Using QR Codes with English Language Learners

I was sitting in a training session yesterday where the presenter reiterated an idea that I stand on my soapbox about rather frequently: All means ALL. All students deserve access to a rich and meaningful education. At my table this brought up a lot of lively discussion, not because anyone disagreed, but it was clear that many people did not know how they could differentiate for the variety of learners in their room, and other were so weighed down by the concept of time, they would not even consider it.

So I wanted to highlight another way we can differentiate for all learners, and provide students access to things they need to be successful. In light of my district going BYOD, I am going to highlight a tech tool: QR Codes. There is a fantastic QR generator template created by Tammy Worcester at Tammy's Technology Tips for Teachers. It is very easy to use, and makes creating and organizing QR codes a breeze. Students just need a barcode scanner or QR scanning app on their device.

Scannable QR codes provide students with opportunities to quickly and easily access and interact with a variety of content. QR codes can open web pages, launch videos, and give access to files to download. Here are 7 uses to use QR codes in your classroom to help English language learners.

1. Vocabulary lists

Previously, I have written about Read&Write for Google and its ability to create a vocabulary list, with visuals in your drive. Provide students who need extra vocabulary support a QR code linking to necessary vocabulary for the lesson.

2. Word Walls

Have a QR code attached to the word that links to a pronunciation of the word. This of course could also be done with a vocabulary list. Depending on the students first language proficiency, it could link to a translation of the word too.

3. Audio support

Previously, I have written about Snapverter and its ability to turn any writing into a readable document with Read&Write. Provide students with a link to this converted document for additional audio support. This could be directions for homework/projects as well as reading assignments. You can also record yourself reading directions in the same way.

4. Building Background

One of the largest challenges with English language learners is building background knowledge. The older the ELL, the larger the gap may be. It is important to build background for all students, but English learners may need more support. You can provide QR codes that link to videos, articles, every resources in their native language to give them additional information about a topic. This could also be used to extend and enhance information.

5. Student Response Cards

Most of us in the classroom have tried different ways to elicit student responses to check understanding. White boards for students to write their answers, even those little ABCD cards students hold up. One problem I saw was students would look around and change their answers. Plickers is a simple tool where teachers pose a question and scan students QR code answer cards, no one can look around and see anyone else’s answer.

6.  Scavenger Hunt/Treasure Hunt

This idea could look a lot of different ways. Simply put, place QR codes linked to questions around the school and have groups of students search for them and answer them within a set time. Classtools.net has a nice QR treasure hunt generator you can use as well, it does not require the internet on the students phones.

7.  Talking “Museum”

We live in a multimedia world, so why not let students share their knowledge in such a way. QR codes allow for student to attach an audio explanation of their learning to a physical product. We used this is a lot of ways in my classroom. One of my favorites was a project designed by my students to welcome newcomers to class. They created videos introducing important people around the school, and explaining things like how to go through the lunch line, and check out a book from the library. We posted these QR codes around the school and when a new student would come they would get a school tour with instructions from my students.

Along this same line we have created an interactive bulletin board outside our office that highlights many of the students at the Newcomer Center. It is still a work in progress but a quick scan of the QR codes around the map bring up videos of the students talking about themselves and the things they are learning in school. 

Review: Snapverter

I have previously shared with you all reasons why I love Read&Write for Google in the classroom – I share it with so many people, they should probably give me commission. Recently Texthelp has released Snapverter, an add-on for Read&Write for Google that enhances its capabilities. It too can be found here on the Chrome Webstore.

One of the features of Read&Write was the ability to read aloud text on the web and in documents found in your Google drive, but this feature has limitations. Some documents like pdfs don’t read well if at all, and there is so much more text our students are exposed to than just what we see online.

Snapverter allows you to use your smartphone to take a picture of a text and it will convert it to a pdf that can be read aloud. What this means is, potentially anything can be read aloud to students. Worksheets, posters, notes, books, anything! And everything is done right inside your drive. This means that everything is easily saved and shared.

Being the skeptic I tend to be, and unwilling to promote a product that is not quality, I have tested it out. I took a picture of an old copy of Night, by Elie Wiesel, that I had laying around in my office. Using just the camera function on my phone produced a nice quality photo, but when it went through Snapverter, the recognition was off and fragmented, in many places it broke words into the letters and made the text incomprehensible.

Needless to say I was disappointed, but undeterred. I remembered I have a nice scanning app on my phone CamScanner. This is another product that allows free upgrades for education users, so of course I am going to support them. For more information you can go here. When I used the scanner to take photos of articles I use in my workshops and random textbook pages, Snapverter converted them really well.

I went back and used CamScanner to scan a page from Night. I allowed it to smart enhance the photo which reduced much of the yellowing of the page. Doing it this way, I uploaded the new pdf to my drive and Snapverter handed it really well. There are a few places that still produced errors for example it read tarce instead of farce, and bodies instead of Boches. Despite the errors, this proves to be an invaluable tool.

Currently for individual users this is limited to a trial account only, which means 10 conversions and then limited to 1 a week. I think this is adequate for an average user, because it counts documents and not pages.