Semester 2 Placement

Well, it’s two weeks into the teaching block and I can honestly say that ICT is an invaluable tool to have in the ESL classroom. I have found teaching English to ESL learners very challenging and I have had to work hard to adjust my technique so that I can pitch the content at the right level and in an appropriate way. I am teaching an ESL class of 10 students where visuals are essential to convey meaning. In all of the classrooms at my placement school there are interactive whiteboards and teachers are able to hire laptops for a double period each day. I am doing a unit on food and I’ve used the interactive whiteboard to present the food so that they can see and make meaning of the vocabulary that we’re learning. I used it mostly in the introductory stages of the unit and then gradually guided the students toward more independent learning where they could volunteer information without visual prompts. The presence of ICT makes the content so much more accessible for the students as it provides a means for them to engage with the language in a meaningful way. I use the interactive whiteboard to prompt the students to tell me what they already know so that I can plan more effective and suitable activities. So in short, this teaching experience has so far shown me that ICT is a truly great tool to have in the ESL classroom.

In the unlikely event that you have any free time, here are some interesting articles on how ICT can be integrated into the language classroom and the issues that may arise if the technology is used inappropriately…
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/controversies-using-technology-language-teaching
http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/Alhassan/2503/integrating%20ICT%202003.pdf

4teachers

4teachers is an awesome site to get more ideas about using ICT

Welcome! Bienvenue!

Hi everyone! I am going to be teaching French and ESL so I look forward to exploring the many ways in which ICT can be used in the language classroom. I don’t have much experience using technology in schools (both as a student and teacher) but I can see how beneficial it can be to engage different learners. I think interactive whiteboards and computers would be an incredible resource to have in the LOTE and ESL classroom, and I look forward to learning how to incorporate them in my lessons.