Top 10 tips for using Skype in the language classroom

Here is the official definition:
"Skype is a little piece of software that lets you make free calls to anyone else on Skype, anywhere
in the world.  In addition, you can use Skype to chat with other people, send files, make conference calls, video calls, and more - all over the Internet."

What is Skype education? A free and easy way for teachers to open up their classroom. Meet new people, talk to experts, share ideas and create amazing learning experiences with teachers from around the world.

MY EXPERIENCE

Last year I was invited to teach Spanish to a grade 12 class (18-19 years old) in a High school in Texas via skype from my home in London.

My aim with this project was to create  a list of do's in collaboration with a classteacher.



This is what we came up with, our list of Do's: 

1. share a collaborative doc that you can access at anytime.
2. take your time to test video and audio.
3. start sessions with a short introductory game or icebreaker.
4. use text chat to support speaking. Also for understanding the names of people, food and places and for spell check).
5. students prepare questions that they will ask on their individual session with the guest speaker.
6. separate students into groups of ability.
7. guest speaker asking simple questions to students about their school and family.
8. students using mind maps to organize their thoughts.
9. having the other students in the room write down what is being said so that they are not a distraction to the people having the conversation.
10. during first session guest speaker makes a short talk to group so that students have the opportunity to get used her accent.

POST-PROJECT FEEDBACK

This is what the classteacher said after the experience. The feedback form was designed to assess an online language course with all the different aspects of online language teaching.

Teacher:  Kelley Raulston, 3 years teaching experience at Clarksville High School. Texas, U.S.A.

Project design: My class created a profile on Skype in the classroom. We sought a person to speak with our class on a weekly or monthly basis. Mrs. Zurbano and I used Google docs. to communicate how the Skype was going and what we thought needed to be changed.

Language ( level of difficulty) : The majority of my students are low level. It is very difficult to get them "out of their shell" and comfortable with speaking. This activity helped them a lot. Typing what was said also proved beneficial when the students did not quite understand what was going on. I also found it helpful to group the students based on ability. That way all students in the room knew what was going on and the higher level students did not become bored.

Guest speaker presence: The amount of presence was fine it allowed the students one on one communication practice.

Content and relevance: My students are very shy when it comes to speaking in Spanish. This project helped them to use their Spanish in a real world situation. The area in which I teach is very rural and poverty stricken. My students do not know much about the world outside of Texas and this helped them to experience it in a positive and stimulating way.

Resources: The use of Google docs. made communicating very easy. We also used wordle and mindmaps before we skyped. This helped the lower level students to organize their thoughts.

Level of motivation: My students were motivated to learn about another country and culture. They all enjoyed the project immensely.

Expectations: The project has fulfilled my expectations. I hope that in the future we can start the project earlier. I now have a better idea of the direction I want to go and how better to achieve this. We could use this lesson to fulfill our requirements to learn about other cultures and to speak about ourselves.


Lorena Zurbano
Skype in the classroom
https://education.skype.com/users/21010-lorzur
Skype username: lorzur