While we're on the subject
As a kid, I remember there was this little English to Lao translation book. Or maybe it was Lao to English. Whichever it was I remember reading it and trying to say English words in Lao, which is the language of my nationality (Laotion, country of origin Laos). I'm pretty sure this book belonged to my grandmother and I was fascinated by it. Today I have something that can translate quicker than me flipping through the pages of that little red book given that I have a data connection or a wifi signal: my cell phone or my laptop. Through Google translate I can easily translate words or phrases to over 50 languages (p.247). Imagine this: a student who may be an ELL (English Language Learner) who can follow along and enjoy a book the class is reading because it can be translated into his/her native language. My current job is working at a grocery store. One day a customer who spoke Spanish came in and was looking for "carbón". I don't recall learning this word in my 2 years of high school Spanish class so I pulled out my phone and did a quick Google Translate. Carbón means coal in Spanish and thus I was able to help out the customer get what he needed.
This word cloud was created via www.worditout.com
There are so many ways for educators to help students experience a different way of learning. There are textbook readings, videos that relate to a project, podcasts of experts on a particular subject (p.248-249). It is a totally different ball game learning from a PowerPoint lecture about owls versus having an experienced owl trainer come in the classroom with owl pellet samples for us to dissect and see the bones, fur, and other parts of the animal an owl cannot digest. Which in 5th grade, an owl trainer did come into my class and do a presentation. And I did take apart owl pellets. This was one of the few learning experiences I remember from elementary school and it's probably because I got some hands on experience. Differentiated instruction is how teachers create experiences for students to learn. It is supposed to include the different learning styles that different students have. There are several key steps for differentiated instruction and below is a fun video of these steps seen in movies. Being that in 5th grade there was about thirty 10-11 year old boys and girls with short attention spans, I like to think Ms. Viola knew what she was doing.
Even though I haven't seen half of these movies, I still think it's helpful.
As a kid, I remember there was this little English to Lao translation book. Or maybe it was Lao to English. Whichever it was I remember reading it and trying to say English words in Lao, which is the language of my nationality (Laotion, country of origin Laos). I'm pretty sure this book belonged to my grandmother and I was fascinated by it. Today I have something that can translate quicker than me flipping through the pages of that little red book given that I have a data connection or a wifi signal: my cell phone or my laptop. Through Google translate I can easily translate words or phrases to over 50 languages (p.247). Imagine this: a student who may be an ELL (English Language Learner) who can follow along and enjoy a book the class is reading because it can be translated into his/her native language. My current job is working at a grocery store. One day a customer who spoke Spanish came in and was looking for "carbón". I don't recall learning this word in my 2 years of high school Spanish class so I pulled out my phone and did a quick Google Translate. Carbón means coal in Spanish and thus I was able to help out the customer get what he needed.
Maloy, Robert, Verock-O' Loughlin, Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson
Education, Inc.
T. H. (2013, March 17). Inclusion and Differentiated Instruction: Teachers in the Movies do it Too. Retrieved March 03, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6rEy3Lqfio
