why and how ICT in ELT?

In this post, I will quickly put together my ideas on how to make good use of technology in ELT classrooms. In addition, I give a sample lesson plan where I use the following tasks designed and carried out with the help of technology.

Why would I want to use ICT in my classroom

1. It is motivating. It truly motivates students to carry out tasks, activities in a more engaging way

2. Writing. Word processor is really effective for process writing where students are encouraged to plan, draft, write, edit, rewrite etc. All of these could be complicated and demotivating when students are asked to write on a piece of paper and pen. On PCs, on the other hand, teacher can refer Students to Mic.Word for text repairing, writing, editing. Blogs and wikis can be used for collaborative writing.

3. Smartboards are really useful for brainstorming ideas. Brainstorming has been really successful way of activating schemata for a long time. Teacher can do brainstorming activity on any topic/task that he/she is going to teach. Teacher can then save the brainstorming activity on pdf, print it off and distribute to students in class for future use.

4. Listening and speaking. Internet is full of listening and speaking activities. With careful searching and selecting, any teacher can find a material to suit the objectives of his/her class. Watching video-clips in target language from youtube is a simple example of this. Finding authentic audio or video files has become easy with the help of the internet. A teacher can then design a task based on authentic material. Some websites has been developed to teach fully or partly listening skills

http://www.esl-lab.com/

http://www.englishlistening.com/

http://www.parapal-online.co.uk/listening.html

5. Power Point- is a really good way of presenting: language use/forms/structures, pictures, diagrams that could be a part of task. However, teacher can design a number of communicative activities with PPT such as Twenty Questions, Maze, Millionaire and Jeopardy.

6. Reading. Internet is full of authentic reading materials that teachers can use in classrooms. Again, with careful selection of text, teacher can design a meaningful task that suits the needs of his/her students. The advantage of internet is it gives us authentic text with a wide range of topics, situations, contexts and genres. Hence, it becomes easier to find a text that can serve as a basis for functional, notional, task-based teaching frameworks.

I am very far from suggesting that ELT classes should heavily be based on ICT. However, hence we use advanced technology in every aspect of our lives outside classroom, using it effectively in classroom would also be seen as reflecting the real-life situation. Students will be using ICT in real-life in one way or the other. The use of ICT in language teaching can be motivating, it is effective to teaching the receptive and productive skills. Teachers can access a wide range of web-based activities that probably would be impossible to find without the help of Internet. ICT activities encourage automaticity, leading students to do extensive reading and listening outside classroom.