Unit 4: Use Technology and Create Resources

I really found this topic to be timely during this time of the pandemic. Educators and students everywhere needed to find not only a new way to teach and learn but also a new way to connect. I think this was a bit of a baptism by fire as on top of focusing on  curriculum, all involved needed to learn how to apply the technology to best meet the needs of students and teachers. Prior to this time, teachers often looked for ways to incorporate technology into their teaching practice, usually because they were directed by an administrator, it often wasn't the teacher's choice. Thus it was often used in the classroom in a non-authentic manner. A good example of this is the interactive whiteboard. I think that Kiddle (2014) aptly described this as a 'showpony' in a 'bookable multimedia room' (p. 196). Many times these whiteboards don't work effectively, they need to be realigned, creating materials to use for them is time-consuming and existing publisher programs often don't meet the needs of the learner. They are often $2000 tools that rarely get used and when they are used they aren't used to their capacity. What I find at this time however, is that teachers have no choice. They need to effectively use technology and all that it offers to deliver their programming. I have seen amazing work from teachers as they connect and teach using programs that they didn't even know existed a short month ago. I have also seen students turn the tables and become the teachers as they help others learn not only the technology but also new exciting multi-modal ways to demonstrate their knowledge. I think this will be a turning point in education. There will be less fear on the part of teachers to learn new technology and students will be given more opportunities to authentically use multi-media to present materials and meet course outcomes.

Kiddle, T. (2014). Developing digital language learning materials. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.).      Developing materials for language teaching. (pp. 189-203). New York: Bloomsbury.

Unit 3: Which comes first: Reading or vocabulary?

I think that when  you are starting a new unit of study or a new book, it is important to review the vocabulary first. Recent research supports the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and later reading ability (Brown & Lee, 2015) Teaching vocabulary can be done in many creative and fun ways and should be integrated into all of the skills (listening, reading, speaking and writing), in short you can make any lesson a vocabulary lesson. I've included a few links to articles with great ideas for teaching vocabulary.
During this unit we looked at some new technology to use with students. I particularly liked using padlet. For my Unit 3 vocabulary exercise (found under the TESL 0130 tab) I  created an activity that would have the students use padlet to demonstrate their comprehension of the words on a nutrition label. This is an awesome tool to incorporate many modalities for the learners.

 

 

Vocabulary games

5 ESL vocabulary teaching methods

Brown, D. & Lee, H. (2015). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy (Rev. 4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.