TECHNOLOGY AND TOOLS

TRY IT OUT: LESSON 5/ ADDING VALUE BY USING THE WEB

TRY IT OUT: LESSON 4/ USING THE IWB

Unfortunately we don’t have interactive whiteboards in either of the two institutions I work for. I read that if you don’t have SMART Notebook on your computer you can download a free viewer. Does anybody know how it works. is it more or less the same as an interactive blackboard? Does it work under the same principle?

However, I have been surfing the net to know more about the topic, and this is what I found:

http://www.whiteboardblog.co.uk/

TRY IT OUT: LESSON 3/ USING POWERPOINT IN CLASS

Even though Powerpoint presentations have existed for some years, it is only in the last five years that their use has become widespread through the introduction of hardware in most high-education institutions. I remember the time when there were only two in the building and we had to book it to use it. Now we have HD TV’s and PC’s in every room!!!

In my classes, I use powerpoint presentations everyday and at everytime. I give them a series of uses:

1) To introduce the topic we will be covering in the unit by making use of picture prediction techniques.

2) To drill grammar particulars where the stimuli appear through the blind animation

3) To hiperlink to my favorite ESL websites, exercises and videos

4) To test them. Are you acquainted with the section PHOTOGRAPHS of the TOEIC exam. I display the photos on the screen and then, ask my students to determine from the four alternatives given, which is closer to the one they are looking at.

BLOG IT: LESSON 1 -LEARNING TECHNOLOGY I USE

Technology takes education out of the four walls enclosing the traditional classroom. Through the internet, digital projection and slides, my students are connected to the world via material that is not meant to replace the textbook, but to enlighten it! 

There are many reasons to justify the use of technology in my classes:

• Technology breaks up the monotony of a traditional class.
• Reduces the time it would take to write out lengthy sentences on the whiteboard. 
• Technology allows students to consider the changing nature of language and the role technology plays.
• Technology allows my Merchant Marine students to go round the world before actually doing it!

Specifically, in my classes I use:

1. The web: Organizing the class in groups, we compete by doing online exercises with immediate online correction. We do this to exercise grammar and vocabulary items
2. Powerpoint presentations: They can be used  to introduce new concepts or present definitions to the class. 
3. Intranet: The institutions I work for, have a very powerful intranet which allows the teacher to present a topic, to exercise it and to evalatuate contents.

My challenge:

1. To learn how to work with spreadsheets.
2. To learn how to use the mimio

My dream:

To substantiate my syllabus competely with online interactve activities for my students