Tech Tip Tuesday: Haiku Deck

I'm so excited to have a guest blogger for today's Tech Tip Tuesday! Susan is a talented ESL teacher with many years of experience working with ELLs, and today she's bringing you a great tip for meaningful technology integration.

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This is Susan from The ESL Connection and I am honored to be a guest blogger for The ESOL Odyssey this week.  I recently came across a cool app that I am excited to share with you. Haiku Deck works on computers, iPads, and iPhones and lets people create online presentations in the form of slides.  Haiku Deck calls the presentations "decks," maybe because the final product is like a deck of cards with each card having an image and simple text on it.  You get to decide the design and where the text will appear on the slides, as well as what the background will be for each slide—solid colors or photos from either Haiku Deck’s curated gallery or your own computer.  It’s also possible to create charts.  This free app has three privacy settings and it is easy to share the decks with others.  The end result is similar to an old-fashioned slideshow but Haiku Deck is very much 21st century!

Here's an example of a deck I created:

SPRING - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires

How it can be used:

* To write non-fiction reports

* To write book reports

* To write short personal narratives

* For persuasive writing

* To write cause-and-effect statements

* To write main ideas and their supporting details

* To create charts for various subjects

* For collaborative writing projects

Why it is great for ELLs:

The instructions are easy to comprehend and there is little text on the site itself to confuse ELLs when they use Haiku Deck.  The amount of text that can be included on each slide is limited, so students at lower proficiency levels won’t feel overwhelmed by writing.  Using photos for the backgrounds complements the written text and helps ELLs whose knowledge of English vocabulary is limited to get their ideas across. Students who are not fluent speakers won’t feel nervous or put on the spot because Haiku Deck does not include a speaking component.  ELLs can be paired with native English speakers to work together on the writing tasks, which not only supports their writing but also helps ELLs develop their speaking skills since they have to discuss and agree on the images and text they will use in their presentations.

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Many thanks to Susan for sharing this awesome tech tip and being a fabulous guest blogger. Please check out her blog, The ESL Connection and find The ESL Nexus on TpT!

Guest Blogger Heidi Raki

Today we have such a special treat- Guest blogger Heidi Raki talking about her experiences teaching EFL in Morocco! I hope you will enjoy what Heidi has to share, and will stop  by her awesome blog after you're done reading!

 

Hi everyone!  I am Heidi Raki of Raki’s Rad Resources and I am so pleased to be joining you on ESOL Odyssey today.  As a teacher with a lot of English Language Learners, I am always sure to check here for teaching tips.

In my class, I have 20 students, of which only 1 speaks English only in his household, and even he began his life in a bilingual environment. The other 19 speak at least one, if not two other languages in their homes. Most of my students speak Arabic, but many also speak French.  I also have one who speaks Spanish and another who speaks a Filipino dialect. My classroom is slightly different than the average because I teach in an American school in Casablanca, Morocco. 

While there are some classrooms in the United States where you can find this many English Language Learners all together, even those classrooms would have different learners than mine.  The reason is that my students are English as a Foreign Language Learners (EFL) and not English as a Second Language Learners (ESL).  There are a few differences between EFL and ESL – but here is the big one: outside of my classroom, my students generally do not hear, speak, read or write in English.  Some of the parents have English books at home, and most have access to at least some English T.V., but generally they live in a society where they hear and see Arabic or French only – from street signs and billboards to radio stations and conversations with store clerks, very few of their interactions are in English.

My students do not always have the same motivation to learn English as a student would if they were living in a country where English was the primary language.  Not only can my students get along without English in a store, on the street and in their household, but they are also aware that the majority of their classmates can communicate with them without them ever learning English.  Any teacher of EFL students will tell you that they lose count of how many times they say “English, please.” to their students.  I generally say “We are here to practice our English – so please help your friends out by speaking English.”  Not only does the switch to the home language stop the immersion process for other learners, it also allows most learners to switch back to thinking in the home language.  In addition, this means that my students are not necessarily self-motivated, and so I must be the person providing new, exciting, activities that will get and keep my students motivated to learn.

While teaching EFL students in Morocco has its own special challenges, it has its own special rewards too.  For example, I get to tap into my student’s unique background knowledge.  This is why my entire class (and I) can now count to 200 in French, Arabic, Spanish and English.  This is also why when we talked about the concept of plural vs. singular, we were able to address the topic in all 4 languages, making the connections easier for my students.  Another benefit of teaching EFL students in Morocco is the understanding I now have for how students learn language – both from watching my students and from learning French & Arabic myself.

Teaching EFL students in Morocco has made me a stronger teacher.  It has allowed me to compare and contrast different types of learners and different types of teaching strategies.  It has made me aware of how culture affects language.  Most importantly, it has made me put myself in my student’s shoes, and truly understand language learning first hand.

For more about my teaching experiences here in Morocco – feel free to stop by my blog – Raki’s Rad Resources.