7.1 Online Interaction in World Languages

Review foundational knowledge about Online Interactions in K-12 Blended Teaching (Volume 1).

7.2 Student-to-Student Interactions

Communicating in a world language through reading, listening, writing, and speaking and understanding relevant cultures are at the heart of world language classes. Technology can enhance these activities, increasing student confidence, collaboration, engagement, and exposure to various media and cultural opportunities. In the following video, Stephanie Pryce shares how she uses tools such as Padlet, Flip, and Google Suite to improve online interaction and collaboration. 

Using Technology to Foster Online Communication–Stephanie Pryce (3:27) 

There are many technologies that support active use of the four language skills, beyond the limit of space and time, and foster collaboration and interaction among students and teachers. Here are a few of them and how they can be used in teaching world languages. (You might want to become proficient with one technology then branch out to another one. Don’t try too many at once.)

• Flip a video discussion board. Instead of using a text-based discussion, flip allows students to post and respond with video to practice their speaking and listening skills, which can increase the sense of nearness and community in the discussion, as well as give important practice in speaking and listening. Flip allows students to interact with other students outside of the classroom, allows students and teachers to create and share screencast videos and slides, and gives stuent the opportunity to ask questions or voice their language product, even though they may have difficulty in sharing their ideas in person in front of the whole class, because they are shy speaking up becuase other people in the class are talking.   

• Google Docs: A collaboration tool, where students can write and receive feedback and suggested edits on their writing and where students can collaborate on projects and all forms of writing. 

• Google Slides: Similar to Google Docs, Google Slides allows students to individually or collaboratively create presentation slides. Google Slides is also increasingly used to generate quick ideas and brainstorming, with each student or group of students having one slide.

• Discussion Boards: Usually part of a learning management system (LMS), they allow threaded discussions that enable students to respond on varying spaces and times, greatly expanding the opportunities for students to communicate in the target language. It also allows students to share visual and audio materials.

• Padlet: An online bulletin board where students can post and reply to comments using text, images, audio, and video. Students can also create timelines, storyboards, and collages individually or collaboratively. . 

• VoiceThread: A video/audio tool that allows students to add pictures or text on a project, give feedback on writing, and explain their work. It can also be used to make instructional videos with interactive abilities (that can also be turned into quizzes), and create situations where students think aloud about their writing process and share their videos with each other. 

• Blooket: Review games with a variety of selections, where students can review vocabulary by competing with other students. 

• Quizlet: Review games where students can review a set of words individually or they can compete with another in groups. 

 Here is a teacher’s example of how students personalized time and pace to reflect on a question interactivly on an asynchronous discussion board.

Student Reflection–Patricia Yu (0:53) 

Here is another teacher’s example of how students actively lead online interaction in various ways. 

Student-Led Online Interaction–Daniel McGraw (2:16) 

Although online interaction can support reflective and interaction, it can become stale if the interactions do not include collaboration and creative work. Here are some ideas that are relevant to a world language classroom.

Table 1 

Collaborative Story Reading through Media 

Student-to-student, or peer interactions, can be powerful. Students can help each other, answer questions, give feedback, take feedback, explain concepts, and counsel with each other.

Blended teachers can also help to facilitate student-to-student interactions accross classroom and even countries. For instance, GridPals is a modern take on penpals, where students send video recordings on Flipgrid rather than writing letters using pen and paper. Flipgrid has made it fairly easy to connect with other classrooms around the globe. Once you register your class (https://info.flipgrid.com/blog/tips/gridpals.html), you are provided with an interactive map of other elementary classrooms who are also seeking to connect with others. However, similar activities can be organized and done on lots of different tools. Teachers also commonly connect with classrooms using their personal connections. Other teachers connect with international classroom through organizations such as the Peace Corps' World Wise Schools. 

World Wise School Programs–Todd Robbins (0:52) 

7.3 Teacher-to-Student Interactions

Interactions between students and the teacher are also important in a world language course. Experienced blended teachers often report that their interactions with students online have strengthened relationships and contributed to student growth. What are some ways teachers can foster these interactions?

• Participate in online discussions. You don’t have to chime in and respond to everyone’s posts. Instead your role in a discussion board is to guide by modeling and facilitate the discussion. You can monitor what is said for civility as well as content. If a discussion is going in a nonproductive direction, you can gently guide it back. You can respond honestly to good ideas and interesting insights. You can suggest further resources. 
• Provide feedback. Students appreciate and need feedback. Teachers find that giving some types of feedback online is much easier than feedback with traditional paper and pen.
• Give feedback on assignments through the LMS you use. Check out the ways your LMS allows you to communicate with students about their assignments. If you are using rubrics for grading, you can give very specific feedback then allow your students to improve the assignment. Your LMS may have additional ways to contact students.
• Use written, audio, or video feedback. Some students prefer written feedback because they can access it easily; others prefer audio or visual because it’s easier for them to understand and feels more personable. There are also times when it's easier to provide audio or video feedback compared to typing out feedback comments. For instance, Mote is a Chrome extension that allows teachers to quickly add audio recordings to Google Document and Google Classroom gradebook. There are also several free screen-recording tools that allow you to create quick video recordings and then share them with students using an unlisted link. There are times when text, audio, and video feedback are the most effective, and you can use all three during the year. Give feedback to students’ video recording on Flip.
• When students are online working during class, walk around the classroom, answering questions and giving verbal feedback as needed.
• Schedule one-on-one meetings with students to discuss their progress and provide feedback. 
• Alternatively, if students are writing online on a Google Doc, for example, you can pull up as many documents as your computer will allow and give real-time feedback as they are writing. Students are more likely to rewrite when they receive feedback during the process of composing writing.
• Email students who are not in class, letting them know that they were missed.
• Explain to students your process for receiving emails from class members. Encourage them to email you with questions. Explain when you will be available to look at emails, and answer them as promptly as possible.

Here are some examples of how World language teachers utilize online learning to effectively check for students’ understanding and give feedback to students. 

Teacher-student, Student-student Interaction–Cheri Bradby-Viquez (1:28) 

Teacher-student, Student-student Interaction–Patricia Yu (1:40) 

The online space significantly increases opportunities for interaction between students and content, students and other students, and students and teachers. Students who never or rarely speak in class may find themselves suddenly communicating on a regular basis. The results of learning through a combination of content, interactions, instruction, and feedback can improve student outcomes, investment, and engagement with the subject matter. You don't have to start all at once. Just choose one interaction that looks promising to you—and begin.