Pennies - and Dollar$ - From Heaven

An Angel Steps In and Georgetown Preparatory SchoolGets A Sony Symphony® Learning System

Wireless language learning systems with simple record, playback and monitoring features were once cutting-edge. That's why Georgetown Preparatory School, an independent Jesuit high school in North Bethesda, Maryland acquired and installed a wireless system in 1985. It served them well, but by 1999, the system couldn't keep pace with foreign language learning standards and was falling into disrepair.

The Search For A System Begins

Marialuise Collins, Foreign Language Department Chair, and four colleagues began the search for a replacement learning system. "At the 1999 Northeast Conference, we talked to a number of manufacturers, including Sony, and had them demo their systems," says Marialuise. "A few schools let us come to see their systems at work. That helped us to narrow our search to two manufacturers."

Marialuise and her department realized that knowing which system they wanted was one thing. Now, they had to find the funding to purchase or lease. A proposal was written, according to the foreign language department, and sent to Georgetown Preparatory's development team. The search for funding was under way, and then the school and the foreign language department got extremely lucky. In March 2001, according to the school, an "angel" stepped in with a generous gift for the school. "Father William George, S.J., our president, sent me an e-mail. 'A benefactor, he wrote, would like to do something for the school that would benefit all our students. Are you interested in a new language learning system?' I just hit reply and said yes," says Marialuise.

The Search Leads To Sony

Once Georgetown Preparatory had their funding, they invited Sony and a second manufacturer to Georgetown Preparatory to present their systems. Chester Technical Services, a Sony Authorized Reseller, put the Sony Symphony Learning System through it's paces, and that sealed the deal. "Overall, Chester Technical Services' presentation was outstanding," says Marialuise. "Our faculty and technical people were particularly impressed with the training, service and support bundled with the Symphony System purchase. We selected the Sony, which was installed in July and up and running for the new school year this September."

Georgetown Preparatory Goes Digital

Day two of the September 2001 semester, Georgetown Preparatory students were seated at their new 24-station, Sony Symphony Language Learning System with ConductorTM Companion Software and Soloist™ Digital PC Recorders. At every student station, sat a PC and headphones.

"Our school is well-networked and the Internet is integrated into much of our coursework, including foreign language study. That's one reason why we decided on a digital system," says Marialuise. "Students also like computers, and the Symphony System with the Soloist Digital PC Recorders offer extraordinary expandability, flexibility and storage capacity."

Serious Students At Work

Georgetown Preparatory's lab facility is busy, according to Marialuise. Language students are working with the Sony Symphony System once every four days. Their schedule is: three days in the classroom and one day in the lab. That means there is little time available for students and faculty in other disciplines to use the Symphony System. Faculty are, however, using the system for technology training after school.

"Students are thrilled with the Sony Symphony system and happy to be working with it," says Marialuise. "The Sony headphones are so sensitive, and the acoustics are excellent. Our students have picked up on that right away. They like the privacy and that the system eliminates any extraneous noise and distractions."

Language teachers are pairing students for dialogues and using the modeling function to share pair and individual student activities with the class, according to Marialuise. Students are recording and reviewing their own - dialogues. From their PCs, students are watching videos and logging on the Internet. Prepared with worksheets created by our teachers, students are going to a web site or watching a video and working on activities that help to build vocabulary and cultural literacy.

"We want to use the Symphony System technology to enhance listening and speaking skills," says Marialuise. "Right now, we're evaluating our curriculum to see how we can use our system to meet our objectives and help our students to build on what we cover in the classroom."

Getting students more involved in their own language instruction is job one for Georgetown Preparatory's foreign language faculty. Students like to write on computers and create Power Point® presentations - and what they like to do, they usually do well. Plans are for students to write their own dialogues and presentations and model them for the class. Digital learning system technology makes it easier to build writing, speaking, listening and computer skills simultaneously - and makes it easier for teachers to collect, check and correct student projects. Recordings and writing assignments can be easily stored and shared. Students can go back and listen to or re-read and revise their work. Faculty can review projects and return them with comments to the student's mail box. At the end of the school year, or even years later, students and faculty can also easily retrieve recordings to assess the progress they've made.

Positive Impact

It's too early to claim that the Sony Symphony System is improving skills and test scores, but the Georgetown Preparatory foreign language faculty expect that it will. "Language study has always been heavily classroom-focused. In the past, classes met in the wireless lab only once every six days, so study was principally text-based. Students learned grammar and memorized vocabulary, but didn't know how to pull it all together and use their target language," says Marialuise. "Now, students are spending more time with the Symphony System. They're using the language more, and teachers are structuring activities that support the overall curriculum and building multiple language skills."

Despite their grumbles and funny faces, Georgetown Preparatory's faculty have seen that students like working with the technology -. "They like to record, playback and listen to their - recordings," says Marialuise, "particularly if the teacher listens with them, privately corrects them when they need help, points out what they've done well and models their best work for the rest of the class." What's more, faculty are saving student recordings and expect they'll be pleased when they re-listen to their -work at the end of the school year and hear how much progress they've made.

Student enthusiasm about language learning appears to be on the increase since the installation of the Sony system, according to the foreign language faculty at Georgetown Preparatory School. Recording, writing, creating and sharing projects with their classmates is giving students a greater sense of ownership and pride in their work. Videos from the countries in which their target languages are spoken are helping them to see that they are studying a living language - one they can use.

In their junior and senior years, Georgetown Preparatory students take a trip to a country in which their second language is spoken. "Students are always surprised by how much of the language they understand," says Marialuise. "After a year or two with the Symphony System, I believe they'll be surprised at how well they can understand and communicate. They'll be speaking the language and that will be a major accomplishment."

Promises Made, Promises Kept

1949: Bill Bidwill, owner of the Arizona Cardinals.

1944: John Dingel, Representative from Maine.