"Ning-ing" in a Foreign Language

Have you ever though Facebook or Twitter would be a lot more pleasant an experience were it not for all of the pointless banter about celebrity gossip and sports drama? Or the inescapable flood of posts where the not-so-closest to you tell the world where they went shopping today and who they are watching a movie with? Even more extreme, do you ever just wish you could create your own social network for meaningful discussion and networking ONLY? Well, apparently the creators of Ning, Marc Andreessen and Gina Bianchini, didn't think this was such a radical idea when they launched it in 2005.

Ning is an internet-based platform for individuals and exisiting networks, companies, organizations or other institutions to initiate their own custom social networks. What's cool about Ning is that it provides users the ability to create that network as part of a larger community page with full customization abilities for settings, appearance, theme, and so on. Group administrators are even free to charge current and potential members of their social network. The social websites on the Ning Platform are referred to as Ning Networks, and currently over 90,000 of these Ning Networks are operating.

With that much freedom for the user to customize the network site to such a great extent, its logical that there would be an enormous amount of variety across the Ning Networks in terms of theme or focus for each group. Indeed, Ning Networks are based on everything from sports and entertainment (which you may want to avoid if the above circumstance applies to you) to professional networks of lawyers and educators. Included among them are language educators and those with interest in linguistics.

As a prospective language educator and someone with a strong interest in language diversity and acquisition, the ability to communicate with peers of the same interests in a focused, centrally-themed social network is great news. But is there a Ning Network out there that relates directly to my interests? Yes!

Though my studies focus on ESL and EFL, my personal interest is in French, both in terms of culture and as my L2. This Ning Network, simply titled French Language, aims to allow users to "discuss and learn French," including "French vocabulary, French grammar, French culture etc." A perfect match, or so say the administrators of this Ning Network. But what features make the French Language network worth visiting?

After a scouring of the pages of this network, I quickly found many helpful and centrally located, easil accessible resources to assist in advancing French language learning. The site is packed with links to French language videos, lessons for practice, a French-English dictionary page, vocabularly lists, and even links to French language apps for smartphones. This selection of learning tools is a great informal supplement to the language learnign journey.

But what makes it unique among a huge universe of language websites? Interaction with others. This Ning Network is complete with a list of members that you can contact directly, discussion forums for posing questions about difficulties you are having or just to share the joys of learning French, and best of all, a direct chat feature. Not everyone, even my close friends, has the same interests as I do. Perhaps I might be interested in discussing French with someone who is interested. This allows me to "chat about French" without boring my car-obsessed and sports-maniac friends to death.

Not to be lost on us is the usefulness that this Ning Network (and those similar to it) might have for us in education. As an ESL instructor, I would find it very appropriate to recommend a similar network oriented toward the English language to my students to supplement their classroom learning. The degree to which it benefits their SLA process will go as far as their interest and effort allow it.

I strongly encourage all educators, professionals, and hobbyists alike to give Ning a try. Perhaps you'll find a network that appeals to you or augments your current network of peers and resources!

For ESL, Podcasts Offer Flexibility, Variety

Whether or not you have ever listened to one via streaming or download on your phone or mp3 player, without a doubt everyone with any internet experience has come into contact with podcasts. For those who haven't listened to one yet, you may be asking the question what exactly are podcasts? Well in fact they have no specific purpose or subject. Generally speaking, any audio recording where a bogger, journalist, host, etc. speaks on a topic or a variety of topics of interest within a general them that is available through the internet for the public's consumption could be considered a podcast. Users can subscribe to podcasts from specific websites or hosts, usually for free but sometimes for a charge, and receive them regularly via automatic download or download/stream them one by one. Most commonly podcasts are about news, sports, music, technology and other mainstream topics. Less frequently, but maybe more practical, podcasts are designed and used for educational purposes.

Educational podcasts can be oriented toward common subject areas from science or history for kids, to business or computer science for more mature learners. And, for the L2 learner and educator, there are also podcasts available that aid in language instruction. Virtually every language with a significant number of speakers is represented through language acquisition podcasts, and more widely used languages like English, Spanish, Mandarin, French and so on have podcasts from hundreds of reputable sources. The manner in which they go about exposing the listener to the language, and to some extent putting it into practice, can vary greatly depending on the platform and intended audience.

As a student of French, I have used podcasts myself to increase the amount of input from the target language, or TL, that I take in. My favorite podcast source, and the one I use most frequently, is the French-based, multilingual news agency Radio France Internationale, or RFI. This agency, created by the government of France, has as a secondary mission (after news reporting, of course) the promotion of the French language throughout the world. For those who decide to use RFI for French language learning, there is an accompanying iPod app to get the most out of the podcasts. Ideally, one would have the app through which they can listen to a daily podcast focuses on the top world news stories in addition to some Eurpean economic and sports news. These podcasts are spoken in basic, simple French and are accompanied by a French-language transcript to follow along with. Of course, if someone had no knowledge of French (or whatever the TL may be) reading and listening may serve only to recognize the relationship between the phonology and morphology of lexical items. However, though even that may be quite useful, I don't think anyone would recommend podcasts as a stand-alone or introductory means of learning an L2. It serves best in a role as one tool of many, a piece of the puzzle.

Having learned firsthand the value of podcasts as a part of augmenting exposure to a TL and thus SLA, its only logical to implement (or at least suggest) them as part of a language learning curriculum for my ESL students. While I think the most effective podcasts for SLA, whether the TL is French, English or Afrikaans, are those accompanied by apps that are interactive or provide a visual aspect as well, it would be unfair to assume all students have or want an iPod or smartphone that is capable of running such apps. There are useful alternatives. One series that I have been exploring and find to have an interesting approach to basic exposure to spoken English is 6 Minute English produced by the BBC. These podcasts explore one story of general interest each week that range from the "War on Drugs" in Australia to cyber attacks in Bangladesh and even invasive plant life in Antarctica.

The podcasts are 'hosted' by two actors that go by the monikers of Chris and Rosie. Chris introduces the news report to Rosie and, by extension, the audience. While narrating the story, Rosie acts as commentator, sharing her personal thoughts, opinions, and questions. She serves as a learner, and it is through her simple questions in elementary English where an English learner at a low proficiency would gain some insight into the content of the conversation. An example of the general pattern of each podcast in the series can be heard in this episode titled Dream apps posted on Friday April 20th, 2012. Here, Chris introduces the topic, but before starting presents a multiple choice trivia question to the audience. He asks "what do Margaret Thatcher, Napoleon Bonaparte and Florence Nightingale have in common?" and presents three choices (  a. They all dreamt of becoming farmers when they were children; b. They all suffered from a recurring nightmare of being bitten by spiders; and c. They all usually slept for just four hours a night, for those that are interested), but does not disclose the answer. This is intended to keep the listener interested, perhaps even if they are not so enticed by the topic of the podcast, which is unrelated by design.

Moving on to the subject of "dream apps," Chris explains how researchers have developed an app for the iPone, soon to be released for Android phones, called Dream: ON that allows users to select the time they want to wake up in addition to their ideal dream scenario. The app uses a motion sensor to detect when the user is in a dream state and uses various "soundscapes" to induce desired scenarios in the sleeper via the subconscious mind. Researchers believe that positively influencing dreams can aid sufferers of sleep disorders and depression. As Chris shares the information about the app, Rosie frequently interjects to express her wonder at the idea and also to ask questions about it, some of which Chris laughs at and implies are silly. In some sense, though she sounds like an adult, she speaks with the mannerisms and figures of speech of a child. Rather than some form of veiled sexism that first comes to mind, I feel the real intent of the presentation of her character is, as noted above, to allow an opening for the listener to become engaged and follow the story through her elementary use of the English language and exaggerated emotion in speech. This emotion provides context and meaning to her speech that may be inaccessible to the learner in plain speech.

As we have seen, podcasts are in fact a very helpful addition to any language learner's acquisition process. The best part about podcasts for ESL or any TL is that there is such a wide variety of approaches to different types of L2 inputs and the learning process. At worst, any exposure to a foreign language is written or spoken form is beneficial by at least getting the learner accustomed to the sound and appearance of the language. Good podcasts (and the possible accompanying apps)however, like the two discussed above, provide an added aspect to supplement typical listening to bland, monotone speech. With podcasts, your ESL or other foreign language learner can choose when they listen, what they listen to, and the extent to which they engage the subject matter.