A Technology Primer for ESOL

Mary Lou McCloskey, Ph.D.

Note:  This is an update of an article prepared for the San Francisco Unified School District Bilingual/ESOL Curriculum Guide.

Technology offers exciting potential for supporting teachers and students in language teaching and learning. Below is a brief introduction to some of the types of technology now in use by language teachers and students. Though technology, will never replace good teaching, it can provide rich support and resources to teachers and students alike. Teachers must invest time to learn to use technology effectively and to learn how to teach students to do so. Perhaps the most crucially important skill that must be developed is to learn to recognize good technologies and good software and to reject tools that fail to meet your goals and high standards. This skill is acquired from many hours spent with the tools combined with careful, critical evaluation.

Technology resources available for ESOL teachers

Productivity Tools. Productivity tools are the invaluable software (programs) that many have been using on hardware (computers) for years. They include:

See the annotated list of productivity tools suggested for Bilingual/ESOL teachers at SFUSD at: <http://sf.bilingual.net/>

Multimedia

All kinds of software combining video and sound are now available via CD-ROM and the internet. DVD (digital videodisc) Technology will expand the possibilities of multimedia technology.

"Trade" story software such as Monster Goes to School (Meyer) or The Cat in the Hat (Seuss), published by Broderbund, are delightful sources of multimedia literature which are also available in bilingual versions. Scholastic's Wiggle Works program provides hands-on multimedia and multilingual access to content-area content for young learners. Learning/adventure software such as The Magic School Bus series or Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? provide interest and language through content-area learning for upper elementary and middle school students.

Though much of the software now available does not begin to tap teaching and learning potential, current technology can provide the support students need to make text in the new language comprehensible and to enable students to begin to learn to read and write that text. Cummins (1998) proposes a computer-assisted language learning system in which "learners choose and self-regulate the type and degree of support they need." Learners can choose to read extensively, focused on comprehending text and taking advantage of linked glossaries and background information. They can also spend time using linked resources to explore the structure of the target language in general and of the language of text in particular.Through multimedia, the potential exists to create very intelligent software that responds differentially to student errors, adapts readings and exercises to the level of the student, and recognizes student speech. For suggested multimedia software, see Healy (1998).

Electronic mail (E-mail). E-mail is a simple means of transmitting text electronically via computers connected to phone lines. Uses of e-mail for learners of English are rapidly increasing in number, and include: sending and receiving messages with other staff members, communicating to parents, turning in homework, homework helplines, networking the monitoring weather and climate (or bird sightings, etc.) world-wide, or providing feedback on writing. Class-based exchanges are motivating for learners of English, since students are writing for a real audiences from which they receive responses. To make sure that students receive responses to their messages, try having a group correspond with a group, rather than an individual with an individual. E-mail can also be used for real-time discussions in a "chat" format. Teachers and students can participate in on-line "conferences" with experts or celebrities.

Cummins & Sayers (1997) describe a critical literacy project in which a Boston teacher and her students used electronic communications to organize a network of schools across the US to raise funds to build wells in Nicaragua so that villagers there would not have to walk miles to the streams or risk drinking unclean water. Students were thrilled when their work was validated by thank-you e-mail messages from village children,

See suggested sites for using and finding e-pals at: <http://www.ozemail.com.au/~linkidea/resource.html>

The World Wide Web (WWW). Via the WWW, computer users can search for and link to computer websites on every topic under the sun in locations all over the world. Websites are linked electronic "pages" or documents that include text and visuals. Often, authors use hypertext software to highlight terms or pictures and link them to other pages with information on the topic. These links create the world wide "web" or network of information. Since there is so much information, it can be very hard to find what you need. Tools have been developed to help you. These include Web Browsers (such as Netscape and Internet Explorer) which offer access to ready-to-use ESL sites with learning and fun activities and provide "search engines" to help users find hundreds more. Though worlds of information are available on the WWW, it's very easy for student (and teacher!) users to get lost or sidetracked. Students should have very clear guidelines regarding on-line web use and be carefully supervised. To provide students with off-line access to websites you have selected, download (copy to your computer or disk) the websites onto high-capacity disks for students to use off-line. The computer hard drive, zip disks, read-write CD-ROMs or DVDs are available options at this writing. Providing this kind of access to websites off-line may also be convenient in schools, where use of telephone lines for web access is probably limited. An updated list of suggested web links for bilingual/ESOL can be found at: <http://sf.bilingual.net/>  Also check out resources at <http://www.mindspring.com/~mlmcc>

Computer translation. Software exists that will "translate" one language into another. Some of your students may even have hand-held "translators." These translators are not to be trusted for important communications -- their translations are renowned for their unreliability -- but they might be helpful at speeding up a translation process for a letter to parents or helping ESOL students who are literate in their home languages to make English texts more comprehensible.

The following translations demonstrate the use of translation software with a very simple text. The software is currently available for free use at <http://babelfish.altavista.com/cgi-bin/translate?> for only the languages below. Babylon, publisher of the software, also has translators for Dutch, Japanese and Hebrew. Get more information at: <http://www.babylon.com/eng/>.
 

English text: There was an old woman who lived in a shoe. She had so many children, she didn't know what to do.

Technology will only provide effective tools for your teaching and your students' learning if you learn to use it well. Use every opportunity you find to learn all you can to make your use of technology in your classroom effective. If you are a beginner, find a course and a partner or tutor to support you. One of the best ways to prepare yourself to use technology with your students is to begin to use it for your own purposes: to write notes and letters, to write lesson plans and seating charts, to keep your gradebook, to plan the arrangement of furniture in your classroom, to send messages to friends, family, and co-workers, to find information and illustrations for your lesson plans, to do your university coursework... When you're gaining proficiency in using your tools for yourself, you will be ready to begin helping students to become effective users.