Guide to iPads in the French Classroom

By Ellen DillFrench Teacher, King Philip Regional High School

About the authorEllen Dill, King Philip Regional High School, Wrentham, MA BA Mount Holyoke College (French Studies; Psych & Education) M.Ed. University of New England (Curriculum & Instruction)

I am writing this guide as a French Teacher with 15+ years experience, for teachers of World Languages. I run a flipped classroom using some management tools from my iPad, and I use a cart of iPads in my class for Project Based Learning activities.

Guide Uses: Whether you are reading the PowerPoint or watching the video, this guide is intended to help you think about how to transform your classroom with the integration of your iPad so that your students are more engaged, think more critically and retain what they learn better!

Emails: dille@kingphilip.org; ellen.m.dill@gmail.com

Websites: http://mme-dill.wikispaces.org; http://senora-dill.wikispaces.com; http://ellendill.weebly.com/

About this guideThis guide is to help sort through questions about

WHY you might incorporate iPads in your classHOW you might incorporate the use of iPads for your

Classroom managementContent reinforcementTransformative creation appsApps for Special Education and English Language Learners

21st Century Leaners

Video: http://youtu.be/Ax5cNlutAys

21st Century Learners

Today’s classroom is filled with students who were born into a technology era that shapes their world

In the 21st century, our goal as teachers is to develop in our student 1

Comprehensive content knowledgeConnections between content areasCritical thinking skillsDigital literacy skillsProblem-solving abilitiesCreativityCollaboration on work products

Why use iPads at all?Transform their learning!Technology affords us new ways to improve student learning.

iPads add options for deeper thinking and comprehension

Why use iPads at all?Transform their learningInstead of just

memorizing vocabulary

Using the SAMR model:Students could just SUBSTITUTE activities

Instead: AUGMENTMODIFY, and even REDEFINE by using technological choices

These girls are reading from a French “Sight and Sound jobs” website and writing about their

dream jobs.

Why use iPads at all? Transform Your TeachingExamples of some of my ShowMe videos you can recognize my voice in each!

http://www.showme.com/choi10916

Collaborate with a wiki!

Online teaching:

iPads and Bloom’sLinked to Bloom’s Taxonomy, activities may be differentiated and learning can move from memorization only to real understanding, culminating in learning through creating.

2

Tips and Tricks1. To switch between icons/apps, use all four fingers and swipe left or right

2. To see all open apps use the four finger swipe upwards

3. To type with thumbs like it’s your phone, swipe 2 fingers across the keyboard and it will split the keyboard to 2 sides

4. To insert a letter with the correct accent mark, hold the letter button down and then glide to the correct accented letter that appears without lifting your finger

5. To use “All caps” tap the cap arrow twice

6. When typing letters, you have a hidden apostrophe key under the exclamation point; hold it down and it appears so you don’t have to switch to the number screen

7. To take a screenshot of your work hit the home button and the start button on the top right simultaneously

8. To highlight a word: double tap; to highlight a sentence: triple tap; to highlight a paragraph tap 4 times

9. To zoom in just flick two fingers outward simultaneously

10. When displaying your project in class, you use one finger on the bottom screen button (multiple lines over the home button) and push upward. Now you will see your iPad screen synced with the overhead projector!

11. In class always return the iPad to the same numbered slot and plug it in!

A few creative suggestions for

useFrench I: Students will use “Photo Booth” – a free iPad app, to take pictures of themselves in different formats. They will then import these pictures to tell about themselves in the present tense, using correct agreement of adjectives.

French II: Students will pull a francophone vacation destination city out of a hat. They will then use the free “Weather Channel” app to determine the weather for the next week in this city. Next they must “pack their bags” with specific clothing items for the trip, and relate the outfit to both the destination and the weather there for the week. They will assemble a project of a “suitcase” that contains different articles of clothing. It can be a prezi, a word document, or a Keynote presentation.

French III: Students will be studying Art during this year. They will use iPads to go online to WebMuseum, Paris (http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/glo/) to study about different forms of art – Impressionism, Surrealism, Classicism, Baroque, Romanticism, etc. They will then pick a style and an artist to present. Using Evernote, Google Drive, or another note-taking app of their choice, they will record pertinent facts about the art movement as well as the author. They will then use a medium of their choice, including using online apps with the iPad, to recreate their own version of a work of art by their chosen artist. Students will present these in class.

Best Practices and Resources for Finding apps

Kathy Schrock’s guide to everythinghttp://www.schrockguide.net/ipads-in-the-classroom.html

iPads in Schools LiveBinder by Mike Fisherhttp://www.livebinders.com/play/play/26195

Institute in a Box: New Hampshire’s 21st century tools

https://sites.google.com/site/nhinstitutes/ipads/ipad-apps-in-k-4-special-education

Content apps3. DuoLingo (by DuoLingo) (free app)

https://appsto.re/us/G1M-H.i

This app is a foreign language teaching app. Students have the option to test into a certain level or to start at the beginning and grow within the different areas of grammatical structure for French or Spanish. It has a correction option, thus the repetition of concepts is excellent. There are native speakers who answer your questions if you do not understand, and the student can follow a thread of questions, answers and comments about something they do not understand. The student gets coins and prizes and points, and is naturally rewarded to continue in this game-like setting.

Content apps2. Institut français – Camus (by Institut Français) (free)

iTunes URL: https://appsto.re/us/FKg5Q.i

and the online view of the app can be found at the following: http://www.institutfrancais.com/sites/default/files/if_camus_en.pdf

Short summary: This app highlights the life, times, and books of French author Albert Camus. Use this with students in French IV prior to reading l’Étranger because it gives them a personalized museum-like view of the author. Visitors scan the QR codes to reveal links, photos, stories, etc. within the exhibition, and learn about why Camus wrote about the things he did. They can experience a wealth of information through the photos from his time period, and get a cultural view of both Africa and France in the mid-1900s. Visitors listen to native speakers explaining various aspects of this time period and discussing the author and his existentialist viewpoint

Content appsMindSnacks French by MindSnacks

iTunes URL: https://appsto.re/us/PY0By.i

Cost: free for basic app, $1.99 for vocabulary, $1.99 for geography

Short Summary: This app allows students to learn some basic vocabulary and grammar structures that are scaffolded into game format. Students can receive “word of the day” on their devices, and can search through topics of vocabulary to concentrate on certain areas of interest.

For Content and Management

Google Drive (by Google, Inc.) (free app)

https://appsto.re/us/Z2yrE.i

This app allows access to documents anywhere with Internet access. Teachers can create sites for sharing content, and docs to share with students.

Students are able to create, collaborate, and receive and reply to comments by the teacher if the document is shared.

The only big drawback is that presentations can be viewed by not edited on the iPad at this time. For this reason, students need to pay for another app, like Keynote, and then upload the presentation to Google Drive.

Classroom Management

apps1. Schoology (by Schoology)

https://appsto.re/us/24Wly.i

This app is a classroom management tool. I recommend it to teachers who wish to

(1) have an online classroom site to manage their courses and deliver content and assessment to students outside of the physical environment; and (2) teachers who wish to collaborate with other educators in an online environment. This is very easy to use; you can sign up to groups and get info at the site as well as delivered to your e-mail and sent as push-messages on your iPad. This app helps to share content at home with students, and allows the teacher to create assignments and upload lessons, documents and lessons. Students are able to login to their class and access information on their iPad as well as computer to complete work. Students can communicate with each other within the class.

Classroom Management

appsEdmodo by Edmodo, Inc. (free app)

Itunes URL: https://appsto.re/us/SktJw.i

Short Description: Similar to the Schoology app, edmodo is a classroom management tool. Teachers engage and encourage students to collaborate on a structured and closed/safe classroom site. Students are assigned classroom numbers and do activities, assignments, and discussions based on the teacher’s invitations. There is no social aspect among students that is not driven by the teacher assignments in edmodo.

Creativity AppsKeynote for iPad app by Apple

Cost $9.99

iTunes ID 361285480; https://appsto.re/us/ODmlv.i

Short Summary: Keynote is a presentation app that can be used on the iPad, iPod, and iPhone to create a presentation. Unlike many other presentation software programs, this can be used to CREATE from the device, not just to view it. This is essential because a creation tool must be used on the iPad itself. Students will find it remarkably like PowerPoint so it feels familiar quickly, and offers the ability to embed images, charts, photos, animations, transitions, etc.

Creativity appsCreative Book Builder by Tiger NG

Cost $3.99

Itunes URL: https://appsto.re/us/UL4A.i

Short Description: This app allows you to create and edit your own e-books by writing text, importing photos or adding animations, and reading aloud if desired. Students can be given any topic and turn it into their own e-book, publish it, and place it into iBooks if desired. Everyone is a writer!

Creativity appsPrezi by Prezi, Inc. (free app)

Apple ID #407759942, https://appsto.re/us/gXEty.i

Simple Description: This app is an innovative presentation tool. Students choose a template and style for the presentation. Instead of moving from slide to slide, students place content onto a clipboard and zoom from one spot to another. Prezi automatically zooms in on the part of the presentation as numerically ordered by the student once it’s on the clipboard. Very easy to use and intutitive, fun to watch, but pay attention and make sure to save the Prezi. Google Drive users sometimes forget to SAVE their work!

Creativity appsSongify and AutoRap by Smule

These are both free apps but there are enhanced versions for $2.99

Itunes URL: Songify: https://appsto.re/us/NnPjA.i Autorap: https://appsto.re/us/tZcqF.i

Short Description: These are two song-writing apps made simple! Students write a poem, practice reading their poem, then turn on the app and read it into the app. The app records them and then automatically turns it into either the pop song or the rap song they wanted to record – no musical ability necessary!

Creativity AppsShowMe Interactive Whiteboard by Learnbat, Inc.

Itunes URL: https://appsto.re/us/NWYHA.i

Short Description: ShowMe is an easy screencasting white board app that allows you to make a quick presentation about anything. You simply draw with your finger or a stylus on the iPad white board, choose your colors, import graphics, photos, or images, and publish your presentation. You can post your ShowMe on the website and others can use yours, your students’ and you can use theirs. It can be a project or used as an assessment tool for student understanding utilizing Bloom’s highest form of thinking: creation!

Creativity appsEducreations Interactive Whiteboard by Educreations, Inc.

iTunes URL: https://appsto.re/us/L3XHC.i

This app is an interactive white board app that allows for student screencasting and sharing. Students can use their fingers or a stylus to write on the screen in multiple colors, to import graphics, photos, and images and then to explain themselves. It can then be published and shared with the class and the public. This uses Bloom’s highest level of thinking and knowledge acquisition: creating using the knowledge obtained!

Creativity AppsExplain Everything by MorrisCooke

Cost $2.99 (ed. volume discount for 20 ipads: $1.49)

Itunes URL: https://appsto.re/us/E_aUz.i

Short Description: Explain Everything is an enhanced Screencasting app that allows students to create presentations quickly where they can record themselves describing any concept related to their content, where the screen and their voice are both recorded. Students can use problems, examples, documents, PowerPoints, etc. to record over with their screencast. Allows for innovative presentations.

Assessment appsZondle, by Zondle (free app)

iTunes URL: https://appsto.re/us/VAnPD.i

Short Summary: This app is both a content and an education app that allows the teacher to create whatever assessments desired and assigns it to the classes of students. Students can choose a game format to play a formative assessment, and questions are delivered in multiple ways (multiple choice, t/f, etc.) and data is returned to the teacher. It is very secure since the teacher is given a code for each student input, and it can be done individually or by importing an Excel spreadsheet.

Assessment appsStudent Clicker-Socrative; Teacher Clicker –Socrative by Socrative (free apps)

Itunes URL: https://appsto.re/us/s_9DC.i (student) https://appsto.re/us/yE-DC.i (teacher)

Socrative has both a student and a teacher app. Teachers create an online classroom, and using their iPads, iPods, iPhones, etc. students enter the classroom with the number, and can take part in polls and multiple choice activities that the teacher has set up. It is fast-paced, interactive, and allows for quick assessment of knowledge acquisition.

SpEd and ELL apps

Kidioms by Ventura Educational Systems

Cost ea. $1.99, Kidioms1, Kidioms2 & Kidioms3

https://appsto.re/us/i3mxC.i

The App helps students learn those idiomatic expressions that don’t seem to make sense. “I have a frog in my throat” or “It’s raining cats and dogs” make sense to native speakers of English, but must be learned by ESl students. This engaging program teaches these phrases, explains the relationships between words, and opposite expressions.

SpEd and ELL apps

ESL Express: Words Frequently Confusedby Kuber Tech

Cost: $ .99

https://appsto.re/us/hUY0z.i

This app is a definite help for older students who are used to dictionary skills, and who will use more sophisticated terms. Students can look up words for definitions, understand how that word is similar in sound but different in meaning or spelling to other similar words. It will give examples of ways to use it in a sentence, and nuances of different meanings for the same word.

Bibliography1. P21 Framework Definitions, The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, http://www.p21.org/our-work/p21- framework (December, 2009)

2. https://blogs.monash.edu/elearnaccfin/files/2011/10/ blooms-ipad.PNG