Teachers « Use English

The Internet for Education

Last modified on 2009-08-10 18:18:47 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

The Internet is changing education worldwide. That’s what this video tries to show…

What do you think?

Learning technologies: the Internet in ELT

Last modified on 2009-08-06 05:11:47 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Although the Internet is a virtual environment, nice “real” publications are available that tackle the issue of its uses in the EFL classroom and the implications for both teachers and learners. Here is a short but very special selection:

Dudeney, Gavin (2007). The Internet and the Language Classroom. CUP
Dudeney, Gavin & Hockly, Nicky (2007). How to Teach English with Technology. Pearson Longman
Sharma, Pete & Barrett, Barney (2007). Blended Learning – Using Technology in and beyond the Language Classroom. Macmillan
Windeatt, Scott, Hardisty, David & Eastment, David (2000). The Internet. OUP

If you have any suggestions of publications, such as books, magazines, journals, articles or websites that could be of interest for the techie EFL teacher, add your comments here.

Workshops: learning teaching spaces

Last modified on 2009-08-06 05:10:14 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Workshops are said to be important events when a professional is looking for development, recycling, and fresh ideas. I also consider them moments of professional networking, when participants exchange their views, take part in discussions and socialize, of course. That’s why I really enjoy going to workshops! Last year, during one of the workshops I attended, the participants had to come up with ideas of what a good teacher does to make classes more dynamic. We were asked to put them down on paper, and we could even draw. That’s what I did. Of course that was only one idea. Lots more were discussed. But people liked my drawing and I saved it. Check it out:

Technology & the use of interactive whiteboards: a testimonial

Last modified on 2009-08-06 05:09:51 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

When I started studying English, I remember being totally hypnotized by the animated pictures that were part of our lessons, back in the 70’s, during the so-called boom of audiovisual methodologies. In the 80’s, when I actually became a classroom teacher, I felt that I was beginning to really belong to this technological world.

However, it was not until I bought my first computer, at the end of the 90’s, that I took a deeper breath and delved into the digital era. Since then, incredibly enough, so many things have changed. From VHS tapes to BDs, from audio tapes to CDs, from overhead projectors to interactive whiteboards, in a computer-assisted English classroom which demands more technical and technological knowledge from teachers than ever before.

Being an EFL teacher has fortunately made it possible for me to be in touch with all that high-end equipment, and the advances do not seem to show any sign of fading. Much on the contrary, the more I use technology, the more I start to realize that I know very little, and this somehow pushes me forward, there is still a great deal of learning to take place.

The interactive whiteboard, or IWB, is a novelty that presents itself both as a way of making my English lessons more dynamic and interactive, and at the same time as a challenge for the teacher, who now has to cope with the unpredictability of the classroom when it comes to students’ reactions, equipment failure, the amazingly swift changes in technology. But most of all, we teachers need to see technology not as a panacea, a “cure-all” for our teaching and learning problems, but as a wonderful tool to try and turn our lessons into more interesting, learning-packed, and engaging social encounters for all the participants involved.

Jack Richards in Rio!

Last modified on 2009-08-06 05:09:07 GMT. 2 comments. Top.

Jack Richards, the renowned applied linguist from New Zealand, and author of Approaches And Methods In Language Teaching (with Theodore S. Rodgers), was in Rio for Cambridge Day 2009, at the Windsor Guanabara Palace Hotel on July 15, 2009. He gave a very insightful and good-humored presentation on two important issues: common problems learners face when using spoken English, and what characterizes good teaching and strategies for professional development. His presentations will soon be made available from the Cambridge University Press Brazil official website:

Cambridge University Press Brazil