Saturday, May 9, 2020

Technology and Education.



TECHNOLOGY APPLIED IN CURRENT EDUCATION


Technology and education: an evolving alliance


Talking about education, nowadays, means to be focused on what is attractive and interesting for our students. Teaching becomes a challenge when it comes to exploring the students’ world in this 21st century. That is the reason why applying technological tools is relevant to undertake a learning and teaching process in which learners feel involved and interested in it.

As teachers, we are supposed to keep updated with the newest teaching strategies regarding to technology to make students be motivated in the learning process. One strategy is the use of Social Media. This is a good way to keep modernized with Educational innovation platforms such as blogs, social networks, forum, etc, which allow educators to find what is trending associated to technology inside Education. All we need to do is to search with hashtags like “#Education”, “#Technology” and read the latest news about educational innovations. Moreover, we could subscribe or follow experts and professional educators in the application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) with the aim of improving our teaching skills with the current trends in Education through technology.

As we, teachers know this 21st - century generation is called Digital Natives because of the connection they have with technology. However, it becomes a challenge for us if we are learning how to use digital platforms to teach our students either inside or outside the classrooms. We are called Digital Immigrants.  Like any immigrants, we need to keep updated and explore the amount of tools that internet can provide us. In teaching practices, it is recommendable to use some digital platforms and games depending on the type of skill you want your students to accomplish. You could use Kahoot! for example, to practice vocabulary with learners related to the topic that will be studied in any session. Or perhaps, you could use Edmodo or Google Classroom to ask students to participate in forum related to the class. It is interesting to use platforms like Zoom or Google Meet to create video conferences and practice speaking and listening from homes.    

As a matter of fact, we cannot forget the Critical thinking development in our students. we could do it by giving our learners the opportunities to solve situations. They will have time to reflect and find the correct solution for any problematic situation. We could make debates on a particular topic, dividing the room in two groups. One group will give opinions against the problematic case, and the other one will be in favor of it.  In doing so, students will have the chance of defending what they think. It is important to point out that those debates could be done either in face to face classes or virtual ones.

Authors:

 Kiara Sierra Jaraba.
 Ervin Antonio Gómez Estrada. 
 Rosnayra Hernandez Gonzalez. 

Licenciados en Educación con Énfasis en Inglés.
Fundación Universitaria Colombo Internacional.
Cartagena de Indias D. T y C.



Thursday, May 2, 2019

Writing Skills

DEVELOPING WRITING SKILLS IN EFL CLASSROOM
by Ervin Gomez Estrada


During our sessions in the school, I have noticed most of my students show shortcomings to write what they talk about. They usually say to me it is not easy because the pronounciation of English words are different to their written forms. As a result of this problematic situation in class, I have been practicing writing skills taking into account the following five steps:

  1.  Catch your students attention by reading articles that are interesting for them.
  2. When students finish the reading, ask students questions taking into account some w/h questions (When, Why, How, Where, etc.).
  3. Ask your students to write the main idea of the article which they read.
  4. Encourage your students to write any paragraph similar to the one studied in class.
  5. Finally, motivate learners to write a reflection about their paragraph. 
We are in the process of improving our writing skills. However, I realize my students get conected to English throughout the months.

This link is going to help you practice writing skills https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/skills/writing

Technology and Education.

TECHNOLOGY APPLIED IN CURRENT EDUCATION Talking about education, nowadays, means to be focused on what is attractive and inte...