Стаття англійською мовою з курсу "Методика викладання іноземних мов" на тему: "BENEFITS OF USING NEW TECHNOLOGIES"

BENEFITS OF USING NEW TECHNOLOGIES

Modern teaching requires the use of new technologies and different media. Media education is one of the fastest developing trends in the field of education around the world. Media education is very important in teaching English as a foreign language. Communicative approach as the main one in teaching foreign languages cannot be successfully realized without media. We teach grammar as any other aspect of the language so that our students can communicate in English successfully, understand oral and written speech, speak and write. We motivate our students, enhance our lessons, develop students’ critical thinking, encourage them to become active viewers, listeners and producers of their own messages.

Teachers do their best to achieve positive results in the process of teaching a foreign language. A series of workshops has been done by the teachers and a number of demonstration lessons have been designed on different topics and different levels.

What are the main sources of the English language for our students? What can we do to change the textbook contents into a “real world” contents? We can bring part of the English language world into our classroom.

Where do we obtain knowledge about foreign countries and different cultures? Besides our personal experiences we gain it from the media – television, radio, newspapers, feature films, the Internet etc. The media have become an indispensable part of our lives; children spend more time watching TV than doing their homework; the media are sometimes called “a parallel school”! Direct or indirect influence of the media on our lives is growing constantly, and traditional literacy skills – the ability to read and write print texts – must be supplemented with media literacy skills – the ability to “read” and “write” audiovisual materials along with print media texts (television programmes, films, websites, advertisements etc.). There are many techniques of how to work with different media. I would like to share some models of activities using different media with you. 

PICTURES AND PHOTOS

Technology and materials: photo cameras, photographs.

Unit objectives:

students will: 1) describe a photo in English; 2) identify and describe the basic composition terms (framing, arrangement, placement, lighting, colour); 3) discuss photo images; 4) take photos, display them for the class and explain their intentions as photographers.

Activity 1. Family Album

Media concepts: representation.

Language skills: speaking, listening.

For this activity ask your students to bring their baby pictures to class. First, have them put all the pictures on one table, shuffle them and then ask students to choose one picture (but not their own one). Each student is to describe the child in the picture and, together with the class guess who is depicted in the picture. Talk to the students about photography in their lives.

For example, family albums are, in a way, a family’s history, written not in words, but in images. Usually these are the images of happy moments in life, like a birthday celebration, vacation, friends’ party, a new baby in the family etc. Even after many years, photographs have power to trigger emotions and memories connected to the moment when they were taken. What are characteristics of family pictures? How many of you have ever taken pictures of your family and friends? What are some other objects that you photographed (pets, landscapes, historical sights etc.)?

Activity 2. Who Am I?

Media concepts: representation, language, audience.

Language skills: speaking, listening.

In case digital cameras are available, for the home assignment, ask your students to form teams of 3-4 people and take picture of someone they know well. Photographs should show the personality of a person in the picture (using props, body language, gestures, facial expression, background). In the next lesson, the students exchange photos with another group. After each group presents their findings to the class, the authors of the photographs share their version. This is a good exercise for realizing how different people looking at the same photo see different things.

Activity 3. Story Time

Media concepts: representation, audience.

Language skills: writing, speaking.

For this activity you can use original photos or make photocopies of pictures from different sources or, if the computer lab is available, you can use PowerPoint. Split the class into groups of 4-5. Give each group a set of the same photographs (5-7). Each group should then put the photos in the order that, in their opinion, could tell a story. Students in groups develop the story and present it to their classmates.

 

FILM

Technology and materials: a TV set, VCR, a movie poster.

Unit objectives:

students will: 1) discuss their film preferences; 2) identify and describe general cinema terms and professions in media industry; 3) analyse the structure of a film poster; 4) create a movie poster; 5) explore the relationship between sound and image, the effects of basic camera shots.

Activity 1. Analysis of a Film Poster

Media concepts: category, technology, representation.

Language skills: speaking.

Bring in the poster of a movie that students are likely not to have seen. If the actual poster is not available, make a photocopy (preferably, coloured and enlarged) of a poster. Initiate a whole-class discussion.

● What do you see in the poster? (Have the students name all the objects, beginning from the most dominant image to the less vivid).

● Is there the print text besides the images?

● Describe the colours and lighting. What image is in the spot light? Are the rest of the images in diffused or normal lighting? What colours are dominant in the poster?

● What is the genre of the movie?

● What is the film about?

● What is the relationship between the characters shown in the poster?

● Does this poster make you want to see the movie?

After the analysis, ask the students to form groups of 2-3 and design an original movie poster for the film they know, and present it to the class, explaining their choice.

Activity 2. Analysis of the Film Opening or Clips

Media concepts: language, category.

Language skills: listening, speaking.

Choose and prepare a videotape of a movie that is available in English in your school/college. Examine the videotape before using in the classroom for the appropriateness for this activity. (I prefer using the opening sequences with music only, no dialogue). In the classroom, cover the television screen with a sheet of paper or piece of fabric. Play the opening sequence (3-5 minutes), students listen to the music without seeing the images. Ask them to guess what this movie might be about, what genre it is. Then, turn off the sound on your TV set and let the students watch the same sequence but without sound. This time, ask them what exactly they saw, who the main characters might be, what might happen next. Finally, play the opening sequence again, both image and sound. Draw the students’ attention to the relationship between the sound and image in an audiovisual medium like film.

Activity 3. Storyboard

Media concepts: language, technology.

Language skills: writing, speaking.

Analysis is only one part of media education, while production is equally important in the exploration of media texts. A storyboard of the most widely used production activities in media education. Film makers produce a series of simple drawings before they actually shoot an episode. These drawings show the schematic frame: the objects or actors, camera shot types and angles. It is important to ask the students to write a description of each shot, explaining the visual images. You can start by suggesting simple situations to develop on a storyboard, like:

- a woman is shopping and buying something;

- children are playing football;

- a couple is eating in a restaurant etc.

Activity 4. Producers

Media concepts: agency, audience.

Language skills: speaking.

Read a short story or play with your students. Then ask them to imagine that they are producers of a movie based on that story. They must choose the director, actors and locations for shooting the film. Let the students work in small groups and present their ideas both visually (by using magazine cutouts, booklets, postcards etc.) and orally (explaining why they chose this or that director/actor, location etc.).

 

TELEVISION

Technology and materials: a TV set, VCR, a videotape.

Unit objectives:

students will: 1) identify and discuss different types of television programmes; 2) compare and contrast different television genres; 3) analyse representations of different groups of people on television; 4) identify/recognize stereotypes on television; 5) summarise plots, predict future events; 6) write script proposals.

Activity 1. What’s Your Favourite?

Media concepts: category.

Language skills: speaking.

Ask the students to form groups of 5 and discuss within the groups (in English!) their favourite television programmes. Each group then comes up with 1-3 most popular programmes and lists them on the blackboard. Then ask the students why they like these programmes, and what they do not like about them. In order to get a more detailed response than “I like it because it is interesting”, encourage students to think in terms of time of the broadcast (convenient, inconvenient etc.); characters (realistic/unrealistic, funny etc.); situations; action (fights, chases etc.); special effects etc. Students return to their groups and arrive at the reasons for liking this or that programme, then share their views with the other groups.

Activity 2. Dubbing

Media concepts: audience.

Language skills: speaking.

This is a good activity for practicing communication skills in English, specifically speaking. On the other hand, it requires decision making, bearing in mind the genre codes and conventions. One of the popular sitcoms like Friends or Everybody Loves Raymond can be used for this purpose. Tape an episode of a sitcom and bring it to class. Show the 3-5 minute sequence with the sound turned off. Then have the class divide into groups (the number of students in each group must correspond to the number of characters in the sequence) and ask the students to write the lines for each character, assign a part for every member of their group and then, with the sequence playing again, the students say their characters’ lines and role-play the scene.

Activity 3. One World, One TV?

Media concepts: agency, audience, category.

Language skills: reading, listening.

In the last few years national television has opened its boundaries for international TV shows and foreign TV series. Reality and game shows are growing in popularity. Record short clips from such programmes and show them in class. Are they popular with your students? Reality shows are a recent phenomenon on television that is successful in many countries of the world. Ask your students what reality shows they have seen. What is their favourite one? What is the one they didn’t like? Ask them to explain the reasons for their interest in these programmes. Did they find a character with whom they could identify? Encourage them to do the Internet research on the corresponding shows in English-speaking countries, and compare the Russian and English/American variants, like Survivor – Останній герой, or American Idol – Народний артист etc.

Activity 4. Co-writers

Media concepts: category, audience, agency.

Language skills: writing.

Divide the class into teams of 2. Tell them to imagine themselves as script writers that write a proposal for a new TV series (they can choose the genre, e.g. drama, sitcom, reality show, game show, documentary or soap opera). They should create the title, main characters, time, setting, time and channel where this show can be aired, possible audience, and the content of the first episode. After they develop their ideas and write them down, each team reads their proposals to the class and role-plays the episode.

 

 

 

THE INTERNET

“The real revolution now taking place is not the hardware of technology, but the intellectual technology of information, communication, and the augmentation of human intelligence. All too often, discussions about web-based learning tend to fall back on a simplistic faith in the power of technology. Of course, interactivity is a powerful draw for teachers and students alike. But dazzling technology has no meaning unless it supports content that meets the needs of learners”.

                                              From the report of the Web-based Education Commission

                                                                         of the USA, www.hpcnet.org/wbec/about.

Activity 1. Introduction

Media concepts: category, technology, agency.

Language skills: speaking, reading, writing.

As an introduction, ask the students about their experience with computers and the Internet.

● Have you ever used the Internet?

● How often do you usually access it?

● Where? Do you have a computer at home?

● What do you use the Internet for?

● What do you know about the Internet? Give examples of what you can find on the Internet.

● What are some advantages of the Internet over such resources as books and magazines?

● What are its disadvantages? (Anyone with a computer and Internet access can publish their ideas on the Internet, and sometimes it is hard to determine whether the information is trustworthy and accurate or completely false being just someone’s opinion).

Write the addresses of several webpages on the board and explain that the suffix of a web address has a specific meaning – it tells about the origin of the information on the site, e.g.:

.ru stands for Russia;

.uk stands for Great Britain;

.ca stands for Canada etc.

 

Some American sites have suffixes that tell about the type of organization that sponsors the site, e.g.:

.edu means it’s an educational organization;

.com means it’s a commercial webpage;

.org stands for a non-commercial organization;

.gov means it belongs to the government;

.net means it is a network.

 

However, as “you can’t judge the book by its cover”, you cannot judge a website by its address either. The content of the sites within one code may vary greatly.

Ask students what search engines they usually use for finding the information; introduce the high-rated English-language search engines, like www.google.com, www.altavista.com or www.yahoo.com.

Choose a topic and preview the sites on this topic, choose 3 different sites and ask the students to evaluate these sites on the same topic.

Activity 2. Celebrity Party

Media concepts: representation.

Language skills: reading, writing.

Prepare the following cards: “a scientist”, “a sportsman/woman”, “a TV anchor”, “a writer”, “an actor/actress”, “a politician”, “a musician”. Divide the class into groups of 2-3. Give a card to each group without showing it to the rest of the class. Ask the students to think of someone famous from the category they have (you can limit their choice to particular time (the 20^th century only), or a particular country (Americans/Englishmen only) and do an Internet search about this person.

Activity 3. E-cards

Media concepts: category, technology.

Language skills: reading, writing.

Connect this activity with a coming holiday, e.g. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, St. Valentine’s Day etc. As a pre-task, give students a home assignment to do an Internet search and learn about the origin of the holiday, the customs of its celebration. In the classroom, ask the students about their findings, record the main points on the board. Ask the students if they celebrate this holiday. Then ask them to go to the website that provides free electronic greeting cards, such as www.yahoo.com, www.hallmark.com, www.bluemountain.com etc., look at several cards in this category, write out the greeting expression in their notebook. Next, the students are to choose one card, write their own greeting and e-mail accounts, you can help them open one with www.yahoo.com or another free website.

Activity 4. Travel Agents

Media concepts: category, agency, representation.

Language skills: reading, writing, speaking.

Ask students to make teams of 3. Assign one city for every team, e.g. team 1 – London, team 2 – New York, team 3 – Washington, team 4 – Toronto. Each team will represent a travel agency that develops a new itinerary for their clients. The task (for each team) is to do an Internet search on their city, find the information about the location, main sights, attractions etc. and develop the itinerary for the 3-day tour to that city. The itinerary should include daily sightseeing, evening entertainment, hotel description, suggestions about places to eat, cost of the 3-day tour including the hotel. Of course, the idea is to “sell” the tour for the travel agency’s clients – choose the most interesting and attractive sights for the pictures, find the cheaper prices for plane tickets and hotels. Students present their projects to their classmates by creating a travel brochure or a poster and giving an oral presentation.