[PeterParker]

http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.c ... ran=189128

iPods help students review lessons, practice vocabulary

By JANETTE RODRIGUES, The Virginian-Pilot
© February 6, 2007


CHESAPEAKE - Kathy O'Connor remembers being stunned when one of the students in her intermediate Spanish class told her just how much she listened to her language lab CDs after they were put on an iPod.

The Tidewater Community College student listened to and repeated Spanish "vocabulario" and comprehension exercises downloaded to the digital-audio player when she cleaned her home, waited in the doctor's office and while her husband watched sports.

"She estimated that she spends seven to eight hours more listening to Spanish than she would if she did not have them on her iPod," said O'Connor, an associate professor who teaches Spanish at TCC's Chesapeake campus.

Lab lessons are the brussels sprouts of foreign language instruction. Next to no one likes them no matter how good they are for you. But iPods make them palatable.

Professors are finding that iPods equal increased proficiency when it comes to foreign language students. And more and more local colleges and universities are turning devices created to entertain into must-have classroom technology.

A year ago, the College of William and Mary might have been the only institute of higher learning in the region putting the popular handheld devices to academic use.

Now, O'Connor is pioneering iPod instruction at TCC. She handed out the fully loaded devices during a beginners Spanish class Wednesday. Scrolling down the iPod menu, she showed students how to access dozens of lab and vocabulary lessons as well as some Latin pop music.


"Menudo?" quipped one student.

Norfolk State University plans to start podcasting professors' lectures by this summer.

Virginia Wesleyan College hasn't climbed aboard this speeding technology train, but Old Dominion University's Language Learning Center is doing podcasts and vodcasts, or video podcasts.

Betty Rose Facer, a senior lecturer and center director, said ODU started doing podcasts of French, Italian, Spanish and Japanese classes last year.

This semester, the school is podcasting Italian and French classes.

"It's great for students who want to review," she said. "With the limited time in class, it gives them extra time with the authentic language. So we have been really pleased with the results we are getting."

ODU professors wear wireless microphones on their lapels during lectures, which Facer records on a computer. She uses a podcasting program called GarageBand to put the lectures online.

A $3,000 ODU innovator grant paid for the hardware and software. ODU students use their personal iPods to download the information.

TCC student Lindleigh Whetstone, 18, of Chesapeake got her iPod two weeks ago during an intermediate Spanish class.

She'll miss it when she transfers to a small Arkansas university. The device helped her improve her fluency in Spanish.

"Instead of listening to music in my car, I listen to Spanish conversation," she said.