Managing diverse learning needs in multilingual classrooms, is the greatest challenge we face in education today. Ongoing teacher education and continuous professional development have failed to keep pace with these changes. For the system as a whole, literacy levels are at crisis point, and many young people within education are simply not going to make it. While mLearning has the ability to provide students with a highly personalised learning experience, the capacity for implementation at grassroots level is poor. In addition, there are insufficient educators at decision making level, with the knowledge and the insight to ensure that technology works for everyone. I believe it is time that educators re-claimed the technology debate. This is my contribution to mLearning, which involves the work I have been doing to harness the technological features of mobile devices to support language and literacy development within an academic context. I hope you enjoy the resources and I look forward to your comments.
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A teacher’s contribution to literacy and mLearning
1. Email: joanna@keywordsenglish.com Twitter: @KeywordsEnglish Facebook.com/keywordsenglish
Academic language for school
An Irish Teacher’s Contribution
to
Literacy and mLearning
Joanna Norton
Educator
Teacher-Educator
Mobile Content Entrepreneur
2. My journey from educator, teacher-educator to mobile
content entrepreneur started in classrooms in north
London. I grew extremely frustrated by the numbers of young
people with low levels of literacy and the lack of appropriate
content to support diverse learning needs in multilingual
classrooms.
Academic language for school
Email: joanna@keywordsenglish.com Twitter: @KeywordsEnglish Facebook.com/keywordsenglish
I started using mobile phones for teaching and learning in 1996, which
allowed me engage with young people through a medium they related to.
At the same time I started to travel to the villages, towns and cities that
many of our students are from, in an attempt to present learning from an
non ethno-European perspective.
I believe that mobile devices have the capacity to both democratise
education and provide a highly personalised learning experience. I started
to develop Keywords English, a research-based app, in an attempt to
support young people with the academic language of school. I also
developed supplementary worksheets for whole class instruction, support
classes, and for content teachers in the area of language and literacy..
I hope you and your students enjoy using these worksheets and app, which
are free to use, and that they help progress all learning to the next level.
4. Vocabulary
Academic language for school
Email: joanna@keywordsenglish.com Twitter: @KeywordsEnglish Facebook.com/keywordsenglish
A simple activity to pre-teach
vocabulary to ensure students
understand the core meaning of
the reading task.
5. Reading task
Academic language for school
Email: joanna@keywordsenglish.com Twitter: @KeywordsEnglish Facebook.com/keywordsenglish
Here students are required to infer
meaning from context. The
students are also reminded about
the importance of good writing.
6. Multi-choice
Academic language for school
Email: joanna@keywordsenglish.com Twitter: @KeywordsEnglish Facebook.com/keywordsenglish
This multi-choice activity tests
comprehension of the keywords in
context.
7. Matching activity
Academic language for school
Email: joanna@keywordsenglish.com Twitter: @KeywordsEnglish Facebook.com/keywordsenglish
Can be used to test prior
knowledge, test comprehension,
or be used for revision and
consolidation purposes.
8. Matching activity
Academic language for school
Email: joanna@keywordsenglish.com Twitter: @KeywordsEnglish Facebook.com/keywordsenglish
Can be used to test prior
knowledge, test comprehension,
or be used for revision and
consolidation purposes.
9. Parts of speech
Academic language for school
Email: joanna@keywordsenglish.com Twitter: @KeywordsEnglish Facebook.com/keywordsenglish
An activity that helps students
identify the form of each of the
keywords.
10. Word stress
Academic language for school
Email: joanna@keywordsenglish.com Twitter: @KeywordsEnglish Facebook.com/keywordsenglish
Breaking words into syllables and
then identifying the syllable with
the main stress, supports clear
communication.
11. Word stress
Academic language for school
Email: joanna@keywordsenglish.com Twitter: @KeywordsEnglish Facebook.com/keywordsenglish
Breaking words into syllables and
then identifying the syllable with
the main stress, supports clear
communication.
12. Spell the keyword
Academic language for school
Email: joanna@keywordsenglish.com Twitter: @KeywordsEnglish Facebook.com/keywordsenglish
Students can work alone or in pairs
to identify the correct spelling of the
keywords.
13. Spelling (in pairs)
Academic language for school
Email: joanna@keywordsenglish.com Twitter: @KeywordsEnglish Facebook.com/keywordsenglish
An additional spelling activity that
can also develop oral skills.
Students can work in pairs to
support each other.
14. Snap
Academic language for school
Email: joanna@keywordsenglish.com Twitter: @KeywordsEnglish Facebook.com/keywordsenglish
Can be used as a pre-teaching
exercise, to check
comprehension, consolidate
learning or for revision purposes.
15. Snap
Academic language for school
Email: joanna@keywordsenglish.com Twitter: @KeywordsEnglish Facebook.com/keywordsenglish
Can be used as a pre-teaching
exercise that checks
comprehension, consolidate
learning or supports revision.
16. Classroom-based evidence
Academic language for school
Usefulness 100%Usefulness 100%
Relevant 100%Relevant 100%
Student feedback on worksheetsStudent feedback on worksheets
Support with keywords 100%Support with keywords 100%
Understand the topic 100%Understand the topic 100%
“I would like to do more work on pronunciation. Science words are difficult to say.”“I would like to do more work on pronunciation. Science words are difficult to say.”
Email: joanna@keywordsenglish.com Twitter: @KeywordsEnglish Facebook.com/keywordsenglish
Can be used as a pre-teaching
exercise, to check comprehension,
consolidate learning or for revision
purposes.
Students were asked to rate their
experience of using the worksheets
and how well the worksheets
supported their learning.
17. Preparation for user-generated content
Email: joanna@keywordsenglish.com Twitter: @KeywordsEnglish Facebook.com/keywordsenglish
Academic language for school
The next stage is to get students to
create their own content. These
photos, which are models, were
taken in Co. Cork, Ireland and
shared with teachers.
18. User-generated content
Email: joanna@keywordsenglish.com Twitter: @KeywordsEnglish Facebook.com/keywordsenglish
Academic language for school
ESOL students at the College of
Haringey Enfield and North East
London used the worksheets and
went on to create their own content.
19. User-generated content
Email: joanna@keywordsenglish.com Twitter: @KeywordsEnglish Facebook.com/keywordsenglish
Academic language for school
Students were shown the models
and then asked to create images of
the keywords they learnt and
showcase them in their community.
20. User-generated content
Email: joanna@keywordsenglish.com Twitter: @KeywordsEnglish Facebook.com/keywordsenglish
Academic language for school
These photos of the keywords for
photosynthesis, were taken by
students on Arranmore island, Co.
Donegal, Ireland.
21. User-generated content
Email: joanna@keywordsenglish.com Twitter: @KeywordsEnglish Facebook.com/keywordsenglish
Academic language for school
Students in Adıyaman, eastern
Turkey, are about to start developing
their own content on the topic of
photosynthesis.
22. More information
Email: joanna@keywordsenglish.com Twitter: @KeywordsEnglish Facebook.com/keywordsenglish
Academic language for school
Link to worksheets: http://www.keywordsenglish.com/?p=565
Download the
Keywords English
app to learn about
photosynthesis at
your own pace.
Download the
Keywords English
app to learn about
photosynthesis at
your own pace.
I really want to
understand
science.
I really want to
understand
science.