ICT ideas that ‘minimax’

ICT ideas that ‘minimax’

Simple ideas for lessons that minimise teacher input and maximise student output, while seamlessly integrating Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

QuestionsEver spent hours preparing materials or activities which only last a few minutes in class?

Ever felt you are doing all the work while the learners are unchallenged and uninvolved?

ProblemEFL teachers often overload themselves and underload their learners

SolutionBecome a ‘minimax’ teacher

Minimise preparation time and energy spent in the classroom and maximise learner output

A tennis coach takes two steps to send learners running all over the court

Learners wouldn’t learn by just watching, so they do most of the work, pay for the lesson and thank the coach

A true ‘minimax’ artist

ICT ideas that ‘minimax’

ICT ideas that ‘minimax’involve minimum preparation

are learner-centered

result in effective, fun, communicative lessons, and

integrate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to help learner motivation

Warning!Always put pedagogy before technology

Ask yourself “How is ICT adding value to the lesson?”

IT equipment can fail. Have a backup plan

ICT ideas that ‘minimax’

ICT ideas that ‘minimax’1. Developing listening skills

2. Exploiting the Internet

3. Task-based web quests

4. Using the web as a corpus

Listening

QuestionHow do you ‘teach’ listening?

What are the stages of a typical listening lesson?

Typical listening lesson1. Establish the context, pre-teach vocabulary

2. Get learners to predict

3. Play the cassette

4. Give learners comprehension questions

5. Play the cassette again

6. Check answers

QuestionsAre you teaching listening or just testing it?

Do you focus on the product of listening (right answers) rather than the process (what’s going on while listening)?

ProblemsNot much time spent listening

No analysis of what went wrong

Learners denied freedom to develop strategies for listening

Learners as passive overhearers

No link between listening and speaking

Teacher expects 100% comprehension

‘Minimax’ listeningGive learners control over the cassette player

Let them listen in small groups as many times as they need

Let them discuss listening strategies

Use a tape script for micro listening activities to raise consciousness

Exploiting the Internet

www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/index.shtml

www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/index.shtml

Native speakers often listen at 25% of their potential and ignore, forget, distort or misunderstand 75%

Concentration rises above 25% if they are interested, but never reaches 100%

Bone (1988)

www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/index.shtml

Do we expect too much of language learners?

No guarantee learners are interested or motivated, since they play no part in deciding what to listen to

Let upper-intermediate learners choose authentic listening material

www.youtube.com

www.youtube.com

Short, interesting video clips that are free

Learners control video player

Half class watch one clip, half class watch other. Learners write questions and quiz other team exploiting natural information gap

www.youtube.com

Why do learners like this?

• break from the course book

• authentic

• hands on

• communicative

http://news.bbc.co.uk

QuestionHow would you exploit this web site in an intermediate level reading skills lesson?

Think about lesson stages and learner interaction.

‘Minimax’ news sitesLearners work in pairs, scan headlines, choose article

Learners predict vocabulary in the article from the headline

Before reading, learners write questions they want answered

Learners read for gist, then discuss their questions

‘Minimax’ news sitesLearners read text again, record 5-10 new words/phrases, guessing meaning from context

Learners check predictions in dictionary

Learners write summary of article

Learners explain article to peers and teach them the new words/phrases

Task-based web quests

Task-based web questsLearners work in small groups

Teacher sets learners a task to complete by searching web content

Learners compare findings and decide on the best option

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en

Task: refurnish your living room

Maximum budget £1000

Learners search, compare findings, and decide on best combination of furniture

http://uk.cars.yahoo.com

http://uk.cars.yahoo.com

Task: buy a used car

Maximum budget £10 000

Learners search, compare findings, and decide who found the best car

The web as a corpus

What’s a corpus?A large and searchable collection of samples of written and spoken English

What’s it used for?Corpus shows how language is really used

Dictionaries tell us what a word ought to mean

Corpus tell us what a word is used to mean

i.e. real-world examples of how a word/phrase is used

www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/index.xml

QuestionHow can we use a web-based corpus for teaching?

Think about lesson stages and learner interaction.

‘Minimax’ corpus

Teacher gives learners a word

In pairs, learners think of as many phrases as they can using the word

Learners search the corpus for more examples of use

Learners present and practice these to peers

ICT ideas that ‘minimax’

ICT ideas that ‘minimax’Conclusions:

Minimise teacher input and maximise learner output

Make learners produce more by engaging them in task-based communicative activities exploiting ICT

Teachers should set up activities and monitor language is being used correctly

AcknowledgementsExploiting youtube.com (Greg Gobel)

Exploiting news web sites (Anthony Griffiths)

Task-based web quests (Alex Davis)

Using the web as a corpus (Mel Hutton)

Greg GobelSenior Teacher Professional Development

British Council Somosaguasgregory.gobel@britishcouncil.es

Colin HoyRegional ICT CoordinatorMiddle East & North Africa

British Council Syriacolin.hoy@sy.britishcouncil.org

Web sites www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/index.shtml

www.youtube.com

http://news.bbc.co.uk

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en

http://uk.cars.yahoo.com

www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/index.xml