Classdigitools - Reflections on Week 1

Classdigitools - Reflections on Week 1


As part of the EVO Workshop - Digital Tools in the Classroom I looked at how several digitools can be used in an ESL setting. Although I did not take too much time to explore on some of the tools we came across this week, I have thoroughly enjoyed using a few and would definitely use them with my students in a variety of ways. My favourite tools have been so far:

1. Introducing oneself: I  have used "about.me" to do my own introduction. You can check it out here if you like: http://about.me/andreagascoyne. I found this really easy to follow and I loved the different backgrounds available to suit different personalities and tastes. I think the choice of background can tell you a lot about the way you see yourself. I got a lovely email with some feedback and it said exactly that, i.e. that the background said a lot about me. This has given me some ideas as I'll soon start teaching teens again and although back here in Argentina, we do not have as much access to some interactive tools, such as the IWB, as in other parts of the world, the Internet and digital gadgets are pretty much common and used in daily life, especially by teenagers! Another tool I think they might enjoy is "animoto" as it enables them to speak about themselves through "sb" else. I feel this might be appealing to less confident students. Having said that, I find this tool really cute and I would enjoy using it myself so I guess it would also be effective with some adults. These tools would be ideal for the beginning of the year (which is March here in Argentina) to add a bit of variety and get students to interact with each other, leave comments, etc. This would give them a chance to have a bit of freer writing practice and a "real reason" for writing and communicating with each other in a way they are probably familiar with, i.e. through emailing or blogging.

2. Blogs. I had seen and followed a few but had no idea they could be set up in a considerably simple way. I had a go at "posterous" and "WikiSpaces" but I then went for this one as I found it the most appealing to me. I hope I'll be able to learn about it and become familiar with it so I can fully exploit its potential and advantages. I'll have a go uploading documents and stuff and see how it goes. This hopefully will give me some ideas on how to use them with my students and as a way of meeting and keeping in touch with people. I have to say I have until now been rather against the idea of using the so-called social utilities such as facebook so in a way I'm quite new to this kind of thing.

Even though I've had to rush the tasks a bit, I feel I have already learnt a lot and will definitely keep it up for week 2. ICT in ELT is definitely one of the areas I would like to further explore and develop while teaching here in Argentina. Roll on week two!