I’ve been trying to integrate Twitter into my French class for quite some time now, as I am absolutely convinced of its value and still (to my great astonishment!) underdeveloped potential in language learning.

The article Twitter pour l’apprentissage des langues, published by Elisabeth Buffard on the website of the Académie d’aix-Marseille (for our readers of French), has the virtue of being clear, even for novices. She explains what Twitter is, its advantages, and its potential for the language classroom. She then proposes concrete scenarios for incorporating this medium into language classes. Her examples not only serve as food for thought, but can easily be adapted to your own teaching context.

E. Buffard also reminds us of Twitter’s potential for teacher training (lifelong learning).

For the author of this article, Twitter promotes the learner’s autonomy and represents a “learning booster” as part of a virtual toolkit that plays a role in the autonomous and social learning in which the learner is the main actor and user.

This article is an absolute must-read! http://www.anglais.ac-aix-marseille.fr/spip/spip.php?article470

If you have other examples of how to integrate Twitter in the language classroom, I would be very grateful if you would share your experience with us by posting a comment. Thank you!

 Many thanks to those of you who sent me an email commenting on my previous post. Actually, it may be quite encouraging to know that other teachers are having similar experiences and problems. Moreover, sharing our experiences can have a positive impact on our practices.

Today I’d like to reflect with you on another way of promoting our learner’s autonomy: linking classroom learning with individual and cooperative learning.

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Dr Giovanna Tassinari teaches Italian at the Language Centre of the Freie Universität Berlin. She is the head of the Independant Language Learning Centre and is the author of the case study “Tandem programme at the Language centre of the FUB“. She published in 2010  Autonomes Fremdsprachlernen, Peter Lang Verlag.  As a specialist of learner autonomy, she agreed to participate to this forum and sent us this article. More are to come. Thank you, Giovanna !

Promoting learner autonomy in the classroom: a motivating experience both for teachers and learners

Learner autonomy is the buzz word of the moment. It’s considered to be one of the musts in language learning and teaching nowadays. It’s a prerequisite for life-long learning; it increases motivation; it contributes to individual development and increased social interaction, to critical thinking and much, much more. But what exactly is learner autonomy in the classroom? How do you implement it? Have you ever tried to foster it in your own classroom? Was it successful, effective? How do you feel about this?

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The holidays are around the corner and many of us have already made plans to go somewhere nice, either to relax and unwind in complete peace, or in search of activities and fun, or perhaps a combination of both.

Many of us have also planned to take a holiday abroad, maybe in a country where the local people speak a language new to us. Travelling abroad without any knowledge of the local language will reduce the possibilities of communicating directly with the local population. Don’t believe that English is nowadays sufficient to travel all over the world. This is true for many countries, but unless you go to places where English is the official language, you are likely to get much more out of your holiday if you know some basic vocabulary and phrases of the local language.  English as a vehicular language facilitates the communication but the effort you made to learn some words in the local language will be appreciated by the local people, as it shows your real interest and curiosity and your wish to have an authentic insight into the country you are visiting.

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