Technology for Language Production and Virtual Exchange

By Linh Phung, EdD

On September 21, 2024, I had the pleasure of presenting to colleagues at the TESOL Live: Connect Around the World event 🌍🎤. It was delightful to see many familiar names and faces from colleagues I've been connected with through events, conferences, and social media 👩‍🏫👨‍💻, as well as colleagues I have never met before. I shared some of my most successful projects in facilitating language production and virtual exchange 🌐 using technology not only as a tool, but also as windows and playgrounds for learners, extending learning beyond classroom walls and making it a "porous classroom" 🪟🏫.

These projects include:

🎉 Zoom holiday celebrations like the Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration in 2021. See a Facebook post here.

🗣 Dozens and dozens of conversation hours organized by Eduling International with American students and guest speakers.

🍀The Let's Talk Friday series during the Covid-19 pandemic at Chatham University

🤩 Story Circles in Zoom. See my video about how to implement a Story Circles session here.

❤ The 14-week Discord project reported in this article.

👉 The Eduling Speak app with opportunities for learners to talk in pairs and with AI. Download it from the App Store or Google Play Store or with this link.

👉 The Pangea Chat app and my free pilot this year to allow learners of all levels to learn a new language while texting and audio messaging. I have two spots left for this pilot. You can sign up with this form: https://forms.gle/CXEpAnsdkRY4Xsgv7

✨We acknowledge that organizing events and virtual exchange projects is very time-consuming and administratively heavy ⏳💻. Successful projects require careful preparation 🎯. Some of my most successful events feature a combination of music 🎶, poetry 📜, storytelling 📚, guest speakers 🧑‍🏫, and games 🎮. The technology platforms I've used include Zoom, Discord, Eduling Speak, and now Pangea Chat 💬.

Btw, here's an upcoming event addressing Virtual Exchange (VE): 𝙊𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘽𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙑𝙞𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡 𝙀𝙭𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚, a 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 webinar presented by 𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘁 𝗢’𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗱 (Universidad de León, Spain). Wednesday, October 23, 2024, 10-11:30 AM Arizona (UTC -7).

The participants also shared some of their favorite activities and technologies used. Here's a list:

• Guest speakers

• Theatre club for young learners

• Great debates, "Be the Teacher" activities, cultural presentations

• Task-based learning approaches and task-based activities

• Storytelling, music, poetry, and games

• Writing five questions

• Kidzglish Telecollaborative Project for young learners

• Bilingual, virtual story hour for elementary students and families

The tecnology platforms and applications mentioned include (in alphabetical order):

• AI (Gemini, ChatGPT)

• Class Dojo

• CommonLit

• Copilot

• Discord

• Eduling Speak

• GEC Proprietary Education Systems (Web, Mobile, AI)

• Google (Google Meet, Google Drive)

• IXL

• Kahoot

• Mentimeter

• MIRO

• M-Learning with devices

• NewsELA

• Pangea Chat

• Padlet

• PockeTalks

• Quizizz

• Quizlet

• SLACK

• SpatialChat

• Telegram

• Telemost (Yandex Telemost)

• Voice function on Smartphone

• WhatsApp

• Wordwall

• Zoom

My takeaway from the experience is for us to keep experimenting, connecting, and sharing! 🔄🙌💡

Thank you Monica Baker, Mary Hillis, Hind Elkhatim Elyas, and the Membership Professional Council of TESOL International Association for organizing the event.

About Dr. Linh Phung: Dr. Linh Phung is a dedicated international educator, innovator, and leader with a proven track record of directing successful educational programs, fostering academic excellence, and driving innovation in language learning. With Eduling, she leads a cross-functional team of IT developers, content developers, and designers in the development of Eduling Speak, an app offering English courses based on input-based, AI-human, and human-human communicative tasks and games. She's also a published author and expert in language education with publications in high impact journals. the list of her books is listed at HL BOOKS. She served as an English Language Specialist with the U.S. Department of State in 2023 and has experience working in industry as a senior research analyst.