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I gave a keynote last Friday at the NECTFL (Notheast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) conference in New York City. As I am both a former French teacher and a native New Yorker, this was like a homecoming for me.
Many in the audinece called the talk "wonderful" (in person and by e-mail) and even the trechnician called the audience "mesmerized." I say this not to blow my own horn (other than to let people know I'm back in form) but rather to illustrate the power of new ideas, whan presented in a context that teachers can understand and appreciate.
In this case I was talking about language learning, and as always, I looked at it from the kids' point of view. My message was that today's kids learning languages already have experience communicating with the world, and if they are not doing that in the language they are learning -- as an integral part of their classwork -- there is no point for them. Technology is incredibly important in language learning becuase it allows this worldwide communication to happen. The students in the student panel that accompanied the talk backed this up -- they want to use the language they are learning to communicate with their peers arund the world who speak that language.
It is, of course, up to each teacher, worrking in conjunction with his or her students, to actually set this up. and use it. But an important point is that the teachers don't need to know how to actually use the technology, unless, of course, they want to. This is because, in almost all cases, we can turn over the actual setup and use of the technology to the kids, while the teacher fills the role he or she does best: assuring context and quality, filling in the blanks, and correcting mistakes. Knowing often helps teachers calm their fears about using technology they don't totally understand. In a workshop, several teachers confirmed that they are extensive users of teachnology, but turn over all the technical details to their students.
Another key point I made was that, as teachers, we have to do a better job of sharing with each other what we do successfully. It is disappointing to me when a teacher has figured out something realy great, but other teachers, whether in the same shcool or around the world, can't easily learn about it and use it, if appropriate. My strong recommendation to teachers is that whenever they come up with somehing that works successfully, they make and post (with the help of their students if need be) a 2 minute You Tube video describing it. Some of these already exist on You Tube (I showed a couple in the presentation) but not nearly enough - there should be thousands, even millions. So if a teacher were to type "teaching Spanish ser estar" into the You Tube search box, they would find a dozen innovative ways to teach it, described by the teachers who invented them.
Best,
Marc.
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