I just finished reading a blog post by FluentU entitled "How to Use Technology Effectively to Transform Your ESL Classroom: http://www.fluentu.com/english/educator/blog/esl-technology-resources-for-students/
The post reinforced the fact many of us know which is that many teachers are intimidated in using technology in the classroom. Also, some teachers still don't buy into the use of technology in the classroom.
There are many benefits of weaving technology into teaching:
#1 - It increases student engagement and motivation - Students are often more versed in the use of technology than their teachers. Encouraging students to engage with the use of technology is their comfort zone.
#2 - Mobility - Many teaching applications can be accessed with the use of mobile phones outside of classroom time thus expanding the influence of your teaching classroom.
#3 - Prepares students for the future - Your ESL students will need to be able to use technology in their daily lives. Using it in the classroom will prepare them for their future.
#4 - Save time for the teacher - Woo hoo! Students who can work on their own will save lots of preparation time.
# 5 Learner Independence - Student can take responsibility for their own learning!
This article also recommended a sight called News in Levels. This sight has news stories that students can listen to according to their English level 1, 2 or 3. It looks very user friendly. Also it looks like something that can be used in the classroom or assigned outside of the classroom.
The post reinforced the fact many of us know which is that many teachers are intimidated in using technology in the classroom. Also, some teachers still don't buy into the use of technology in the classroom.
There are many benefits of weaving technology into teaching:
#1 - It increases student engagement and motivation - Students are often more versed in the use of technology than their teachers. Encouraging students to engage with the use of technology is their comfort zone.
#2 - Mobility - Many teaching applications can be accessed with the use of mobile phones outside of classroom time thus expanding the influence of your teaching classroom.
#3 - Prepares students for the future - Your ESL students will need to be able to use technology in their daily lives. Using it in the classroom will prepare them for their future.
#4 - Save time for the teacher - Woo hoo! Students who can work on their own will save lots of preparation time.
# 5 Learner Independence - Student can take responsibility for their own learning!
This article also recommended a sight called News in Levels. This sight has news stories that students can listen to according to their English level 1, 2 or 3. It looks very user friendly. Also it looks like something that can be used in the classroom or assigned outside of the classroom.
Hey that’s a great blog post you reviewed here about technology in the classroom! At the cyber-school I teach at, we have to use a lot of different types of technologies every day to conduct our lessons. There are often though times when I can hear teachers intimidated about having to use new types of technology, websites, programs, etc., so I feel that can happen in all types of settings. I believe that by providing quality professional development, teachers could then create something during that time to bring back with them to use in their classrooms. Different technologies may take teachers time to use effectively, but by adding it into their lesson planning a little at a time, I’d think they could become more proficient in using it overall.
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