This week I was lucky
enough to come across some very interesting websites that highlighted the
importance of using technology in the ESL classroom. Technology is all around us and is part of
our student’s daily lives and unfortunately for some students it stops at the
classroom door. This could be for a
variety of reasons that include budgetary limitations, facility bandwidth
limitations, and teacher comfort level with technology. Smart (2008) discusses the growing number of
software programs that are available to ESL teachers. Software programs can be utilized easily in
classrooms where there are limited computers or tablets. In most cases these programs can be used with
little more than a computer and internet access. This makes at least some level of technology
attainable in almost every classroom.
Even if the district is not able to provide laptops or tablets for each
student, most schools have a computer lab or a laptop cart for the school to
share.
Some of the most useful
programs that Smart (2008) provided were Read Naturally, which is a multimedia reading program that helps
students develop English fluency and the Rosetta Stone language-learning
software, which helps them associate images with English words and sentence
structures to build their vocabularies. Software, online tools, and other technologies
help students hone basic language skills they can later apply in authentic
social settings (Smart, 2008). Ms. Wegener-Taganashi,
an ESL teacher states that "The kids spend most of their day listening and
not interacting with the language as much. Technology mixes things up, captures students'
attention, and engages them in a way traditional classroom instruction doesn't”
(Wegener-Taganashi 2008, as cited in Smart, 2008). This statement really resonated with me
because I realized that in most traditional ESL classrooms the students spend
the majority of their time listening to language but not actually using and
experimenting with the language. The
software involves the students in the learning process and makes them active
participants in the lessons. The use of
English Language software allows districts with limited resources to use one
program to differentiate instruction to meet many different English language
proficiency levels.
Technology does not
have to be limited to independent practice on computers. It can also be blended seamlessly into the lesson
delivery. Computers allow teachers to
use visual supports (clip art and other graphic images), which allows the
students to see an object and associate it with the words they see and hear. Another
ESL teacher Miss Milan, uses PowerPoint presentations in her lectures to
introduce colors, geography concepts, and grammar concepts (Stutzki, 2017). Miss
Milan states that the use of visual representations are especially important
for her visual learners and those students with low literacy levels. This article
shows how teachers with limited technological resources can use technology to
make their lessons meaningful to their students. This week’s findings prove that technology
can be integrated into most classrooms and that it doesn’t have to be in the
form of an expensive program, it can simply be using clipart to provide a visual
representation for new vocabulary.
Smart, M. P. (2008, December 10). The Word and the
World: Technology Aids English Language
Learners. Retrieved May 31, 2017, from https://www.edutopia.org/technologysoftware-english-language-learners
Stutzki, H. (2017). Using technology to create a
visual learning environment. Retrieved May 30, 2017,
from http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/using-technology-create-visuallearning-environment
