HISP 205

Note: this course is not a course about technology, but technology will figure prominently in what we do. Therefore, I do not expect you to master the vocabulary of technology in Spanish. Any or all tech instruction will be in English. As is this page

I do, however, expect you to become familiar with the tools we use in this class (blogs, Second Life, WoW, social networking tools..) in order that you may choose some or all of them as a way to engage with native speakers, use the language in active ways, and push your speaking abilities to new levels.

~~~~~~~

BLOGGING:

Check out some of the resources that are available here, but be sure to look for examples in WordPress 2.6, not 2.7.

http://ithemes.com/tutorials/

Here are some how tos that might help you as you make your posts. Adding media will allow you to have richer, more though provoking posts and will engage your audience in new and different ways.

1. Adding a link

• First, find the page you want to link to, then highlight the url and copy it (ctrl-c for pc; command-c for mac)
• Then, highlight the text in the post that you want to serve as the link text (the title of the article or something).
• Click the link icon in the formatting bar at the top of the post text box.
• A box will appear that allows you to paste the link in. Paste the link in the “link url” box. You can ignore the other boxes.
• Click insert and you’re done!

2. Adding images.

• Either have the url for the image that you want to include or have an image on your computer ready to go.
• Click the star next to Add Media:
• If you’re uploading an image, click the Choose File to Upload button.
• After selecting the file, write in a you can choose options such aligning it to the left or right or resizing it.
• If you’re adding a link to a picture, you’ll need to switch to html mode by clicking the html tab in the upper right-hand corner of the post box.
• Enter the url for the image in the pop-up box. Enter the description in the next pop-up box.
• Switch back to visual mode to see the results. Clicking on the image and then the “edit image” icon gives you more options.
• You can add a caption or change the alignment. Click update to change the image.

3. Adding video

• Although you can upload video just like images, we’re not recommending it since we have some space constraints on this blog site. So, if you make your own video, just upload it to YouTube first and then follow the directions below.
• click on the yellow circle icon with the A in the middle (far right icon in the edit window)
• include the entire URL for the YouTube video.
• Voila! Video!

 

 

4. Adding audio:

an example of a podcast/audio file embedded in a blog post

I recorded this with Audio Recorder on the Mac in the CILC.  The file is saved as an .mp3 and can be uploaded (just like an image –see above–) immediately.

5. Making a post password protected:

When authoring a post, there is a sidebar menu (depicted below) that appears to your right.

One of the buttons is “Page Password”  Click on the plus sign, and insert a password.  Save the post.  To check and see if your post is indeed password-protected, quit your browser, launch your blog and see if you are asked for a password to access your most recent post.

 

 

 

SECOND LIFE:

Second Life is loaded on to all of the machines in the CILC . You can also download it for your home machine as well. I would recc’d that you always use SL on a wired connection… not wireless (it will be too slow).

There are certainly a lot of creepy, weird places in SL. And odd people. We will try to avoid those for this class and instead find some really interesting places to meet native speakers who would like to help you with your Spanish.

Here is a wiki that a student and I put together with useful information about Second Life and sites to visit where Spanish is spoken,,, As we find more places to visit (Second Life urls or SLurls) we will add them to the wiki and to our class deli.cio.us site (see below)

http://languages.oberlin.edu/secondlife

 

 

WORLD OF WARCRAFT:

The European version of WoW is loaded on the machines in the CILC. The Spanish language pack is also installed. Outcome? You can text and talk in Spanish to Spanish speakers while playing the game. I would NOT recc’d buying and installing the game unless you are going to play it seriously…it is expensive (and time consuming)

Here is a wiki that another student, Kit, created for me as an independent study last semester:

http://languages.oberlin.edu/wow/

 

DEL.ICIO.US

Delicious is a social bookmarking tool (huh?). This tools will allow us as a class to collaborates ans share bookmarks (urls) that we find about the topics we are reviewing and share them in one central place. That place is:

http://delicious.com/HISP205

On the margin of the HISP 205 main blog there is a tag cloud from our delicious site. These are from links and urls that we used last year in HISP 205. Be sure to check the list of previously used tags when adding things to our delicious site.

I will give you the login for the HISP205 account on delicious in class. Enjoy.

 

SOCIAL NETWORKING TOOLS

Facebook is primarily a US phenomenon, but social networking is worldwide. If you go to our delicious site and click on the tag “socialnetworking” you will discover several Spanish-language social networking sites (Tuenti, Sonico, Wamba.. .among others) and then sites like Kroonos… a place where people swop time and talent (1/2 hour of Spanish for a 1/2 hour of English maybe?)

 Explore.  Have fun.

SKYPE and MIXXER

Skype is a voice over IP tool that allows users to “call” one another for free using a computer. It is also possible (for a fee) to call a telephone via Skype. On any givem moment there are several million people using Skype all over the world.

Once you have a Skype account (is free) you can use it on any of the machines in the CILC .

Skype, when coupled with Mixxer, provides you with a wonderful network of language speakers and learners. It too is free. Sign up, create an account, tell it what language you speak and what language you wish to practice. Alternatively you can look and see what is looking for English language practice in a Spanish speaking country.

 

As always, if you have questions, please contact me (barbara -dot- sawhill@ oberlin -dot- edu)