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MikeySaid · Joined: 10 Nov 2004 Posts: 509 Location: Torreon, Mexico

In one of my upcoming classes at a university in Mexico, i've got two hours a week of language lab time.

I am extremely comfortable with technology and can think of a few things to do with a lab ... but while the school's lab is very nice... I've had no CALL training and none of the other teachers seem to know exactly how to utilize the lab.

There is software, but only for the management of the computers and to interact with the students, not for activities. So I assume I'll be assigning the use of certain websites and bringing media into the classroom.

So in your experience, what is the very best use of language lab time? speaking? reading? writing? video? audio? quizzes?

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Is there a syllabus you have to follow, even a sketchy guideline that says the class is for any one of the four skills?

Reading is not the best because of the constant glare. 45-90 minutes of that is tough even if they are used to playing video games a lot.

Writing is probably something they need the most, and computers can certainly help, but it is a very time-consuming process. You may also have to teach students how to make use of the spell checker and grammar checker, let alone teach them to type! Some of my uni kids are so attuned to using just their thumb for their cell phone internet access and text messaging that they don't know how to type. And, then there is the issue of dealing with writing revisions and showing corrections.

Speaking can be done, depending on the equipment in the room and the desk layouts. My CALL room lets me make random pairs or groups within a row of students, so that they can do speaking/listening exercises without seeing each other's faces. Using headphones for extended periods (more than 15 minutes) gets uncomfortable, though. Plus you have to be able to monitor them and tell them to stop using L1.

Listening seems to be the most common route LL teachers take. TOEIC drills are common. Like I wrote above, be careful of how long kids do this with headphones. Alternate between headphones and room speakers to give them a sense of reality in what they may listen to. And, feel free to set the headphones down and have kids speak face to face. Even in a crowded room, they have to learn that listening hard is just one skill (to ignore the drowning out effect from other speakers).

You can also hold a technology or content class there. That will make the most use of the Internet connection. Whenever you use the Net, though, be sure the school's server can handle the inflow. Using it for an online chatting forum, for example, where audio input is performed, can be too much of a drain, and not all students will be able to use the site. You may also have to teach students the complicated process of registering for a site in English before they can even use it!

See what your admin wants to use the room for. What else is in the curriculum?

thelmadatter · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 2:12 am Post subject: webquests

if your lab has at least enough computers for pairs or groups of three (or four depending) I suggest you look at webquests. Webquests are kind of like scavenger hunts... but hunts for information to create an end-product. One site with ready-made webquests is

http://webquest.org/index.php

Another is http://www.ict4lt.org/en/en_mod1-5.htm#webquests

There are others you can google as well. There are webquests from any number of age levels and you can adapt some of them to an older audience.

Another idea could be to have students collaborate contributions to a site like Wikipedia or VoiceThread or any site where users create content. This would be authentic production in either written or spoken form. I have a number of these listed on my wiki at http://virtuallanguagelaboratory.wikispaces.com/English

One caveat however... unless you are using a "pre-canned" webquest... you really should do some fairly detailled lesson planning (as much as I dont like to do it I will admit). It is not enough to simply have your students play with the web... you need to have pedagogical goals in mind as well as products you want your students to create (eg short article for Wikipedia, a voice comment on a photo in Voicethread) These goals do not have to be completed in one lab session but projects requireing more than one session to do need intermediate goals (which could be simply getting students familiar with how the tool works)

I do not recommend having students do drill work, although many sites support such and some of the good ones are listed on the above wiki page (I like ELLLO for listening practice). This wastes the potential of using Internet -connected computers. If you students can/must use the lab altogether for 2 hours a week, collaborative projects seem to me to be the best way to take advantage of the situation.

MikeySaid · Joined: 10 Nov 2004 Posts: 509 Location: Torreon, Mexico

My lab is one student per computer.

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

No answer to my 2 questions?

thelmadatter · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 12:42 pm Post subject: lab

Mikey... even better... so students can each be looking for different things at the same time then talk to their neighbor/partner(s) to compare what they have.

BTW, what uni do you work for? You can tell me in a pm if you like. I work at ITESM in Mexico City where Im the lab coordinator.

Glenski... I would be surprised if there was a syllabus for lab time, though 2 hours a week is more than usual. When I was at Toluca, it was once every 2 weeks before I changed the lab over to self access (sort of)

thelmadatter · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 12:42 pm Post subject: lab

Mikey... even better... so students can each be looking for different things at the same time then talk to their neighbor/partner(s) to compare what they have.

BTW, what uni do you work for? You can tell me in a pm if you like. I work at ITESM in Mexico City where Im the lab coordinator.

Glenski... I would be surprised if there was a syllabus for lab time, though 2 hours a week is more than usual. When I was at Toluca, it was once every 2 weeks before I changed the lab over to self access (sort of)

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

madhatter,
Mikey PM'd me to say there were books he has to follow, somehow. Unclear to me just how, other than "for exams". I will take the plunge and assume that since there are books, there must be some sort of idea how to use them.

Mikey,
Can you elaborate? Just what are you given to work with here, in terms of books, syllabus, expectations, and student ability? I've already written some potential and drawbacks.

If the staff just wants you to get students on the Internet and learn English more, they are sadly mistaken in how that works. You really need some training, or at the very least an idea of how to use the many Internet task-based books that are out there.

How to Use the Internet in ELT, by Dede Teeler with Peta Gray (Longman)
Internet English, by Christina Gitsaki and Richard P. Taylor (Oxford)
Info.Com Finding Links in English, by KT Sato, M Oda, H Matsumoto, and PJL Rowland (Pearson)

thelmadatter · Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2009 1:07 pm Post subject: web 2.0

Glenski, I agree that most school (and not just in Mexico either) are woefully unaware of what it takes to integrate technology sucessfully into language learning (or probably most other learning to boot) The public schools had a spectacular failure recently with a classroom multimedia system called Enciclomedia, which failed primarily because they put next to nothing into teacher training and

Im not sure I agree with your statement that you need "training" ... if by that you mean formal school-based training. I got to where I am now mostly by experimentation. As I said in another thread on masters programs, uni's are way behind the curve. By the time they develop theories and methods.. the technology has changed.

My "training," if you will, consists mostly of reading online, and networking with other teachers using technology. Im also taking the six-week online workshop "Enhancing Lessons with Web 2.0" sponsored by TESOL's Electronic Village Online.

Nothing wrong with books except for the fact that they take a long time to get published and they are expensive. If you dig hard enough on the web, you can find much of the same information (scattered to be sure, but that is slowly changing). I collect such sites at http://virtuallanguagelaboratory.wikispaces.com/TeacherDevelopment , http://virtuallanguagelaboratory.wikispaces.com/TeacherPublications and the other pages in the Teacher section

Even more important than training when it comes to using technology is an open mind and the willingness to put the extra effort initially to plan lessons more than just stating what pages to cover in the text. It requires someone with the ability to figure out what s/he is doing, how s/he is doing it and WHY. Computers and the Internet are capable of so much, and so little paradoxically at the same time, that it is absolutely necessary to put in a bit more consideration than with a traditional textbook basd class.

If his school is anything like I experienced, their idea of how to use the textbook is to make sure that every page gets covered before the end of the semester. That is very common in Mexico both to justify the cost of the textbook to students and to "prove learning" by having student write in all the exercises. (no reselling of books here, interestingly enough)

thelmadatter · Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2009 1:07 pm Post subject: web 2.0

Glenski, I agree that most school (and not just in Mexico either) are woefully unaware of what it takes to integrate technology sucessfully into language learning (or probably most other learning to boot) The public schools had a spectacular failure recently with a classroom multimedia system called Enciclomedia, which failed primarily because they put next to nothing into teacher training and

Im not sure I agree with your statement that you need "training" ... if by that you mean formal school-based training. I got to where I am now mostly by experimentation. As I said in another thread on masters programs, uni's are way behind the curve. By the time they develop theories and methods.. the technology has changed.

My "training," if you will, consists mostly of reading online, and networking with other teachers using technology. Im also taking the six-week online workshop "Enhancing Lessons with Web 2.0" sponsored by TESOL's Electronic Village Online.

Nothing wrong with books except for the fact that they take a long time to get published and they are expensive. If you dig hard enough on the web, you can find much of the same information (scattered to be sure, but that is slowly changing). I collect such sites at http://virtuallanguagelaboratory.wikispaces.com/TeacherDevelopment , http://virtuallanguagelaboratory.wikispaces.com/TeacherPublications and the other pages in the Teacher section

Even more important than training when it comes to using technology is an open mind and the willingness to put the extra effort initially to plan lessons more than just stating what pages to cover in the text. It requires someone with the ability to figure out what s/he is doing, how s/he is doing it and WHY. Computers and the Internet are capable of so much, and so little paradoxically at the same time, that it is absolutely necessary to put in a bit more consideration than with a traditional textbook basd class.

If his school is anything like I experienced, their idea of how to use the textbook is to make sure that every page gets covered before the end of the semester. That is very common in Mexico both to justify the cost of the textbook to students and to "prove learning" by having student write in all the exercises. (no reselling of books here, interestingly enough)