Ana Karoline Cardoso da Silva
In the last decades we have
watched a new style of learning and teaching become more prevalent. Instead of
only books and the four walls of a classroom, teachers and students are beginning
to take advantage of what “technology” has to offer us: practicality, velocity,
portability. Who could ever imagine that one day we would talk with a friend on
the other side of the world just using a little device? It is fantastic to
imagine all these possibilities concentrated in the palm of our hands. And why
do not use it to improve foreign language teaching and learning? Authors,
teachers and students are already accomplishing it, which gives us a lot to say
about it.
Marc Prensky is a famous
writer in the area of education. He endorses the idea that education and
technology form an efficient couple that guarantees successful teaching and
learning. In his book “Teaching Digital Natives” (PRENSKY 2010) he tries to
help people understand how this technological world works because he also
believes that in the future the
classroom will be dominated by technology and
teachers should be prepared to handle with a classroom full of students,
not holding their books, but their smart phones.
Some
apps that I constantly use include the dictionary mentioned above. For example,
I am using it right now to help me while writing this essay. I cannot forget to
mention the app named “English Irregular Verbs”, highly helpful to check the
verbs on their past participle form.
However there are other ways
to enjoy the smart phone. I use it to listen to music, pause it when necessary,
and follow the lyrics to train my listening. To practice my speaking, I record
my voice and then I listen. One can also download books and magazines, text
messages to my friends. And everything inside a bus, or while waiting to be
attended in a medical appointment: convenience and portability, all in one.
Despite
all the benefits there is still resistance by the teachers about using
technology inside the educational context; they think, for example, that cell
phones and classroom do not match, since it steals the student’s attention. And
it steals, if the teacher is not prepared to manage his or her class and if she
or he is not prepared to turn this situation in his or her favor. After all, as
Marc Prensky (2012) said, that the teacher is not obligated to know everything,
but he or she can learn with the students as well. As a matter of fact, this
new way of learning and teaching did not come to impose that the old ones are
ineffective, in fact it just wants to show us how dynamic the learning process
can be .In the end, everybody just has to enjoy: motivated teachers, more
autonomous students and the educational process occurring in a curious,
different and efficient way.
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