Into the second week of teaching remotely, I don't know about you, but it is exhausting, but we're managing to have enjoyable sessions. Our classes are a blend of asynchronous online tasks, published as Canvas pages with prompts for an online discussion, and synchronous zoom sessions where we demo tools, talk through ideas and make sure we're all up to date with what needs doing.
We had great success with Kahoot this week, which was great fun, we also tried breakout rooms on zoom, which gives the students a chance to be together without the instructor. I would encourage you this week to try an online tool or experiment with one of the features of the teleconferencing software that you're using.
This week we also all wore fun hats, next week we'll invite a cuddly toy to join us, the following week....who knows. It might be tiny, but these fun details might help us get through the weeks.
Last week we listed resources that have been made free or open access for students and teachers during this time. I have a few more to add below and thank you to those who spotted things to add. We really appreciate the contribution and feedback that we get from you, it makes it worthwhile and rewarding.
Please feel free to use this newsletter to share ideas and point people to resources. I will attempt to publish each Friday morning, so please get your emails to me by Thursday afternoon. Please take care of yourselves, look after each other and be kind.
IA great idea for your students, photographer Noah Kalina is embarking on a virtual travel tour and posting up his pictures. Here's a lovely view of the Trevi Fountain.
People, Places, and Things
Interpreters and translators are racing to ensure multilingual communities are receiving accurate and updated information at this time, from the ACTFL Newsletter
The Joint National Committee for Languages has published resources for teachers.
If you're looking to support small and local booksellers who are struggling at this time, then Alibris is working with their vendors to ensure the safe distribution of stock to home. There are always offers available and you can pick up some incredible bargains.
Microsoft is offering free Minecraft lessons for kids (but grownups can find these useful too). There are a great many examples of its use in teaching & learning too.
Domestika is slashing prices on its online courses, which boast a brilliant catalog of creative, artistic, and design courses.
On remote learning and working.
Something that I've been asked quite a bit is how to operate with so many windows open on your computer, it's confusing and painful moving things around. Both Mac and Windows have native organizers that work with simple shortcuts. Windows 10 snap assist and Mac Split View. I'm also a fan of Magnet on the mac which gives you even more control.
Both Apple Clips and Clipomatic turn speech into captions using your iPhone, there's a great tutorial on how to using Clipmatic in language learning - you can select almost any language to add your titles in.
I really like this hack for using your phone as a second camera in Zoom, just don't forget to log in (you'll appear twice in the dashboard) the brilliant Joe Dale has some useful advice. Click the link to view the thread.
On Screen
NOBU is a short film about former world champion karate and Japanese immigrant Nobuaki Konno
La Vie (Life). From the series The Phantoms of the Congo River, 2011, by the self-taught photographer Nyaba Leon Ouedraogo, from Burkina Faso. From this brilliant series in The Guardian
NYC's The Get Down is holding virtual dance parties at 6 pm every evening, see you there!
Thank you for reading, we really appreciate your support and would love to hear more about what you like and what you've seen that might be useful to share. If you have anything you'd like to include in future issues, let us know.