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DogmeandTechnology|TeachingEnglish|BritishCouncil|BBC

Neitherstrictdogmeticiansnortechnoevangelists,wearesimplyteacherswho
appreciatebothagoodDogmemomentandeasytousetechnologythatmakes
ourjobeasierandthelearnersmoreautonomous.Whatdowemeanbyagood
Dogmemoment?Forus,itisonewherethereisconversationgoingongenerated
bythelearnersthemselves,whoideally,forashortperiodoftime,haveforgotten
thattheyareinaclassroom.Asforeasytousetechnology,belowyouwillfind
someofourfavouritetoolsforcreatingtheconversationandfeedingbackonit.
Weareassumingaclassroomwithaninternetconnectionalthoughforsomeof
themasmartphoneortabletwillsuffice.

Conversation
Conversationisbynatureunpredictablebecausespontaneousquestionsandrealanswerswill
sendpeopleoffontangents.Ourlearnerswillalwayscomeupagainstthefollowingproblems,
whichtechnologycanhelpwith:Iwanttosaysomething,butIdontknowhowtosayit.I
knowthisword,butIdontknowhowtopronounceit.ImnotsureifIcansayitlikethisin
English.
Withlotsofconversationsgoingonintheclassroomatthesametime,itisimpossibleforthe
teachertolistentoeveryoneallthetime.Weencourageourlearnerstousewhatevermeans
theycaninordertokeeptheconversationgoing.However,atthesametime,weaskthemto
havepenandpaperatthereadytomakeanoteofanylanguagedifficulties,liketheones
mentionedabove.Meanwhile,wecirculatetakingourownnotes.

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Photos
Learnersownphotosareawonderfulwaytocreateconversation,especiallypicturesoffamily,
holidaysorsimplysomethingthatcaughttheireyeinthestreet.Theynolongerhavetohunt
throughphotoalbumsathomeorprisepicturesfromframesandremembertobringthemto
classbecausenowadaystheycanallbefoundontheirmobiledevices.Theactivities?Tellus
whoyoutakeafterinyourfamily,showusthemostmemorableplaceyouvevisitedorcompare
favouritephotos,tonamebutafew.Wheneachlearnerhasspokenabouttheirimageonceto
theirpartner,itistimeforfeedbackandthentheyrepeattheactivitywithanewgroup,the
objectivebeinganimprovedperformance.
Feedback
Whenitcomestofeedback,weuseasharedGoogleDrivedocument(1),wherewewritedown
theanswerstothelearnersdifficultiesalongwithourownobservations.Thefirsttimewedo
this,weshowthemhowtolinkvocabularytoanonlinedictionarygreatforpronunciation
and,ifanimagespeaksathousandwords,toGoogleImages.
Everydayweaddtothedocumentsothatitbecomesarecordofthelanguagethathas
emergedinclass.Wesendlearnersalinktothedocumentandeachweekoneofthemalso
receiveseditingrightssothattheresponsibilityforlinkingtothedictionary/imagesistheirs.
Vocabularyandpronunciation
Allofushavestruggledatsomepointwhenaskedhowtouseaparticularlytrickyitemof
vocabulary.InthesecasestheBritishNationalCorpus(2)canbealifesaver,andlearnersare
alwaysimpressedbytheconceptandtheinformationitcontains.Itcanbeextremelyusefulto
showlearnerswhattheycanorcannotdowithnewvocabulary.Whatitdoesnotdo,however,
ishelpthemwithsoundstheyarehavingdifficultyproducing.
Forthisweusethephonemicchart,andrecommendlearnerstodownloadthefreeapp(3).In
classitisausefultoolforfamiliarisingthelearnerswiththesymbolsandsounds,andoutside
classtheycanuseittocheckpronunciationandpractise.Wealsoencouragelearnerstousean
onlinedictionary(4).Theadvantagesoverapaperdictionaryarethreefold:itismuchquicker
tolookuptheword,learnerscanlistentothepronunciation,andtheydonotneedtocarrytwo
kilosofdictionaryaroundwiththem.
Presentations
Everybodyhasahiddentalentorisanexpertinsomethingandwemakeitourmissiontofind
outwhatitis,butbeforewedothat,wegiveashortinformaltalkofourowntogivelearnersa
feelfortheexercise,andalsobecausetheywillbemoreforthcomingifwesharefirst.Wethen
askeachofthemtodothesame.
Theyprepareathomeandiftheyusepresentationsoftwaretoillustratetheirtalk,noreading
fromslidesisallowed.AswithallgoodDogmeactivities,thelistenershavetobeactiveandare
understrictinstructionstoasklotsofquestionsafterthetalk.Recentexampleshaveincluded
HowtousePhotoshop,Mixingtheperfectginandtonic(withtastingincluded)andTenthings
youneverknewaboutArgentina.Insomecases,learnershaveevenlearntanewskillon
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YouTubeorVideojug,suchasballoonmodellingorjuggling,andtaughtittotherestofthe
class!
Asthetalksarehappening,wemakenotesonthespeakerslinguisticperformance,whichwe
writeuponthecomputeraftertheclass.WethenuseafreesoftwaretoolcalledJing(5)to
sendthemfeedback.Aslongasyourcomputerhasamicrophoneandacamera,Jingallowsyou
torecordwhatishappeningonthescreenplusyourcommentaryforuptofiveminutes.You
canthensendthisrecordingasalinkviaemail,anditbecomesanindividuallistening
comprehensionexerciseforthelearnerinquestion.Anicefollowuptothisistoasklearnersto
recordandsendyouavideomessageusingMailVu(6)reactingtotheexperienceinclassand
toyourfeedback.
Wehavebeenfansofconversationdrivenlanguagelearningforalongtime,anditformsa
majorpartofoureverydayclasses.Thegoldenruleforuswhenusingtechnologyisthatit
shouldservetoenhancethelearningexperienceinthatcontext.Thetoolswehavementioned
arefree,easytouseandhaveprovedpopularwithlearners.
Resources
1.YoucouldintroduceyourlearnerstoGoogleDocsviathisvideo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRqUE6IHTEA
2.http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/
3.http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/activities/phonemicchart
4.Cambridgehttp://dictionary.cambridge.org/
Macmillanhttp://www.macmillandictionary.com/
Longmanhttp://www.ldoceonline.com/
5.RussellStannardexplainsJinghttp://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/Jing/index.html
6.HealsoexplainsMailVuhttp://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/mailVu/index.html
SteveandTomworkattheBritishCouncilinAlcalUniversity,Madrid,andblog
atwww.allatc.wordpress.com
BySteveMuirandTomSpain

Tags
Methodology

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