Teaching English Language with Technology

(2.3) Making Accommodations for ELLs and Infusing Technology into a Lesson

In theoretical and practical considerations, it is important for content area teachers to apply area findings to their everyday practice. The specificity of the content (investigation of the nature of countries throughout the world) the lesson plan below could unfold across any range of content subject areas, because it is instructionally generic. First, the teacher introduces new topic by asking student a range of question to activate their schema, second the teacher than explains the parameters of project like researching a topic in country and creating the product (a brochure), and the last the student are then let loose in the library to research the topic and collate information in the form of brochure. In discussing the content objectives with the intern another important issue was raised : the need for all content-area teachers, in this case the social studies intern, to make sure that the ELLs also acquire knowledge of English so that their language development is promoted and actively reinforced in every lesson. As a result every ELL is guaranteed to be given the necessary language tools to follow and learn the content of the lesson. At times a lesson might require students to use specialized language functions such as comparing, contrasting, describing a process, expressing an opinion, formulating question, etc. In this case, a teacher needs to model the appropriate language functions.    

           

          Often times, it is not necessarily the language that the needs to be taught to ELLs, but helping them develop better language learning strategies  themselves. Such strategies may include repeating aloud, not being afraid to make mistakes, speaking to others in English or discussing, not waiting for the teacher to evaluate your progress, reviewing class notes, guessing when in doubt, rewriting class notes, recording new vocabulary and grammar in a notebook, making review cards, grouping verbs, noun, etc, not pretending to understand when you really don’t, paraphrasing when necessary, using mimes and gestures, writing down words that you don’t know, the find out what they mean, keeping language a diary, practicing daily, memorizing using images, sounds, rhymes (mnemonic devices), teaching someone what you have learned, using cognates for association with English, reviewing the day’s lesson after class, using a dictionary. Languge skills  involves practice with macro skills of speaking, listening, reading, and writing.

(2.4) Principles of Technology Use in Educational Settings

            In order to use IT on an ongoing basis in your lesson, it is important to become familiar with your own students familiarity with technology. Students sometimes have an unhealthy aversion to anything that smacks of education, so one cannot assume students will automatically know how to make a power point, a podcasts and surfed the internet. Pne way to gauge students computer literacy levels is to conduct a needs assessment will enable a teacher to better judge how much technology to infuse into a lesson and how much scaffolding a teacher needs in order to support student learning. However it is very important to be aware that teachers cannot expect students to learn technology and English and content all at the same time.

          

          Erben et al, suggest that purposeful and contextualized IT materials allow students to apply their knowledge of their world to content and language learning tasks. For ELLs this translates into the following potential IT activities :

• üFor ELLs at the preproduction stage (level 1), choosing technology that supports text with images, such as photos, graphs, or charts  is highly advisable since it links text with its visual representation and acts equally as a mnemonic device.
• ü   For ELLs at the early production stage (level 2), in addition to those listed for level 1 ELLs choosing Its that promote vocabulary, grammar, and listening acquisition such as exercise builders, as well as digital stories, audio podcast and online videos is recommended since all ELLs will go to through a silent period when learning English.
• ü   For ELLs at the intermediate fluency stage {level 3), in addition to those listed for level 1 and 2 ELLs, it is important to use Its promote speaking, reading, and writing skills such as synchronous VoIPs (skype.com, gizmo.com).
• ü  For ELLs at the speech emergent stage (level 4) in addition to those listed for level 1,2, and 3 ELLs it is important to promote an EELs CALP, in other words their subject-specific language ability.     

ITs to foster collaborative communication among students has been shown to foster proficiency in all language skill areas-speaking, writing, reading, and listening. Another challenge that may concern many teachers hoping to infuse IT into their classroom control. From a behavior management perspective, teachers need to train students to work effectively in different types of learning environments. Therefore, to ensure optimal  use of technologies in a content-area class, a pedagogically sound teaching plan is necessary.   Both teachers and students should be aware of the general principles when carrying out online activities and when using Its.