Lingwistyczna Szkoa Wysza w Warszawie

Filologia Angielska

Piotr Grabowski

Nr albumu 1580

Proces nauczania i uczenia si jzyka angielskiego pokolenia Digital Natives w gimnazjum.

Praca licencjacka

na kierunku Filologia Angielska

Praca napisana pod kierunkiem

dr Elbiety Zawadowskiej-Kittel

Warszawa, luty 2013

Higher School of Linguistics in Warsaw

English Philology

Piotr Grabowski

Albums number 1580

The process of teaching and learning English to Digital Natives in junior-high school.

Bachelors Thesis

on English Philology

Thesis written under the guidance of

dr Elbieta Zawadowska-Kittel

Warsaw, February 2013

Owiadczenie kierujcego prac

Owiadczam, e niniejsza praca zostaa przygotowana pod moim kierunkiem i stwierdzam, e spenia ona warunki do przedstawienia jej w postpowaniu o nadanie tytuu zawodowego.

Data Podpis kierujcego prac

Owiadczenie autora pracy

wiadomy odpowiedzialnoci karnej owiadczam, e niniejsza praca dyplomowa zostaa napisana przeze mnie samodzielnie i nie zawiera treci uzyskanych w sposb niezgodny z obowizujcymi przepisami.

Owiadczam rwnie, e przedstawiona praca nie bya wczeniej przedmiotem procedur zwizanych z uzyskaniem tytuu na wyszej uczelni.

Owiadczam ponadto, e niniejsza wersja pracy jest identyczna z zaczon wersj elektroniczn.

Data Podpis autora pracy

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STRESZCZENIE

Ponisza praca zatytuowana Proces nauczania i uczenia si jzyka angielskiego pokolenia Digital Natives w gimnazjum. Ma za zadanie przybliy specyfik pracy z nowym pokoleniem uczniw oraz przedstawi gotowe rozwizania, ktre mog uatwi proces nauczania i uczenia si.

W rozdziale pierwszym autor charakteryzuje pokolenie Digital Natives, wskazuje na oddmienne cechy tej grupy oraz podkrela ich potrzeby wynikajce zarwno z ich wieku jak i przynalenoci do nowego, cyfrowego pokolenia.

Rozdzia drugi zawiera teoretyczn analiz potrzeb tej grupy oraz podaje rne techniki, jakie mona zastosowa by wyj im naprzeciw. Wskazuje rwnie rol nauczyciela w nauczaniu Digital Natives. W tym rozdziale omwiony jest take problem Digital Division, czyli duych rozbienoci w umiejtnociach zwizanych z uyciem komputera i multimediw.

Trzeci rozdzia rozpoczyna si przyblieniem typu badania, jaki zosta zastosowany przy tworzeniu tej pracy (badanie w dziaaniu) oraz opisem grupy, na ktrej badania zostay przeprowadzone. Jego gwn cz stanowi opisy wicze z dwch lekcji stworzonych specjalnie z myl o Digital Natives oraz wnioski wycignite podczas przeprowadzania danego wiczenia. Rozdzia koczy si wnioskami oglnymi wysnutymi podczas caego procesu badawczego.

SOWA KLUCZOWE

Digital Natives, jzyk angielski, mutlimedia, gimnazjum, komputer, Digital Division, cyfryzacja, dzieci.

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Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 6

1. Digital Natives who they really are? .............................................................................. 7

1.1. Born in digital world ........................................................................................................ 8

1.2. Not only digitalization ..................................................................................................... 9

1.3. Digital Natives` needs .................................................................................................... 12

1.3.1. Needs of the young in general .................................................................................... 12

1.3.2. Specific Digital Natives` needs .................................................................................. 14

2. Realization of Digital Natives` needs in different areas of learning English .................... 16

2.1. Verbs and nouns the idea of sharing responsibility in the classroom ...................... 17

2.2. Use of multimedia .......................................................................................................... 18

2.2.1. The role of teacher; the role of student ...................................................................... 18

2.2.2. What if technology is unavailable at school? ............................................................. 21

2.2.3. Coping with digital division ....................................................................................... 22

2.3. Lesson content ............................................................................................................... 22

2.3.1. Lesson background what we really should teach .................................................... 23

2.3.2. Lesson coverage ......................................................................................................... 25

3. Research in action .............................................................................................................. 29

3.1. Description of the group ................................................................................................ 29

3.2. Descriptions of lessons .................................................................................................. 30

3.2.1. My favourite computer game the lesson with the use of technology .................. 31

3.2.2. The computer avatars modern lesson without the use of modern technology ..... 35

3.3. Findings ......................................................................................................................... 38

CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................................................... 41

REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................... 42

APPENDICES .......................................................................................................................... 45

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INTRODUCTION The world is changing no matter whether we want it or not. And it is changing more quickly than at any time before. What is more, it is not only the world that is changing but we, people, are changing as well. A wide spread of computers, laptops, tablets and other electronic devices, an easy access to quick Internet, all media which attack us all the time have an enormous influence on us and especially on our children. Studies show that the young generation which grows up in this modern, digital world not only thinks differently but also has different brains and it is this fact that seems the most significant evidence of changes. Such a change has not occurred for ages. We, teachers, should realize that those changes have unusual importance for us. In order to obtain satisfying results, we need to change our methodology, our way of teaching and thinking because if we stay where we are now, we will have problem to reach our students. They are Natives in the new Digital world; we are and always will be the Digital Immigrants (Prensky 2001). However, if we want to teach them successfully, we need to become familiarized with their language and their thinking.

I have chosen this topic because I feel that I belong to both of these worlds. I understand the problems of teachers, I still remember my life without lots of devices popular now but in many cases I think and behave like a Digital Native because since childhood I have been using the computer and digital multimedia. I believe that teachers` complaints about contemporary students and their behavior are often misleading. Studies show that unfortunately for us, teachers, the problem in teaching English to Digital Natives lies not in the abilities or motivation of our students, but with high probability, in our methods which do not suit teenagers anymore.

This work is divided in two parts. In the theoretical part I would like to picture Digital Natives and show how they are different from previous generations. The major part of this work describes Digital Natives` needs and proposes possible solutions for meeting them. The practical part contains two lessons prepared specifically for Digital Natives both with and without the use of modern digital devices. The research carried out during and after those lessons helps draw the conclusion about teaching Digital Natives.

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1. Digital Natives who they really are? A new generation has come into school. We can argue who forms this generation, how to

name it or what the characteristics features of that group are, but that contemporary students differ from the previous ones is out of the question. An academic discussion concerning this new generation has probably reached its apogee and is taken simultaneously in many fields such as psychology, neurobiology, education, technology, sociology and so on. Each study, each approach adds new points to the discussion and provides help in full understanding of the new generation with its needs and problems. This generation, sometimes nuanced by alternative terminologies - Net Generation (Oblinger 2003), Digital Generation, Technological Generation (Monereo 2004), Millenials (Howe and Strauss 2000), is usually called Digital Natives as opposite to older generation called Digital Immigrants (Prensky 2001). Although this division into two generations: Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants, is becoming to be criticized (Bayne and Ross 2007; Selwyn 2009), it will be used in the present thesis as a dominant criterion in studies concerning the problem. The critics of this division state that the digital world that we are living in now has been created by Digital Immigrants (Selwyn 2009). They state that we cannot attach the label of Digital Immigrant to the people like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or Steve Wozniak (founders of the first and the most important IT companies Microsoft and Apple) because they understood the digital world better than anyone else. Besides, many people that would be classified as Digital Immigrants work in numerous companies that are responsible for progress of technology and multimedia. Research shows that Digital Natives` ability of technology use remains often limited by the social and financial status while Digital Immigrants` presence on the Internet and they technology skills are on a high level (Crook and Harrison 2008, Luckin et al. 2009, Lenhart et al. 2007 after Selwyn 2009:8). This work, however, tries to expand the meaning of Digital Natives beyond just the use of technology. I certainly agree that many Digital Immigrants are often more skilled in technology than some Digital Natives are but in this thesis Digital Natives are concerned as children brought up in world changed by technology. Digital Immigrants, even if they are masters in technology, have different approach to it. While Digital Immigrants seem to have deductive attitude toward technology, Digital immigrants have inductive approach to it. They often have problems to explain how they achieve the result but can show it easily (Small and Vorgan 2011). In this thesis the concepts of Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants are not simply the groups that are skilled or not in technology but rather two different generations that as a result of growing in different times and realities

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have different perception of the world and approach not only to the technology but also other aspects of life.

1.1. Born in digital world Since the first computer was built, all digital devices have changed radically. While the first data processing machine occupied a place equal to the few spacious living-rooms, modern electronic devices thanks to the flourishing of miniaturization process may be locked in the pocket. This change in the size is inversely proportional to the change in data processing capability. Even simple devices like watches might be more powerful than the old computers. What is more, the cost of electronic components has dramatically decreased with technical progress (Winston 1998).

All those factors bring about changes in our lifestyle and our home environment. Digital gadgets are not only present in our homes, schools and workplaces, but are numerous and sometimes even surround us from all sides. This omnipresence has gargantuan influence over the way we work, learn, entertain and in general life. This impact has two sides. One is obvious all computers, smart-phones, laptops, e-book readers, mp3 and mp4 players, game consoles etc. are tools that make our life easier and entertain us. Second side, however is less clear and can have far-reaching consequences. This side is the way technology changes our brains. According to studies featuring in the book iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind (Small and Vorgan 2011) mature brain can switch its working model into more digital after five days with just one hour sessions with a computer and Internet browser taken every day. In the same place the authors pose the question about the influence of modern technology on young brains.

This impact can be dramatic and makes fundamental changes. We should remember that young brains are far more flexible than the older ones. They produce unimaginable number of neural connections when all senses provide immeasurable number of stimuli (Small and Vorgan 2011). This ability to create new neurones in a quick time is responsible for the capacity for quick learning. It means that young brains change quicker and in more complex way when they stay in contact with digital technologies. What is more, the amount of the time spent on working with a digital device can strengthen the changes and make our synapses thicker. This time needs to be considered in two ways the first one is time of a single exposure and the second one is the time in which those digital sessions occur consecutively. It is a well known and often repeated phrase that children spend too much time

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in front of TV or a computer screen. Research shows that taking time spent by the young with all different digital devices altogether we can receive even 7 hours and 38 minutes (7:38) across a typical day. And because they spend so much of that time media multitasking they actually manage to pack a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes (10:45) worth of media content into those 7 hours (Kaiser Family Foundation 2010). This number should be alarming when we realize that it is one third of the day. It becomes terrifying when we remove from 24h day all time spent on sleeping, eating, moving and learning at school. It seems that youths are exposed to digital stimuli in almost all their free time. Such a strong and long-lasting impulse inevitably affects young brains. What is more, children are attacked by media and digital machines almost since their birth. With such an early start, until they are teenagers, they will have had a long history of digital interactions that cause strong habits. In contrast to adults, Digital Natives have not different base of possible, different behaviours. While adults know different, analogue world, the young very often know only the digital world. An opportunity of more balanced view so natural to digital immigrants could be unreachable for Digital Natives.

In spite of having many common characteristics, Digital Natives fail to create

homogenous group. Even the level of digital skills that seems to be one of the determinants of participation in this group is different among their members. This fact leads to the so called digital division that is one of the problems concerning Digital Natives (problems of digital division and possible solutions to it will be discussed later). We can, however, assume that all members of this cohort have some access to digital technologies and those high tech machines have influenced their brains and led to changes in behaviour.

1.2. Not only digitalization It is natural that Digital Natives are part of modern world and this world creates them as they are. In this place it would be good to consider what the modern world really is and why people, especially those born and brought up in it, behave the way they do. We must think here what more besides digital stimuli changes our pupils.

One of the catalysts that change people is modern economy and global market, and its influence affects different layers of human life (Hodgson 2007). Our reality is consumerism-oriented. Factories and international industries try to force us to buy more and more of their products. This race for goods and created by media model of life enlarges our desire for

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possession. A happy and prosperous person is shown as one that owns all new stuff that is available on market. Unfortunately, our infinite desire for goods meets our finite possibilities of acquisition and sometimes even brings us onto the edge of a nervous collapse. These factors impress all yet undoubtedly the young are more affected. It makes them believe that money, possessions and physical comfort are more important than spiritual values, knowledge and relationships. Such orientation could provide problems in motivation to learning. Even if it motivates them to acquire knowledge it is extrinsic (less valuable) motivation rather than intrinsic one. They learn for something (for getting better paid job for ex.) not for the pleasure of learning itself or possessing knowledge and if in short period of time they have no results they abandon their efforts (Sikorski 1999). Social psychological research has indicated that extrinsic rewards can lead to overjustification and a subsequent reduction in intrinsic motivation. In the research study carried out by Lepper demonstrating this effect, children who expected to be (and were) rewarded with a ribbon and a gold star for drawing pictures spent less time playing with the drawing materials in subsequent observations than children who were assigned to an unexpected reward condition. For those children who received no extrinsic reward, self-determination theory proposes that motivation can be internalised by the individual if the task fits with their values and beliefs and therefore helps to fulfil their basic psychological needs, that is why students with no reward have willingly drown the pictures in free time (Lepper et al. 1973). Being earthly-minded makes them unhappy in one more manner. There is always somebody that has more and stays higher in hierarchy. They cannot see the value of their minds and soul, instead of that they feel degraded because of their poverty (even if they are statistically rich).

As was said before, adults are also affected by this desire of having, not being. It has always been a problem for the human beings but as Erich Fromm, a philosopher of the industrial era, marks - it began to grow with the industrialization process and the capitalism (Fromm 1995). The flourish of mass media, computerization and robotics makes people even more self-centred and egotist. Hyper-consumerism is nowadays a frequent attitude towards life. This fact along with an unstable financial situation forces Poles to work longer. A statistical Pole in 2010 spent 2015 hours at work which is almost twice as much as a German (1288h/year). This amount makes us the second busiest nation in the world (just behind Korea 2074h/year) (Internet source 1). People accept both paid and unpaid overtime hours, some for fear of losing their job, others in ultimate ambition of building a great career. Time devoted to work and job taken home makes them absent from their children. They have no

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time (or have limited time) for growing their descendants. Children often need to look for help and advice on the Web, internet fora and among their friends instead of long partner discussion with their parents. Research carried out by the YouthNet in six European countries shows, that in five of them the Internet is the main source of information for teenagers when

looking for information about alcohol, drugs or sex. The second most popular source of information is a peer talk (Di Antonio 2011). Wisdom seems to be no longer passed down from generation to generation. The youth have sometimes problems with simple relationships or with a face to face conversation because they are not used to this type of interaction. They also have problems with proper behaving in such places as a restaurant or museum because they were not told how to do it; at least they have not been taught such patterns by their parents.

As we can see Digital Natives create a heterogeneous group strongly afflicted by the times they live in. They are locked in the trap of digital world they need to be more digital to keep up with their times, and being digital moves their times forward. It is a vicious circle. At the same time they experience a lack of analogue old fashioned abilities that still are part of our life (and could possibly become more significant again). They often have an impressive practical knowledge about digital reality but those skills do not give them ability of understanding the world. They feel confident when they cope with digital devices but sometimes are lost when are made to work in a different way. Without the help of technology they easily lose their self-assurance. They cannot replace all the possibilities that high tech machinery gives them with their skills and knowledge, because their skills and knowledge are insufficient. All the digital devices are no longer tools that help them to improve and accelerate their own job but do the job instead of them. It means that in the case of lack of technology the job is not done at all. Digital Natives are curious but often do not know where to find the answer to their questions or, having the knowledge where, they do not know how. All these characteristic features that generate their needs are the subject of the next subchapter.

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1.3. Digital Natives` needs Net Generation is a characteristic group living in particular times with defined needs. Those needs are affected by three main domains their age, their brains changed by digital technologies and their surrounding that require specific skills and knowledge.

1.3.1. Needs of the young in general Digital Natives in general and those who are the subject of this thesis in detail (junior-high students) are young. No matter how much they are changed by digital gadgets they use, they posses characteristics mutual to all young people. Common features for this cohort have been well documented (Komorowska 2005, Zawadzka 2004) and we can see that they are various and can influence different aspects of a lesson. Junior-high students are at the age that features both physical and mental changes. It is probably one of the hardest times and one of the most important at the same time (Korsak 1975). This period has a deep meaning for creating personality. With students changing their behaviour and minds all the time, junior-high it is type of school considered as the most exhaustive for teachers. But appropriate knowledge could make it easier to create lessons that reach learners and not only teach them what we want but maybe also help them to become a valuable human being.

The adolescence, as it has been stated, is a hard period of changes. Students must cope with their body that is changing from day to day. Emerging sexuality forces them to think about the opposite sex in a new way. Surprisingly, it could manifest itself in a stunning way as an aversion to it. The young do not understand their feelings, fight with them like with something unexpected and scary. Therefore learners at this age prefer to cope exclusively with the same sex and we as teachers need to respect that and not to force them to something opposite (Curtain and Dalhberg 2010).

It is also the time of building self-confidence. Learners at this age are extremely aware of themselves, their rights and their point of view. Students at this age demonstrate general willingness to express themselves and their beliefs. Communicating their feelings they often relegate accuracy. This is the time when teacher`s approach to errors (especially grammatical) receives a tremendous meaning. It is desirable at this level not to pay attention to minor mistakes but let students formulate their opinions. It is the time when we as teachers should put much efforts to emphasize how much students know, not how much they still do not know. A major goal of all schooling for children at this age is the encouragement of positive

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relationships and positive self-image (Curtain and Dahlberg 2009). As it is extremely welcome at every level, at this particular one it is the most beneficent. The opposite approach may push students into the closure and even into the clash. The reaction could be explosive; the learner may fight with the teacher or give up with his effort in polishing his language. As

they are so sensitive, it is better not to underestimate them and not to point all their mistakes especially with all peers listening. We should concentrate rather on developing their fluency, expanding their vocabulary and on learning interactions and mediations than on improving grammar accuracy. What is more, students are looking for approval and the teacher that fulfil that need could easily reach students` hearts.

Young learners are curious and can devote all their attention to the subject but only when they are passionately interested in it. A list of their interest is large and may vary in every class from music, sport, and film through famous people to technology and games. It does not mean that we cannot transfer their attention into different subjects. It rather suggests that for going beyond their actual interests we must take the path through their hobbies. There are however themes that are shared by all young learners. What is fascinating to them is real life; that is why all subjects should have connection to it. Topics that are far from the young`s life are boring and will not catch their attention. Another motive that could help interest students at this age with language and studies is connected with broadly understood extremity. An illustrative summary of that issue is given Helena Curtain and Carol Dahlberg:

Because exploring the limits of the real world is very important at this age, students will respond well to opportunities to learn in exhaustive detail about subjects that interest them. Heroic figures with qualities that transcend threats are especially good choices for emphasis, and middle schoolaged children need learning experiences with a strong affective component. Students show high interest in the unusual and the extremes in the real world. (Curtain and Dahlberg 2010: 25)

To be treated like an adult is yet another need of junior-high students. (Zawadzka 2004) They think about themselves as adults and demand it from others.

For any type of partnering to succeed, however, it is key that mutual respect between students and teachers be established. To some readers this may sound obvious, or like something that is already there, but that is not always the case. My discussions with both students and teachers have taught me that there is not nearly enough respect in our schools and in teaching. And it goes both waysstudents respect for teachers and vice versa. Respect is, of course, a key element of any teaching and learning, but it is especially important for teaching and learning via partnering.

The key requirement for respect in a partnering context is that it be mutual; each partner must truly respect the other.() For successful partnering, teachers and students alike must realize and accept that we have entered an era in which both students and teachers have something of equal importance to contribute to the learning process. Each side must respect and learn from what the other has to offer. (Prensky 2010: 45)

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Student`s behavior is ambivalent they act like mature only when it is profitable for them, in other cases they could easily forget about their adulthood. It could be a trap for a teacher because it is not easy to treat somebody like an adult and to remember that he is still a child at the same time. Teachers often over- or underestimate students` skills and abilities, and demand from them a behavior that is proper for higher or lower level (Zawadzka 2004). The task for the teacher is then to treat them like children to explain everything, to demand and to guide but in such a way that they could not realize that.

As we can see, it is not easy to teach junior-high students and that is why teachers have many concerns about coping with them (Ibid.). They are in the middle of the process that makes them mature in both physical and mental meaning. What is more, those changes progress with individual speed; in one classroom we could have students that are at very different levels. Even one person could develop faster in case of body and stay at the same point in case of mental abilities. That results in dichotomy in needs. They desire a person who will be a guide for them, who will show how to learn and how to behave but at the same time will let them behave their own way and will not criticize them for their beliefs. They need somebody worth counting on. Those needs are common for this cohort regardless generation and it is a base for Digital Natives demands that expand this already long list.

1.3.2. Specific Digital Natives` needs As it was said before, Digital Natives are children born in digital world and influenced by the technology (both directly and indirectly). Adding more and increasing level of already existing problems those circumstances have a tremendous impact on all sides of their development.

Rapid changes in young student`s body and mentality were discussed earlier. In this place we must however expand the number of changes that makes their life (and, what is important for this thesis, process of teaching and learning English) harder. We must be aware of the speed at which the world is changing. Never before has our planet evolved so rapidly. Now children must cope with the inner shift in unstable reality. The process of adaptation to the new exigency requires a lot of effort. In fact, the situation is modified at such speed that already acquired knowledge and skills becomes outdated by the time they are achieved it or even before. An antidote for this problem lies in forecasting the future. The teacher should

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provide knowledge that could be useful in the upcoming time. A preparation for expected problems will be also advantageous (Prensky 2012).

An access to the broadband Internet connection has opened the door to incredible amount of information. While for previous generations it was sometimes difficult to find any information, for Digital Natives it is sometimes hard to find the proper one in the sea of spam and misleading data. The ability of filtering information is one of the most important needs for this generation (Vorgan and Small 2011) especially in the context of learning English, which is closely connected with gathering proper information. Processing knowledge is also a skill that should be taught to this generation. Summarization, transformation or interpretation of written text or recorded speech is not their strong point (Ibid.). Lack of this dexterity that could be unexpected for Digital Immigrants can make schooling extremely difficult. The fact that Millenials have easy access to information has changed their demands in the classroom in one more way, namely they expect the same from the teacher they suppose that he will

respond to their desire of knowledge. What is more, they suppose that answers will be as quick as possible and accessible. If they do not understand, they will blame the teacher. To give them a fishing-pool not the fish, teacher should not give them all the answers but develop their patience and show how to find and organize information.

The digital media arrange data in a characteristic manner messages are short and topics change rapidly (Ibid.). Digital Natives are used to this method of providing facts and require that in the classroom. It means that issues raised during one class unit should not only be interesting (as it was said in chapter 1.3.1 of this thesis), but also should vary. We are accustomed to having one subject discussed during one class unit. With Digital Natives in the classroom we must consider it again. Probably for digital immigrants it may be hard to understand that what for them seems to be an influx of information (too many topics in a short time) for the Digital Natives is understandable and could even improve their results because it helps them with keeping their attention whole the time. Having different subjects we should also use different techniques to banish the boredom from the classroom. The use of numerous forms like films, podcasts, headlines and PowerPoint presentations will improve our lessons and boost our communication with Digital Natives.

Another challenge and need of Digital Natives lies in their security (Vorgan and Small 2011). They are often too confident while playing with digital media, especially with the Internet. They feel that they possess whole knowledge and are masters in this area.

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Unfortunately, with this belief they expose themselves to the attacks of e-criminals and hackers. They may have contact with pornography, pedophilia or have their personality stolen. Adults including teachers are responsible for teaching the young proper behavior in World Wide Web. Without such guidance they could be lost and fall into a trap.

Needs of Digital Natives are wide and various. Connected with their age and reality they live in determine their behavior and abilities of acquiring knowledge. The teacher that wants to be successful ought to know how to fulfill them. Next chapter of this thesis aspires to be the source of ideas and information that will make the process of teaching and learning English to Digital Natives easier and more productive.

2. Realization of Digital Natives` needs in different areas of learning English

As was stated before, Digital Natives are new students that force teachers to take a deep look on our education and reconsider our manner of teaching, especially in case of teaching Englis. Although communicative approach and Task Based Learning, which represents its continuation, is a good base for teaching Digital Natives, it needs to be slightly changed or improved by additional tools and rules to be re-forged into partnering pedagogy (Prensky 2010). The difficulty in teaching English to Digital Natives lies not only in the requirements of technology usage that could be terrifying for teachers representing rather Digital Immigrants group but also in fact that teachers need to relinquish part of their power and let students be more responsible for learning. Some teachers are used to frontal teaching even if they realize that it is a relic of the previous era of teaching and do not want to give their students a possibility to learn in their own way. The new idea of partnering pedagogy that means sharing responsibility of learning, although difficult for some teachers to accept or provide in the classroom, seems to be the best way to struggle with many obstacles that appear in the classroom full of Digital Natives (Ibid.).

The basic direction is away from the old pedagogy of teachers telling (or talking, or lecturing, or being the Sage on the Stage) to the new pedagogy of kids teaching themselves with teachers guidance (a combination of student-centered learning, problem-based learning, case-based learning, and the teachers being the Guide on the Side.) (Prensky 2008:1 the role of technology)

Fortunately for the teachers, the fact that students are more responsible for their education does not mean we can get rid of teachers, curricula and old knowledge that had been taught for ages. Most of the base knowledge should stay the same as it is now. We

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should change, however, the way we provide it or make a step further, letting students do it. The idea of nouns and verbs created by Prensky (2010) is a good picture of how it could work and will be the subject of next subchapter.

2.1. Verbs and nouns the idea of sharing responsibility in the classroom

To understand better what verbs and nouns are in the context of Digital Natives pedagogy we should start from a short cite of its author:

I make the helpful distinction between verbs and nouns, where verbs are the skills students should know (such as understanding and communicating), which change little or not at all, and nouns are the tools we use to learn, practice and use these skills (such as PowerPoint, e-mail, Wikipedia, YouTube, etc.), which change with increasingly rapidity. I encourage teachers to think of verbs as the part that is fundamental and nouns as something that will continue to evolve continually in our lifetimes. (Prensky 2010: 25)

As we can see, we can divide the lesson into two main parts verbs, which means what is taught, and nouns which means how it is taught. Those two parts are in the possession of two different groups that create a classroom: verbs are in the hands of teachers and nouns - in the hands of students. This division brings mutual benefits to both sides. Teachers teach what they want (or need to teach in terms of curriculum) and students posses knowledge and skills that are still valuable (filtering information, summarization, social knowledge). Students feel more comfortable because they have a great influence on the lesson. Responsibility put on their shoulders increases their self-esteem. They can use technology that is interesting for them. Teachers can learn more about technology and its possible usage observing the children. He creates a digital lesson without the need for providing technology to children, who probably know it better because all digital devices are in their hands.

This change could influence students` attitudes toward the lesson and school. In many cases we do not need to change their approach to knowledge in general. Young people, who are bored at school, work really hard learning outside the school walls. They teach themselves and each other all kinds of important and useful things about their reality. But at home they learn how they want. They follow their interests and passions, often becoming experts in this field. Therefore, we can observe an educational paradox the place where the biggest educational changes have appeared is not the school; it is everywhere but the school (Prensky 2010). And this is the reason for introducing a wider usage of technology into our educational institutions and for letting students have a greater impact on educational process.

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General rules of multimedia usage in the classroom and possible form of work organization are the subject of next subchapter. It shows why the teachers should not be worried about technology and how they can learn more. It also initiates a problem of class discipline and chaos in the classroom. It also tries to give some solutions or different points of view on this problem.

2.2. Use of multimedia Digital technology, as it was mentioned before, is ubiquitous and it has changed our life. Unfortunately, in the school in place where it could make a lot of improvements it seems to be used unsatisfactorily, in a wrong way or is not used at all. Our goal as a teacher is now to introduce a greater use of multimedia into our classroom. This is a great tool for education and abandoning it we waste a lot of possibilities. Notwithstanding the great opportunities it can give, we must learn how to use it in right way. Otherwise it could do no profits or even bring more problems.

2.2.1. The role of teacher; the role of student All multimedia devices present in the classroom are, as it was said before, nouns and, as such they are tools for students to improve their achievements in learning and help them to learn better and more quickly. Consequently, whenever the possibility of its usage come, it should be a student who does it. Technology introduced into classroom cannot be the next tool for a teacher to simply give a lecture. For todays students, the teacher that gives his lectures even with the use of technology such as PowerPoint or YouTube films is still only boring, talking old guy (Prensky 2008). A change of tools without the accompanying change in thinking can undermine all efforts and be evidence for those who are resistant to use of technology, that the old way of teaching was the best way. However teachers often look at the technology in the classroom as a thing that disturbs students (especially when they think about cell-phones and game-consoles used by children under their desks), it could be a powerful supply. There is probably no better source of current information than the Internet. The fact that seems to confirm that statement is that Encyclopedia Britannica, the oldest still being produced and regarded as one of the most scholarly English-language encyclopedia, will no longer be printed but available only in online version (Internet source 2). The editorial office decided to take this step because the book version was outdated at the moment of printing. Only the online version that could be changed instantly is able to keep up with

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human knowledge. What is more, digital technology is helpful in organizing information gained from all sources and in presenting them in colorful interesting way. The latter is important because information should be shared among all the students.

The more digital media are present in the classroom, the better for the children. We can organize work in many ways letting students use different types of technology. We can divide them into groups and pairs. We can let them work as individuals. Sometimes we can let them change groups during the lesson and make many things in the same time. We should not be really strict but let the students be creative not only in preparing their tasks, but also in organizing work. Collective use of technology is very profitable because children that are masters in some skills could teach others (including teacher) that are less familiar with them (so called digital division will be discussed in later subchapter). We can let groups compete with each-other and work with the same technology and try to get better results. We can also try to organize work in such a way that every next group adds something to collective work or improves the previous version. List of possible combinations seems to be like our universe it is almost endless but is still growing with every new technology that appears (Prensky 2010).

However use of multimedia is profitable, it raises several issues connected with class discipline. The class that works in new way will never look the same. With children using many different electronic devices at the same time, walking through the class, changing their groups and talking to each other will look like a pure chaos for people not familiarized with it. This is the reason why school management and other teachers should be part of this process. Otherwise it will bring unnecessary problems to all. Teachers that introduce this type of learning could meet the resistance of management or even be accused of not keeping discipline in the classroom. Students that start being treated equally by one teacher that, what is more, lets them use all technology will demand it from other teachers, which could be problematic for them since they do not know how to work with Digital Natives and technology. It appears that introducing new pedagogy into school should be evolutionary and involve the whole school (Prensky 2010). Generally speaking, we must also reconsider our image of good disciplined classroom. In teaching Digital Natives, disciplined classroom is the place where the process of creative learning takes place. We must forget about silence, equal rows of benches and students sitting and listening without movement. Group or pair work, use of different devices at the same time requires movement in the class. It is impossible also to keep silence while different groups listen to different podcast at the same time, change their

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ideas and opinions between groups. Nevertheless, it does not mean that this situation should always take place and there is no requirement of providing rules of good behavior. The general idea of functionally class is still the same do not disturb others. Teachers should constantly observe and stay on guard. All tries of changing topics of discussion that goes too far, behaving in such a way that annoys other learners should be stopped. Moreover, teachers should remember that kids, especially Digital Natives who are used to multitasking, loud music and general chaos of information, have a higher resistance level; what for teachers could look like too much, for them is not a problem but even fun (Prensky 2010).

Some teachers, especially those with longer teaching experience and representing a traditional approach to teaching are often resistant to using technology. They do not know how to use it and are sure that they will never master this skill. They feel uncomfortable when they have problems with using some digital devices that are easy-to-use for primary school children. Unfortunately, there are reasons for them to feel this way. Keeping up with changing technology that is a problem for Digital Natives, for digital immigrants (including teachers) is practically impossible. Thankfully, it is not necessary for teachers to know how to use all technology - it is not their domain. As Prensky has mentioned There is a paradox, because to be the most successful at using technology in their classrooms, teachers do not need to learn to use

it themselves (although they can if they want to) (2010:21). It is sufficient that students have this knowledge. The greatest role of the teacher is to let students do their best use technology. Of course, it does not mean that the teacher can be totally ignorant in terms of digital technology. He does not need to know how to create things with it but should know what generally can be created, what can be the role of particular device or computer program in the classroom, how they can improve the lesson. He also needs to be aware of dangerous and possible cons of circumstantial device. It is important for him to predict possible problems that can appear when certain technology is used. Teacher should be also conscious about technology to assess his students. He needs to know if all possible applications of technology were used. If not he should push students to find them and use. (Hacker and Engstrom 2011)

As we can see the roles of students and teachers are totally different, but equal. All technology is in the hands of students and they use it for their research. Teachers observe students and assure quality and discipline. They also try to indicate the right technology for certain tasks and organize work in such a way that every student can do his best and learn as much as possible from technology and his peers.

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2.2.2. What if technology is unavailable at school? Polish school, is still far away from the best world schools, among others in terms of technological equipment in rural areas. Fortunately, thanks to European and governmental programs like Digital School the situation in schools is still being improved. There are, however, schools without technology at all or with insufficient equipment. Sometimes schools have only a few sets of projectors and laptops that must be shared between large number of teachers and classes. Nonetheless, this situation does not remove the responsibility of the teachers for preparation of students for new, digital world and creating lessons for them as for Digital Natives. As it was said before, more important than the use of technology (both as main characteristic of Digital Natives and as approach that helps teach them) is different thinking. Digital Natives think differently even if they do not work with technology and they should be taught in a different way even if technology is unavailable.

When you have no technology at school, you should firstly think if it is possible to change this situation without big efforts. You could be surprised how many unused devices are kept in people`s basements or attics. Many of them are still functional but just too old for some to use. Even if outdated, it will still be better than nothing for school children. We must also remember that more and more people (including students and teachers) have their personal devices like laptops, mp3 players and phones (including more and more popular smart phones). This technology is often banned from use in schools, also those that must struggle with a lack of multimedia. Yet they can be used as tools that children love and help cover up digital absence.

If it is impossible to have any digital media in that classroom, we still have opportunity to prepare lesson that will fulfill digital native`s needs. Old aids as books, dictionaries, paper and blackboard can be used in different way. The most important is to let students work and create, not just dictate and demand that they make notes. Modern students should be treated like researchers. A very interesting lesson prepared in a modern way without use of multimedia is introduced in 91st issue of The Teacher. Anna Musielak presents and comments on her lesson for teenagers about social network and dangerous situation on the Web. The subject is well known to students and really interesting for them as a big part of their life. Exercises, however without multimedia, are interesting and attract attention. One of presented exercise was to create a Facebook profile on a paper. Children (divided into 3 groups) create profile of Prince William, Shakespeare and Spiderman using a Facebook profile form. Then, after creating a profile, they post the statuses and other groups could

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decide if they like them and comment on them. Children seem to have fun with it and comment the statuses in a funny way. This exercise has a great potential because we can create any profile we want and force children to find some information about person, country or whatever we want. We can use prepared texts to give them information to find or give them authentic materials or any source of information we want. The lesson contains more

interesting exercises and is evidence for possibility of creating modern lesson for Digital Natives without multimedia (Musielak 2011).

2.2.3. Coping with digital division As it was said many times before, use of digital devices is not only what distinguishes millenials from other groups. In fact, you can be digital native and have problem with multimedia. This is the so called digital division (Prensky 2010). And it could be one of the biggest problems of the future both on a global and local scale. Children have different access to the digital technology. Some of them have all the newest gadgets at home; others have only the possibility to use them at school or in public places. It is obvious that children familiarized with technology will have easier start every time when a new possibility of technology use comes and we must remember that their future is probably technology at every step. That is why coping with digital division is one of the most important of modern school`s goals. As research shows (Small and Vorgan 2011) we do not need to be digitally-connected all the time to gain digital skills and easiness with technology usage. When technology is available in almost every lesson and work is organized properly, digital span will be decreasing. We must only remember that every child needs to have some access to it during the lesson. We should also be careful while creating groups we should mix children that are masters in technology with those less skilled to create the possibility of peer teaching. When children observe their peers, when they work and then practice new skills, they will learn more and will not stand out as much in terms of technology.

2.3. Lesson content In previous subchapters I discussed the rules that govern use of technology during lesson. In next subchapters I would like to examine content of lessons prepared for Digital Natives. To make this debate easier I would like to introduce division for two parts - background and coverage of lesson content. As background I understand our lesson aims and goals, real knowledge and skills that we want to teach. As coverage I mean rather the way that brings us

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to the background texts and exercises we use to teach the background. This division seems to be helpful since background is a domain of teacher while coverage is student-oriented.

2.3.1. Lesson background what we really should teach Lesson background are the Prensky`s Verbs that were discussed above (chapter 2.1) and as such are in hands on teacher. Of course, whole modern education is student-oriented and lesson aims are prepared to make students future life easier and to teach them what will be really useful for them. Nonetheless, it is the teacher that decides what will be taught. Lesson background should emerge from Digital Natives needs (discussed in chapter 1.3). Communicative approach states that goals should concentrate rather on skills than knowledge. It is not the newest truth but never before had it been as accurate as in case of teaching English to Digital Natives. To understand better this need, Marc Prensky introduces a comparison of Digital Children to rockets. As rockets, young learners must be prepared for unknown future. Considering our changing world it is becoming harder and harder to predict what knowledge will be useful in the future. What is more children`s knowledge (the same like rockets database) could be upgraded during the flight (life) thanks to many information source. But like we cannot add new tools into rocket after launch, it is hard (but not impossible) to teach new skills. Those skills that are in desire of Digital Natives could be grouped in two categories informational/educational and cultural/social, both with equal importance and familiar for digital immigrants (Ibid.).

In the first category we can find skills that are important during the whole process of learning despite the age and level. Among others these are logical thinking, critical approach to the information, collecting, filtering, summarizing and organizing information. All those, however were always important, have new even greater meaning in our new reality. Access to

the Internet gives us so many sources of information that collecting proper information seems

to be the easiest task we can imagine. On the other hand, we are bombarded by large amount of sources that are misleading or their quality is confusing. Sometimes we must get through many wrong pages before we find a proper one. Children are used to copying and collecting information without critical look at them. Many times when teachers ask for research, they

receive work that is a result of ctrl +c and ctrl +v activity. We must teach children how to filter information to protect them from getting lost in overloaded Web. They need to be able to distinguish proper sources from those insufficiently academic. This skill is extremely important because learning from inadequate source can cause many problems. This ability is

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remarkably important not only for autonomous learner but also for all students especially because learning from sources do not end with ending of school education. Another skill worth teaching is summarization. Digital Natives have many problems with drawing the essence from text (Small and Vorgan 2011). They cannot identify what is the most important and what can be omitted. Without this ability they often collide with difficulties resulting from influx of information. We must remember that our brain cannot assimilate all the information and we should prepare for him only the most important pieces of information. Summarization is also an integral part of process of organizing and sharing information. Before we arrange our knowledge we should prepare quintessence of it, then we use our logic to organize them. Without it all information will be hard to acquire and to share with others. Distributing knowledge is another skill desire by Digital Natives. It is important in process of peer education. All those skills are not only useful and profitable during whole process of teaching and learning but are also attractive for future employers (Internet source 3).

Second set of skills is connected with culture and social issues. As it was mentioned before, Digital Natives often have problems with face to face conversation. Children that spend most of their free time connected to the Web have problems with recognizing facial expressions (Small and Vorgan 2011). They suffer from those inabilities and move more and more into their digital world. The role of teacher and education system is to socialize children and teach them how to behave in real life situations like visit in restaurant or job interview. These skills are hard to learn from Web but still important in real life. Even if businesses can be (and often are) done via Internet and phone, business face to face meeting are also important and can sometimes err on contract`s to be or not to be. However new friends are met through the Internet, especially male-female relationships are oriented on real life meeting. In previous era this knowledge had been passed from generation to generation. Presently, parents have often less time for children and do not introduce them into life. If possible, teachers should fill this gap. English language lessons are good occasions to introduce such situations, especially because new curriculum contains subjects like: culture, family and social life, food or people. Exercises used in lesson like dialogue, short plays, films and discussions give great opportunity to practice etiquette and interpersonal rituals.

Important issue is also to teach skills that will be used in students future life. So far writing an e-mail, making a PowerPoint presentation and writing a blog have replaced writing a letter, report and essay. Those skills should be taught in our schools as today`s stuff. (Prensky 2012). But we must remember that our students that are now still kids will start their

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adult life in the future and they need tomorrow`s stuff. Every teacher should think about the future and try to foresee on base of actual evidence what skills would be desirable in the imminent and prepare his students for the forthcoming. Marc Prensky in one of his essays (Prensky 2012) have done a trial and concluded that for every student three new skills are worth to acquire. These skills are: working in virtual community, making a video and writing a computer video. However all required skills of the future cannot be closed in the list of three, this agenda seems to be worth considering. Companies, especially those from IT sector, more often decide to let their employee work at home via Internet using virtual communities. As long as it could give huge savings (less office space is required, lower energy bills), it could be the future of many industries. The Internet websites, including digital versions of newspapers inject films into (or instead) articles. This fact supported by rising popularity of websites like TED.com seems to indicate that ability of making films will be required in many fields. Films could be a very interesting learning tool and as such could be easily incorporated into classroom. Students can create films and stand in both sites of camera be actors, directors and video editors. Last skill from the list computer programming - gives the impression of both the most difficult and most important. With wide spread of digital devices, in the world where even a fridge has access to the Internet and could make a shopping on the website, words of Doug Rushkoff Program or be programmed (Rushkoff 2010) receive new, frightening meaning. Computer programs are our future and every job of the future could be more or less connected with programming (Internet source 3).

With all those skills our students will be not only better learners but also better people in general. We must remember that teaching useful skills instead of common knowledge that in our reality can be accessed in millisecond is like giving one person a fishing-pool instead of a fish. It is the best preparation for the future that will probably demand both old-fashioned skills and completely new knowledge that so far is inaccessible.

2.3.2. Lesson coverage When we finally know what we really want to teach, we should concentrate on the techniques we will use to allocate the knowledge. With Digital Natives in the classroom, lesson should be covered by considerable use of multimedia. General rules governing application of digital devices into the lesson were discussed in 2.2. This subchapter tries to supplement this knowledge with concrete examples of exercises and general rules of lesson coverage that do not necessary concern multimedia usage.

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Lesson coverage, in my opinion, using vocabulary introduced by Marc Prensky, is more like noun than the verb. However it is the teacher who decides how to cover the lesson`s background, he should be focused on students` sympathies. Extensive choice of texts, podcasts and exercises should be the result of students` passions and hobbies. This is the most important idea because we involve great enthusiasm of our pupils into learning process. We must remember that students have great potential. We can see it observing their activity after school for example work in virtual communities concerning games and favourite films. These are the same students that seem to be bored and out of energy during the classes. If we catch their attention properly, we will see the same excitement and liveliness in our classroom. (Prensky 2010). Texts must be not only connected with hobbies, but also real. Our textbooks often provide texts that are artificial. It is not our language is the most frequent comment for text that imitates teenager`s statements, of We do not listen to that any more as a comment for a song that was popular in the moment of creating a book but becomes out of fashion in time of printing it, not mention time it is used.

It could look like a Sisyphean task preparing lesson that will fulfill needs of every student in the classroom, will be connected to his hobby and will be real. However, we must remember that big part of responsibility lies in students hands. We must let them work, not prepare everything for them. Our job is to create proper group and to divide tasks to right students. Let`s imagine a lesson about love and feelings. If somebody is interested in music give him a task to find a song connected with the subject of the lesson. One interested in art can find paintings about love, one interested in poetry can find the most beautiful poem, etc. Then, students can prepare collective presentation. They can also prepare film or short drama about love, for example a new version of Romeo and Juliet and even place it on the YouTube. After that, they can discuss if such a situation can take place in our times and what could be a possible solution.

As it was mentioned above, students during the lesson should often use technology to find many pieces of information and searching proper sources is one of skills that should be taught. To cover that skill we can use lessons based on Wikipedia. This controversial website is for our students, no matter we want it or not, first and unfortunately sometimes the only one source of information (Prensky 2007). In spite of the fact that some articles in Wikipedia have really poor quality, we must be conscious that some are really worth to be discussed they are written in a proper language, in formal academic style with lots of references and further readings. What we should do is to teach our students to distinguish one

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from another. We should also teach them that this re- in research means using more than one source during searching and that larger base of sources let us choose better one and to check the quality of a source. However, in my opinion, the best idea is to engage our students into Wiki community and to let them create new articles and to improve already existing. This will force them to use different sources than Wikipedia on one hand and show them how hard and responsible is creating proper articles. They will be conscious that articles may contain mistakes because anyone can make them but still they will work with their favourite site. The main role of teacher is to assure quality and not to accept articles below the academic standard. Creating Wikipedia article can be easily incorporated to any lesson based on research and will fulfill number of Digital Natives needs in the same time it teaches them skills like searching information and summarization, they work in virtual community, they have feeling that acquired knowledge is used in real life, they create something that exists after lesson.

No matter what techniques and technologies we will be using during the lesson, the most important skill to cover the lesson in the right way is to pose right questions. If we really

want our students to make research, to work in proper way, we must interrogate them. In the era of tests, often computer-checked, teachers often are concentrated on closed, multiple choice or true/false questions. If we really want to force our students to think logically and critically about reality we must teach them how to pose open question. Judge a person by his questions, and not his answers said Voltaire. We should return to the source and recall the skill of posing Socratic questions that are designed to get people to reflect and reconsider their point of view. With this ability and with the access to information thanks to the Internet we can pose the question and let our student thing and create instead of talking and dictating (Prensky 2007). We can say: There are three main causes of You have 5 minutes to find them instead saying Note three main causes of . The role of teacher changed then into guide that gives direction and assures that student goes there in his own way. Asking questions is also important for the students - to get knowledge you must ask and only with right question you receive right answer; that is why whole class should improve their skill with the teacher. They can together think about questions that are posed during the class and try to improve them (Prensky 2010).

Last rule that can make process of teaching and learning more productive is to let student interact. Digital Natives like to cooperate, that is why we should often use group and pair work. Sometimes, however, we can let them work individually. Innovation while

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working with millenials is that we do not have to demand equal group size. Students often get different tasks or work with different technology and when in one group it will be welcome to have more participants, in other it could be a complication. Another modernization is that our students can (and sometimes should) interact not only with other students in the classroom, but also with different peers in all over the world with by means of Facebook and other social networks. Especially when cultural issues are discussed we can use it to communicate with different culture`s representative instead of imagining their opinion. Last thing is that Digital Natives (and teens in general) like to compete. We can let them work on the same project and together choose the best one; discuss what can be changed to make it even better. Yet, competition cannot be present at every lesson. We, as teachers, should rather find a compromise between competition and cooperation to teach students how to win, to loose and to help each other.

Second chapter tries to give us the answer for the question:How to fulfill Digital Natives needs during the lessons?. As it was discussed, we need to use all the digital media available at school, let students work and guide them by posing right questions. We need to demand quality and assure that they learn from each other. Also skills that should be taught were introduced. The last, third chapter, as a practical part, is the application of this knowledge. It contains a researches carried out during the lessons that tried to implement as many techniques and rules discussed previously as it was possible. Research gave the new questions and answers in subject of Digital Native`s teaching.

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3. Research in action Theory without practice is not worth our attention each theory should be a contribution to the practical application. I decided to prepare two lessons exactly for the Digital Natives and examine them in the classroom reality. I have chosen the type of research that seems the most

proper for me it means research in action. The popularity of this kind of research increases constantly. The teacher himself examines his methodological activities and evaluates their effectiveness (Wilczyska and Michoska-Stadnik 2010). This type of research is not appropriate for every teacher. That who wants to use this research has to be autonomous, creative and self-conscious. With the moment of decision about starting his experimentation, he is changing his status from casual teacher to researcher-teacher (Ibid.). Lessons provided by him are no longer just lessons but they become an experiment that brings a mass of helpful data. Analysis of this material allows him to check what influence on process of teaching and learning the new assumptions and methods have (Ibid.). This type of research is organized in five typical steps: firstly, diagnosis of the situation, then planning and implementation of remedial activities, followed by analysis and correction of this implementation. Afterwards, it comes to the evaluation of the overall project. At the end, the teacher proposes new application of the activities (Ibid.). Obviously, this cycle can be repeated many times. Research in action is like a litmus paper that shows us almost instantly if our methods are effective because at the time of using them as a teacher, we gather feedback as researcher.

I decided to prepare a set of 2 lessons developed specifically for Digital Natives to meet as much their needs as it possible. One lesson assumes the use of computers and multimedia by the students and second one is created to conduct it without any electronic devices. The second lesson however still will try to be Digital and make the feeling that computers and technology is used. Both lessons will try to implement all the advices contained in previous chapters. The results of the research are discussed in the following chapters.

3.1. Description of the group The lesson that I have prepared took place in a small rural school in Krajkowo in Mazovia. In this school there is only one class for each year of studies. Although in one building we have primary school, junior-high school and kindergarten, the number of all students is small (less than 200). Classes in this school are also small between 15 and 20 students. Thanks to that the conditions for teaching, especially teaching English, are very good.

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Until this year the school had poor digital equipment. There was one computer lab, but the computers there were old, and they were used only during IT classes. This year, thanks to Digital School program, school obtained 22 new laptops and 2 multimedia whiteboard with projectors. Laptops seem to be a good idea for this school because thanks to special metal cupboard for them, they can be easily moved from class to class. Multimedia whiteboards are from the newest generation, they can serve as a digital whiteboard and traditional whiteboard for markers, all the digital functions can be managed not only by special digital pens but also by hands because whiteboards have touch screens.

The class that was an object of my research is a 3rd class of junior-high school. It has only 15 students seven girls and eight boys. They have got English classes three times per week (Monday, Thursday and Friday).

General level of English is in the school is not really high. The group where I prepared my lessons was not the exception. However, there were 3 students whose English was really good. The biggest problem there is a frequent absence of students from school. Lots of them access the school from other villages; they sometimes have to come on foot or by bike. This could be a big problem especially during the winter. On the other hand, during the spring and summer season the absence is caused by the fact that students, especially elder ones, help their parents with farm works.

What is important considering the subject of this thesis, most of the students have access to the computer and the Internet at home. There are, however, students who do not have any computer or different digital devices at their disposal.

3.2. Descriptions of lessons In this subchapter I describe all the exercises and explain their choice. To make a lesson description easier I use numbering of exercise from lesson plans attached to the appendices (Appendix 1 and 2). Lessons will receive roman numbers I for lesson with multimedia and II for lesson without it. In that way for example second exercise from first lesson will be numerated as I 2.

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3.2.1. My favourite computer game the lesson with the use of technology

First lesson involves preparing a short speaking presentation. During this project work students use computers with the access to the Internet and all other electronic devices they want and that are available. The subject of the lesson My favourite computer game is close to Digital Native students` interests and tries to encourage them to take an active participation in the lesson.

I.1a. Warm up. What is in the bag? For this exercise we should prepare a bag that will be used for hiding objects. It should be big enough to contain all the objects and to let manipulate one object without pulling it out of the bag and touching other objects. I decided to choose a big gift-bag the size was correct and it was additionally very colorful. It also increased student`s curiosity they were not sure if it was a gift or something else. In the bag we hide objects connected with games (especially computer ones) that will be a subject of our lesson. I decided to hide: a game box with a CD-ROM inside, a game-pad and a dice but you can choose any other objects that in your opinion are connected to the subjects and are for you easily available. During the exercise a student (a volunteer or chosen one) puts his hands into the bag and chooses one object but does not pull it out from the bag. Then he describes its shape and size and guesses what it could be. After that he draws the object and checks if he was correct. Thanks to this exercise students concentrate on the subject of the lesson and checks or introduces new vocabulary. It provides a good opportunity to revise the knowledge about shapes and object description, but does it in a different way the student has to describe the object without seeing it. Thanks to hiding the object the student needs to focus his attention on what he is feeling under his hands. The sense of touch is rarely used during the English lessons and with this procedure the whole exercise receives the marks of the multisensory techniques that are profitable in teaching children at this age.

I.1b. A clue for the subject. This exercise is the continuation of the first exercise and leads students to the lesson subject. During this exercise we use interactive whiteboard with the tool torch that hides whole screen and leaves only a small circle that could be moved and illuminate fragments of the screen. For this exercise we also need to prepare before the lesson a picture that will be hidden from pupils and that will bring them to the subject of the lesson. I created the picture that is a collage of different pictures connected with games. I tried to present different types of games from different platforms so we have traditional computer

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games, video-games and browser games from social network (Appendix 3). (I recommend saving materials for lesson in pdf format to make it easier to use and avoid changes of file during copying on a different machine). The best idea is to load the file and start torch tool before students enter the class to avoid showing whole picture because it will make the exercise senseless. If it is impossible we can try firstly starting the tool and then loading the file. It will make the whole procedure more complicated but should cover the picture before student`s eyes. During the exercise students move the light and show different parts of the picture. They describe what they see and try to guess what the subject of the lesson is. After that, the teacher can show them the whole picture. Students can describe it as a whole as well as its particular fragment that now are better seen. The teacher can help them by giving vocabulary and correcting major mistakes. This exercise is a possibility for students to use new tool on a whiteboard and generally use the multimedia, it gives them possibility to deduce the subject of the lesson. For Digital Natives it will be more interesting than just dictating a subject and, what is more, during process of inferring they will expand their vocabulary and speaking skills.

I.2. Creating groups. This exercise is a preparation for next exercise preparing short presentation about favourite games. Such exercise appears rarely during the traditional lesson because it consumes precious lesson time and could bring chaos and sometimes problems into the class - especially when implemented for the first time. Definitely, it is easier and quicker when the teacher himself divides a class into the groups, but sometimes (especially in case of Digital Natives and as preparation for specific exercises) letting students make groups could be profitable. It builds a self esteem because the student is actively involved in the process of creating group. He has a sense of choice because the teacher does not dictate anything from his higher position. What is more next exercise will demand preparation of presentation about favourite game. If we want to have groups that will work on they really favourite game, there

is probably no other way than letting students creating a group. Otherwise we receive groups that gather people with different preferences and decision of the group about favourite game will be not compatible with the predilection of particular group members. If you want to introduce such an exercise into the class you must be sure that your instructions are clear and understandable. I use such an instruction:Please stand up. Now you should go around the class and ask each other . If you find somebody who likes the same game, then you make a group and still try to find more people that like the same game. At the end we need to have at least three groups. A pair is also a group. If you cannot

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find anybody that likes the same game, try to find an existing group that likes the same type of game.. Every group receives a workstation with at least one computer with the access to the

Internet.

I.3. Preparing presentations. In this exercise students are to prepare a short (up to three minutes) speaking presentation about their favourite game and to present many multimedia materials connected to the games. Preparing a presentation with the multimedia is a good opportunity for practicing organizing information. A presentation needs to be built on some knowledge and information founded on the Internet. Students need to filter many pieces of information. Finding additional materials like pictures, photos, videos, sounds and websites connected with the subject (students are directly asked to find them and present during the presentation) makes them to find on the Internet and organize different types of files and data. A subject of computer games that is really close to Digital Natives seems to be perfect for increasing the student`s involvement. Hopefully they will try to find more information than on other less interesting subject and will search deeper. That will provide larger set of materials for work. Although for the untrained eye it may seem that students will work without any help of teacher and he can do his own business his role in this exercise cannot be overestimated. Firstly, he should help students to organize group work sharing the group role like leader or reporter. Teacher should also monitor the group work and provide help - especially in case of language accuracy and correctness. When a problem with technology appears, teacher should rather ask skilled students from different groups to help their colleagues. During my lesson I allowed the mother language for helping with technology to make it easier for the students both explaining and learning. As it was stated before, coping with digital division is in the English lesson for Digital Natives a goal in itself. Of course if both sides are good enough to give and understand instructions in English, the teacher can demand that. The teacher should also constantly encourage his students to improve their work, especially those groups that finish earlier than others.

I.4. Presenting materials. When the given time passes and all the presentations are finished, there comes time for presentation. The way of presentation is up to the students there could be one presenter that gives speech and next that presents the multimedia materials at the same time, or there could be more than one presenter. Diversity in ways of giving presentation will be welcome, because it gives examples to students. They will see different models and next time will have a possibility to choose other type of presentation that better suits to them. All the materials should be presented on the interactive whiteboard. It is very important for the

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students to save all the links and materials in a format, that allow copying from one workstation to another without losing any data (all materials should be copied from students workstation to the computer that is connected to the whiteboard) for copying we can use any mass storage drive or send them through the Internet. During the presentation all groups remain silence not to disturb the presenters. They are not allowed to improve their own work. Saving all the materials and gathering them from all the groups before the first presentation seems to be a good idea. I did not allow any questions during the presentation. I decided to leave some time for that at the end of the lesson and during the peer assessment.

I.5. Peer assessment. After the presentations I asked students for assessment. In my opinion, assessing the presentations and project should be thought before any of them appear in the classroom. It is not easy to properly asses such type of work. We must reward all efforts, not only the final product. We must remember that, what for one is easy for others could be a problem. In such type of work it is also important not to discourage students. We must remember that children, especially at this age could be cruel and we must sometimes censor their assessment and opinion. Every group should receive a feedback from the teacher and from other students. I think also that every group should give at least one opinion about others` work. Assessing others in my opinion helps you to think about your own work. I organize it in such a way that each group was requested about the opinion about one presentation then I asked if anyone disagrees or wants to add something. In this way every group gives and gets the opinion, it also allows the discussion if there is any difference in opinion. The opinions were given one by one and after every group opinion I gave mine, putting special attention on pluses and what was not said by students. If there were any mistakes or deficiency I tried to pose questions what could be changed? or how we could make this presentation BETTER? rather than what was wrong. In this way, we do not only not highlight the minuses, but also give examples how to change the presentation that could be applied next time.

I.6. Summary and opinion sharing. At this point of a lesson the students say what they can do after the lesson. This is recommended for better understanding what was done and what the aims of the lesson were. Here is also time for sharing the opinions and pieces of advice about group work and about searching and organizing information. Students can teach one another what is the best way to find particular type of files like films and pictures on the Internet and how to prepare those files for presentation. They can share the Internet Tips and Tricks they know and names of the best websites they know for particular tasks.

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3.2.2. The computer avatars modern lesson without the use of modern technology

Second lesson tries to show that even without the use of the modern technology the teacher can conduct the lesson that will be suitable and profitable for the Digital Natives. However the technology is absent, the selection of exercises tries to implement the digital atmosphere.

II.1. Warm up. What the avatar is. Second lesson is organized around the subject of computer avatars. To lead students into the topic the teacher poses simple questions about the avatar. Thanks to that, the teacher also checks the knowledge of his students about the avatars. If there are any doubts, he can simply complete the missing knowledge by posing right questions and giving information. After that, teacher is sure that his students know all the required concepts.

II.2a. Let`s make an avatar preparation. For next exercises the students are divided into two groups. In the first exercise students create an avatar from previously prepared pieces. To make this and following exercise easier, I organized the classroom as follows I prepared a lot of space in the center of a classroom and create two working station for two groups by putting two sheets of cardstock on the floor. Groups were sitting around their sheets. For this exercise I needed pieces of an avatar. I could not find any ready-made sets of clothes, hair and additional items that could be simply used for creating an avatar, so I decided to prepare them myself. I searched through the Internet for some fashion games that base on creating an avatar. The game that seemed to me perfect for my purposes was simple flash game available on www.e-dressup.net. I created seven avatars every time trying to use different kind of hair, facial expressions, clothes and additional objects to make my base of avatar pieces bigger. Then I created avatar with no clothes and hair as base for exercise (Appendix 4). I printed all the avatars and cut them (except the base-one) into pieces separating all parts. I grouped pieces into four categories hair and facial expressions, upper clothes, bottom clothes and additional objects and put each category into separate envelope. Before students made the avatar, they spread out all the pieces and named them one by one to be sure that they remember names of all clothes and objects. To save the time I gathered all the students together and asked them at one workstation. There is also a possibility to name them in the group or for example organize short contest for group that remember more names.

II.2b. Making an avatar. After naming all the parts, students, in groups, prepare the avatar. During the exercise they speak English to decide what to put on the avatar. This task can be

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used not only for teaching or revising names of clothes and character`s features but also as an exercise for making an agreement. Every student