Are Language Textbooks a Scam for Students?

November 4, 2010

It used to be that university students taking language courses would buy a textbook and a workbook for a university course. The prices were high, but they could buy used copies. A student who wanted to sell his or her book later would be careful to do the workbook in pencil so it could be erased later.

Nowadays, textbooks companies have gone all high tech. They’re encouraging teachers to do away with “old fashioned paper workbooks” in favor of an online version. The teacher needs a course code. The students need a book code. Only the magical combination of both codes will allow students access to their high tech web student activity manual.

The scam? All of these codes have expiry dates. Students who bought a second-hand book have no access to the online activity manual, unless they cough up about $100 for their own personal book code. $100 for a code? Seriously? I have students who simply can not afford this and as a result, there is no way for them to access their homework activities.

To boot, the textbook takes a communicative approach, which is super for in class, but offers little in the way of activities to assign for homework. The homework is supposed to come from the web-based activity manual.

Not all students – even college age students – like the online versions. Anything but a high speed internet connection is insufficient to use the fancy web-based versions. Students complain about difficulties setting up their online accounts and some give up even before they get to do their first activity. Their frustration levels escalate.

The textbook rep comes in to do a demo. Everything works perfectly in his presentation and students are encouraged to try again.

Here it is the end of the semester and I still have students who haven’t done any online activities. When I ask them why, they sheepishly say they find the web versions cumbersome. Either that, or they simply can’t afford the $100 for a book code. A search for old, used workbooks has ensued so they can have paper versions to work from.

I’ve been giving them activities and materials I’ve developed myself over the years. These used to be “extra practice”, but for the students who have no other way to reinforce what we do in class, they have become their only option.

Some students are very tech-savvy, very into mobile learning. Some still like paper-and-pen activities. Others may like technology, but be cash poor. Our job as educators should be to make it easy for them to learn, not more cumbersome.

At least when we bought paper versions of books and workbooks, they were ours to keep for as long as we wanted, not until the textbook publisher decided that they expired and cut off our access to them. At best, they became outdated, but they didn’t disappear into thin air. I’m a huge fan of technology, but not when it becomes a barrier to my students’ learning.

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

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Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

Cool Apps for Language Learning

November 3, 2010

Are you teaching or learning a language? Want to do it the 21st century way though your Android, iPhone or Blackberry? There are literally dozens of apps out there to help you learn foreign languages!

Some of them are language specific, while others offer multilingual options. Here are some examples:

24/7 Tutor – Spanish, French, Italian, Russian and German

Katahira App – Japanese (Katahira)

Greek – flash cards

American Sign Language (ASL) – tutorial and reference app

Cherokee – iPhone app for this endangered indigenous language

Korean Essentials – a free app from the Apple Store by AccelaStudy

Spanish vocabulary – by Componica

Matt Silverman, in Mashable/Mobile, wrote about free apps for the Android phone, including one called Talk To Me. He writes:

“Talk To Me is an impressive app that can translate your input text or speech between over 40 different languages, and in most cases, speak the translations back to you. The interface is really dead-simple: An input for text, a drop-down list to choose your languages, and a big green button to activate the speech recognition.” Read the full article here.

Claire Bradin Siskin offers a superb overview of instructional and learning apps for languages for iPhone, Blackberry and other smart phones, including a list of places to get them.

Angel Brady at Princeton University did a great review of over 20 different apps for language learning.

Here’s an idea: Ask your students what apps they can find for their own mobile devices. Build your own links and resources for your students by engaging them in the process of figuring out what works for them, what doesn’t and why.

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

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Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

6 Reasons I love Glee – a language teacher’s point of view

September 23, 2010

This week, the new season of the TV show Glee aired. When I first heard about the show, I wasn’t interested. At first glance it looked fluffy, silly, and not particularly engaging. I don’t watch much television so when I do pick a show to watch it needs to engage my mind, as well as entertain me. For some reason last year, an episode of Glee got recorded and I, grumbling and growling, finally agreed to watch an episode of it. I was hooked.

As a language teacher I can’t help but notice that this hot new TV show offers a veritable cornucopia of material to use in class. Here are a few examples:

  1. The characters, young high school students speak eloquently. Verbal prowess is the norm among the characters.
  2. In speaking eloquently, the characters become role models for clear, concise and articulate communication.
  3. There’s much less slang than on other comedy shows.
  4. Characters express a wide array of emotions with no vulgar language. Nothing needs to be “bleeped out”. They find appropriate words to express their feelings.
  5. Characters don’t use phrases such as “So, like…. ya know,” leaving the listener to fill in the blanks.
  6. Characters will correct each other’s language mistakes. In this season’s premiere, this exchange happened between lead characters Rachel and Finn:

Finn: Rachel is what you’d call a controlist.

Rachel: I’m controlling. ‘Controlist’ isn’t a word.

Where else on television do you get teenage characters who show their vulnerabilities as they try to find their way in the world in a lighthearted, yet serious show where being articulate, and using the English language properly are highlighted?

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

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Teaching formal and informal language register to native English speakers

September 14, 2010

As a university level-Spanish instructor, I often find that native English speaking students who have never studied languages before struggle with the concept of formal versus informal forms of address. In Spanish, it’s usted (formal) vs. tú (informal). The concept exists in many other languages, too. Here’s how I teach it:

1. Present the formal and informal words in the target language.

2. Explain that both the informal and formal equal “you” in today’s English.

3. Give some examples of when it is appropriate to address someone formally and when it is OK to address someone informally. Explain generational and regional differences.

4. Point out that we used to have both formal and informal in English. (I love this part!) Watch their faces scrunch up as if to say, “Huh?” I ask if any of them have studied Shakespeare, watched Shakespeare movies or heard language from that time period or before in movies. (If you’re teaching the secondary, post-secondary or adult levels, you’ll likely get a few nods if you try this.) Then I give them this example from Romeo and Juliet:

Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art ___________?

What goes in the blank? Thou, of course. Juliet addresses her lover informally.

I point out other related words such as “thee” and “thy”, which also fell out of use in favor of “you” and “your”, which was traditionally our formal form of address. We dropped the informal, in favour of using only the formal.

I don’t discuss religion much in my classes, but given that most of Latin America and Spain are Catholic, it is an interesting cultural note that God is addressed informally. (I could never figure that one out, myself. I mean, if there was one being who merited the respect of a formal address, you’d think it might be God, but what do I know?) If you’re teaching in a Christian faith-based environment, you can also point out that “classically” the “Our Father” prayer used “thou” and “thee”, too. Many churches have updated that to “you” nowadays, but “hallowed be Thy name” can still be heard in some places. Traditionally, God has been addressed informally in the Christian faith.

I also point out other well known phrases and verses using the traditional informal such as:

“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.” (Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

“To thine own self be true.” (Shakespeare, Hamlet)

“How great thou art.” (Christian hymn)

Once the students have made the connection that the formal and informal both used to exist – and be used quite regularly – in English, it is easier for them to transfer that knowledge to a new second language. That takes care of the conceptual block and all they have to master is when to use each form correctly.

Check out these related posts:

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Update – January, 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

 

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