Transcript Teaching English with Technology

Teaching English
with Technology
A little bit of history….
Web 1.0
 1960 – 1970: Tape recorders, laboratories.
 1980: CALL (Computer Assisted Language
Learning) learners respond to stimuli on the
computer screen.
 1990: TELL (Technology Enhanced Language
Learning) possibilities offered by Internet and
communications.
 2000: ICT (Information & Communications
Technology) use of Internet and web tools.
Where are you?
Technophobe: people afraid of Internet &
computers.
 Digital native: someone who grows up
using technology, feels comfortable &
confident with it.
 Digital immigrants: those who have come
late to the world of technology.
 Techno geeks: technology enthusiasts.
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2004: WEB 2.0
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second generation of web-based communities
such as social-networking sites, which aim to
facilitate collaboration and sharing between
users. It does not refer to an update to any
technical specifications, but to changes in the
ways software developers and end-users use
the web. It also includes a social element where
users generate and distribute content, often with
freedom to share and re-use.
Social software
Computer tools which allow
people to connect,
communicate and collaborate
on line.
 BLOGS
Usually kept by one person, who will
regularly post comments, thoughts,
experiences, etc to a web page, creating a
community around a common topic. May
consist of written text only or include
pictures, photos, audio, video.
Readers can post comments if allowed.
http://fceblog.blogspot.com/
Different types of blogs
Edublogs: cover a wide range of topics
related to education from educational policies
to learner productions. Can be set up by a
teacher (tutor blog), individual students
(student blog) or a class (class blog).
http://c3viseu.blogspot.com/
WHAT FOR?
Tutor blog: provide learners with news or comments, extra
reading practice or homework, summary of a class for
students absent, study tips.
Student blog: Learners can be asked to set up and
maintain their own blog and post once or twice a week or
post comments on others.
Class Blog: All learners post comments on certain topics,
on class work or any issue the teacher thinks interesting or
relevant to learners.
WHY?
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Provide real world tool to practice written English.
provide a real audience for student writing .
Meaningful & purposeful activity.
Contact learners from other parts of the world.
Pitfalls to watch out for
Unwanted comments. To avoid unwanted
comments, you can always restrict
comments to registered users.
 Correction. It is difficult to use a blog for
correcting students. Student written work
should always be corrected before posting
to the blog.
 Privacy. Most blogs are public. Anyone
with access to the Web can find and read
a blog, and write comments (if this feature
has been turned on).
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How?
There are a number of free
blog sites available:
Blogger: www.blogger.com
WordPress:
http://wordpress.org
Getablog:
www.getablog.net/portal3.ph
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EzBlogWolrd:
www.ezblogworld.com
WIKIS
Publicly
accessible word processing document available
online, which others can edit.
Public web page started by one person but visitors can
add to it. Making it more dynamic as it can have multiple
authors.
A wiki has a non-linear structure, pages may link back
and forward to other pages. One of the best known wikis is
Wikipedia
It lends itself to collaborative writing, students can add
new pages with their productions, as well as edit previous
entries or pages displays multiple authorship and not
owned by anyone, although accuracy is a matter of
debate.
Examples
www.wikipedia.org
Pbwiki: http://pbwiki.com
http://atwiki.com/
Internet based project work:
WEBQUESTS
Mini project in which a large percentage of
the input and material is supplied from the
Internet.
 Has a clearly defined structure which has
to be taken as a basic guideline. Teacher
can design webquest to suit the needs and
learning styles of students.
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Steps:
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2.
3.
Introduction: overall theme. Background
information on the topic. Introduces key
vocabulary and concepts learners will need to
understand and complete tasks.
Task: explains clearly and precisely what
learners will have to do. This should be
motivating and interesting.
Process: Guides learners through set of
activities and research tasks, using predefined
resources (Internet based) presented in
clickable form.
4. Products: may introduce or recycle lexical areas or
grammatical points essential to the task. It will also
have one or several “products” the learners are
expected to present at the end. These will form the
basis of the evaluation stage.
5. Evaluation: can involve learners in self-evaluation,
giving feedback on what they feel they have learnt.
Also involves teacher evaluation.
Examples:
http://www.instantprojects.org/index.php
http://webquest.org/index.php
Technology based courseware:
Electronic portfolios
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Collection of learner’s work in electronic format,
can include video, audio, blogs, websites as well
as documents. May include reflections on the
learning experience itself.
Provides a richer way of assessing students,
provides clear idea of learner achievements.
Ongoing process, students and teachers choose
and include what seems most relevant to
learner’s interests.
Examples:
http://elgg.org/index.php
http://www.eportfolios.ac.uk/
Interactive whiteboards
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Three essential components:
The whiteboards itself
A computer.
A data projector.
A myriad of possibilities: video, CD audio, pictures,
interactive exercises, access to Internet. Items can be
moved, write over images, highlight things, use
different fonts, styles. Lessons and content can be
easily kept and retrieved as it is saved in the computer.
Huge bank of resources. Authentic content accessed
in seconds. PowerPoint presentations.
Increased teacher and learner motivation and attention
levels.
Resources:
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Dudeney G & Hockly N. (2007) How to …
teach English with technology.Pearson
Education Limited, Essex.