Through the Students`s Eyes
Whenever you find yourself teaching English during the second decade of the twenty first century, you will be using some kind technological resources in the process. It does not really make a difference what you are teaching or even what subject matter you are approaching. What is a Second Language Acquisition classroom without any material besides the coursebook? The answer to that question might be right now in several classrooms in our country, that is, not a very likable class by the students; they see classes as a great amount of boredom that will not cease until leaving them with no more willingness to return to classes. Indeed, classes may be boring due to its monotony employment of a textbook as unique resource and magisterial methods used by the professor to teach. Some of the tools or resources a professor may take into account in order to make the English lesson more fun are videos, songs, and a more innovative one like webquest.
Unfortunately, there are many professors out there that need to improve and promote the use technological resources in English teaching. In fact, there are many forms in which professor can include technological resources in English teaching. For instances, as a student and future professor, I believe that one of the best and simplest ways in which a professor can include a technological resource in the classroom is through a video. In fact, according to Oscar García (2006) the video “is a good motivating force, because it provides a closer approach to reality through the ear and eye and keep the students active.” Indeed, there are not many students who will refuse to watch a thirty-minute sitcom like Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, among plethora of other sitcoms.
Of course that all the videos used need to have a purpose, so the students do something they like and will later on be assessed. On the other hand, there are many educational videos, or videos that specifically made for educational purposes, so they adjust to professor`s and students` needs; in other words, to the learning/teaching process. By the way, remember students do not like to be surprised, so let them know the purpose of the video in advance in order to avoid any kind of problems like complaints about unfairness when applying a test or the like without letting them know before the moment of the application.
There are many different resources that may use in order to make the students like or enjoy a class even more. The resource that is very easy to use and very helpful when use properly is the song. Songs can be heard; songs can be sung; indeed, songs can be learned and used to help students acquire new vocabulary. But, it is important that you take into account that the song it more useful when it is related to the cognitive target, so you make a brief explanation or description of the group or band as well as other aspects that may be considered pertinent. Besides, as it is stated by Oscar García (2006), some other tasks may be asked to be done after your students have already heard the song, like “asking for relations between the pupil and the content, their opinion, and their account of similar situations,” remember that “Discussing the theme can be motivating, and some exercises about pronunciation and vocabulary can be done,” too. In other words, keep in mind that a song may be used not only to fill in the blanks in a warm-up.
A third, among vast amount of resources, there is another very functional tool called: Webquest. According to Victoria Perera (no date) a WebQuest is an oriented assignment in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the Internet. It is important to know that the professor provides the specific links that the students will be using during the elaboration of such work. Some advantages of this helpful instrument are the fact that professors can lead their students to make an efficient use of the net by pre-selecting them the websites so they do not waste time searching. Besides, Webquests will motivate the students to solve a task by using of internet to do so.
Certainly, students may be interested in the learning process if the professor finds a way to call their attention. The easiest way to do so can be by introducing technological resources to the class, so the students feel attracted to the lessons. It is not a secret to anybody that students like technology and technology them. They are more likely to enjoy a class in which innovative or eye-catching tools to solve tasks are put into practice. Three of the many resources that can be used are videos, songs and Webquests.
Works Cited
García, Óscar. (1996). Didactic Resources for Teaching English. Retrieved October 18th, 2010, from http://osqvar.iespana.es/ego/documents/philologie/Didactic.Resources.for.Teaching.English.pdf
Mª Victoria Aguiar Perera. El Uso de las Webquest, los Blogs y las Wiki en la Docencia Universitaria. Retrieved October 18th, 2010, from http://www.utn.edu.ar/aprobedutec07/docs/41.pdf
This is an example of a technological resource called Issuu
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