Technology Literacy, Language Learning & ESP

Faculty of Humanities, Universidad Mariano Gálvez, Guatemala City, Guatemala

Technology Literacy, Language Learning & ESP:

An Overview of the Levels of Technology Implementation

Technology Literacy, Language Learning, and ESP on Prezi

Last August 30 and 31 (2012), I got invited to participate as one of the OUP speakers at the Academic Encounter of Technology, Pedagogy, and Language on English for Specific Purposes ESP at Universidad Mariano Gálvez (UMG) in Guatemala City, which was co-sponsored by Oxford University Press (OUP). The idea behind this conference was to discuss the virtues of new educational technologies applied to ELT and ESP to enhance pedagogical practices within the teaching scenarios in Guatemala.

As part of my plenary session at UMG, I confronted participants with their own way of using technology as part of their daily planning and teaching. However, educational technologies can’t be effectively applied if there is no systematic development of this competency on the part of teaching professionals. For that reason, at the end of my introduction, I stated the following challenge for my Guatemalan colleagues: “As ELT professionals, technologywise, where do you want to be a year from now?”

To have conference participants understand the importance of a systematic development of one’s technological development, they were explained the “Levels of Technology Implementation” (LoTi) and how to self-assess their personal LoTi Profile. This Profile will guide teachers towards the right implementation of educational technologies and Web 2.0 tools in their daily planning and teaching. The adequate development of teachers’ LoTi Profiles will guarantee their technological competence instead of random applications of iTools and eTools.

In lieu of random uses of technology in one’s daily teaching, LoTi prepares ELT instructors to venture themselves into b-learning scenarios. We can be certain that the new trends in education today are moving us towards b-learning environments that encourage students to develop their language skills and competences autonomously. Students today do come into our classrooms, but they do develop lots of online assignments such as PBL tasks (WebQuest sample used at Universidad Latina in Costa Rica).

Bearing in mind that the effective use of technology is necessary to enhance and consolidate language learning, teachers must be certain that technology can be used not only in a regular EFL/ESL class, but also in any type of ESP courses at language schools and universities. First of all, as stated above, “teachers must be technologically competent to teach students and model –for them- a given behavior” with a given piece of technology or Web 2.0 tool. If technologically-competent teachers can take their pupils into using these resources appropriately the produce that will be yielded in this new learning scenarios / practices will be superb!

Conference attendants were also presented with diverse ways of applying these technological resources. Among the variety of technological applications provided for the plenary audience, they were provided with (a) reading blogs developed by students at Universidad Latina in Costa Rica (see Sample Blog 1 and Sample Blog 2) and (b) class wikis, -a type of LMS, to manage one’s students learning and accomplishment of teaching/learning objectives (i.e. Reading Skills Class Wiki). The use of these tools imply –from a LoTi Profile point of view- the teachers’ mastery of the resources to troubleshoot and assist students when needed.

Part of the plenary conclusion was to encourage teachers to master the technological resources they have in their schools or institutions, and then to fully develop themselves in terms of the LoTi Profile given to them. As soon as they begin to advance in their LoTi Profile development, Guatemalan teachers, as any other ELT professional, can start creating, implementing, and assessing their ESP tasks and activities with their students to greatly promote memorable learning experiences that will satisfy school administrators, teachers, and students alike.

To fully develop and comprehend this teaching issue, it’s advisable to research and expand these areas:

1	The LoTi Profile
2	How to develop technological competencies in ELT teachers
3	B-Learning in ELT
4	Project-Based Learning in language learning
5	Web 2.0 in ESP teaching scenarios

For their paramount support and assistance in my visit to UMG, Guatemala City, a sincere ‘thank-you’ to:

- Julie Harris, OUP Guatemala

- Mercilinda Ortiz, Faculty of Humanities, UMG

- Philip Haines, OUP Mexico

- Erick Morales, OUP Guatemala

- Alonzo Ramírez, OUP Guatemala

- Gerardo Cortez, the big boss, OUP Guatemala - Lourdes Dávila, OUP Guatemala

Jonathan Acuña

ELT Instructor & Trainer based in Costa Rica

Curricular Developer at CCCN

Senior ELT Professor at Universidad Latina

For further comments or suggestions, reach me at:

@jonacuso – Twitter

jonacuso@gmail.com – Gmail

Other blogs I often write for my students at the university are:

1. http://bin-02.blogspot.com/

2. http://bin-04.blogspot.com

3. http://bin-06.blogspot.com/

Sunday, September 16, 2012

The Anatomy of a Great Teacher

Teaching 2 comments

The Anatomy of a Good Teacher:

My Personal Interpretation

After reading some infographic information posted at edudomic on the anatomy of a good teacher, I started mulling on the idea on what other four extra virtues a great instructor has, especially in terms of ELT. After some serious thinking, I came across these four: Patience, Attitude, Knowledge, and a sense of Innovation.

The 21^st Century teacher needs to be patient. Understanding that student learning does not happen overnight, s/he carefully plans the best “strategy” to achieve it. This patience allows him/her to focus on the students’ production rather than on one’s teaching per se. Production guarantees the students’ understanding of the lesson subject-matter and the fulfillment of the learning outcomes patiently planned by the teacher. “Going nuts” because of behavioral problems in class, which are linked to teacher classroom management won’t do any good for both the student and the teacher. Patience is a competence in education, and we must develop it to guarantee our student and personal success.

Aside from patience, our 21^st Century good teacher must have the attitude for EL teaching. Many a teacher get to a point in their teaching careers in which they “lose” the impetus of their early years. As soon as some of them settle down in their teaching careers, they create their “comfort zones” and their attitude starts to slowly fade out. Attitude in our teaching careers implies our strong desire to produce learning in our pupils, to achieve the lesson’s objectives, and to always challenge ourselves to keep updated. Teaching attitude is a cornerstone in today’s education.

ELT, as part of today’s education, requires “knowledge” to effectively work with learning outcomes and students. Knowledge is indeed acquired in ELT programs and teaching practicums. However, it is never enough. A good teacher will necessarily have to continue to develop him/herself professionally by his/her own means. That is, to develop PLNs and PLEs are a must to satisfy the demands of the 21^st Century educational scenario. As a consequence, the need to “refresh” or “update” one’s ELT knowledge is an underlying requisite for the great teachers to always be fit in terms of what is happening in ELT nationally and internationally.

Finally, understanding that gaining knowledge is necessary to be in good shape for teaching, an innovative spirit is also a must in ELT. Innovation is one of the most important features of our 21^st Century teaching scenario. Getting behind on what is going on in education technology is a problem, but not trying out these new technologies can be fatal for the anatomy of a great language teacher. To be innovative by using the new educational trends in Web 2.0 is crucial to fully engage students in their own learning. The use of those Web 2.0 tools is the innovation educators needs to master and become competent with.

There are indeed more characteristics for the anatomy of a good teacher that have not been listed or described here. The infographic below deals with education in America, but is is our personal task to contextualize this “anatomy” in our teaching contexts. To be a better teaching professional is a matter of choice. To make our teaching memorable for our students is the best way to deal with our students’ needs for an education.

Taken from http://www.topteachingcolleges.net/great-teachers/

To fully develop and comprehend this teaching issue, it’s advisable to research and expand these areas:

1	Web 2.0 in education
2	How to make my teaching memorable
3	21^st Century students and their learning
4	Innovation in language learning
5	Best practices in ELT

Jonathan Acuña

ELT Instructor & Trainer based in Costa Rica

Curricular Developer at CCCN

Senior ELT Professor at Universidad Latina

For further comments or suggestions, reach me at:

@jonacuso – Twitter

jonacuso@gmail.com

Other blogs I often write for my students at the university are:

1. http://bin-02.blogspot.com/

2. http://bin-04.blogspot.com

3. http://bin-06.blogspot.com/

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Exploring ELT Teachers’ Reluctance towards Technology

Integration of Technology into Teaching 1comments

Exploring ELT Teachers’ Reluctance towards Technology:

Education Technology vs. ELT Instructors

Last July (2012), after being hired by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Central America to train a group of teachers in Costa Rica, I was confronted with the fact that ELT k-12 teachers were not exactly comfortable with the use of education technology in their school. Bearing in mind this reluctance by teachers, a question has been whirling in my mind all these weeks: Why were/are they so reluctant to using technology?

Teacher’s “comfort zone” is one of the issues teachers have to overcome before they start implementing technology in their classrooms and daily planning. Many private schools do have interactive white boards (IWBs) in many of their classrooms, but up to what extend are they really being used? Then again, IWBs are not the panacea for taking teachers out of their “teaching comfort zone” and helping them use the new tools publishing houses have for them to accompany their course books and language series. If teachers are not happy with education technology, they won’t get to use it eagerly.

Teachers of certain age and social background are not “exactly” happy with new technology in class since their students are better at using these new gadgets. Even though this is fallacious, many ELT instructors, -it seems to be the norm over here in Costa Rica-, don’t feel at ease dealing with gadgets or web pages they are not accustomed to using. The fact is that anyone can become competent in using anything by being properly trained or by being self-taught. Becoming competent –in terms of technology- will help ELT instructors voluntarily get out of their teaching comfort zones.

My main concern as a teacher trainer at this point is to alert school officials and administrators that, -even though education is turning technologically-oriented, teachers must become competent to fully have their students benefit from education technology. In addition, school administrators and heads of departments must also become confident in its use to “somehow” train parents since many of the new technologies for/in education are geared towards allowing parents participate in their children’s schooling and learning (i.e. Let’s Go by OUP). It looks like teachers are also worried about having to deal with parental training if their technological competency is not fully developed.

To conclude, part of the answer to the question stated at the beginning of this paper in regards to teachers’ reluctance towards technology is linked to three different areas: a) Teachers’ teaching comfort zone, b) the need for teachers to develop their technological competency, and c) the lack of parental training to use these new educational technologies to help their own kids.

To fully develop and comprehend this teaching issue, it’s advisable to research these areas:

1	How to develop technological competencies
2	Parental understanding of education technologies
3	Teachers and parents’ understanding of the importance of EdTech
4	Teachers’ teaching comfort zones
5	Why education technology in k-12 and beyond

Jonathan Acuña

ELT Instructor & Trainer

Curricular Developer at CCCN

Senior ELT Professor at Universidad Latina

For further comments or suggestions, reach me at:

@jonacuso – Twitter

jonacuso@gmail.com

Sunday, September 09, 2012

TECH TIP: Cloud Reader

Cloud Reader, Literature, Tech Tip 0 comments

TECH TIP: Cloud Reader

As an EFL/ESL teacher and a tech apps lover, I came across with the Kindle Cloud Reader. One of my Twitter contacts, @edudemic, was the one responsible for getting to know this particular way of reading books online.

But what is “the Cloud Reader?” If we just go back in time a bit, let’s remember when Amazon.com released it Kindle Reader, a portable device that allowed readers to store his/her whole library. Even though Amazon.com continues to sell its Kindles, they have created an kindle-reading app that can allow your PC or laptop to turn into a “Kindle Reader.”

You might be wondering how this is possible. The answer is simple. Even if you want to buy kindle books from Amazon.com for your own entertainment, you –as a teacher- can have your students profit from this application by asking them to get this particular app on their computers.

What’s needed to have students install a Cloud Reader on their computers?

1. If you don’t have Chrome or Safari installed on your computers, it’s a good idea to start over here. Get Chrome at http://www.google.com/chrome or Safari at http://www.apple.com/es/safari/download/. Any of these two browsers supports the Cloud Reader.

2. Create an Amazon.com account. This is necessary because, even though you won’t necessarily pay for books, the system won’t allow anyone get into obtaining the books without an email log-in and password.

3. Once you have Chrome or Safari and have created your account, go to https://read.amazon.com/. At this location you can get the Kindle application for your PC or laptop. It will take just a couple of seconds to have it ready for use.

4. The moment you have your Cloud Reader up and running, go to Amazon.com and browse the free Kindle books they have available. Once you have chosen the free book you want to read:

a. Click on Kindle Edition right below the paperback option.

b. Once you have clicked on the Kindle Edition, a new window will be displayed. To the top right-hand corner you will see the buy-with-one-click option to get the book.

5. Immediately after, you will be sent a confirmation email from Amazon.com and granted permission to access your new book.

What is nice about this free service by Amazon.com is that your Cloud Reader will store the information on how many pages you have read in any of the books you store in your personal library.

To access your library use the same link https://read.amazon.com/. Click on your books to display the last page you read.

You can also buy books if you wish. But for students, who may not have the chance to be purchasing books often, the free ones are as good as the paid ones.

Sample books to download: Click on [Kindle Edition] to see the book.

Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know [Kindle Edition]

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes [Kindle Edition]

Gulliver's Travels [Kindle Edition]

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin [Kindle Edition]

I really hope this tech tip can help you teachers and your students to read more and enjoy literature.

Jonathan Acuña

EFL Instructor / Curricular Development

San José, Costa Rica

Email: jonacuso@gmail.com

Twitter: @jonacuso

Sunday, September 11, 2011

The Origin of Idiomatic Expressions

Idioms, Linguistics 0 comments

The Origin of Idiomatic Expression

One of those things, as a linguist, that has always called my attention is the origin of idiomatic expressions. Even though I am not a native speaker, I get to use lots of expressions when speaking and try to teach many of them to my university students. Yet we are not really aware of their origin and get to use them as if they have always existed.

A friend of mine, Michael McDonald from Atlanta, Georgia, USA came across this great list of expressions widely used in the United States and sent them to me. It is worth reading and getting acquainted with the origin of some idiomatic expressions.

"God willing and the Creeks don't rise"

Did you know the saying "God willing and the Creeks don't rise" was in reference to the Creek Indians and not a body of water? It was written by Benjamin Hawkins in the late 18th century. He was a politician and Indian diplomat.

While in the south, Hawkins was requested by the President of the U.S. to return to Washington . In his response, he was said to write, "God willing and the Creeks don't rise.." Because he capitalized the word "Creeks", it is deduced that he was referring to the Creek Indian tribe and not a body of water.

… but it'll cost you an arm and a leg.

In George Washington's days, there were no cameras. One's image was either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of George Washington showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both legs and both arms.

Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted. Arms and legs are 'limbs,' therefore, painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence the expression, 'Okay, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg.'

(Artists know hands and arms are more difficult to paint)

Here comes the Big Wig.

As incredible as it sounds, men and women took baths only twice a year (May and October). Women kept their hair covered, while men shaved their heads (because of lice and bugs) and wore wigs. Wealthy men could afford good wigs made from wool.

They couldn't wash the wigs, so to clean them they would carve out a loaf of bread, put the wig in the shell, and bake it for 30 minutes. The heat would make the wig big and fluffy, hence the term 'big wig.. '

Today we often use the term 'here comes the Big Wig' because someone appears to be or is powerful and wealthy.

Chairman

In the late 1700's, many houses consisted of a large room with only one chair. Commonly, a long wide board folded down from the wall, and was used for dining. The 'head of the household' always sat in the chair while everyone else ate sitting on the floor.

Occasionally a guest, who was usually a man, would be invited to sit in this chair during a meal. To sit in the chair meant you were important and in charge. They called the one sitting in the chair the 'chair man.' Today in business, we use the expression or title 'Chairman' or 'Chairman of the Board.'

Crack a Smile & Loosing Face

Personal hygiene left much room for improvement. As a result, many women and men had developed acne scars by adulthood. The women would spread bee's wax over their facial skin to smooth out their complexions.

When they were speaking to each other and if a woman began to stare at another woman's face, she was told, 'mind your own bee's wax.' Should the woman smile, the wax would crack, hence the term 'crack a smile'. In addition, when they sat too close to the fire, the wax would melt . . . Therefore, the expression 'losing face.'

Straight laced

Ladies wore corsets, which would lace up in the front. A proper and dignified woman, as in 'straight laced', wore a tightly tied lace.

Playing with a full deck

Common entertainment included playing cards. However, there was a tax levied when purchasing playing cards but only applicable to the 'Ace of Spades.' To avoid paying the tax, people would purchase 51 cards instead. Yet, since most games require 52 cards, these people were thought to be stupid or dumb because they weren't 'playing with a full deck.'

Gossip

Early politicians required feedback from the public to determine what the people considered important. Since there were no telephones, TV's or radios, the politicians sent their assistants to local taverns, pubs, and bars.

They were told to 'go sip some Ale and listen to people's conversations and political concerns. Many assistants were dispatched at different times. 'You go sip here' and 'You go sip there.'

The two words 'go sip' were eventually combined when referring to the local opinion and, thus we have the term 'gossip.'

Minding your 'P's and Q's

At local taverns, pubs, and bars, people drank from pint and quart-sized containers. A bar maid's job was to keep an eye on the customers and keep the drinks coming.

She had to pay close attention and remember who was drinking in 'pints' and who was drinking in 'quarts', hence the phrase 'minding your 'P's and Q's'.

Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey

In the heyday of sailing ships, all war ships and many freighters carried iron cannons. Those cannons fired round iron cannon balls. It was necessary to keep a good supply near the cannon. However, how to prevent them from rolling about the deck?

The best storage method devised was a square-based pyramid with one ball on top, resting on four resting on nine, which rested on sixteen. Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem ... how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding or rolling from under the others.

The solution was a metal plate called a 'Monkey' with 16 round indentations. However, if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make 'Brass Monkeys.'

Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster than iron when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannonballs would come right off the monkey.

Thus, it was quite literally, 'Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.'

(All this time, you thought that was an improper expression, didn't you?)

To conclude, although some of these explanations might not be exact, we have to be certain the idiomatic expressions originated at some point in history and spread among the speakers of languages. We just have to be open to these explanations that got to us on an email.

Jonathan Acuña

EFL Instructor / Curricular Development

San José, Costa Rica

Email: jonacuso@gmail.com

Twitter: @jonacuso

“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”

James Madison

Saturday, September 10, 2011