Introduction The Virtual Journey – and Its Limits Questions

Fit for Real Language Experiencethrough Virtual World Journey:M.A. Hansjürg Perino, University of Zurich, Switzerland. • Introduction • The Virtual Journey – and Its Limits • Questions

Virtual . . . Reality

Why ICT at school: a legal requirement ! • (…) In particular, the curriculum should: • promote high standards, particularly in literacy, numeracy and ICT capability • promote and pass on essential knowledge, skills and understanding valued by society to the next generation • be relevant to children and prepare them for the here and now, for the next phase of their education, and for their future

Benefits of ICT at school • (Steve) Kennewell 2004, p. 15: (Meeting the standards in Using ICT for Secondary Teaching) • Benefits for Learners: • wide range of up-to-date information sources within and beyond school; • process information and develop higher quality reports; • produce dynamic images to represent relationships; • hypothesise and test ideas for themselves; • engage in activities similar to those by professionals in the subject; • work together in teams; • work independently of their teacher;

Benefits for Teachers: • Access wide range of up-to-date information sources within and beyond the school; • prepare high quality material for pupils to see as a class and to interact with individually; • organise a variety of resources in advance of a lesson that can be accessed easily and rapidly for class use; • communicate with students outside school hours (email, platforms) [!?!];

Teaching English in 21st Century • This is what google says…

School Kids Today... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-ZVCjfWf8

And THIS is the ANSWER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4g5M06YyVw&feature=related

CALL at Beginners‘ Level • Even the ABC may be more interesting to learn... • Sparky's ABCs / game “alphattack” • Basic beginners’ conversation as “chat” • Make a mini-movie for “introductions”youtube • Use a free “cartoon-maker” programme on internet: e.g. dfilm.com or digitalfilms.com • Create a group for a class on a social network, or on a wiki, e.g. http://www.golivewire.com/

Why using ICT at this level? • Not because CALL is better than other methods… • But it adds variety, creativity, learner independence • Often students are better at technology than teacher  •  motivation • Language as such at beginners level is not that interesting •  embedding in ICT comes in handy to make it interesting • More internet sites: post-it stickers can be produced here: https://linoit.com/session/login • postcards can be sent from here: http://www.postcards.org/ • comics can be created here: http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/

Vocabulary... • Learn words with slide.comExample • Or use “wordle”

Intermediate and Advanced • Language practice: • http://iteslj.org/links/ • http://158.132.164.193/CILL/grammar.htm • http://www.english-4u.de/grammar_exercises.htm • http://a4esl.org/ (there is even a special English-Russian page: http://iteslj.org/v/r/ ) • http://english-zone.com/index.php • http://www.swisseduc.ch/english/(Swiss made ) • My collection: http://perino.pbworks.com/EFL+grammar+links

Making Quizzes / Authentic Input • Quizzes: • http://www.wiziq.com/http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/ • Authentic Language Sources: • http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/ • http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/teach/ • http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/ • http://ireport.cnn.com/ (watch reports from contributors or upload your own)

Youtube for Grammar • -ly movie by Tom Lehrer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB2Ff8H7oVo • “silent –e” by Tom Lehrer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91BQqdNOUxs • Go to youtube and find more about any subject of grammar you like… (but careful: some films are extremely boring!)

Webquests • To find out what webquests are, go to this page: http://webquest.org/index.php • “prefabricated” webquests on the net, such as these: http://academics.smcvt.edu/cbauer-ramazani/Links/webquests.htm#Templates%20for%20creating%20Web%20Quests • A grid for evaluation of webquests can be found here: http://webquest.sdsu.edu/webquestrubric.html • Examples by trainees: http://landtwing.pbworks.com/Webquests

Working with Stories • Picture or photo stories using presentation software (PowerPoint, Keynote, Open Office) or “bubblr”: http://www.pimpampum.net/bubblr/ • illustration, animation and sound are the enriching elements • Try a “mini-saga”: lesson plan by another teacher trainee here: http://mkistler.pbworks.com/ • Here’s a story task, by yet another trainee: http://myersale.pbworks.com/The-Short-Story-Project • Storybird: http://storybird.com/ / “MailVu.com”

Literature / Collaboration • comprehensive SwissEduc English Reading List: http://www.swisseduc.ch/english/readinglist/: • A wealth of information awaits you there. • Collaboration Tools (amongst many other): • Googledocs: watch explanation / go there…(www.google.com) • http://pbworks.com : full-”wysiwyg” Wiki

Where Traditional Settings Beat Technology • Rule: the higher the language level the more traditional settings, especially for speaking. • W H Y ? • Language is spontaneous; it is often ambiguous and often needs immediate clarification , or the correct understanding of the underlying intention of ambiguity, which can be deliberate non-commitment, irony, humour, or even intentional verbal abuse. (cf. Also Peter Grundy‘s opening plenary speech!)

Where Traditional Settings Beat Technology • Real discussions invariably beat virtual forum discussions. (“real life blogs” have a different function) • Role-play, acting, laughter, passion, shouting, … • Non-verbal factors hard to imitate: gestures, tone, body language, facial expression • Even with a thousand “friends” in “Facebook” … • you might still be alone .

Conclusion: • Teachers have a lot of new tools at their disposition to present materials in a professional way, or to create exciting learning environments. • Learners are given unheard-of opportunities and means(up to only little time ago) to practise and use their foreign language. • And yet, with all this, we must not forget what language is ultimately made for: the direct exchange with our fellow human beings. There is nothing that can replace the kicks that we get out of a face-to-face encounter with an interesting person made of flesh and blood …

And that is why the journey to virtual places, fascinating and most useful as it is for practising wildly, should not turn into a purpose of its own, but eventually lead us back to the enjoyment of REAL LIFE. Thank you for your attention – The End 

Contact / Downloads • M.A. Hansjürg Perino, University of Zürich, hj@kfr.ch • Download materials from: http://perino.pbworks.com/IATEFL-Brighton-2011

C h a t . . . Hi, who are you? Hello, everybody… Hello, I'm Johnny, what's your name? I’m Maria, where are you from? Maria, and you? I’m from Los Angeles, you? Hi there, I’m Olivia. Are you Maria? I live in Brighton, UK. What do you do? I am Rambo, I am a soldier, what’s your job? I’m an actor in Hollywood, and you? Hi Olivia, yes I am Maria. Where are you from? I am a pilot, where do you live? I’m from Madrid, Spain. What’s your job? Hello, guys, I’m… I am a pilot, and you? I live in the army… women men

Introduction The Virtual Journey – and Its Limits Questions