FMD - Fondazione Mondo Digitale

09/22/2021 | News release | Distributed by Public on 09/23/2021 00:44

Studying with Avatars

For our 33rd appointment with "Our School" Professors, we are back in Rome to meet Giuseppina Giaimo, Professor of English at the Liceo scientifico Gisueppe Peano. Prof. Giaimo develops projects for learning foreign languages and with her work group she has worked on a course that uses digital avatars to promote a contextualized learning of a language.

As usual, we share a short self-presentation video and then the interview with researcher Ilaria Gaudiello, who coordinates the works of the open source community of professors and educators.

INTERVIEW

Giuseppina, can you tell us about your work as a teacher?

I have been an English teacher for a long time. After graduating from Sapienza University of Rome, I have been teaching at too schools: a classic and a scientific "liceo." I believe that the fundamental characteristics for my job, which are necessary to create a healthy relationship with students, include determination, communication skills and honesty. Moreover, I have always found professional updating courses to be fundamental, both to obtain certifications and to keep abreast of new developments in learning and communication in society. My interlocutors are young. So, it is important that I speak in their language and understand the tools that they use. And, in this case, the web has provided a great opportunity.

Teaching foreign languages also naturally leads to study trips and international cultural exchanges, both during the school year and the summer.

Besides my work, I like reading, listening to music, running and art. However, most of my time goes to my family! All these aspects contribute to improving my empathy as a teacher.

Today, I'm in love with my job and I try to be light and funny. My students would certainly not balk to seem me hold a lesson like this ...

Your experience teaching English in secondary schools has also involved foreign classes. What role do digital tools play?

Digital tools have allowed us to continue to enjoy cultural exchanges during the Covid pandemic. At our school, we enjoyed meeting with both European and non-European countries. Us teachers met weekly to create activities for students to enjoy in small groups. Each group was formed by students from different countries, who communicated together in English, every two weeks.

The project will continue this year, too. Our group of teachers - from California, Iowa, Brazil, Spain, the Czech Republic, Israel and Italy - has become a tight-knit group. And we supported each other throughout the difficult lockdown, comparing ideas and collaborating on how to react to the period of crisis.

You co-developed a course that uses digital avatars for contextualized language learning.

I stumbled upon "Our School" by accident! I am a very curious person and I like to try new things out. My innovation team includes four colleagues from different regions and we immediately hit it off! We have worked together optimally, each one of us with their own skills, experiences and character, creating a course for the first two years of the liceo programme. We used web applications to allow students to memorize expressions and train their linguistic skills (pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar), who then used an avatar to speak with the class. This allowed us to introduce gamification and allow students to tackle learning like a videogame.

The activities, in class and on-line, were very successful, both in terms of learning and fun.

The main results achieved with the course were:

  • All students, including the most fragile, exhibited great enthusiasm and participation
  • Avatars are an excellent tool with which to overcome shyness when practicing a foreign language
  • Students gain trust in the teacher and interest in the subject when subjects are taught with their languages and tools

Projects for the future: What would you like to work on this year?

Support from "Our School" will be fundamental to exchange points of view with colleagues from other schools, learn about different experiences and be inspired to transform all this into activities. Sharing is crucial to continue working in a productive and creative manner.

In particular, this year, I would like to work on a shared reading project with labs in which students can compare ideas and express their opinions. Unfortunately, students do not read much, and school textbooks are full of anthologies that do not allow them to grasp full stories, which students often get from seeing movie adaptations of novels. Unfortunately, movies often reduce their imagination. I believe that before enjoying a move director's interpretation of a book, students should form their own.

What readings would you recommend to the community?

As a teacher, I like books that help me to understand emotional aspects of learning and teaching. I loved Goleman's "Emotional Intelligence," as well Massimo Recalcati's "L'ora di Lezione" and the more recent "A libro aperto" and "La tentazione del muro."

Recently, I have been enjoying biographies. I have read one of Oscar Wilde and one of James Joyce. And then I delved into the censure of Joyce's "Ulysses" in the United States, including "The most dangerous book: The Battle for James Joyce's Ulysses" by Kevin Birmingham who narrates the American reaction to the novel and its trial for obscenity. In fact, I addressed the two subjects in class with student workgroups. The results have been extremely satisfying and constructive, so I will continue along this route to promote their personal growth.