Flipgrid ideas for ELL and Foreign Language Teachers

Flipgrid is a #HiddenGem 💎 for ELL and Foreign Language Teachers. I can remember sitting in the “language labs” that a few schools or universities were lucky enough to have back in the 1970s or 1980s or so (before there were personal computers to put into labs). They often had a collection of soft seats or pods that were accompanied by individual “sound stations” where students could “play” foreign language recordings and then record their own voices for teacher scrutiny. Think cassette-type technology, sometimes with a line into or out of a grand teacher control station. I don’t think any language teacher of that era would not envy the ease with which today’s teachers can take a multi-use video tool like Flipgrid and easily turn it into so many language learning experiences.

Here’s a workflow for practicing “speaking” skills using Flipgrid

1️⃣Teacher records practice passage in Flipgrid
2️⃣Teacher edits captions (from Microsoft’s Immersive Reader) for accuracy
3️⃣Students practice speaking along with the teacher “track”
4️⃣Students mute the teacher’s voice and continue to practice by reading the captions on the teacher track
5️⃣Students record their practiced version; this can be in the same topic as the original teacher recording, or perhaps the teacher has made a separate ‘topic’ for each student in order to create a more private environment
6️⃣Teacher listens to student recording and responds with feedback in either language

Flipgrid and Fluency Assessment

Teachers in our district have to do benchmark reports for English Language Learners. Part of this involves measuring and assessing fluency. This can feel like a huge add-on if a teachers has to sit and listen to each student read and speak individually. This is especially true for the schools which have almost entire populations of ELL students.

Flipgrid Voice pods make recording a treat!

Flipgrid has offered a relief for these teachers. Teachers now have their students do fluency recordings in Flipgrid. Younger learners especially look forward to this if they get to record in a Flipgrid Voicepod!

Teachers also feel that they are more accurate with their assessments as they are able to rewind and review videos if necessary. And, if it seems that the student’s recording doesn’t measure up to the student’s real life fluency, teachers can simply disregard the recording and focus on those few individuals.