ICT in Classrooms

Recently, I have read Liaw's article entitled "E-learning and the development of intercultural competence" about using ICT (Information & Communication Technologies) in the classroom for the students to communicate with other students of the target language, discussing culture. I thought it was very interesting in several ways. First of all, it allowed the students to talk about their own culture and read about the other student's. This, secondly, gave them the motivation needed to communicate because of the interest in learning about the other student's background. And last but not least, the students were improving their second language drastically, without putting too much effort. Because they enjoyed the activity so much, increasing motivation, less effort was needed to accomplish the task. The only problem I could see is the lacking of ICT in schools... They have computer labs, but often, a number of computers are broken, which means that students are forced to work in teams. I think that the government should invest more in these technologies because that's where the future is headed! It has been proven that working with internet broadens the possibilities to learn a new language and it also increases the learning process.

Cultural Awareness

Hi Bloggers,

I have recently read an article about Cultural Awareness that caught my attention... They stated that in order to know our own culture, we must learn about others'. The cultural awareness comes from comparing other cultures with our own. Although I see this statement as being credible as I've experienced it for myself, some people have firmly argued that we know nothing about our culture and that we must know our culture, hence teach it to our students before ever teaching another culture. Of course, I can understand that we are not very in tune with the characteristics of our own Canadian culture, but I must say that in knowing how one culture dresses in traditional occasions, or in knowing that one culture has tea in the afternoon while another has a siesta, I think it tells us a lot about who we are. We begin to think about our own traditions in reflecting on what we do in the afternoons, do we take a nap? Do we have coffee and cookies? What are our cultural traditions?? What is our traditional food? What represents our culture?

I feel like these questions appear when we explore other cultures because in knowing what THEY do, we want to discover our own customs.

What do you think?

Culture in Classrooms

Hi everyone,

Today in my Pedagogy class we talked about the importance of Culture in classrooms and their use. Some people say that to integrate Culture is to talk about it through main themes: beliefs, gastronomy, mentality, academics, etc. I say that Culture should be integrated as a medium of instruction. What I mean by that is that we should use well-known Riddles, Limericks, Poems, Children's Literature, and more, to teach our students about grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, etc. This way, the children would be exposed to real English resources, they would get familiar with popular authors such as Dr. Seuss and they would learn the language the way native speakers do. In addition, upon listening to the riddles and songs, they would learn new vocabulary and hear the phonetic pronunciation, the way it should be.

Which of these statements do you agree with?

- Teaching culture as a subject.

- Using culture as a medium of instruction.

University student - ESL teaching

Hi everyone!!!

I am a Laval University ESL Teaching student and I would LOVE to hear what you have to say!!! It can be about Teaching, about Students, about Culture, about Subjects of Teaching, etc!!! Anything you want!! You have questions, answers, comments, or ideas, feel free to share it on my blog!!!

YOU ARE the factor that will make my blog alive, so please DO!! :)

Thank you so much & can't wait to see what you have to say!!!

XxViKY xX