Technology in the English classroom

In this entry, we would like to share our experience of working with presentations with students to introduce and develop a new topic. In the first place, we think digital presentations are a valuable resource. They could not only be used as a starting point to get students motivated and interested in what they will have to do but also as a way to make learning more significant.

At the moment of planning the presentation we will show to the students, and the kind of work they will have to do at the moment they produce their own material, we took into account the TPACK (http://tpack.org/) considerations in order to integrate and work with technology in the classroom. 

In this case, we used a presentation so as to introduce to students the model for what they will have to do later, in the production stage, as a means of providing them with a model on which they can base their own work. The purpose of the final project was to use technology in a creative and interesting way. We decided to use Prezi because students could create engaging presentations using text and pictures. What's more, as opposed to traditional posters, anyone can have access to it, so in that way students will be able to share their presentations with peers, family and friends, making their work more memorable and significant.  Students are familiarized with this platform, so they won’t have many problems at the moment of using it.  We also believe this will be all students need to work with. 

The grammar point (comparatives adjectives) was new for them so we prepared a number of different activities to present the new topic in an engaging way, using a video we found in You tube. 

In order to help students with the content of the presentations, we also prepared a number of different activities to cope with grammar, and to scaffold students’ learning, so they will be ready to create their own presentations. In this way, they will be prepared to complete the task successfully.

As a final comment, we think using technology in the classroom will help students to become more interested in learning English. As they are digital natives, it is highly important to give them something they will like and that they will feel comfortable to work with!