I think it is great that there are so many people out there that are willing to help us as new teachers to the subject learn better ways to improve the educational lives of these ESL students. I have always been a fan of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter in order to reconnect with old friends and family and stay in touch with those that are not in my close vicinity. I would have never thought to bring those tools into the classroom and let the students enjoy talking to others in their native language or using them as a source for classroom information in which the students can talk to each other without having the pressure of their peers watching them work on their skills. While I think there are safety issues that would need to be discussed with the students, teachers, administration, and parents, I think it is a great way for the students to interact and learn. In today’s society, so many things are technology based and pretty soon I can see everything relying on technology in order to run and the students love to use technology because it is so involved in everything that they do.
I love working with blogs. I think blogging about your classroom and the information that you are going over in your classroom can be a huge help to your students and their parents. I believe it is a great resource for ESL students because it enables them once again to interact with their teacher and their peers without the face to face interaction and less pressure. It also can help teachers post the material that has been discussed in class and allow the students to look back at the lessons that have been conducted and use it as a resource for extra help.
Blogging can be a great way to review material as well. It can be used as a comment area where students can discuss and comment on a book that may have been read in class or a debate that is conducted both in class and on the blog. Every day that I have been in this course has been a stepping stone and a building block in my educational growth as a student and as a teacher because it has taught me so many ticks of this new adventure that I am stepping into. Blogging has been a great way for me to help inform the rest of my colleagues on information about teaching ESL students. So many of the teachers at my school have wanted to know more information and tools on how to work with these students in the classroom and now I have the ability to share that information with them in my blog.
Another aspect of blogging that is great for ELL students is the ability to create podcasts that can be added to their blog in which they can work on their speech and talk to others. I think that this tool can really help those students who are embarrassed to talk in front of the class because they can talk into a microphone and not have the class looking at them while they are trying to get their point across therefore relaxing them and giving them more confidence to use their speech. YouTube videos are another piece of the blogging world that can be helpful inside and outside the classroom. These videos can be used by themselves or in a blog, but having them can be a wonderful resource. Creating these videos on YouTube gives students the ability to express their thoughts on camera and share them with people around the world. They can be informational for class or as way to keep in touch with others from their native country that they may not be able to communicate with on a regular basis.
