1. Using Technology in Teaching
Prepared by:
Razi Al-Laho
&
Khalid Al-Mshari

2. Using Technology in Teaching
Teacher training programmes often ignore training in the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), and teachers are often far less skilled and knowledgeable than their own students when it comes to using current technology.
Teaching English with Technology will be helpful for teachers, teacher trainers, course designers and directors of studies involved in teaching English as a foreign language.

3. Technology in the Classroom
■ Technology in language Teaching
The computer offers the learner feedback, ranging from simply pointing out whether the answer is correct or incorrect to providing more sophisticated feedback, such as showing why the learner is mistaken and offering remedial activities. The CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) approach is one that is still found on many published CD-ROMs for language teaching.

4. Technology in the Classroom
■ Implementing ICT in the Classroom
Although the use of ICT by language teachers is still not widespread, the use of technology in the classroom is becoming increasingly important, and it will become a normal part of ELT practice in the coming years.

5. There are many reasons for Implementing ICT in the Classroom :
Internet access is becoming increasingly available to learners.
Younger learners are growing up with technology, and it is a natural and integrated part of their lives.
English is being used in technologically mediated contexts.
Technology, especially the Internet, presents us with new opportunities for authentic tasks and materials.
The Internet offers excellent opportunities for collaboration and communication between learners who are geographically dispersed.

6. Reasons for Implementing ICT in the Classroom :
Technology is offered with published materials such as coursebooks and resource books for teachers.
Learners increasingly expect language schools to integrate technology into teaching.
Technology offers new ways for practicing language and assessing performance
Technology is becoming increasingly mobile.
Using a range of ICT tools can give learners exposure to and practice in all of the four main language skills –speaking, listening, reading and writing.

7. Using websites
■ Using websites in the classroom There is a large and constantly expanding collection of resources on the web, at a variety of levels and covering an amazing array of topics. ■ Planning lessons using the Internet The next area to consider is how a technology-based lesson plan will look in comparison with the sort of plans you usually produce.

8. How to use email ■ The benefits of email.
is one of the most used and useful Information in Communication Technology (ICT) tools around today.
■ Using with Learners
Reading and writing s either in or outside class time gives a learner more exposure to the target language, and interaction is ‘real’ in the sense that learners are writing to real people either the teacher or other learners — using a ‘real’ medium.
■ Basic skills
Basic skills may be considered in two groups:
communication skills
technical skills.

9. Internet-based project work
■ Why do Internet-based project work?
A natural progression from using individual web pages and websites in the classroom is to move on to online project work. This will be an extension of the kind of individual-lesson work and will involve the use of the Internet over a series of lessons.

10. There are many compelling reasons for using Internet-based projects in the classroom:
They are a structured way for teachers to begin to incorporate the Internet into the language classroom, on both a short-term and a long- term basis.
The use of projects encourages cooperative learning, and therefore stimulates interaction.
They can be interdisciplinary, allowing for cross- over into other departments and subject areas.
They encourage critical thinking skills.
The Internet can be thought of as an enormous encyclopedia.

11. Blogs and podcasts ■ Social software
Blogs, wikis and podcasts are all examples of social software, computer tools which allow people to connect, to communicate and to collaborate online. Although these three tools are different, we are grouping them together here as they have certain features in common when applied to the classroom:
They can be set up and used by teachers and/or learners.
They can be used to connect learners to other communities of learners, for example to a class in another country.
The ideas and content can be generated and created by learners, either individually or collaboratively.

12. ■ Blogs in Language teaching.
Blogs used in education are known as edublogs. Edublogs cover a wide range of topics related to education, from musings on educational policy and developments to learner compositions.
A tutor blog: A blog set up and maintained by a teacher. The teacher may decide to allow their learners to write comments in the blog.
Student’s blog: Teachers may encourage their learners to each set up and maintain their own individual blogs.
The class blog: It is used by an entire class.

13. How to create Learner podcasts
There are two main uses of podcasts in teaching:
Firstly, learners can listen to podcasts made by others.
Secondly, they can produce their own podcasts.

14. Interactive whiteboards
An interactive whiteboard (IWB) is made interactive’ by being linked to a computer which uses special IWB software. The three essential components needed to use an IWB are the whiteboard itself, a computer which has IWB software installed and a data projector (or ‘beamer’) which projects the image from the computer screen onto the whiteboard.