iPods Enhance Foreign Language Lessons For Middle Schoolers

Jonas Clarke Middle School students were pleasantly surprised last year when their Spanish teacher announced they would be using the iPod Touch in their classroom.

Catherine Brooks, chairwoman of Clarke's Foreign Language Department, came up with the idea to use iPod technology to enhance oral and aural achievement in foreign language.

"Kids were surprised," said Brooks. "It's something they use all the time at home and they were excited to use it in school. The motivational factor was there."

She said the department struggled to find a way for students to work at their own pace using mini tape recorders, CDs or computers in the lab. Through research on the internet, Brooks learned about colleges such as Duke University using iPods in foreign language study.

She applied for a grant from the Lexington Education Foundation in 2008, requesting $26,000 for equipment and training and was awarded $10,486 to partially fund her request.

This allowed Brooks to purchase 30 iPod Touches, headphones, microphones and a Bretford PowerSync cart, where the units are stored, charged and can be linked to a laptop computer to simultaneously download content.

According to Vito LaMura, co-vice president of the LEF programs team, use of iPods for foreign language study was limited because of a lack of equipment.

"They were very successfully used by a limited number of students," LaMura said. "Therefore, when she requested over $11,438 in 2009, the LEF fully funded the request to allow much greater access for all language learners at Clarke."

This additional grant enabled Brooks to purchase 40 additional iPod Touches and three iPod Nanos which will be shared by eight foreign language classes – including French, Spanish and Mandarin – during the 2010 to 2011 school year.

"Our mission is always to provide innovative curriculum grants to the school system and really focus on allowing the grant recipients to embark on exciting new innovative projects that there might not otherwise be room for in the school system," said Mary Ellen Alessandro, co-vice president of the LEF programs team.

Alessandro's son, Daniel, entering eighth grade at Clarke, thinks the iPods made a positive difference in helping students learn. His favorite activity has been listening to books read in Spanish.

"Before the iPods, we would just listen to CDs or things off the computer as a class," he said. "Now with iPods, everybody can do it at their own pace and by themselves."

All the online textbook content, including mini-novels, are downloaded onto the iPods, said Brooks.

"Now they can pause and listen at their own rate and there is not as much background noise as in the computer lab," she said.

Use of the iPod technology has also given teachers a new way to help assess their students' progress.

"It gives us a tool to do a common activity and assess them," said Brooks.

To protect the equipment, Brooks has assigned a specific number and bar code to each iPod. At the beginning of the year, each student and their parent must sign a user agreement stating which number they will be responsible for and outlining the rules for safe handling, which include reporting any problems, damage or malfunctions immediately.

Brooks has trained all the foreign language teachers on the protocol for using the equipment and the classroom procedures which she hopes will minimize any problems.

In the future, she said there will be many more ways the iPods can be used in the classroom, especially if WiFi becomes available in all the classrooms.

"This technology enhances our teaching," Brooks said. "It doesn't replace it."

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