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.

5 Comments | education, language program administration, languages, second languages, teaching, technology, Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
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.

5 Comments | languages, second languages, teaching, technology, Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

Market to your clients, not at them

October 26, 2010

When I answered the phone the other day, the person on the other end was calling from a company I buy from. The conversation went something like this:

Telemarketer: “Dr. Eaton we have a very special offer for you!”

Me: “Oh?”

Telemarketer: (Insert scripted sales pitch here.)

Me: “That sounds pretty interesting. Can you send me some information in the mail?”

Telemarketer: “No, I’m sorry, we don’t send information in the mail. It will only take a few minutes to sign you up over the phone.”

In that precise moment, the sale was lost.

Me: “I prefer to take the time to read over the material first. I don’t sign up for things over the phone. Can you send me information that I can thoughtfully look over and consider in more detail, rather than having to make a snap decision right now?”

(I knew the answer, but I just wanted to clarify.)

Telemarketer: “Really, it will only take a moment to sign you up over the phone, and I can tell you everything about the offer.”

The point? Missed.

The call? Ended.

The sale? Lost.

The upshot? I was a sale, ready and waiting to happen, and they lost it.  I am already a customer. I was interested in the offer. I was very close to saying yes, but didn’t appreciate the “hard sales” pressure tactic, so I declined.

Realize what works with your target audience and what doesn’t. What a sales or marketing company may tell you will work, may not. Find out for yourself. Avoid tactics that are likely to lose you sales because you’ve ticked off your prospective buyer, client or student.

The moral of the story? Market to your clients, not at them.

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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.

Who You Gonna Call? Marketing Isn’t a Solo Sport

October 12, 2010

So many educators seem to think that they have to market and promote their programs all by themselves. Not only is this ineffective and exhausting, it is impossible. Marketing isn’t a solo sport.

Get yourself out of the mindset that you have to do it all yourself. Ask people for help. Ask them to attend your events or give a guest lecture in your class. And if that makes you uncomfortable, ask for their advice, as for suggestions, or even get their opinion.

There’s no shame in asking other teachers, administrators, parents, colleagues, or members of the community for help. Call up a teacher at another school and ask if you can have an inter-school event like a talent competition or speech contest. Partner with the dance teacher in your school to do a lunch time program on Latin dance to promote Spanish language and Hispanic culture.

Even asking, “Could you give me some ideas…?” is a powerful question to start with.

Ask with a smile. Be genuine. People will help.

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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.

Bad decisions cause followers to lose faith in their leaders

October 11, 2010

There’s one in every organization. A person who believes that things should be done a certain way because they’ve always been done that way. Because that person knows best, no matter what.

These traditionalists squash the non-conformists and exert their Alpha personalities (often sugar coated in “do-gooder-ness” and sweet smiles) to ensure that new ways of thinking, new ideas and new ways of being and living are kept out of organizations.

As a youth, the church I belonged to once dismissed an organist because he came out of the closet. It came as a surprise to no one that he was gay, though some where surprised that he made the decision not to hide it any longer.

The organist had been a lifelong member of the parish, since his baptism. He was well-known, well-liked and brought the services alive with his music. But when he came out of the closest, the priest decided he had to go. And so, he was fired and hastily replaced in time for the next service.

The congregation asked questions. The priest stood firm. The sinner, who in his eyes, refused to repent, had no place in his church.

The congregation rallied and went above the priest who dismissed the gifted musician, seeking audience with the Bishop. There were quiet threats made about  going to the media.

The result? The priest was required by his superiors to re-instate the organist. The congregation was relieved and happy to have their favorite musician back. The priest was left seething that this authority had been questioned and his decision was overthrown. He never admitted that his original decision to throw out the musician was wrong. In his mind, he was the authority, he knew how things should be done and the entire congregation, as well as his superiors were in the wrong.

What does it take for the bad decision of an authoritative leader to be overturned? To be outnumbered from below and outranked from above. For these forces from above and below to stand together in their position that the situation must be scrutinized, reconsidered and ultimately, corrected.  This combination happens less often than it could. It requires tremendous will, organization and persistence to fight the good fight.

People make decisions they feel are justified, even when those decisions are wrong.

Leaders make decisions based on what will benefit their followers the most, for both the short and long term. Who decides what counts as a benefit? Well, the leader of course. Sometimes that means putting aside one’s own personal opinions or beliefs to look at the bigger picture. Weighing possible outcomes of the decision isn’t a bad skill for a leader to have either.

Just because someone has experience or thinks they know the way, doesn’t necessarily make them a leader.

Without followers, an authority figure isn’t a leader, just a tyrant dressed in leader’s clothing.

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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.

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