The 21st Century Shift

When was the last time you got up to change the channel on your TV, used a payphone, or turned on a VCR? The advancement of technology has impacted our daily lives and has shifted the course of public education. The video 21st Century Education in New Brunswick, Canada highlights how vital it is as educators to keep up with the pace of technology in order to better serve our students. The fact that the top ten jobs today didn’t exist in 2004 is quite phenomenal. Our instruction should be geared to creating a generation of learners prepared for their future in a technologically accelerated world. Student-centered and personalized learning is how our students learn best and this is the model and method that is becoming the trend in education today. Furthermore what students learn, regardless of the subject matter – whether it is ESL or biology— should be made relevant and applicable to the real world or else what they acquire will not be meaningful, thus not fully preparing them for their careers in our global economy. I love the idea of videoconferencing with other classes internationally to work on a collaborative projects using online platforms. I believe this would give students exposure to new cultures, tools, and experiences that will impact their attitudes and motivations of learning. 

“We don’t have a choice on whether we DO social media, the question is how well we DO it.” This is a profound quote by author Erik Qualman cited in the video Social Media Revolution 2011. I remember when there was a time when friends would spend hours on the phone with one another, when family members who were oceans apart rarely had contact, or when relationships began in person with the first “Hi.” Today however, the shift of technology and more specifically, the increased use of social media has changed the lifestyle of our global population. Facebook is one of the leading social media websites, connecting friends, family and creating new (and also breaking) relationships.

This “social media revolution” has also greatly affected education and how students learn. Kindergarteners are now using iPads in the classroom and there is now a shift in individuals using eReaders instead of physical books. Simple paper and pencil and writing on the chalkboard has become somewhat obsolete; instead creating a lively and technologically-integrated classroom for our learners is the new norm. From my experience, students today need to be stimulated during lessons in order to maintain their focus, especially for young learners. We can’t ignore this shift. We can’t ignore social media. Instead, let us see how we can use it to our advantage to effectively teach our learners.

Blogging with ESL Learners

Blogging with ESL Learners

            As technology in education becomes a key tool in enhancing the learning process in the 21^st century, creating blogs is one example of such an effective one. Blogging with second language learners is an efficient way to create collaborative and authentic communicative experiences online and link them to the classroom. The article Blogging in Language Learning by Rita Zeinsteger contains a variety of ways English language teachers can utilize weblogs with ESL and EFL learners.

Writing Portfolios

            In my current professional setting, I am teaching EFL (English as a foreign language) to pre-medical and health science students in a university setting. One way in which I could incorporate blogging with my learners is by creating a digital space for their writing portfolios for their Semester 1 Writing course. My EFL students are given writing assignments weekly, which I must provide feedback to. Instructing students to publish their writing pieces via a class blog would allow for them to self-reflect and see the progress of their work online over the course of the semester. Additionally, as I assign students to peer review each other’s work, it will allow them to collaborate with one another and reflect on each other’s compositions by commenting on their blog writing assignments. The idea of making one’s writing “public” also adds a level of accountability, which I believe would be a great motivation for my learners.

Photo of the Day

The use of visuals is a great way to open a lesson or elicit thoughts and ideas from our English language students. ESL and EFL teachers can get their students to write or verbally comment on a thought-provoking photo blog post daily (or weekly). With images, the sky’s the limit and there is so much room for creativity. Of course, particularly for EFL teachers, it is essential that the images are relevant and culturally appropriate for your learners in the places you are teaching. Students can create a short story based on the image posted, or write what they believe to be the theme or significance of the pictures and comment to each other’s thoughts. This forum can also be continued in the classroom as an extension to the blog assignment.

Learning Standards

The “Writing Portfolios” and “Photo of the Day” blog ideas correlate to the following standards:

Performance Indicator – ESL.C.9-12.3.1.4: Students evaluate their own and other’s work, individually and collaboratively, on the basis of a variety of criteria, and recognize how chosen criteria affect evaluation.

Performance Indicator – ESL.C.9-12.4.1.1: Students use a variety of oral, print, and electronic forms for social communication and for writing to or for self, applying the conventions of social writing.