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Technology Doesn’T Bite! Show
1. Technology doesn’t bite!
How computers and the internet can help
to enhance your teaching & brush up your
language skills.
Pamela Arrarás
FAAPI 2009 – Bahía Blanca
3. Outline for today
Reflecting on professional development needs of non-native
English speaking teachers.
Technology intro: informal PD in the XXI century & reality
check video.
The basics of web2.0: from e-mail to blogs and beyond
Using technology to polish our English
An action plan for using technology for professional
development: explanation & individual work.
Sharing our plans
Q &A
5. Now it’s your turn!
Find somebody you don’t know (Don’t cheat!!!).
Introduce yourself, and tell him/her:
•1 thing about you as a person.
•1 thing about you as a language learner.
•1 thing about you as a teacher.
•1 aspect of your career/language
proficiency you’d like to work on today.
• 1 thing you expect to learn in this
workshop.
6. Some ideas behind this workshop
“If we teach today as we were taught yesterday we rob our
children of tomorrow.” (John Dewey)
From Peter Medgyes’ The non-native teacher:
“A fundamental condition for successful teaching is that
the teacher should be a permanent learner.”
“The final aim of education is to teach learners how to
learn, but this can only be facilitated by teachers who are
good examples of learners themselves.”
7. “Most of us are doing our best to acquire a bit more
Englishness (…) we suffer from an inferiority complex and
we are in constant distress as we realize how little we know
about the language we’re supposed to teach (…) Most
NNESTs are all too aware that they are teachers and learners
of the same subject”
“Most of us non-native speaking teachers are aware of our
double-faced nature: when we are in class, the learner’s face
is hidden; when we are out of class, the teacher’s face is
hidden.”
9. So how does technology fit
in all this?
We can use technology to…
…improve our language proficiency.
(language)
…stay up-to-date on methodology.
(TEFL)
…improve our teaching skills.
(teaching)
…find tools, sources and materials to teach.
(teach)
11. Now it’s your turn!
Information overload?
Take a minute and write down at least three
ideas that crossed your mind about the
implications that all these facts have on our
profession…
12. Informal Professional Development
• Journals Workshops
• Books Reference books
XX • Encyclopedias Magazines
• Conferences Movies
Century • Traveling Music
• Keeping a journal/log
• All of the above plus:
• Blogs E-readers
• Podcasts Videocasts
XXI • Webinars Video streaming
Century • E-zines RSS Feeds
• E-lists E-mails
• Online courses MP3 players
• Cell phone apps Networks
13. Ok, so there’s all these
great tools, and I need to
learn how to use them…
where do I start?
14. Web 2.0: The basics
1. Get an e-mail account for professional
purposes only.
2. Learn how to keep your information private
& secure.
3. If you don’t have your own PC (or you share
it) get a pen drive to keep your materials.
4. Be ORGANIZED: user names, logins,
passwords, files, etc…
15. Passwords & Privacy settings
Remember to go to the “My account” or “My settings”
section on any place you are asked to sign up and complete
forms; make sure all your information is private, and check
whether they have automatically subscribed you to their
newsletters (which they will do!)
If you want to store your passwords on a file, there’s software
such as KeePass which will help you organize everything
and keep it safe at the same time. It’s open source, and free!
http://keepass.info
17. How to use Google Apps
Someone should be paying me for this!
18. Google Reader
Develop your reading & writing skills:
•Organize your reading: subscribe to blogs you like by clicking on the orange square
•Share the posts you like the most, write comments on them for other teachers to
read.
If you know how to
use tags, create
public tags and set
up reading lists for
your students. An
example has been
made for you at
www.pamelaarraras
.com.ar/faapi2009
on the right sidebar
LINK TO FEED
20. Google Docs
Create documents that you
can keep online, without
having to download them
anywhere; they can be public
or private.
Do collaborative writing with
your students or colleagues.
Write articles and publish
them online for your students
or peers.
Create exercises students can
download or print.
Do surveys: students can
submit homework to you
through Google forms!
21. Blogger / Blogspot
Design a page where your
students can find extra
activities, homework, etc.
What can you add in a blog?
Videos
Reading materials
Audio files
Photos for descriptions
Links to your exercises on
Google Docs
Have your own professional
blog: write about your own
professional development. It
makes a great impression on
potential employers!
22. Learn more watching video tutorials :
Go to http://pamelaarraras.com.ar/faapi2009/video-
tutorials/.You will find the following videos:
Google Docs in Plain English
Google Reader in in Plain English
Blogs in Plain English
Online Photo Sharing in Plain English
Wikis in Plain English
Social Networking in Plain English
Podcasting in Plain English
RSS in Plain English
Courtesy of Common Craft, through YouTube
23. Now it’s your turn!
Write down at least three ways
you might use the applications
we have already mentioned.
•1 for personal language
learning
•1 for developing teaching skills
•1 for teaching / using with Sts.
Now turn to a person near you
and share them!
38. Now it’s your turn!
Write down at least one way you
might use the applications we
have already mentioned, one for
each language skill.
Now turn to a person near you
and share them!
39. An “Action Plan” for PD
1. Identify your professional development needs.
2. Establish goals: What do you want to
accomplish? What are you going to do with the
new knowledge/information/skills?
3. Choose activities/tasks that will help you
achieve those goals.
4. Pick web tools & sites that will help you
organize yourself and carry out the different
activities towards those goals.
40. Step 1
Use the Brainstorming sheet to find topics of interest. It can be
found online too by clicking here.
Steps 2 & 4
Making Powerpoint
presentations to
share online
www.Slideshare.com
46. Steps 3 & 4
Activities or tasks:
Reading about your topic of choice.
Organize your reading through Google Reader or by
bookmarking the websites with Diigo or Del.icio.us
47. Listen to podcasts through different websites, ITunes or Zencast.
Download audio files to your mp3 player or cell phone
48. Watch videos and subscribe to interesting channels on
YouTube.
49. Interact with other teachers on networking communities;
participate in chats and webinars:
50. Now it’s your turn!
Go to the brainstorming sheet.
Choose an aspect of your
profession you’d like to focus on.
A. Which goal or final product
would be the most suitable for
you?
B. Which activities & tools do
you think you might be able to
use?
Now turn to a person near you
and share them!
51. Q&A
I’m all ears!
I appreciate comments and suggestions on the
workshop’s website at
www.PamelaArraras.com.ar/faapi2009
or e-mail me at pamelaarraras@gmail.com
Thanks for coming!
