epals for spanish-language practice
DESCRIPTION
Overview of how to use the ePals global community to find partner classes and ePals projects to help students practice Spanish. Also projects available in Spanish are listed. Student work posted in the ePals Student Media Galleries allows Spanish-learners to hear native speakers, too. To attend a webinar about this topic, sign up at http://bit.ly/ePals101TRANSCRIPT
Collaborative projects in Spanish
• ePals/National Geographic Projects• Translated and localized by Eduteka• Como Somos Nosotros is most popular• Maps, Habitats, Climate Change available now• Others being translated in 2012
ePalshttp://bit.ly/ePals1drop
ONE DROP—an initiative of Guy Laliberté, Founder of Cirque du Soleil®—is a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Canada
English, Spanish and French versions
Spanish Language Practice: ePals
Videos made by Mexican elementary students and posted in ePals
Student Reporters Will Make More Movies of Their Life in Mexico
FL teacher Angelica Cruikshank finds class through ePals Teacher Forum
AP Spanish practice through ePals
Michele Dobrin, AP Spanish, Tallahassee
View student work in Spanish in ePals Student Media Galleries
• http://bit.ly/StMedia
How can you and your students participate in ePals Global Community?
• Join global community of teachers in 200 countries
• Use SchoolMail for communication between classes
• Use projects from Smithsonian, National Geographic, and other teachers
• View student work• Post your students’ work• All these are free at http://www.epals.com
Click “Join” on home page: http://www.epals.com
• Enter your school email address• ePals replies to that address with instructions
How do you get a profile in ePals?
• You fill out some basic contact info• You write your profile• ePals has real people who read and approve
them…or ask for revisions!
Teachers can’t contact other classrooms without having a profile submitted and approved.
ePals collects information such as school address and teacher’s school telephone number but does not publicize that information.
A Successful Profile Includes Extra Info:
1. Something interesting about your school or area…close to the ocean, a volcano, in the capital city, enrolls only female students
2. Collaboration tools you might use (email, postal mail, blogs, video conferences, Skype)
3. Length of desired collaboration (“For 3 weeks in February”)
4. Frequency of desired collaboration (weekly, monthly, at holidays)
5. Topic of desired collaboration (You can update this when you have a new project in mind!)
Wait 24-48 Hours For Your Profile to be Approved
ePals staff members screen all profiles to ensure that no inappropriate language is used and to make suggestions to improve weak profiles.
While you are waiting, start looking for profiles that are interesting to you!
Copy interesting profiles into a Word file
Search parameters used:Country: Spain
While some teachers may teach English, other teachers in their schools might be willing to be your partners to practice Spanish!
Ask students to search for Spanish-speaking classrooms
Students can search for partner classes in countries that speak Spanish, but not in Spain! They can recommend classes but cannot contact the teachers.
Long-term partner classes
• You may want to ship a used copy of your textbook to your partner teacher, so you can say, “We are doing ch. 3-5 in the next month.”
• That makes it easy to figure out ways to achieve your curricular goals with a partner teacher in another place!
Post your student work!
• Start with one class and try this out• If they do projects such as PPTs or videos in
class, post the best ones on ePals• Please let us know if you have problems finding
a good match; be aware that many Latin American schools are on summer vacation until March or even April!
• Rita Oates, [email protected]@ritaoates on Twitter