Final reflection. That's all folks!
In the current times, education is thought to be a considerably renewed aspect of life so that children can be moulded and learn each and every academic content through very different perspectives. Personally, I strongly believe that, nowadays, technology is the key aspect present at schools and that is why, we, as future teachers, should be aware as much as possible of the online tools that allow both, teachers and students, to develop the teaching-learning process in the best and more effective possible way.
There are hundreds and hundreds of online resources which make our students learn, revise, apply, listen, write, interact, read, perform and, obviously, enjoy when they are in any subject. As a matter of fact, during our lessons at the university, we put the focus in the alternative tools for teaching the English language and, here, ICT plays a fundamental role.
I consider myself a very resourceful person talking about computers and ICT, that is why, after this subject, I believe that I will be able to manage all the curricular content with online alternatives in the best possible way.
In the English subject, there is a huge range of web pages and online programmes that might help children to acquire any type of English knowledge. During our subject we were dedicated in-depth to Symbaloo, Powtoon, Storyjumper, Educaplay, Quizlet and Excel. These are six alternatives which may be very representative because they cover, broadly speaking, all of the English learning process.
First Symbaloo allows building a personal home page where you (or your students) are able to select and classify the most important or useful webpages for the teaching-learning process and then embed it as your usual browser. To continue, Powtoon is a great presentation tool in which you can work the listening and speaking interaction among your class. Then, the reading skill might be treated with Storyjumper, in which you can read a big variety of invented narrations and, moreover, create your own stories. In that way, imagination and creativity are also promoted.
Educaplay and Quizlet are supposed to be perfect alternatives to review and practise the theoretical and practical content of the English subject. With them, your kids can have a lot of fun while playing educational games and flashcards of the curricular content. And the last (but not least) ICT tool is Excel. It may be familiar to many people as one of the most popular note-taking methods. The truth is that it is a very useful tool to carry out the evaluation of a subject as extensive as the English language.
As I said before, these tools are only a brief representation because there are many more ICT resources that can be used for educational purposes.
Personally, I really like the way the subject has been approached. We have been presented with alternatives to all the skills and sub-skills that children should develop in the classroom. In my case, I already knew Powtoon and Excel, so it was easier for me to understand. However, the others were totally new and interesting tools to consider as teachers. In particular, I was very enthusiastic about Quizlet and Educaplay. On the contrary, the least useful tool from the learners' point of view may be Symbaloo, as they are not practising any skills with it.
In my opinion, teachers should have minimum ICT skills as it would be a great opportunity for their pupils. If they would promote online tools more, it would probably awaken the motivation, interest and desire to learn English among students.
To put all this in a nutshell, I would like to highlight the idea of forgetting the traditional way of teaching and try to innovate our teaching methods by implementing the technological resources which are thought to be very effective among the students. They wake up the interests, motivation and emotions of our pupils. We need to leave the textbook behind, and start bringing Chromebooks into the classroom. That will be the only path to progress and a bright future for children.
I hope you like it.
That's all folks!
Alba Galán.