Interviews and My App

I had three different groups of people to interview and question. Individuals in the first group were, a freshman Temple student (P1), a human resources employee (P2), and a friend of mine who is a house wife (P3). I used the questions Christina offered us in the PDF.

• Do you have a cellphone? 

P1- "Yes, I have a Galaxy S6 Active."

P2- "Yes, I do."

P3- "Yes I have a cellphone. I have Samsung Galaxy S4 Active."

• How often do you use your phone?  

 P1- " I use my cellphone almost constantly."

 P2- "Daily and often."

 P3- " I use my phone all the time every day."

• What do you use your phone to do?

 P1- " I usually use it to text or snap-chat my friends, email, Facebook, and play games when I'm         bored. I feel that the "call" feature in cellphones is no longer the most important aspect to  most people, as it was in the past."

P2- "Talk on the phone, text, check and send email, social media, camera for pictures and video, voice recorder."

P3-  "I  use my cell phone for send and receive  emails, text messages, phone calls, keep notes, messenger, listen to music, What's app, Skype, time check, prayers time, news check, the road GPS, alarm, stop watch, amazon orders, calculator, check the date, write appointment, and birthdays, take and keep pictures, record notes, read posts and post on Facebook, check the weather, google, check my bank account, pay my bills, check my credit card statement."

•  What can a phone do, that a desktop computer cannot?

P1- "Compared to a desktop, my phone offers extreme mobility. If you think about it, these days, most phones can do just about everything a computer can. I can use Microsoft office, browse the internet, and edit photos. But it's all the extras that set a phone apart. Speaking on the phone, instant knowledge and information on the go, and even a navigation System."

P2- "Take pictures, talk on the phone, it's light and portable."

P3- "Cellphone fits in my pocket and I  can take it everywhere. Desktop is bulky to take anywhere.

Things I can do with my phone and not my laptop, make and receive phone calls,  send and receive SMS, and take pictures."

The second group of people was three educators of my colleagues, the first one teaches Arabic (P1), the second one teaches French (P2), and the third one teaches German (P3). For this interview, I used the questions Christina posted this week's page. 

• What do you notice about the interests students bring to their classrooms?

P(1)- "My students always ask questions advanced to their level. They want to know everything about the language in a very short time.They bring to the classroom amazing  curiosity and desire to learn."

P(2)- "Students are very interested in popular culture (current music, film, commercials, technology)."

P(3)- " Students don't bring many interests to the classroom. The interests I am aware of are sports, music, connecting with friends esp. through social media, course work." 

• In what ways do you (or can you imagine) connecting these interests to academics pursuits and curricular goals?

P(1)-  "They use new words in their homework and in the classroom  all the time and always google not only the meaning of these new words but also the pronunciation. I see them understand how a small change in the endings of the words can make the difference between subject and direct object or between possessive construction and adjective  and how that changes the meaning of the sentence and sometimes makes it funny. They joke all the time and make little changes to  the words to make up silly sentences. They use that to write comprehension and translate paragraphs and that makes  them able to say what they want in the correct way and correct grammar." 

  

P(2)- "I use these elements (music, film, tech...) depending on the vocabulary and grammar targeted in class. It helps 1. contextualize the material 2. make it meaningful/relevant to the students and 3. take the language study to a cultural level."

P(3)- "I can imagine integrating course work into social media. We already use D2L for discussion groups, but I think students would be more engaged if they could post to a site directly and easily from their smartphones."

• How do you mostly use your phone? To connect with people? To create something new? To play?

P(1)- "I use my phone to connect with people through emails, sms, Whats app, Skype, messenger, and  phone calls. I read the news, check the weather and the road and traveling time, also posts on face book. I also use the calculator, amazon, alarm, I also use it to  keep addresses and important

 notes, know the time and check my credit card and bank statements, pay my bills, google translation 

I use Google for everything."

P(2)- "I never use my phone with my students except to answer to their emails if I'm away from home."

(P3)- "I use my phone primarily for writing texts or what's app, making phone calls, taking pictures, going to websites (but not for reading longer texts), and playing games."

The Third group of people was my students, and my question was, if I am creating an app for Arabic language, how do you like it to be? My students gave me great ideas. The main idea was to include all what they need in one app. Is it possible?  I think so. If a very good group of IT experts and Arabic language educators collaborate together to create the app. 

Combining together the results of the interviews I had with what I think should be available in a good Arabic app to use. I think that my app needs to have vocabulary games, like choosing what materials you need to build a house, or where to visit when you travel,...etc, the word of the day quiz, the conjugations of the verbs, a good dictionary, a chatting window with native speakers and other learners,  tutoring videos, and some stories and books to read.

ED 677 makes me sometimes dream about something I never thought about before. I hope my dreams come true as being a teacher came true.