Digital Spanish

Mike James/The Independent

Lloyd February 12, 2009 08:17 am

— The idea came after Catherine Delvalle saw a teenager sitting in front of a computer, texting on a cell phone with one hand and adjusting the earbuds of an MP3 player with the other hand.


One of Morgan Warrick's Spanish language learning videos

Teens are never far from their digital devices, the Greenup County High School Spanish teacher said to herself. So why not use them in school?
She talked the idea over with Tony Carr, the district’s technology supervisor, and Carr rustled up a handful of iPods, 10 of the sleek new eight-gigabyte nanos that ride in the pockets of today’s tech-happy teenagers.
Then Delvalle proceeded to load them with vocabulary and stories and songs, all in Spanish, of course, and distributed them to her third-year students as study aids.
Both effective and convenient, the iPods are popular with her students. Megan Conley, who loads the class materials onto her own personal iPod, finds she can fill in idle minutes on the bus and tune out the noise of other riders at the same time.
Also, with her class load, she doesn’t want to lug around another heavy textbook if she doesn’t have to. “I prefer to carry an iPod I can put in my pocket,” she said.
The machines have video screens allowing use of images along with sound. Pictures reinforce learning of vocabulary.
Sometimes Delvalle reads and records stories and lectures and loads them on the iPods for the students to listen to later. “It’s kind of like taking me home,” she said.
When students use the machines in class, those who take longer to master the material can rewind and play the words as often as they want. That frees other students to work at a faster pace.
Listening and repeating using the iPod helps with pronunciation skills, said David Virgin, a junior.
And sheer repetition is another plus, according to Morgan Warrick. “The more you listen, the more you understand,” she said.
Delvalle’s students also are devising monthly lessons of basic Spanish words for use in the district’s elementary schools. It’s part of their class requirement and they use the iPods to do it. Once the lesson is finished they can upload it to district computers for use at the elementaries.
Other educators are impressed with Delvalle’s efforts. She is scheduled to speak at a Kentucky World Language Association workshop Feb. 21 and then in Louisville on Feb. 26 to the Kentucky Association of School Administrators.
In March she will travel to Chicago to speak to a regional conference of the language association.
Now she is thinking about ways to incorporate text messaging into her lessons. That may not be easy because the school has rules restricting cell phone use. But Delvalle sees it as a potential tool.
MIKE JAMES can be reached at mjames@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2652.

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