The First Step

Welcome to the ponderings of an overworked grad student.  In this blog, I will be documenting my journey into a new world, moving from being somewhat technologically savvy to being able to use this knowledge to help second language students learn English. As of right now, the title of my blog is a lie, as I know little about what it means to use technology in a language learning classroom.  Despite this fact, I do believe that the ability to use technology in such a way is imperative for language teachers, as it creates new and innovative ways of exploring material, all the while combining students' interests with educational activities. That being said, I hope that by the end of this class, I will have a much more thorough grasp of CALL. 

My knowledge of using technology in the classroom is generally limited to my experiences as a student, rather than as a teacher. While studying foreign languages as an undergrad, I was exposed to various teaching methods. I had one instructor in particular--my French 101 teacher--who was excellent at making language learning interactive. He encouraged us to use the website that worked alongside our textbook, which consisted of vocabulary flashcards and sound recordings, as well as a plethora of activities for each lesson. In addition, he would bring music into the classroom, which would either be sung in French or would lightheartedly poke fun at what it means to be a beginning French language learner. We would also listen to material that demonstrated various accents and dialects in French, as well as what people of other nationalities sound like (generally speaking, of course) when speaking French. In this way, this instructor introduced us to different dialects, thereby trying to break down the stereotypes that can unfortunately come along with learning a language. As an aspiring ESL teacher, I reflect on this class with appreciation because it has provided me with ideas for using technology in the classroom, even if the above examples are just a few ways to implement it effectively.

I believe this course will be useful for me in a number of ways, which coincidentally means that I will hopefully accomplish my aforementioned goal of understanding  CALL and being able to use technology effectively in the second language classroom.  I am open to learning about all areas of CALL, partly because I am a curious person by nature and partly because I am unsure as to what all those areas are.  

With that in mind, dear readers, I look forward to my adventures this semester!