Language Perfect success in the classroom from a teacher’s perspective Lisa Cumberland Pakuranga College

About Me HOD Japanese at Pakuranga College Teach at a large school – about 2200 students My interest is finding technology based tools that help to aid student learning outside the classroom

Languages set up at Pakuranga College Languages available from Years 9-13 Students have 3 languages to choose from: Japanese, Maori, German Y9 students have to study one language for half a year (every day for one hour) From years languages are optional and run for a whole year

How we started using Language Perfect In 2009 we trialled the programme with two senior Japanese classes to see how it worked After our trial period was finished the students made the decision on whether to continue using Language Perfect

Development over the years Optional for senior students to purchase 2011 – opened it up to year 10 students also & trialled in Maori 2012 – compulsory for students in years – compulsory for all year levels in Japanese and Maori & optional for German

World Championships competition

Language Perfect World Championships Using the Language Perfect programme, to date our biggest successes have been in the LPWC Top school in NZ 2010 – 2013 Top school in the world for Japanese (4 years) 2 nd school in NZ for Maori (2013) 2 nd student in Maori (2013) Top student in the world (2013)

How our school runs the LPWC Students are expected to learn words in the language they are studying before doing other languages Each class has a maximum of 2 periods in the computer room a week over the fortnight of the competition Students are kept up-to-date with progress through class teachers The whole staff is also kept up-to-date so that they can encourage students Possibility of prizes for students who reach a achievement levels Presentation of top awards in school assembly

Language Perfect World Championships Again, we built up numbers throughout the years Every year gets harder 2013 has been our most successful for student engagement across the languages The first year the Maori students have competed and achieved really well (2 nd student in Maori & 2 nd school in NZ for Maori)

Language Perfect World Championships

Using Language Perfect with students

Using language perfect with my students – the early years Originally Language Perfect was a homework tool. We would have only one or two lessons in a term in the computer rooms. Use was very much student driven In the early years, students mainly used LP when the LPWC were on or when they had exams approaching

How I use language perfect with my students – now Still very homework based At the start of the school year I have classes in the computer room once every couple of weeks to get them started Set goals for students to reach Senior students set their own goals

How I use language perfect with my students – challenges Computer access Unmotivated students particularly at junior level Unmotivated students at senior level – overuse of programme

Using Language Perfect with students Other teachers’ ideas

Using LP with students Michelle Lodge (Botany Downs Secondary College) Sets goals for students to reach in a set time Mostly considered homework s students in the middle of the set goal to let them know their progress The student with the most points at the end of the period of time becomes the King/Queen of the class and they get to decide the punishment for any student that does not reach the goals, eg: push ups, a funny skit in class, etc..

Using LP with students Motivating Students Competition within classes Competition between classes Monthly goals – any students that do not reach the goal must stay at lunchtimes using LP until they reach the goal Food / Rewards

Using the control panel to monitor student progress

Language Perfect tools that I like Being able to view students that are online at any one time Viewing student progress through both graphs and individual scores Customising content to suit my students’ needs

Monitoring student progress graphs

Tailoring the content to meet student needs

Teacher thoughts on using Language Perfect

How I feel about using Language Perfect as a teacher I am a lot stricter now in enforcing the students use the programme throughout the year and not just when they have exams coming up. It’s great to have all the vocabulary lists in one place without me having to load them online. In particular our NCEA assessment lists. I love hearing students say after using LP how much easier classwork has become because they actually know the vocabulary. And it’s a great confidence booster for the lower level students.

Key Competencies The 5 key variables to integrate into the NZ Curriculum Participating and Contributing Thinking Relating to Others Understanding symbols and text Managing Self

Autonomous learning Students identify own goals through tests given in class They know their own weaknesses & strengths From this they can go on to Language Perfect and choose to use one of the activities to enhance/support their learning in that particular area …taking ownership of their own learning …allows the teacher to watch from a distance without students feeling the pressure of knowing we’re watching

Student opinion ‘What do you think about Language Perfect as a learning tool?’ It’s a good learning tool. I’m on the computer often so it’s easy to access It’s a platform for helping language students to revise/learn new vocab in a fun way. It’s better than learning for a book It enables the user to learn while challenging themselves to gain more points It allows students learning to be more customised eg: certain categories More attractive than a text book

Student opinion ‘ What are the good points of the programme?’ It makes you remember vocab through repetition & the point system gets competition going It gives you the list of vocab required for your year level & you can access it from anywhere because of technology The way it’s set out, J-E & E-J makes remembering the words effective. Points systems are good for motivation It has NCEA lists so it’s a useful indicator of the minimum vocab required to learn. Higher level lists allow students to extend vocab past what is required It’s customised so what you learn can be updated regularly It has 4 methods of learning Helps develop our vocab & helps as a learning tool for us to remember & learn important vocab for exams

Student opinion ‘What motivates you to use Language Perfect?’ Getting a reasonably high ranking in the class competition When I realise I need to learn my vocabulary (esp. after tests) Words come up randomly so you need to learn the words. You can’t just guess. Allows us to discover new vocab that we can incorporate into our knowledge base, writing & conversations, etc.. If I feel like I’m falling behind in class I go on it. The points system & the cheering when you reach particular points It’s a new way to learn, easy to access & an efficient way of learning that improves vocab fast Finding new vocabulary & grammar that I didn’t know about

Student opinion “It helps with my learning because it is an excellent revision tool. I do not think it can ever substitute all the teaching done in class, but I believe that vocabulary wise, I would not have remembered some Japanese words without repeatedly having practised them.” - Y12 student

Ultimately…. For me:  Language Perfect use is guided by students.  There have been positive outcomes in student learning – confidence/achievement  It’s straight forward to use  It’s accessible for students and relevant for the ‘technology generation’  However, like anything students still have to have some self-motivation to use it  It a useful tool in taking a step to fill the ‘how do students learn all that vocab?’ gap