Pre-Service Teachers/MA Students at University of Gdańsk, Poland, Review Books on Using ICT in Language Teaching (3)
collected by Hanna Kryszewska, Poland
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“Innovations in learning technologies for English language teaching”ed. Gary Motteram, British Council
“Teaching Online. Tools and techniques, options and opportunities.” by Nicky Hockly with Lindsay Clandfield.
“400 Ideas for Interactive Whiteboards. Instant Activities Using Technology“ by Pete Sharma, Barney Barrett and Francis Jones, Macmillan Books for Teachers
“Mind the App” by Thomas Strasser
“From Whiteboards to Web 2.0: Activating lanugage skills with new technologies” by Daniel Martin
Innovations in learning technologies for English language teaching is a book published by British Council as a part of Innovation Series. Is is a small, but extremely useful compendium of knowledge on using technologies in language teaching edited by Gary Motteram. The selection of authors and issues allows the reader to explore different perspectives and a variety of technological tools. The knowledge which authors strive to bequeath in this anthology is presented in a comprehensible and organized way with a clear division of topics, e.g. Technology and adult language teaching or English for academic purposes. Additionally, the book is visually attractive for the readers as it possesses graphs and tables thanks to which one does not become easily overwhelmed. The data is presented in short sections and that makes this position really approachable as the reader sees that he or she will not get bored by too complicated explanations and the multitude of examples. At the end of the book, there is also a useful list of acronyms, which can be exploited not only while reading this position, but as a part of everyday teaching, too. I strongly recommend it to all teachers who are still concerned with their skills in a field of learning technologies.
Paulina Szugalska and Monika Rudaś
“Teaching Online. Tools and techniques, options and opportunities.” by Nicky Hockly with Lindsay Clandfield. Divided into three parts, the book can be a good basis for the teachers and people passionate with English starting their experience with teaching using new technology. Part A focuses on ideas and tools created with the use of modern IT. Part B provides the readers with practical ideas for each component language skill. In part C, the authors express their belief in the technological influence, breaking the barriers of distance and other vaid oportunities that come with it. The book is deffinetely an useful tool in discovering the benefits of technology in education. From the clear division of the book, the readers may in an accessible way improve their teaching methods. What is more, the universality of the topics can be adjusted to learners of any level of language acquisition. This said, it is not solely addressed to the teachers of English – any language teacher may find the proposed activities applicable to their aubject.
Helena Szada-Borzyszkowska
The information presented in the book gives hints how to perform online teaching properly. Furthermore, it illustrates all the possibilites that both, the teacher and his students have while using these materials. The internet is full of various resources that teachers may not be even aware of.
The content of the book is clearly divided into paragraphs and points. What is more, each page is well- organised. There are no colourful pictures or texts, so nothing distracts the techer's attention from the content.
The information involved in the book gives advice what sort of materials can be found and how they can be used in the classroom environment.
Another part of the book describes how teachers should lead their lessons to make them beneficial and effective for students. The content delivers some rules and general points which should be taken under consideration as well as obeyed while creating a particular lesson plan.
The largest part of the book is devoted to the schemes of lesson plans which are divided according to the topic. Each subject of the lesson plan is shortly described and involves some hints for the teacher. Techers are advised what kind of tools and techniques should be used to make the lesson interesting for students. Then, some notes and comments to the whole plan are presented, with a suggestion of a follow up exercise.
In our opinion the book is very helpful to get thorogh the whole process of creating and finally presenting the lesson to students. It makes it easier for teachers to deal with it step by step,and not to get lost while producing the materials. Techers who are beginners in the area of online teaching may find this book highly advantageous.
Paulina Ozga and Marek Bernasiński
As the title suggests, the book may serve as a source of inspiration for teachers who want to use interactive whiteboards in their classrooms. The book is divided into four chapters and provides the teachers with the variety of exercises, which are divided into sections according to the skill they practice. Apart from this, activities from each category are ordered from the beginner level to the advanced one.
In our opinion, this division makes it easier to find the materials that teachers want to use with particular group of learners. We also really aprreciate the fact the authors encourage teachers to create their own materials and prove that they can be used by means of technology. Nevertheless, those teachers who are not familiar with the way interactive whiteboard works, may have difficulties in putting the theory into practice. Although the book provides its readers with a short introduction of interactive whiteboard's features, it is not enough for inexperienced lecturers.
Monika Saramak and Ewelina Pawłowska
400 Ideas for Interactive Whiteboards serves a great help for contemporary, who want to integrate interactive whiteboard into their classrooms. It is full of inspiring ideas and instructions on how to use regular programs and software. It also offers suggestions for project work, 'learning to learn' activities and 'the connected classroom'. The material also offers suggestions on how to create specifically-tailored resources. The book is designed for teachers who are already using interactive whiteboards and those, who want to discover new and innovative teaching methods. The first chapter Using regular programs is an introduction for those, who are new in the IT field explaining step by step how the board works. The second chapter Using the whiteboard software explores the board's inbuilt software presenting its capabilities. The third chapter Using published materials exploits the Interactive Whiteboard functionality and practical application. Finally, the fourth chapter Creating and adapting your own materials instructs the reader how to create and enhance self-designed materials in the classroom. The authors of the handbook suggest that nowadays the Interactive Whiteboard has the potential to change English Language Teaching classrooms all over the world.
Żaneta Sieja-Rzezińska
The book we decided to review is entitled “MIND THE APP - Inspiring internet tools and activities to engage your students” written by Thomas Strasser. This book is divided into 5 chapters, that is Teacher Tools, Visualisation, Collaboration, Audio and Writing. The main concept of this book is to provide interactive, meaningful and higly motivational EFL activities in the context of Web 2.0 and the new learning technologies.
What we like about this book is that it does not require an advanced level of technical competency, both novice and advanced users can make use of it. What is more, we also appreciate the fact that the activities presented in this book cover a range of lanugage levels (from beginner to advanced). Thus one is able to choose activities with reference to students' level of language competency. Last but not least, the book is filled with clear illustrations which we find helpful and user-friendly. We would recommend this book to teachers who want to make their lessons more attractive.
Jędrzej Pawłowski, Wojciech Kądziela
Mind the app! Inspiring internet tools and activities to engage your students by Thomas Strasser. The book by Thomas Strasser provides a scrutinizing survey of applications that might prove to be useful in ELT classrom. The applications are divided into five helpful sections and contain apps as popular as YouTube and Twitter and those less encountered as Toondoo or Little Bird Tales. The author not only presents a wide variety of tools to be used by the teachers but also gives practical advice about the possible incorporation of these apps in the language classroom environment. The suggested lesson plans include such information as the level and age of the learners as well as the predicted time of the activities. Moreover, the skills that can be checked with the suggested application are also mentioned as well as the necessary equipment. In our personal opinion the resources that Mind the app! provides would be extremely useful when working with the more technology¬oriented learners, providing that the equipment is easily accessible. The lessons based on the activities from the book would be an interesting change in the usual ELT process routine.
Julia Ingilewicz and Emilia Lejmel
The book by Daniel Martin belongs to the same series as the previously reviewed book. The author differentiates between various types of White Boards and explains the term Web 2.0. Similarly to Mind the app! the book is divided into chapters and there are three sections mostly devoted to particular activities based on three different premises: sound, text and image. There are a lot of examples included in each section and the activites are described in detail, together with the level, time and skills required to complete the task. The author offers the opportunity to customize the activities accordingly to your class’s capabilities by providing a set of possible variations. The book also includes screenshots of recommended websites, blogs and apps for a better idea what to expect and how to navigate them. Overall, we believe the activities included in the book can enhance students’ quality of learning experience and reignite their interest in the language, as they can use the tools they are familiar and comfortable with
Julia Ingilewicz and Emilia Lejmel
Please check the Practical Uses of Technology in the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.
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