Title: Teaching Teens with Technology International Language Schools www.ef.com www.ef.com/teacher Title


G.L.: Gordon Lewis Oxford University Press Teenagers (2007) Internet and Young Learners (2004) Games for Children (1999) www.ef.com International Language Schools G.L.


Welcome: Welcome to the lecture Listen to the speaker and use the buttons to interact. Saying yes and no Raising your hand Laughing and clapping Text messages Questions will be answered during and after the talk. www.ef.com International Language Schools Welcome


Teens get bad press!: Teens get bad press! International Language Schools www.ef.com


Who’s a Teen?: Who’s a Teen? International Language Schools www.ef.com 10-12: Tweens


Young Teens: Young Teens International Language Schools www.ef.com physical changes social pack animals longer concentration span than primary children abstract thinking think they’ve figured things out black and white thinking believe what they think and what everyone else thinks is essentially the same. they have one foot in the adult world and one in the world of their childhood.


Middle Teens: Middle Teens International Language Schools www.ef.com physical changes physically they are adults clear attraction to opposite sex more independent, less group behaviour. individual relationships grow in importance accept that there is more than ONE answer to a question. differentiated world view.


How do we motivate teens?Challenge them to think!: How do we motivate teens? Challenge them to think! International Language Schools www.ef.com Language Awareness Activities engage teenagers by creating language awareness activities which foster an understanding of and interest in how languages function. Critical and Creative Thinking Tasks encourage logical thinking and reasoning generate new ideas Teenager Topics focus on topics and themes that are important to teens set up contexts and let students provide the content


How Can Technology Help?: How Can Technology Help? International Language Schools www.ef.com


What is technology?: What is technology? International Language Schools www.ef.com CDs, DVDs, Podcasts, Digital Video More than the WWW E-mail, Chats, Blogs Online communities (social networks) Synchronous and Asynchronous environments


What technology is not: What technology is not International Language Schools www.ef.com It is not a separate reality- it mirrors what exists It is only communicative if you make it so. It doesn’t do “stuff”- you do- especially on the Internet. Internet: a non-linear anarchic environment Which you lend it contours through interaction


Instructional tool or motivator?: Instructional tool or motivator? International Language Schools www.ef.com Will the interaction with the Internet be part of the teaching process? Is language embedded in the online task, or will you use it to embellish offline activities (pictures, video, audio, games)? Beware too many bells and whistles Balance language goals and “coolness’ factor


Goal: Invisible Technology: Goal: Invisible Technology International Language Schools www.ef.com Forget about why or should we. Stop seeing technology as an add on. Remember for teens, technology is as common as the telephone. As one Italian writer wrote: We don’t have “BALL” and “PALL”


We Need a Model for the Internet: We Need a Model for the Internet International Language Schools www.ef.com Too often, information and teaching practice is simply transferred to the Internet as is (online exercises, reference sites). We need to rethink how we access and use information. We need new teaching frameworks if we want to fully exploit technology, especially the Internet.


One Way of Looking at the Internet: One Way of Looking at the Internet International Language Schools www.ef.com Communication Web Search Web Creation


Creating Communities: Creating Communities International Language Schools www.ef.com Exchange sites such as Keypals, iearn Interest groups/lists- also yahoo and google groups- make your own Social networks: myspace, facebook etc…chats(?) Communities of Practice (teacher networks) Online training (moodle)


The “E” lympics (basic activity): The “E” lympics (basic activity) International Language Schools www.ef.com Introduce the subject of the Olympic Games to your class. Ask them what kind of sports are played at the Olympics. Make a list of these sports. Hand out the “E” lympics worksheet. Explain to the children that you are going to hold an “E” lympics at school and the partner schools are going to do the same. the “E” lympics events. If possible take photos with a digital camera. Record the results of the events on the worksheet and send the sheet and the photos to your partner schools. As the partner schools send in their results, record them on a master worksheet. Goal: To compare results of a competition Language: Comparatives, superlatives, simple past, numbers…


The “E” lympics (differentiation): The “E” lympics (differentiation) International Language Schools www.ef.com Step 1 Research Olympic Games on the Internet. Share games with partner schools. Step 2 Conduct a live chat with the partner school. Create a video or audio “commentary”. Step 3 Create a Website or “Yahoo” group site. Work with partner school (s) to design and select content. Work in virtual teams to edit and post information.


Distances(web search activity): Distances (web search activity) 3.11 Distances How far is it…?


Potential Search Issues: Potential Search Issues International Language Schools www.ef.com You can get lost! Clutter and advertising. Focus on specific aspect of site. How do you and students make decisions about information. To what extent you want to delimit activities, both in terms of language and thinking skills.


Slide26: International Language Schools www.ef.com Internet as a Third Learning Space


Conclusions: Conclusions International Language Schools www.ef.com We need to understand that information is constantly changing, dynamic, and context bound. Students need ‘higher order thinking skills” to evaluate, prioritize information. Employ Constructivist principles to convert information into knowledge. We are still applying “analog” ideas to a digital world. Each student is now an actor on the Internet and contributes to its growth and future.


Q&A: International Language Schools www.ef.com Q&A