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Project News
The benefits of LINC blended learning #5. Our featured video for January is, “It improves Attendance, Engagement and Retention”
Many settlement language training service providers are transitioning back to face to face instruction now that the pandemic is subsiding. Are you wondering if LINC blended learning is the best avenue for instruction (pun intended)? And, if it is the best, how so? ... This month we’re looking at the Introductory video and Webisode #5: It improves Attendance, Engagement and Retention.
http://learnit2teach.ca/wpnew/what-are-the-benefits-of-linc-blended-learning-watch-these-videos-for-an-explanation/
Introduction to Extensive Reading
... We are moving forward with an extensive reading research project at Avenue. Its goal is to evaluate the efficacy of extensive reading at the CLB literacy and one levels. It is also our intention to locate and promote Canadian graded readers. We have already moved through the background research and technology selection steps of our project. ... an Avenue pilot course with instructor and student support documents and videos will be ready for our first trial. More information is available here.
http://learnit2teach.ca/wpnew/introduction-to-extensive-reading/
Part 1 Learning Technology Leadership
A new intake of this six-week course begins Saturday, February 26. More information is available here.
http://learnit2teach.ca/wpnew/new-part-1-learning-technology-leadership-group-begins-saturday-february-26/
Web News
Feds to spend $35M to enhance settlement resources for newcomers in rural communities
The federal government plans to spend $35 million over the next three years to boost settlement services for newcomers, who for the most part reside in small towns and rural communities. ....
https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/feds-to-spend-35m-to-enhance-settlement-resources-for-newcomers-in-rural-communities-1.5743615
Vancouver, Toronto and Edmonton have highest immigrant retention rates: StatsCan
Vancouver, Toronto and Edmonton have the highest immigrant retention rates in the country, according to data published by Statistics Canada. The agency looked at immigrants who were admitted to Canada in 2014 and filed taxes in 2019. Five years after being admitted to Canada, 86.1 per cent of immigrants who first settled there had stayed in Vancouver, which had the highest retention rate of any metropolitan area, followed by Toronto (85.5 per cent) and Edmonton (84.6 per cent).
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/vancouver-toronto-edmonton-immigration-1.6311574
People flocked to language apps during the pandemic – but how much can they actually teach you?
In March 2020, as the Covid pandemic took hold, the language learning app Duolingo reported double its usual number of sign-ups. Stuck inside under lockdown orders, people had time on their hands and were looking for ways to occupy it. ... Entering 2022 with renewed enthusiasm to learn the language, I decided to see what the experts say. ...
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/commentisfree/2022/jan/01/people-flocked-to-language-apps-during-the-pandemic-but-how-much-can-they-actually-teach-you
How has the pandemic changed virtual ESL learning?
Twelve years ago, Google first piloted Chromebooks in classrooms. Today, technology and apps are a regular part of learning experiences in every subject, including English as a second language (ESL), for students from kindergarten through college. Language learning educational apps and software began emerging in the 1990s. Back then, some of the platforms were desktop-only or powered by CD-ROMs. Later, web-based and mobile-based apps became the standard. ... The pandemic greatly expanded and normalized the use of technology in education. ...
https://www.zdnet.com/education/computers-tech/pandemic-virtual-esl-learning/
EAL Students and Instructors find the silver lining in virtual learning
... Learning a new language online has proven to bring challenges because instructors have had to compensate for the limited opportunities for in-person engagement that typically played an important role for EAL students. ... with isolation and fewer interactions and opportunities for connections, students lack confidence in their speaking abilities. According to a 2016 Statistics Canada study, 72.5 per cent of immigrants in Canada reported having a native language other than English. ....
https://theeyeopener.com/2022/01/eal-students-and-instructors-find-the-silver-lining-in-virtual-learning/
Send in the clones: Using artificial intelligence to digitally replicate human voices
... Talking machines like Siri, Google Assistant and Alex ... are now sounding quite human. Thanks to advances in artificial intelligence, or AI, we've reached a point where it's sometimes difficult to distinguish synthetic voices from real ones. I wanted to find out what's involved in the process at the customer end. So I approached San Francisco Bay Area-based natural language speech synthesis company Speech Morphing about creating a clone ... For a basic conversational build, all a customer has to do is record themselves saying a bunch of scripted lines for roughly an hour. And that's about it. ...
https://www.npr.org/2022/01/17/1073031858/artificial-intelligence-voice-cloning
Blogs
Advanced Moodle Activities
Since the pandemic learning management systems have become a common means of hosting online content. Beyond content, LMS provide security, accountability, feedback and various opportunities for collective and individualized learning. The Avenue project is hosted on the Moodle learning management system. Moodle arrives with a set of core activities that include: ...
http://blog.teslontario.org/advanced-moodle-activities/
Wordle – The Trending Online Word Game
If you’re on Twitter, or maybe any social media site, you may have noticed that Wordle is a very popular word-building game. It is a free, web-based word game with no advertising or clutter. It might be a good game for you to try, or even to try with a group of students. ...
http://learnit2teach.ca/wpnew/wordle-the-trending-online-word-game/
Five Free OERs At Your Fingertips You Didn’t Realize
If you are not using Open Educational Resources (OER) yet, you are missing out on being the most efficient learner you can be! Basically, these are free tools learners can use to improve their studies. OERs are readily available at your fingertips, and we’ve done the hard work of finding which ones are best, so you don’t have to!. ...
https://www.lmspulse.com/2022/five-free-oers-at-your-fingertips-you-didnt-realize/
Blurring Videos, Blurring Images, and Other Privacy Tips
Sharing videos and pictures can be a great way to build community and showcase the great things happening in your school. Of course, when we do this we want to do it in a way that protects and respects the privacy of students and our colleagues. To that end, here are some relatively easy things we can do to protect privacy when publishing videos and pictures. ...
https://practicaledtech.com/2021/10/04/blurring-videos-blurring-images-and-other-privacy-tips/
Tools for Annotating Images and Videos
... Today, we have lots of digital options for students to use to ask questions and to respond to questions. And we can respond to them digitally as well. Doing so keeps a record that we can refer to and build upon as needed. These are the tools that I recommend for annotating images and videos with your comments, your questions, your students’ questions, and your students’ comments. ...
https://practicaledtech.com/2021/12/14/tools-for-annotating-images-and-videos/
5 Tips For Teachers To Deliver Effective And Engaging Online Learning
This article offers teachers tips and tricks about innovative ways of learning. Discover 5 ways to use technology effectively in teaching. You may be surprised by the growing eLearning strategies that could help improve the teaching process and help students learn better. ...
https://elearningindustry.com/tips-for-teachers-to-deliver-effective-and-engaging-online-learning
Professional Development
New Resource in the Annotated Bibliography: Mobile and blended, please! Migrants and refugees’ learning choices in a language MOOC. This article reports on a study of 2 language MOOCs for refugees and migrants in Europe examining the types of digital devices that participants preferred to use, how the choice of device affected course completion, and how teaching practice affected the outcomes for participants. The article offers a relevant and useful model of functional language training that may have potential in the field of language instruction for newcomers to Canada.
http://bib.learnit2teach.ca/blog/mobile-and-blended-please-migrants-and-refugees-learning-choices-in-a-language-mooc/
What makes a good language teacher in a changing world?
The quality of students’ teachers can have a major impact on their lives during and after students’ formal education. This article proposes nine areas for teacher improvement toward the goal of being good teachers. These areas for possible improvement include: (a) language proficiency, (b) pedagogical knowledge and skills, (c) understanding of their students, (d) balance of implicit and explicit teaching, (e) membership in communities of teachers, (f) participation in lifelong learning, (g) use of technology, (h) promotion of student engagement and (i) safeguarding of their own health. ...
https://willyrenandya.com/what-makes-a-good-language-teacher-in-a-changing-world/
ADDIE: The Instructional Designers’ Best Friend
After you have been asked to create an online course, and before you let panic set in, reference the ADDIE course development process for guaranteed success.
https://elearningindustry.com/addie-the-instructional-designers-best-friend
Jobs
Subject Expert – Financial Services Language Training (English course)
The Collège Boréal is looking for a subject expert to develop the content for the course Financial Services Language Training, which will be delivered remotely (online and synchronous via videoconference).
https://www.teslontario.org/node/1575058
How to Prepare for a Career as an Online Language Tutor
... Whether you hope to teach virtual English classes for beginners or you are instead keen to help an individual perfect his or her advanced linguistic skills, the (digital) sky’s the limit. There are thousands of available opportunities and many of these can be found with the click of a button. ... Let us therefore take a look at some important prerequisites as well as a handful of skill sets that can help to jumpstart your online teaching career in no time at all. ...
https://vervetimes.com/how-to-prepare-for-a-career-as-an-online-language-tutor/
e-Resource Corner
Learn English With TV Series
On this channel, we will practice and improve our listening comprehension, using your favorite TV shows, movies, and talk shows, to learn to understand native English without getting lost, without missing the jokes, and without subtitles. ... Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, these short, fun lessons are the perfect way to start or end your classes. We also offer free PDF lessons with the full transcript, and explanations of all intermediate vocabulary, native pronunciation, cultural tips, and grammar. http://reallifeglobal.com/lewtv-compilation/
https://www.youtube.com/c/LearnEnglishWithTVSeries/about
Students Learning English Had a Difficult Time During the Pandemic
An interactive reading activity (with audio) from the Voice of America about the challenges of learning English as second language during the pandemic.
https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/students-learning-english-had-a-difficult-time-during-the-pandemic/6306008.html
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New Language Solutions is based in Ottawa, Ontario. We acknowledge that our head office is on the traditional, unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishnaabeg People. Beyond Ottawa, we have staff working in locations across Canada. New Language Solutions is grateful to have the opportunity to work as a guest in communities and territories across the country, and we honour the stewardship of the many Indigenous peoples who have resided on and cared for these lands since time immemorial.
We make our acknowledgement as a sign of respect for all Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island, past and present. We accept the true impact of the past and the pain suffered by generations of Indigenous Peoples. As an agency that works to support the integration of newcomers into Canadian society and cultures, we express our commitment to support activities that are inclusive of Indigenous Peoples. We resolve to address a history of injustice to First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples.
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