Yesterday I was lucky enough to give a workshop to French teachers in Dublin on using apps and internet sites for working oral and aural in class and outside class.
There is a definitive appetite to know about what can be done with devices. I know there are a lot of septic people out there and they do not believe that technology can help and I respect your way of doing things.
For me, the laughing of iPads in our school, as made me reflect about the way I teach and how it evolved.
I remember first stating teaching and getting excited when i got to book the ONE overhead project in the school. I would spend hours making my little acetates. Then, powerpoint came along with if you were lucky a computer in the classroom. I was probably guilty of the death by powerpoint for certain lesson but as the years went along, I got to master it more and got it to work for the learning. The latest change, was the introduction of iPads. Like previously, I spent hours looking for the app which would solve all the problems my students had; spelling; pronunciation, understanding... well, I went crashing! No one has invited this app yet! So it was back to the drawing board and looking for existing apps and looking how they could help my learners. This is where I am at now. I have some core apps which I use a on weekly basis and the reasons is not they are fun, they are a treat but just they help my learners with their language skills. I am still looking to see if there is thing I am missing. i am an eternal learner.
I was asked last night do they use iPads in each lesson? I thought first no. But then they look up new words in their online dictionary, they take notes in the notability app, they practise oral with their recording app, they get the worksheets from the Edmodo app, so yes they do use it but at times it will be for a short time and other times for longer times.
To those of you, still not convinced that's OK and you should not feel guilty and be on the defensive side. If we were all the same, the world would be a boring place!
To those interested in learning more, there are lots of places to check out. Here are a few:
Jürgen Wagner - webinars - Juergen organises online webinar on ICT and modern languages. Even if you can't join in live (I would recommend it as you can ask questions), if you register you can get the notes sent to you. Register here. Get the list of webinars here.
There is a definitive appetite to know about what can be done with devices. I know there are a lot of septic people out there and they do not believe that technology can help and I respect your way of doing things.
For me, the laughing of iPads in our school, as made me reflect about the way I teach and how it evolved.
I remember first stating teaching and getting excited when i got to book the ONE overhead project in the school. I would spend hours making my little acetates. Then, powerpoint came along with if you were lucky a computer in the classroom. I was probably guilty of the death by powerpoint for certain lesson but as the years went along, I got to master it more and got it to work for the learning. The latest change, was the introduction of iPads. Like previously, I spent hours looking for the app which would solve all the problems my students had; spelling; pronunciation, understanding... well, I went crashing! No one has invited this app yet! So it was back to the drawing board and looking for existing apps and looking how they could help my learners. This is where I am at now. I have some core apps which I use a on weekly basis and the reasons is not they are fun, they are a treat but just they help my learners with their language skills. I am still looking to see if there is thing I am missing. i am an eternal learner.
I was asked last night do they use iPads in each lesson? I thought first no. But then they look up new words in their online dictionary, they take notes in the notability app, they practise oral with their recording app, they get the worksheets from the Edmodo app, so yes they do use it but at times it will be for a short time and other times for longer times.
To those of you, still not convinced that's OK and you should not feel guilty and be on the defensive side. If we were all the same, the world would be a boring place!
To those interested in learning more, there are lots of places to check out. Here are a few:
Jürgen Wagner - webinars - Juergen organises online webinar on ICT and modern languages. Even if you can't join in live (I would recommend it as you can ask questions), if you register you can get the notes sent to you. Register here. Get the list of webinars here.
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