Voicethread vs Voxopop

I think that both tools are really good because they have different options that we can use in order to develop a different class for our students. I can say that in my case at the beginning they represented a headache because I had never worked with these kind of tools, so it was really difficult for me to develop my tasks. But once you learn how to use them, they are an advantage because you can present a new experience to your students.  They can enjoy using these kind of programs as long as you bring clearly instructions on how to use them.

In my opinion about Voicethread I have to say that I really enjoyed using this program because it brings a variety of options that you can use in order to share a topic, an opinion or a story through audio, images, videos or text.  Also another important option is that allows you to make it public or just for a closed group. They can comment or give their opinion using the option they prefer to use for example they have the option to record their voice, a video or just typing. I think it would be a great tool for us as future teachers to incorporate  this kind of technology to make learning interesting and fun for our students.

Regarding Voxopop I found that is a useful tool but as in Voicethread you have to know how to use it because in my special case I continue having some doubts about how to use it even though I think Voxopop is a good way to generate in students more speaking opportunities. 

INTERVIEW

I interviewed Connie and she told me that the skill that took her more time to develop was the speaking skill because at the beginning of the major she did not know too much vocabulary so that it was difficult for her to express her ideas or to share opinions with her classmates and teachers. In my opinion I think that at the beginning of the major the speaking skill is always one of the main problems that learners of a new language face and everyone have pass through that problem because we are not native speakers, we are students and we are in a process so we have to be patience because we do not manage an extended vocabulary since the beginning, but we are going to improve this weak through the pass of time and by practicing a lot. She also explained me what were some of the strategies she put in practice in order to learn more vocabulary to not have too many problems at the time to express herself. First of all, she started to read as many articles in English as was possible. In this way she added new words to her vocabulary. Additionally, she found that T.V. programs and listening to music in English was really useful to enhance her vocabulary. I also asked her what kind of activities did she like her teacher to develop in regards to her weak skill and she answered that she really liked to participate in role plays and impromptu speeches because those activities  gave her the opportunity to express her thoughts. Debates were another type of activities which helped her a lot because they involve the students in the use of language. At the present time she considers she has improved her speaking skill, but of course she knows that she has to continue with the learning process because learning is an endless process.

Poor Conditions in Public Schools

Every year many students attend public schools with the desire to learn and acquire new knowledge and useful tools to form part of a society and become better persons during their educational process. Students attend the first day of school very excited. They want to meet their new classmates and their teachers. Also they ask who is going to be the teacher in charge of their grade during the whole year to help them every time they require of him or her when they have a doubt or need an advice; but during those first days of school they also realize that they are going to face many problems that they did not expect as new students in a public school.

We have to be realistic and talk about the poor conditions in which our public schools are. I could not talk with a student and ask for an opinion, but I really have present a period in which I had to help a teacher in a public school, so I can share my opinion  and say that I lived the problems together with the students in that public school. The first problem I faced when I arrived to the school was that I had to help a teacher that was specialized in other subject, but not in English. She did her best effort trying to teach English to her students, but it was not her specialty, so it was kind of complicated for her at the time to teach. I asked the principal why didn´t they hire an English teacher? She answered me that they had asked for an English teacher for that year, but they did not receive a response from the Department of Education and the time to start classes was almost beginning, so they decided to ask for a volunteer to impart the subject even when any of them was an English teacher.

Another big surprise for me was that two of the grades in this same school did not have classrooms where the students could receive their classes in a normal and confortable way. The first days it was really difficult to teach because they were exposed to many factors that made impossible to give the classes in a normal way, for example the teacher had to speak really really loud because of the noise from the other grades and because the students did not pay too much attention and get distracted easily where they were located. After some days the students were located in two temporary classrooms made by themselves and their parents but they had no walls so they continue with the same problem of the noise and the distractions. After a time the teacher and the students get accustomed to the noise, but then they faced another problem: the weather. Without no walls when raining it was hard and really sad to see them in those classrooms.

Now I do not know if they solved those problems or they continue in the same way, but we have to think how difficult are the situations that are going through many school, not only in the case of the school I used as example but for other schools that maybe are facing more difficult problems at the time to receive the students every year and do not have the best conditions to do their jobs.