capabilities of the language lab support?
• Contructionism - constructivist learning is enhanced when students generate artifacts in the process of building knowledge that they are then able to reflect on and share with others.
  • What kinds of artifacts are supported by the language lab?
  • Could other kinds of artifacts be supported?
• Community - A community of learners working together can improve both the learning and the affective aspects of the classroom.  Of course, we need to have defined working together as collaboration (like the world in general) and not cheating (the world of school).

Sorry I don’t have links or attributions for these statements… I’m just pulling them from memory.

Some thoughts about the language lab:

• The current language lab offers group communication capability that would be useful in group based projects.
• The current language lab offers the ability to make recordings - which could be one form of artifact in Contructionist learning.  The current lab offers no other form of media artifact.
• The current language lab provides little control / choices to students.
• What kinds of changes would be needed to provide more choices for the student?
  • Adding some sort of clicker (Student Response) system to the lab might provide for more kinds of student interactivity - but I certainly don’t think that this could be classified as constructivist.
• What additional capabilities / technologies could be added cost-effectively?
• Any changes should also make the lab more desirable to schools and improve profitability.

 If any readers have any ideas  or comments (assuming there are any readers), I’d sure love to hear them!

Boy, things have been busy around here!  I’m still working the constructivism / constructionism ideas for language learning, but I ain’t doing it fast!

As the Spring semester started, my daughter’s Spanish 3 class has started using the Notes in Spanish podcasts by Ben Curtis and Marina Diez.  I’ve been listening to the Notes in Spanish Inspired Beginners podcast - and it’s very good.  However, Brit’s class is using the Intermediate level podcast - and it’s above my level.  Unfortunately, it’s a pretty big stretch for Brit as well.

If all goes as it did the first week, the class will be assigned to listen to a podcast and answer some questions about it on a handout.  The students have the week to get this done.  The goal is to improve Spanish listening skills.  I personally think this is a great idea, but the intermediate speed and vocabulary are very challenging. 

As a typical dad, I want to help my daughter.  But how can I help her in Spanish when she’s arguably ahead of me??? (and believe me, she likes to argue ;-)  As an Engineer and problem-solver, I’ll try to put together a procedure which I think will help her quickly come up to speed with the Intermediate level podcast.  As an additional benefit, I think it’ll accelerate my Spanish language acquisition as well.

In this post I’ll be elaborating on a procedure which I think will help Brit and me quickly come up to speed on listening to intermediate level podcasts.

Speed and vocabulary are the 2 biggest stumbling blocks to moving to the Intermediate podcasts. 

• The Inspired Beginners podcasts include an introduction to the vocabulary in English before launching into the Spanish conversation. 
• Ben and Marina speak more slowly in the Beginners podcasts.

Please note that Notes In Spanish offers worksheets for both the Inspired Beginners and Intermediate podcasts that includes the vocabulary and transcripts / translations of the podcasts (and also some learning exercises).  I think if I were pursuing learning Spanish on my own and had sufficient non-driving time to dedicate to it, these would prove very useful.  I’m not going to use them in my procedure here, however, as I would like it to be generalizable to situations beyond these specific podcasts. 

The procedure will be built around several “listen throughs” of the podcasts - with an emphasis on different aspects during each listen. 

Step 1: Isolate new vocabulary

• Use technology to slow down the podcast if possible.  A number of audio programs can do this… and apparently iPods have this capability as well (at least for ebooks).  I might address this more in a later post.
• Listen to the podcast while stopping every 2 - 3 sentences.  Note down any new vocabulary - and its context if possible.
• Use a dictionary to look up the new vocabulary.
• This can be done alone, but might be more effective when done with a partner or a small group.

Step 2: Put new vocabulary in context

• This step could still be done with the slowed down audio.
• Listen to the podcast while trying to integrate the new vocabulary into the conversation.  Stop where needed to allow some time to digest what has been said.
• If working with a partner or small group, discuss to come to a concensus on the meaning during these pauses.

Step 3: Listen to the podcast

• Listen to the podcast at full speed. 
• If working with a partner of small group, discuss the podcast working out differences in understanding.  If working alone, try to isolate any comprehension problems you are having.  Repeat Steps 1 and 2 for small sections of the podcast if necessary.

Step 4: Answer the worksheet questions

• Read through the worksheet questions.  Think about how they relate to the podcast (that, hopefully, you are beginning to understand).
• Listen to the podcast at full speed.
• Answer the worksheet questions.  (Depending on your school’s view of collaboration - it’s either an important 21st century skill or cheating, you may need to do this step on your own.)

Step 5: Discuss the podcast in Spanish with your partner or small group (optional - enrichment exercise)

• This goes beyond the stated goal of improving listening skills - but would (IMHO) help one learn the vocabulary better.

Can you think of any improvements that can be made to this procedure? 

It might be interesting to compare the effectiveness of using the Notes In Spanish worksheets and the act of building your own vocabulary list by listening to the podcast.  I strongly suspect that the more constructionist “make your own” method would prove more effective and that the more traditional “buy them” method would prove more efficient.  Any thoughts on this?

In several posts I’ve talked about how a strange convergence of events has triggered my thinking on a certain topic.  Well, it’s happened again.  Several seemingly unrelated things have focused my thoughts on technology - specifically the use of technology in contructivist / constructionist methods - and language instruction.  Some of the events include:

• I took 2 years of Spanish in high school (it seems unbelievable… but that’s been 30 years ago!).  I always got good grades, but I was never able to hold a real conversation.
• About a year and a half ago, I decided I wanted to learn Spanish (the strange convergence of events that led to that decision would be a different post!).  I’ve progressed slowly by listening to podcasts, finding interesting things to read, and making lists of words / verbs / conjugations.  I still can’t hold a real conversation.  My personal learning space is available in the Introductory Spanish course on http://www.g4classes.com if you’re interested in seeing my learning plan and resources.
• My daughter is in her 3rd year Spanish class at the local high school.  She can memorize vocabulary like no-one I’ve ever known.  I’d say she’s able to hold simple conversations at this point.
• Recently, we’ve watched a 2 year old for a couple of days.  She can’t read or write (does know a few letters and can use a mouse).  Her vocabulary is very limited.  She certainly can’t conjugate a verb.  She hasn’t had any classes.  But she can hold a conversation and get her point across.

Ok, so you’re saying this isn’t a fair comparison.  But if I were learning Spanish as efficiently as the 2 year old is learning English, I’m I would be much more fluent by now! 

In this post I’ll reflect on the differences between the way I’m learning Spanish and how the 2 year old is learning English. 

Back to the 2 year old… I think one can identify several differences between the way I’m learning Spanish (and the way I think foreign languages are taught based on what my daughter is doing) and the way the child is learning English.  Key terms in the differences would be necessity, immersion, and authentic contexts.

• Necessity - The 2 year old needs to communicate.  And English is the only way she’s going to do it effectively!
  The classroom need is much more limited - to get a good grade.  And I don’t have any real necessity - only a desire to learn Spanish.
• Immersion - The 2 year old is constantly immersed in a world of English… people talking, radio, TV, …
  In the classroom, immersion is limited to the class period.  For me, it’s mainly when I’m listening to Spanish learning podcasts.
• Authentic contexts -The 2 year old uses English in completely authentic ways… she wants her sippy (cup), she talks to the stuffed animals as she’s making them do stuff, she registers complaints or requests to the adults in her world.  She learns English in the contexts in which she uses it.
  In the classroom, the student learns in a context very different than he would use in life.  Role play is sometimes used - but this wouldn’t consistently match the way the student would actually use the language in real life.  And teacher lecture and Q&A in the foreign language matches the “school” context much better than the students’ life context.  My studies would certainly not be considered authentic (i.e. sitting in a car listening to a podcast).

So if I want to learn Spanish like the 2 year old is learning English (and hopefully with increased efficiency), I’ll need to create an environment which increases the necessity of Spanish, immerse myself more into Spanish, and find ways to use Spanish in my normal life contexts.  A little brainstorming (and some input from my daughter) yielded the following ideas: 

• Increase necessity (by real or contrived mechanisms)
  • Real - Move to a foreign country (ain’t gonna happen)
  • Real - Find a job that has a a Spanish requirement (very unlikely)
  • Contrived - Commit to engaging in specific Spanish usage activities each week.  (this is only a need if one has a “need” to check off the stuff on their to-do list)
  • ???
• Increase Immersion
  • Join a Spanish conversation club (live or online)
  • Find a Spanish pen pal (or join a Spanish forum)
  • Listen to more Spanish podcasts or radio
  • Read more Spanish blogs, newspapers, … online
  • Watch the Spanish TV channel (or look for Spanish YouTube videos)
  • Attend Spanish language events (Church service, ???)
  • ???
• Use Spanish in more authentic contexts
  • How do I add Spanish to the things I do every day to learn it in context???

I use this blog for reflection and personal development, but if anyone else actually reads it and has any suggestions, I’d sure love to hear them.

There are obvious technology applications associated with immersion - and the internet can be an important resource.  And I’m not sure that technology can create a “need” for me to know Spanish.  The most intriguing question for me is in regard to authentic contexts…

• How can Educational Technology be used to improve foreign language learning by affording more authentic contexts? 
• Can constructivist / constructionist activities be designed such that students can build personally relevant, authentic contexts for learning and practicing a foreign language?

As you might guess, these are the questions I’ll consider in my next post.

I’ve been investigating the use of Scratch as a constructive environment for students to demonstrate their understanding of various concepts in the classroom.  In this post I’ll be making a bit of a stretch… Can students use Scratch in a constructive way to help them learn a foreign language?

So what do you do in a foreign language class?  It’s been a lot of years for me… but if I remember correctly;

• learn vocabulary and conjugation
• practice listening, speaking, reading, and writing in the language to be learned

It appears to me that one of the deficiencies in learning a foreign language in the classroom is a lack of context - a real-world situation in which to use and practice the language being learned.  I began wondering if students could use Scratch to construct simple contexts for practicing listening and reading a foreign language.  To investigate this question, I constructed a simple Scratch program to provide a context for listening and reading in a foreign language.

The assignment would be something like…

• Create a Scratch project that creates a context for the use of this week’s vocabulary words.  Use the words in phrases that make sense within the context.  Phrases should be both visible and oral.
• This could be done individually, but I think it might be more appropriate to do the exercise in small groups of 3 or 4 students.
• Students could use all the projects to practice their vocabulary words - hopefully in a realistic context (as opposed to flashcards).

The stage of the project is shown to the right.  Once the program is running (by clicking the green flag above the stage in the web browser), the student simply clicks the “Say Something!” button.  A text box appears and the student hears the short phrase in Spanish.

The student(s) creating the project get the opportunity to use the vocabulary words in a real-world context, in contextually correct phrases, and pronunciation.

Students viewing the different projects get to see and hear the vocabulary words used in a number of (hopefully) disparate contexts.

Run the project by clicking here.  The project file is available here.

This is a very simple project.  I believe a 4th or 5th grader (9 or 10 years old) familiar with Scratch could easily create such a project.

Could a constructive use of Scratch in building such projects in the context of a foreign language classroom improve student learning?  Would students be engaged by such activities?  Could such projects allow the teacher to better diagnose student learning problems?  What would be the roadblocks to such projects in the foreign language classroom?

 P.S. My 15 year old daughter in Spanish 2 has informed me that my translations and pronunciation are pretty bad.  She was particulary amused with the question about coming to play on top of my house.  “Real” students should be able to do much better!