Hello everyone!

I just wanted to let you know that I have created a technoLanguages ning network. I know you aren't all languages teachers, but if you can pass the link on to those who are and might be interested in joining then that would be great!

technoLanguages has a few groups around the place - blog, here on diigo, flicr etc and so I thought a ning was one way to put it all in one place. It's a network for languages educators who are interested in conversations about language learning and teaching, technology and 21st century education. I'm guessing that most of you know what nings are and how they work, but if you aren't sure - it's like Facebook or MySpace. You have a profile page and you add friends within the network, you can leave comments on people's pages and start discussion and special interest groups on whatever you like, as well as sharing photos and videos. I hope you'll join me at: http://technolanguages.ning.com but if you are just thinking 'my god, not another ning network!' then I totally understand! :-)

(Of course technooLanguages bookmarks will continue to be saved here).

Hope to see you there,
Jess.

You are a busy bee Jess. I hope that this gets going for you. The way we study languages is going to change so much because of the way we can now use the web as a communication tool. There are very exciting times ahead for you as a teacher of Chinese. I'm intrigued. How come you ended up studying Chinese? it must be a very difficult language to learn and teach.
cheers Anne

Jess McCulloch wrote:
> Hello everyone!
>
> I just wanted to let you know that I have created a technoLanguages ning network. I know you aren't all languages teachers, but if you can pass the link on to those who are and might be interested in joining then that would be great!
>
> technoLanguages has a few groups around the place - blog, here on diigo, flicr etc and so I thought a ning was one way to put it all in one place. It's a network for languages educators who are interested in conversations about language learning and teaching, technology and 21st century education. I'm guessing that most of you know what nings are and how they work, but if you aren't sure - it's like Facebook or MySpace. You have a profile page and you add friends within the network, you can leave comments on people's pages and start discussion and special interest groups on whatever you like, as well as sharing photos and videos. I hope you'll join me at: http://technolanguages.ning.com but if you are just thinking 'my god, not another ning network!' then I totally understand! :-)
>
> (Of course technooLanguages bookmarks will continue to be saved here).
>
> Hope to see you there,
> Jess.

Hi Anne!

Busy bee, yes, I think I might just beeeee on of those!
I ended up studying Chinese because I really enjoyed Chinese history in Yr 12 and I thought I should take up an Asian language at Uni. (I did French in Yr 12). Everyone else seemed to be doing Japanese so I took up Chinese. It is a tough language to learn, but there are ways around that. The toughest thing about teaching it though is not the language itself but the kids attitudes towards it - they assume it's too hard for them and so don't give it much of a go sometimes. Plus there are all the other attitudes that come with it being as Asian language (especially when you work in a country area) but the teaching of characters is not that hard once you crack the code!

There are some very exciting times ahead for language teaching. There is so much potential for engaging students in so many different ways that it is just fabulous. I'm having an excellent time! :-)

Jess

Anne Baird wrote:
> You are a busy bee Jess. I hope that this gets going for you. The way we study languages is going to change so much because of the way we can now use the web as a communication tool. There are very exciting times ahead for you as a teacher of Chinese. I'm intrigued. How come you ended up studying Chinese? it must be a very difficult language to learn and teach.
> cheers Anne

I know what you mean by kids attitudes to Asian languages; though I've found it's often fed by their parents attitude. By the way, how did you get to crack the code? I like your picture on the ning of play dough characters - play dough is on my list of things to buy, along with new fly swatters. Keep up the good work Jess!
Cheers,

Andrew J


Jess McCulloch wrote:
> Hi Anne!
>
> Busy bee, yes, I think I might just beeeee on of those!
> I ended up studying Chinese because I really enjoyed Chinese history in Yr 12 and I thought I should take up an Asian language at Uni. (I did French in Yr 12). Everyone else seemed to be doing Japanese so I took up Chinese. It is a tough language to learn, but there are ways around that. The toughest thing about teaching it though is not the language itself but the kids attitudes towards it - they assume it's too hard for them and so don't give it much of a go sometimes. Plus there are all the other attitudes that come with it being as Asian language (especially when you work in a country area) but the teaching of characters is not that hard once you crack the code!
>
> There are some very exciting times ahead for language teaching. There is so much potential for engaging students in so many different ways that it is just fabulous. I'm having an excellent time! :-)
>
> Jess
>
> Anne Baird wrote:
> > You are a busy bee Jess. I hope that this gets going for you. The way we study languages is going to change so much because of the way we can now use the web as a communication tool. There are very exciting times ahead for you as a teacher of Chinese. I'm intrigued. How come you ended up studying Chinese? it must be a very difficult language to learn and teach.
> > cheers Anne