2. Dogme and Technology _ TeachingEnglish _ British Council _ BBC

8/5/2015 DogmeandTechnology|TeachingEnglish|BritishCouncil|BBC

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Neitherstrictdogmeticiansnortechnoevangelists,wearesimplyteacherswhoappreciatebothagoodDogmemomentandeasytousetechnologythatmakesourjobeasierandthelearnersmoreautonomous.WhatdowemeanbyagoodDogmemoment?Forus,itisonewherethereisconversationgoingongeneratedbythelearnersthemselves,whoideally,forashortperiodoftime,haveforgottenthattheyareinaclassroom.Asforeasytousetechnology,belowyouwillfindsomeofourfavouritetoolsforcreatingtheconversationandfeedingbackonit.Weareassumingaclassroomwithaninternetconnectionalthoughforsomeofthemasmartphoneortabletwillsuffice.

ConversationConversationisbynatureunpredictablebecausespontaneousquestionsandrealanswerswillsendpeopleoffontangents.Ourlearnerswillalwayscomeupagainstthefollowingproblems,whichtechnologycanhelpwith:Iwanttosaysomething,butIdontknowhowtosayit.Iknowthisword,butIdontknowhowtopronounceit.ImnotsureifIcansayitlikethisinEnglish.

Withlotsofconversationsgoingonintheclassroomatthesametime,itisimpossiblefortheteachertolistentoeveryoneallthetime.Weencourageourlearnerstousewhatevermeanstheycaninordertokeeptheconversationgoing.However,atthesametime,weaskthemtohavepenandpaperatthereadytomakeanoteofanylanguagedifficulties,liketheonesmentionedabove.Meanwhile,wecirculatetakingourownnotes.



PhotosLearnersownphotosareawonderfulwaytocreateconversation,especiallypicturesoffamily,holidaysorsimplysomethingthatcaughttheireyeinthestreet.Theynolongerhavetohuntthroughphotoalbumsathomeorprisepicturesfromframesandremembertobringthemtoclassbecausenowadaystheycanallbefoundontheirmobiledevices.Theactivities?Telluswhoyoutakeafterinyourfamily,showusthemostmemorableplaceyouvevisitedorcomparefavouritephotos,tonamebutafew.Wheneachlearnerhasspokenabouttheirimageoncetotheirpartner,itistimeforfeedbackandthentheyrepeattheactivitywithanewgroup,theobjectivebeinganimprovedperformance.

FeedbackWhenitcomestofeedback,weuseasharedGoogleDrivedocument(1),wherewewritedowntheanswerstothelearnersdifficultiesalongwithourownobservations.Thefirsttimewedothis,weshowthemhowtolinkvocabularytoanonlinedictionarygreatforpronunciationand,ifanimagespeaksathousandwords,toGoogleImages.

Everydayweaddtothedocumentsothatitbecomesarecordofthelanguagethathasemergedinclass.Wesendlearnersalinktothedocumentandeachweekoneofthemalsoreceiveseditingrightssothattheresponsibilityforlinkingtothedictionary/imagesistheirs.

VocabularyandpronunciationAllofushavestruggledatsomepointwhenaskedhowtouseaparticularlytrickyitemofvocabulary.InthesecasestheBritishNationalCorpus(2)canbealifesaver,andlearnersarealwaysimpressedbytheconceptandtheinformationitcontains.Itcanbeextremelyusefultoshowlearnerswhattheycanorcannotdowithnewvocabulary.Whatitdoesnotdo,however,ishelpthemwithsoundstheyarehavingdifficultyproducing.

Forthisweusethephonemicchart,andrecommendlearnerstodownloadthefreeapp(3).Inclassitisausefultoolforfamiliarisingthelearnerswiththesymbolsandsounds,andoutsideclasstheycanuseittocheckpronunciationandpractise.Wealsoencouragelearnerstouseanonlinedictionary(4).Theadvantagesoverapaperdictionaryarethreefold:itismuchquickertolookuptheword,learnerscanlistentothepronunciation,andtheydonotneedtocarrytwokilosofdictionaryaroundwiththem.

PresentationsEverybodyhasahiddentalentorisanexpertinsomethingandwemakeitourmissiontofindoutwhatitis,butbeforewedothat,wegiveashortinformaltalkofourowntogivelearnersafeelfortheexercise,andalsobecausetheywillbemoreforthcomingifwesharefirst.Wethenaskeachofthemtodothesame.

Theyprepareathomeandiftheyusepresentationsoftwaretoillustratetheirtalk,noreadingfromslidesisallowed.AswithallgoodDogmeactivities,thelistenershavetobeactiveandareunderstrictinstructionstoasklotsofquestionsafterthetalk.RecentexampleshaveincludedHowtousePhotoshop,Mixingtheperfectginandtonic(withtastingincluded)andTenthingsyouneverknewaboutArgentina.Insomecases,learnershaveevenlearntanewskillon



YouTubeorVideojug,suchasballoonmodellingorjuggling,andtaughtittotherestoftheclass!

Asthetalksarehappening,wemakenotesonthespeakerslinguisticperformance,whichwewriteuponthecomputeraftertheclass.WethenuseafreesoftwaretoolcalledJing(5)tosendthemfeedback.Aslongasyourcomputerhasamicrophoneandacamera,Jingallowsyoutorecordwhatishappeningonthescreenplusyourcommentaryforuptofiveminutes.Youcanthensendthisrecordingasalinkviaemail,anditbecomesanindividuallisteningcomprehensionexerciseforthelearnerinquestion.AnicefollowuptothisistoasklearnerstorecordandsendyouavideomessageusingMailVu(6)reactingtotheexperienceinclassandtoyourfeedback.

Wehavebeenfansofconversationdrivenlanguagelearningforalongtime,anditformsamajorpartofoureverydayclasses.Thegoldenruleforuswhenusingtechnologyisthatitshouldservetoenhancethelearningexperienceinthatcontext.Thetoolswehavementionedarefree,easytouseandhaveprovedpopularwithlearners.

Resources1.YoucouldintroduceyourlearnerstoGoogleDocsviathisvideo:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRqUE6IHTEA

2.http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/

3.http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/activities/phonemicchart

4.Cambridgehttp://dictionary.cambridge.org/

Macmillanhttp://www.macmillandictionary.com/

Longmanhttp://www.ldoceonline.com/

5.RussellStannardexplainsJinghttp://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/Jing/index.html

6.HealsoexplainsMailVuhttp://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/mailVu/index.html

SteveandTomworkattheBritishCouncilinAlcalUniversity,Madrid,andblogatwww.allatc.wordpress.com

BySteveMuirandTomSpain

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2. Dogme and Technology _ TeachingEnglish _ British Council _ BBC

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