Teacher Discussion Forums

As a future ESL teacher, I have come to realize that there is a huge shift in education to incorporate more technology into lessons and in the classroom. In my undergraduate education classes, I am required to include technology components into my lesson plans. I think it is important to find the right balance with how much technology you use in your lessons. I'm not sure how much technology would be considered too much, but you also want to make sure you use it enough to keep students engaged and are keeping up with the technology shift. What are some pros and cons with a constant use of technology? Also, what are some creative ways to use technology besides the standard PowerPoint presentation. I am new to the ESL field and don’t know how to be creative with technology. I also am concerned about cultural differences and students not knowing how to use certain technologies.

RozannaB,

I am a new ESL teacher and I am still learning on how to incorporate technology in the classroom. I am in a push in classroom setting. I work close with the bilingual teacher. We have a smart board in the classroom. It is very useful. With this system students are able to engage in different lessons by using this big screen. It look like a oversized computer screen. You can touch it with your fingers just like you use a smart phone. Kids love it!!!! There are many tutorials on how to use it and lesson plans that you may incorporate using the smart board. Another way I have used technology is by showing short video clips. Kids
love to watch the funny videos that I find. The cons may be that one day you have a geat lesson plan and the internet is down. You should always have a back up plan. It's o.k if your students are not able to know how to use the computer. Teach them!!!! Incorporate teaching them how to use the computer in a lesson plan. They will get it eventually.

A smartboard is really a great tool to use since it is easy to engage students in activities with it. I like to show small youtube clips on it that tie into the lesson as an effective way to grab their attention. If you don't have access to a smartboard there are still things that you can do with technology.
Incorporating music into your lesson is a great idea. A teacher in my building uses music when the students do stationwork. Each activity is timed and once the time is up the students have to move on to the next one. To make it interesting and keep students focused she plays music instead of having a timer. Once each song ends the students have to switch to the next station. It helps diminish noise in the classroom and keeps students focused.

There are a lot of ESL games sites out there. You could use those and there are also a lot of videos on YouTube.

However, I think the technology should be simply the tool and not the point of the lesson. If something enhances your lesson, then great! However, I feel you can leave the teaching of tech-tools to the ITC teacher.

There are tons of websites that you can use for fun, educational activities and games. Students, regardless of age, love activities online. You can use the internet for blogging--a fun way to let your students practice their writing/reading skills in English as well as maintaining their native language. You can also use the following websites: www.gamequarium.com, www.manythings.org, school.discovery.com/quizcenter/quizcenter.html, esl-lab.com/index.htm, www.podzinger.com/, www.soundsofenglish.org/, a4esl.org/, eslgold.com/reading/skills.html, www.blogger.com, www.starfall.net, and so on. Hope this helps. Continue to use technology in your lessons--and yes, have plan B and/or C just in case the internet is down.

I personally love Powerpoint, but that's just me. However, some of my classmates in my ESL class have used Prezi, and I think I comes off as very entertaining and captivating. I don't know if it's mentioned already, but pbs.org has some great ideas and quite a few interactive portions.

Hi!. My name is Carmen. I am a Spanish teacher, here in Florida. I agree with many of you on integrating technology into the lesson plans.I really believe that using technology in the classroom generate impressive results for students, including improved achievement; higher test scores; improved student attitude, enthusiasm, and engagement; richer classroom content; and improved student retention. In addition, the use of technology facilitates individualization and differentiation within the curriculum, to allow students to work at their own level, yet feel equal to their peers. By increasing students’ motivation to learn, and giving students more opportunities to control different aspects of their school work (e.g., choice of topics or questions to investigate, choice over depth of inquiry, choice of information resources to use, choice over products to demonstrate learning, and choice over independent or collaborative work), students will be able to take more responsibility on their learning.

I agree that using technology to facilitate learning and teaching is becoming very useful and possibly essential in the classroom. I believe in using a combination of using technology and paper materials. I am taking a class at USF called "Technology in the Foreign & Second Language Classroom." I read an article about "Flipping classes", essentially using technology and software to aid in teaching classes. If anyone is interested here is the link of the article http://www.techlearning.com/features/00 ... work/53725

Triptico is a fun, interactive resource. It has a student selector, student group maker, match it game, what's the question game, etc. You can input all the data for your class.

I am also agree with above all people that the use of ICT in the class room is helping to enhance teaching and learning. But as an ICT coordinator from grade 3 to grade 7 I felt that there are some barriers which prevent the use of ICT in the class room. Will you please share your findings with me!!!!!