Mystery Skype and supporting apps

Why Skype? Some Skype numbers. 300 million users. 4.9 DAU (Daily Average Users). 51% social messaging in Ireland. 42% of girls and 33% of boys in the US use Skype or other video chat tools.

Alternatives to Skype (some of them, better) Linguaswap Oovoo Google HangoutsHangouts Viber Jitsi (open source) Jitsi Ekiga

Great things about using Skype in the foreign language classroom. It’s motivating. You can use visuals, facial expressions, gestures. Encourages students to prepare and practice. It fosters real language exchanges, spontaneity. It’s cheap, easy and has no learning curve.

Not so great things about it Interactions need to be synchronous. Time zones become relevant. Technical glitches are to be expected. It’s not always easy to find partners. Needs teacher’s control or parents’ consent. Linguaswap, rules, consent forms.Linguaswaprulesconsent forms Everything takes longer than you think.

It’s good to have: A “Skype in the classroom” account.Skype in the classroom A Google Account for each student. A decent webcam and microphone. A good Internet connection. Someone to talk to. Something to speak about. Pamela, Supertintin or similar recording programs.Supertintin recording programs Smartphones, tablets, cameras…

Examples of activities Invite a guest speaker. Tour a school or city in another country. Conversation partners: Caution! – practice Leaving Cert role plays. – Design interview tasks. – The mixxer, Linguaswap. The mixxerLinguaswap Collaborative gaming: Minecraft, Civilization 5… Mystery Skype.

Mystery Skype Download and get students familiar with – Apps: Skype, Google maps, Wikipedia, … – Social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, blogs… Have a lesson plan.lesson plan Remove giveaways. Cede the spotlight to the kids!! Rules: 20 questions? Find city, school? Languages? It can be an introduction to a larger project.project Great for Transition Year. Can combine two subjects

How it works Two teachers set up a meeting. Students don’t know where their correspondents are. The objective of the activity is to discover where the other class is, usually by asking yes or no questions. The activity needs to be carefully planned, with roles and responsibilities clearly assigned.

Our turn. Let’s play! Possible roles and tasks: Greetings and goodbyes: Questionners: Answerers: Journalists: Photo, video and social media. Researchers and geographers. Our country. Researchers and geographers. Their country. Supervisor...? What other roles may we need? Examples.Examples Who wants to do what?

Evaluation time After each session it’s useful to evaluate: What went well? What could have been better? Should we have had other roles? Any new rules we could have added? Was it a good idea to invent our location? How would this work differently with students? Questions, comments, ideas?