Blog task 1: Why use new media in foreign language education?
A course at my university titled “New media in foreign language education” treats different aspects of how to introduce new media, especially based on computers as a medium of teaching, into the curriculum of school lessons. The members of this course, including me, are studying with the aim of becoming teachers for “Gymnasien” why we seriously have to deal with this topic as new media is part of our daily life.
I guess there are always two sides which need to be regarded. There is teacher’s side which means that he/she has the possibility to use new media to present contents in class. In this case I talk about a PC, including internet connection and, let’s say, a projector in class, which arouses the possibility to show a big diversity of material, such as audio- and video files. In my opinion it is a very useful tool to teach a foreign language, which I will discuss later on. But a teacher should be aware of how to use these technical devices. Just to name one example, a course at university, titled “Beobachten im Unterricht” is based on watching video sequences of different teaching lessons(1st two sessions) – the class then has to discuss about what they have observed, consequently, the whole unit would be lost if there has no video been shown. Well, of course the preceding occured. The teacher did not know how to handle her PC, how the volume would appear in class, the different formats, … the session was lost indeed.
Cases like this confirm what I tried to mention before, first of all the skills on the teacher’s side have to be strengthened; he/she learn how to handle these devices in order to ensure that pupils can benefit from their use.
The well-planned application in class – whereby we switch to the pupil’s side - especially in foreign language education, offers the learner a way to simplify his/her process of learning. By having the opportunity to watch and listen to tasks or movies, native speakers, … new media approaches more learner-channels (auditory, visual) than just studying from a book. And because of its broadness there are many topics to choose from which catches the inerest of the leaner more easily than a rather boring exercise book with its old stories about the Pearsons and the Bennetts (Green Line, Klett Verlag), hence, more motivation for learning a foreign language may appear.
Besides vocabulary training software and other exercices which can be done in virtual sessions at the learner’s desk at home, there is the internet withs its rapidness of communaction to shorten the distance between the learner and the origin of the taught language. Uncountable pieces of information about e.g. English-speaking countries can be found; you could also even check on Google Maps where the Bennetts and the Pearsons live. Via email contact or the vast existence of web 2.0-formats it is easy to communicate with exchange students or other friends from abroad. E.g., pupils could see each other on a webcam and practice their language by talking, chatting, mailing and exchanging files.
I am, for my part, very excited what kind of possibilities there are and how to apply new media in class wisely and how to guide learners in a certain direction, a profitable direction for the process of aquiring a new language.
