Teaching ICT

Nowadays, it is quite clear that technology is everywhere. It influences the way we perform daily tasks such as banking, shopping, selling, communicating, among others. Therefore, we cannot avoid the fact that teaching and learning are also affected by technology. We must bear in mind that students are in permanent contact with technology at home. However, some teachers seem to disregard the significance of ICT.

As a teaching tool, the Internet has much to offer to both teachers and students. It can allow students to practise productive as well as receptive skills. They can practise English inside and outside the classroom. Students have also the chance to interact with real material such as videos, TV programmes, and on-line newspapers and magazines. These realia engage students in the learning process and contributes to the achievement of teaching goals.

Thanks to ICT, we can provide students with the necessary skills to explore new ways of working. This method could also be used in order to integrate English with other school subjects. For example, a project with a geography teacher could be carried out in which students have to find out about the UK. If you visit this website: www.nationalgeographic.com you can find very useful information about countries, animals and the environment.

But are we prepared to face this challenge? For those of us who lack experience with technology, this approach presents some difficulties as we may feel intimidated by thousands of sites, links and new terminology. Nevertheless, it is important to point out that it is not necessary for us to be experts in order to introduce ICT in the classroom. We just need to be competent users of the tools we are trying to apply in the classroom.

ICT has expanded the options for teaching English as a foreign language and it is makes learning easier and funnier. Now, it is our task to acknowledge this increasing influence of technologies in every day life, and therefore, their necessary implementation in the classroom.

In this site: http://http//www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/course/ there are guides that help you to share information online and there is also a useful dictionary to get acquainted with the Internet jargon (jargon buster).