ICT Training for Teachers|
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Modern Foreign Languages - Introduction
| Module 1 | Contents |
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Modern Foreign Language teaching has for years been a leading subject in the innovative use of technologies. MFL teachers have pioneered the use of tape-recorders and video in the support of their teaching, and language-support programs were amongst the first of the subject-specific computer programs to be widely used in the early days of IT in the classroom.
Imagine you are having a discussion about how to use a tape-recorder or video in an MFL lesson. What would you be talking about?
- How to load a tape?
- Which buttons to press?
Apart from quickly familiarising yourself with a new machine, the chances are that these are not the thoughts that are uppermost in your mind!
- How will the material on the tape or video enhance the lesson?
- What are the intended learning outcomes?
Learning a modern foreign language is all about learning how to understand and communicate in that foreign language. It's about listening, speaking, reading and writing. It's about learners coming to grips with a different culture, and relating their own culture to that different culture. It is an exciting venture with potentially unlimited possibilities.
Language teachers need to use every means at hand to present their pupils with a wide range of stimulating ideas and materials, and to ensure that every opportunity is taken to place the learning in meaningful and, where possible, real situations. Language teachers start with themselves, providing linguistic models for the pupils to copy, helping the pupils to understand the spoken and written language they are learning, bringing to life the whole of that new culture using every trick they can find. The classroom is decorated with travel posters; there are labels naming the common objects in the room; greetings and instructions are given in the target language. The course book, tapes, videos and all manner of magazines, leaflets, labels and other realia brought back from trips abroad are pressed into service to help simulate the foreign environment and to extend the pupils' exposure to the new language.
Teachers of modern foreign languages have found over the years that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can play a powerful role in their classrooms, allowing such benefits as easy access to authentic and up-to-date materials ranging from simple adverts to in-depth analyses of current affairs, or wider opportunities for meaningful communication with native speakers. These and other ideas will be explored in greater depth in the course of these modules, and we hope that you will share in the excitement that many teachers and pupils have felt as they use these technologies to explore their subject in ways which would otherwise not be possible.
It might help you to consider the experiences of other teachers who have adopted ICT in their teaching. Initially they saw the computer as an 'added extra' in the classroom, perhaps for a fun activity or a reward: a pupil is allowed a go on the computer after finishing a piece of work early. They noticed that the pupils were absorbed, motivated, and doing something useful such as practising a grammar point in an enjoyable way. They then decided that this should be part of the lesson, something for everyone, and added the ICT activity to the lesson plans. The use of the computer becomes a part of the language lesson. More and more ICT activities, as we shall see, are discovered which lend themselves naturally to the MFL lesson. One day they realised that the particular activity is one that would either be very difficult by other means, such as exchanging electronic messages with pupils in a partner school, or which would be otherwise totally impossible, such as accessing information in the foreign language from an electronic database via the World Wide Web. In the same way that computers have changed many aspects of everyday life, ICT, when used appropriately, can change the way in which teachers teach and pupils learn.
There are additional gains for those teachers who persevere in coming to grips with new technologies. To the outsider the computer can be seen as a threatening object, something that the uninitiated would rather avoid. There are however pressures on teachers, from government exhortations through to pupil expectations, that we should use ICT in all areas of the curriculum. Modern languages teachers are equally subject to these pressures, and those who have explored the range of packages available and who have an appreciation of what can be used to good purpose in a lesson are in a position to react positively and purposefully to these pressures. Instead of merely adopting whatever packages or procedures they are told to adopt by the school's ICT co-ordinator, they can use those ideas and programs which they know will give added value in their lessons. Such teachers are in the happy position of being empowered in their use and understanding of ICT, and are able to make informed decisions for the benefit of their classroom practice.
How then can ICT be used effectively in the MFL lesson? Here are a few ideas which will be developed in the following modules:
Teachers new to ICT will find the Primary and Secondary Core materials helpful. Click here for an explanation of the different ways of using these sections. We will give you further links to the Primary Core in later modules. Don't forget the glossary of ICT terms either! If you have time, have a look through the first module of the primary materials.
Task 1
Are you using ICT already either directly in your teaching or in your preparation (such as for gathering on-line materials or for producing worksheets and other materials)?
If so, review your current use in the light of the ideas above.
If not, think about the kind of activities you already use in your teaching and think about ways in which ICT could enhance their effectiveness.
Are you an IT-sceptic?
Look at the list of ideas above and review your scepticism.
Why are you sceptical about the use of ICT in the teaching of MFL?
Write out your reasons, and see if you can argue against yourself!
Share these ideas with your colleagues and if possible with your tutor through e-mail or on the Conference Area.
Summarise your thoughts by writing a rationale for the use of ICT in MFL in your school.
Remember: NOF training is all about learning how to use ICT to enhance subject teaching and learning.
It is of course impossible to learn how to use ICT in an MFL lesson without learning how to use ICT, but you should never lose site of the focus.
If you find that you are using ICT for the sake of using ICT, it is time to stop and to ask yourself about the MFL outcomes of the activity. If there aren't any, then this is an inappropriate use of ICT!
Discussion 
Task