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Greetings!
ACTFL National Language Teacher of the Year
We would like to congratulate Lisa Lilley of Springfield Public Schools, MO for receiving the ACTFL National Language Teacher of the Year Award. Ms. Lilley is a National Board Certified Teacher - World Languages other than English and Curriculum Development Committee Chair - Foreign Languages. Springfield Public Schools currently have 5 Sanako Lab 100 Language Labs in their high schools. We are proud to be part of their Foreign Language program. If you are an ACTFL member and would like to read the "Q&A Interview" with Lisa Lilley in this months The Language Educator please click here.
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Sanako
Study 1200 in Pueblo City's Schools
by
John Robinson
Pueblo City
School District in Colorado purchased the Sanako Study 1200 Language
Learning software in Spring of 2009. The Study 1200 licenses allow any existing
computer lab to be transformed into a full language lab. It is very cost
effective because it doesn't require a classroom to be set aside as a language
lab only. The same computer classroom can function as both language lab and a
general purpose computer lab for all subjects.
In the short time Pueblo has had
the Study 1200, it has proven to be a very successful teaching tool for their
World Languages program. Altogether, four high schools, one "magnet" middle school,
and one "magnet" elementary school are benefiting from the innovative Sanako
system. The language departments in the four high schools (Centennial, Central,
East, and South) are using the labs for teaching French, Spanish, Italian, and
German. The middle school (Corwin International Magnet School)
is using the lab for its French and Spanish program, and the elementary school
(Fountain International Magnet School)
is just beginning their Spanish program with the brand new system.
The Study 1200 is a great advance
for Pueblo's
schools. Before purchasing the new system, many of the schools were using an
analogue cassette language lab, and before that, an old reel to reel system. To
call the Sanako Study 1200 Lab an upgrade would certainly be an
understatement. Students can record
their voices in dialogue practice, question and answer, and reading aloud. They
can practice with each other, their headsets functioning as telephones. The
students can be placed in groups of two or more. The recording capability
extends to these telephone practices. Students can record their interactions with
other students. Playing back these interactions is very instructive on the one
hand, but also a lot fun. The students particularly enjoy the pairing "chat
room" feature where they can "talk" with each other in the target language and
benefit from the corrective interpolations of their instructor. The teachers
and students enjoy the variety of possible activities and the fact that
different groups of students can be engaged in different activities. This
feature allows the instructor to focus more on the students' individual needs
and interests. The teacher can view individual students computer screens and
can also view thumbnails of the entire class's computer screens to see what
each student is doing make sure everyone is on task.
Each teacher's desk has two
monitors and images can be dragged between them. This allows the instructor to
prepare a set of images or lessons on one monitor, then drag them to the second
monitor and project them using the ceiling mounted projector or transfer to the
students. This useful way of preparing lessons ahead of time takes advantage of
the substantial amount of lesson material available on the internet for
language learning, including photos, videos, and websites from the countries of
the target languages.
Deborah Cody, District World
Language Liaison and Department Chair at Pueblo's South High School says, "We
feel that we've just scratched the surface with regard to all the possibilities
for language teaching afforded by the Sanako Study 1200 Lab. We had our first
training in the spring of 2009 and a follow up training this fall. So, we're
just at the beginning. Meanwhile, we're continuing to be amazed about what's
possible as we use the system daily. We especially look forward to using the
new lab to administer the Advance Placement® Exam. We keep learning new ways to
present lessons to our students and new possibilities for group activities."
Deborah Cody's students already
feel that the Study Lab 1200 has helped them learn a language. "It's a good
monitoring system; it keeps us on task," says Meagan Bell, a student in
intermediate French and her classmate, Shayla Margison, agreed: "It gets
and keeps our attention quickly and efficiently." These students both say they appreciate
the fact that the Study 1200 allows for individual study as well as
interactivity. Another student, Alyse DeVan put it this way: "It's cool
because the conversation component and immediate feedback improve my language
learning quickly." When students record their voice with an audio file, and play
back their recording, they can hear their pronunciation compared to the native
speakers. The students can even visualize a graph of their voices, a real
graphic way to get feedback. Korey Rucker appreciates the interactive
components. "It's fun and I love that I can message and discuss with the
teacher and other people in the class."
At a time when there are so many
cutbacks in education, it is a credit to Pueblo City Schools that they have made
this state-of-the-art technology available to their teachers and students.
Whereas students might not accomplish all of the goals or live up to all of
their expectations in a given language class, they will be given the ultimate
opportunity to succeed. And the memory of having had that learning experience
with the best technology will stay with them for a life time.
Building on the
success of the Sanako Study 1200, the district has started to install its
"sister" product the Study 500 in many of the general purpose computer labs
throughout the district. The Study 500 is a computer classroom management and
control application without all the advanced audio features needed for language
learning
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English
Discoveries OnLine (EDO)
Did you know that EDO has:
- Over 900 learning hours
- Over 20,000 vocabulary words
- Interactive, leveled courses: First Discoveries, Basic, Intermediate and Advanced
- Choice of Self-Access, Blended or Fully Integrated learning models
- Topic-based content units for language learning in context
- Online Dictionary and local support
English Discoveries OnLine computer assisted English language learning solution integrates the very latest in multimedia learning technologies with field-proven instructional approaches for English as Second Language Learners. Worldwide, EDO is used by secondary, adult and higher education classrooms, business and industry, and government ministries and agencies. For more information please contact Ann Cohn, Director of Educational Development at 800-367-1137 ext. 14 or Ann.Cohn@tandbergeducational.com  |
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In a Sanako Tandberg Educational Language Lab students are involved in creating knowledge together. They are studying cultures and carrying on conversations with peers. While the teacher is always present to facilitate, the students are empowered to discover and grow independently .
A Language Lab is still the
BEST instructional tool available for language learning.
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