Facing the currently unknown

Wespeke- dating software to match language learners

I've been contacted by a company in the USA who are looking to expand into the UK, and would love your feedback on it, pretty, pretty please!

Wespeke is a very, very clever site which uses software traditionally associated with dating sites to match registered language students. It looks at their interests in order to generate topics that the students will actually want to learn about- we all know how difficult it can be to talk to people we don't know and who, invariably, we have nothing in common with. Traditional communication exchanges, usually done via letters, invariably fell down because the students didn't necessarily share enough common ground to genuinely want to interact. Wespeke seeks to overcome that- and I really like it, not least because it also provides a social media experience allowing language learners to find people from all over the globe to match with! Plus, it's designed with language learners and language teachers very much in mind, providing 2 levels of membership according to your role.

At the moment I know that Wespeke is brimming with users in North America and has really started to pick up users across South America, Spain and now bit by bit in France. As my invitations screen below shows I've already been contacted by people in both Spain and Mexico- intercultural opportunities abound!

But they've only just started to turn to our delightful shores. So whilst I've been talking to the team over in Pittsburgh I've also had a few messages from one of their team who's based in Madrid asking if any schools over here are looking to pair with any Spanish schools- anyone interested? As I said earlier, I'd love to hear your feedback both so I can pass it over to the team in the States but also to be able to better support the schools that I already work directly with. 

 

Moblogging from #ililc

Here we go, folks, my humble contribution to this weekend's festivities at University of Southampton. I'll endeavour to slidecast the presentation when I get hold of the audio, although I'm afraid I doubt that will be until next week now.

And so the point of my presentation really was to encourage people not to just assume that because we might be out on a trip, immersed in the target language culture and language, that we are maximising learning opportunities- for those on the trip or those back in the classroom. But see what you think and I'd love your opinions- and suggestions!

Moblogging - ILILC 2011

View more presentations from Chris Fuller.

To Skype or not to Skype

On SUnday night I was privileged enough to be asked to join a Skype conference call including various people from the UK and the USA, hosted by Language Lab Unleashed. Its goal was to discuss what role Skype can potentially play in teaching, and in particular that of MFL.

Language teaching is constantly looking for new ways to provide purpose and authentic forms of communication, and Skype seems to immediately offer this. However, I know from experience that talking on the phone is one of the hardest forms of communication for anyone who is learning a language as you are stripped of the reassuring powers of body language and expression. Nonetheless, the chat (texting) option means that pupils can clarify their vocal elements through the written word.

Skype currently comes with a bad reputation, with many LEAs having banned it from networks. If Skype, in my opinion, is to be the huge success which it has the potential to be, then it needs to hit a mass-market, as much as anything else to allow schools to develop links with other schools who are willing to use the tools. Even though sites such as Mixxer appear to offer a matching service, these are still so primitive that at the moment it would still be very much a case of looking to set up a traditional link and then develop a Skype option as part of this- which I have no doubt would be hugely beneficial for all involved.

Fingers crossed for the future, then, but unfortunately we're little further down the road than we were before the call. Lots of hope, lots of promise, but an outcome? Hopefully someday soon we'll all be Skyping our partners in Spain, but I'm not too sure...