Education, Technology and ELT

  What is ELT?

  

     ELT is the teaching of English language to the people whose mother/first language is not English. ELT is an abbreviation for ‘English Language Teaching’ specifically to the students whose native language is not English. English language taught as the Foreign or the Second language to the people whose native language is different like in India, which is the multilingual country.

       This blog is the part of the tasks given in the ELT classroom. To see that tasks Click Here where there are the images, videos, quizzes, presentations and other reading resources are given which help the teachers as well as learners to practice LSRW skills and how the technology can be integrated in the ELT classroom. Two quizzes are based the CALL and Web Tools which can be used effectively by the teachers as well as the learners for self-learning module.

   Here, our task is to think about ideas that discussed in 8 videos which are embedded on the above linked blog task. Therefore, I am going to present main ideas that discussed in these videos.

Video-1 Sir Ken Robinson: Changing Paradigm

      In this video, Robinson talks about the changing education paradigm. As per his views, every country on earth reforming Public Education for the two major reason 1) Economic that how do we educate our children to achieve their positions in the economics of 21^st century. 2) Culture, how we can educate our children that they can get the sense of Cultural Identity (I know where I came from). He said by these they alienated children without saying any purpose to going to school, they introduce future by what has done in the past. He said that current education system designed for a different age of 18^th and 19^th century where there is the Industrial revolution and economic circumstances. He talked about ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) which is the matter of the debate. Today’s children are mostly influenced by the TV, Computers, iphones, advertise hoardings which considered as the distractions. Arts are the victims of this mentality and leads towards Anesthetic which shut senses off, deaden our self to what is happening. Schools are organized on the factory lines where there is ringing bells, separate facilities for girls and boys, specialized subjects like math, science, language and we educated them still by batches. Why do we do that? It is like manufacturing products year by year which will go into the market for sell. The  education based on the Standardization not on the Customization. He put stress on the ‘Divergent thinking’ that every persons have original ideas that have values, it is an essential capacity for creativity not its synonyms. It is an ability to see multiple answers of single question and many ways to interpret answer. And his last point is that of Collaborative learning that is happen in the group. Collaboration is the stuff of growth.

Video-2&3 Sugata Mitra: School in the Cloud SOLE and Future of Learning

     He talks about the Future of Learning in both the videos. He discussed about what is going to be the future of learning. He talks about the education system, which came from last empire. Victorians made global machine of people and to produce that people they produce other machine called School where people are produce to be part of the BAM (Bureaucratic Administrator Machine). Where good handwriting, ability to read, able to do additions, subtraction and other sums because that are in demand at that time but now this education system is outdated the jobs we have that is of computer clerk who doesn’t require good handwriting and ability of calculation because computer is able to do it. His major project is ‘Hole in the Wall’ that he started for the slum poor children who do not have computers. 

He provide them computer which fit into the wall and he found that children who do not know the English language and haven’t any knowledge of internet, they learnt how to browsing and taught each other. He provides street side computers to the remote villages near Delhi to spread self-education. He said when threats are given to the students; it shut down a part of brain. Threats are Punishments and Examination, which destroy the creative mind/brain of students that happen in the old time. He said that what happens with the creativity of our age and to keep that balance backs from threats to pleasure, he is looking British grandmothers who can give lesions to these poor children through the web Camera called ‘Grany Cloud’ from which the ‘SOLE’ (Self Organized Learning Environment) emerged where broadband + Collaboration + encouragement & admiration put together and learning happens itself. His wish is School in the Cloud. He said now we are using technology like phones, tablets, laptops in the classrooms why that are not allowed in the examination hall while in future job we will have to deal with that. He said we hate text messages like How R U? rather than How are you? what is problem in that. He said Teachers should be friends not sages and guides and schooling should remain forever not of 5 or 6 years.

Video- 4 Salman Khan: Let’s use video to reinvent education

     Here, Salman Khan’s main argument is that ‘People can learn more from videos than books’ in context of development of technology. He is a banker no a teacher but by the source of videos he became teacher without any official degree that is the main benefit of progress of technology. He started just by teaching his cousin and uploaded videos of math/ science on YouTube with the exercises after watch that videos and appreciated worldwide he got many interesting feedback like one person said ‘First time I smile during doing math work’. Then, he invited by many schools and teachers on virtual platforms and, most of the American schools used his video resources in their classrooms. Through this, students can interact with each other, which humanized them. Now, there are group of people who run this software in  the Khan Academy.

Video-5 Marc Prensky: Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants

       Prensky talks about the generation of 21^st century who are advance in technology from the very childhood than their predecessors. He calls them Digital natives (Native speakers of digital language of computers/internet). In addition, Digital immigrants who don’t born in the digital world but have adapted technology and many aspects of new technology. They speaks outdated /pre digital language to give instructions to new students. They believe that their students can’t learn from watching TV and playing video games which suggests the traditional mindset of digital immigrant while digital natives have laptops rather than books in their libraries. Today’s teacher should speak in language that student can understand because they born in new culture and learn new languages. They should think about the future demand of education. Like, Salman Khan works for Digital Natives because he has future vision of learning.

Video- 6,7&8 David Crystal: The Effect of New Technologies on English, The Biggest challenge for English Language Teacher in the time of Internet and Texting is ‘Good’ for english Language

     In these videos, David discussed about teaching of English language through the Technology and its influence. He said when any new technology came it influences language quite dramatically. He gave examples of Printing Press by Gutenberg that brings the varieties of newspaper with headlines and cartoons, Development of the telephone in 19^th century when people even don’t know how to use but now used by everyone, Broadcasting came where people believe it is brain washing while it introduced varieties of language which brought speak commentaries of footballs, news reading  and Ted shows, these all are the result of broadcasting. Now, Internet doing the same thing, in 1991 WWW (world wide web) arrives without that younger generation don’t know the world. ‘Blog’ arrive in 1997 before that on one blogged then slowly FB came in 2004, YouTube in 2005, Twitter in 2006. These are examples of new technologies that developing new styles of English Language. The style used in texting that you don’t use in blogging, technology influenced English in quite specific way like in text messaging. 

There is limit of 160 characters in Twitter there is 140 characters because 20 is defined who you are as early there was prompt of  ‘I am doing’ which change in 2009 as ‘What’s happening?’ because early prompt said to look into yourself while new one say to look around you and there is change in Tenses and  noun to pronoun. Internet has major influence on English language as new abbreviations came like ‘LOL’, its tiny fraction of English Language. Text messages are not full of only abbreviations, its only 10% and 90% use of standard English language. There are myths that people believe that Texting is only used by the kids, invented y them and they don’t know how to spell correctly and if that language used by them in exams, they considered as illiterate. However, here David said this texting provide them the great platform for practice of read and write.

      These all progress creates biggest challenge for teachers because of growing Internet and globalization of English Language. If you put/use any new word on FaceBook, everyone knows it in 24 hours. He said that two most important jobs in the world that are 1) Translating/ Interpreting and 2) Language Teaching. Teachers should paid highest salary that not applied until now. He gave example that if you want to learn South African Language, you don’t need to go there but just type it  in Google and you get the local newspaper, audios, videos in that language. You can also do Skype interaction with native speakers of that language. It takes time but once you do it you get materials that can used every year.

    Therefore, all these videos are very useful /helpful for English language teachers to teach English by the integration of technology and can create the future of leaning.  Students also can learn how to do self learning. 

Here is one more video which talks on the same topic and about the wheel of modern education where three things are important 1) Self-Learning 2) My Tribe and 3) Deep Immersions.