Using Cell Phones & Google Voice in Foreign Language

My co-instructor Jeff Stanzler sent me this Educause article about a Spanish teacher who started using Google Voice with his students for oral language activities. While I have been talking about the potential benefits of Google Voice and foreign language, this is the first time I have really seen it put into practice. Here are a few Key Takeaways from the article:

• To pursue a paradigm shift in education with limited finances, schools should consider taking advantage of ubiquitous cell phone technology for pedagogical purposes that square with best practices within appropriate disciplines.
• New Internet SMS and messaging services are proving especially useful to language teachers, turning the focus away from the particulars of language and writing and toward whole language oral output and pronunciation, even at the beginner level.
• Cell phones give faculty access to students both in and out of the classroom, providing greater power to instruct, persuade, cajole, encourage, motivate, and engage.
• Students who record their voices in computer language labs or using cell phones become more engaged and invested in those potentially public recordings.

The Author (Peyton Jobe) describes how he uses Google Voice with both upper and lower level Spanish students:

"Cell phones offer an accountability tool for teachers inside the classroom. As an example, for lower level classes I can instruct my students to form small groups and, within a given time frame, call my Google Voice number and record a narration of an illustration or picture sequence. In the higher level classes, I can ask groups to come up with a succinct recorded comparison/contrast analysis of two different perspectives (textual and/or auditory) on a given subject. Either way, embracing whole language oral output turns the focus from the particulars of language and writing to whole language and pronunciation. It also allows for efficient instructor identification of common problem points."

Reverse Cell Phone Search

The search for the identity of an unknown caller is not as difficult as you think. Even if you can find the information you want for free, many of your success will depend on luck. It's much easier to get membership in a private reverse cell phone directory because surely get what you want - owner details such as name, address, and wireless service carrier.

People need to find information telephone number for a variety of reasons. Whether you are concerned about their children was a teenager hanging around with, or need to stop the very annoying prank caller, or even the need to stop harassing stalker, conducting reverse cell phone trace is a legitimate means of examining questionable people - especially if you suspect that your significant other be cheated.

But again, to identify the unknown persons for free, you will need to get lucky. The only way you can find your private information if they are willing to put it on the Internet. This way you can find it by doing a search with their phone number on the major search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN. Otherwise, your only option is to make a small investment with a real database mobile phone that allows you to do a reverse lookup on virtually any phone number.

The reason that you can not find details of mobile phone online for free is due to transient nature of mobile phone life. People are constantly changing number of cells, and as a result they are simply too difficult to monitor on a uniform basis (for free). Maintaining accurate and up-to-date mobile database is simply too complicated and costs too much money to be made available on-line for free. People are also worried about having their phone numbers in the open telemarketers use, so the government made it very difficult for people to reveal details of a mobile phone number.

But do not worry, accurate and up to date reverse phone number search directory exist and are very affordable. The best of them allow you to purchase lifetime membership for unlimited searches, or if you feel the need for unrestricted access, you can make a small investment in one search. Allows you to search without pre-check the information you are looking for is available in its database, at which point you can decide whether or not you want to get it.

Does Your 9 Year Old Have a Cell Phone?

• The average 13 to 17 year old sends 2000 text messages a month!
• The average age to first own a cell phone is between 9 & 10
• The average age to borrow a cell phone is 8

Reference Here

Cell Phones in Learning Radio Show Dec. 2nd: Education Technology Developer Rick Weinberg