a conversation about World Language teaching in the Wissahickon School District
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Curriculum
How can technology enhance our curriculum so that our students have access to appropriate technology tools and resources?
5 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I feel that as language teachers we have a unique perspective on the world and the cultures that inhabit this planet. We have the opportunity to teach our students not only other languages, but also the cultures that live those languages every day. With the use of videos, dvds, cds, and the internet and it’s multitude of resources, we can truly share these cultures with our students. When it is our turn to re-write our curriculum in a few years, it is imperative that we write technology IN to our curriculum. Technology should be seen as a tool to teaching our curriculum. Its use should be seen as just as important as the textbook, if not more important! Our textbooks are good at teaching the grammar and vocabulary that make up our languages, but to truly learn the cultures who speak our languages, our curriculum should support frequent Internet usage to visit the areas virtually, ongoing epal projects with students living in our target cultures, video-conferencing opportunities with classrooms around the globe, possible cross-cultural blogs in which classrooms from several cultures could communicate, and much more. The possibilities are out there for us to truly embrace the information age and bring it into our classrooms.
I agree with you Dianne. Even just to have a monitor hooked up to the internet would be extremely helpful. I am looking into that now. There are many resources that I look forward to taping into more efficiently in the classroom but I'll start with the smaller attainable goals first.
Utilizing technology throughout the curriculum is an incredibly wise thing to do. For, this stimulates student interest extremely well. I remember my own interest being stimulated while taking business courses in college with so many of them being taught via PowerPoint presentations and a projector on the ceiling.
I love that there is technology available that enables students to get immediate, individual feedback when writing, listening and speaking. We already have the software and other tools needed for immediate feedback for writing and listening. It would be great for students to have the ability to use speaking software as well.
Using technology in the classroom is important to me, mainly because it raises student interest level. They are very savvy with technology these days and really seem to enjoy activities in which they can show off these skills. Technology is especially helpful is teaching our world language students about the cultures of the various countries in an interesting and hands-on way.
5 comments:
I feel that as language teachers we have a unique perspective on the world and the cultures that inhabit this planet. We have the opportunity to teach our students not only other languages, but also the cultures that live those languages every day. With the use of videos, dvds, cds, and the internet and it’s multitude of resources, we can truly share these cultures with our students. When it is our turn to re-write our curriculum in a few years, it is imperative that we write technology IN to our curriculum. Technology should be seen as a tool to teaching our curriculum. Its use should be seen as just as important as the textbook, if not more important! Our textbooks are good at teaching the grammar and vocabulary that make up our languages, but to truly learn the cultures who speak our languages, our curriculum should support frequent Internet usage to visit the areas virtually, ongoing epal projects with students living in our target cultures, video-conferencing opportunities with classrooms around the globe, possible cross-cultural blogs in which classrooms from several cultures could communicate, and much more. The possibilities are out there for us to truly embrace the information age and bring it into our classrooms.
I agree with you Dianne. Even just to have a monitor hooked up to the internet would be extremely helpful. I am looking into that now. There are many resources that I look forward to taping into more efficiently in the classroom but I'll start with the smaller attainable goals first.
Utilizing technology throughout the curriculum is an incredibly wise thing to do. For, this stimulates student interest extremely well. I remember my own interest being stimulated while taking business courses in college with so many of them being taught via PowerPoint presentations and a projector on the ceiling.
I love that there is technology available that enables students to get immediate, individual feedback when writing, listening and speaking. We already have the software and other tools needed for immediate feedback for writing and listening. It would be great for students to have the ability to use speaking software as well.
Using technology in the classroom is important to me, mainly because it raises student interest level. They are very savvy with technology these days and really seem to enjoy activities in which they can show off these skills. Technology is especially helpful is teaching our world language students about the cultures of the various countries in an interesting and hands-on way.
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