The IWB: what people say

We have 10 eBeam interactive whiteboards (IWBs) at IH Barcelona. I'm responsible for promoting their use and so far they've been used very little.

Although the samples are small, some of the feedback that we're getting on them is interesting -- and almost universally positive.

A survey of 15 CELTA course trainees (mostly in their mid-20s) the other day revealed that only one of them had used (or seen a teacher use) an IWB either at school or university. Nevertheless, after the IWB had been briefly demonstrated to them, in response to the question "Would you want one in your classroom?" 13 (87%) said "Yes".

In response to the question "Would you want to use one/have your tutor use one on your CELTA course?" 3 (20%) responded "Yes, every day", 10 (67%) "Yes, occasionally".

In a class of 6 Spanish course students (mostly in their early 20s) which had used the IWB to display exercises which they had themselves created, 1 had used the IWB nearly every day at school and/or university, 2 "often", 3 never. Asked whether they thought they learnt more, less or the same, 1 thought "more", 5 thought "the same", but one of the latter added the significant comment "The same but it was much more fun".

At the end of a training workshop we ran for 7 practising teachers, none of whom had ever seen or used an IWB before, we asked how difficult they thought the IWB was to learn and how useful it would be to them. On a scale of 0 (incredibly easy) to 5 (impossibly difficult), they rated the IWB 2.3; on a scale of 0 (worthless) to 5 (incredibly useful), they gave it 3.9.

For further recent and/or ongoing discussions on IWBs, see also:

>> Cardiff Online IATEFL Conference IWB discussion
>> Dogme discussion group

Cool, Web 2.0 tools

One I picked up in my RSS feed from the excellent TeachingEnglish.co.uk site: an amazing collection of Cool, Web 2.0 tools for schools.

From the same source, another interesting link suggesting a Top 10 Web 2.0 Tools for Young Learners.

Great site for kids: National Geographic Kids

National Geographic Kids: goofy but great

This one actually comes from one of my favourite web design sites, A List Apart, which suggested National Geographic Kids as an example of a site that "focuses on clarity (...) even if the site is also goofy" [>> article].

Now it may seem a bit goofy if you're an adult but if you happen to be a kid "goofy" probably isn't your reaction when you read "Ruins, Romans and the world's best pizza". And the videos, games, activities (etc., etc.)... why, they look like fun, which is maybe how learning should look!

Sure, I'm a kid: yeah, maybe I am a bit goofy but I also know what kind of website I like!

If you happen to be teaching kids, or doing CLIL [>> more about CLIL], it's your kids' kind of site...

10 books for teaching young learners

Someone on our post-CELTA support group asked the question the other day... Did anyone have suggestions on how to spend a £500 budget (!) on books for the staffroom for those teaching young learners?

These would be my suggestions, with the cash left over being spent on giving each teacher their own personal copy of the first...

A skill you can teach yourself...
First a supremely useful skill, which will entertain and teach your young learners, and will save you ever again having to waste your life stealing pictures from Google-is-Evil:

• 1000+ Pictures for Teachers to Copy, Andrew Wright (Longman): Unquestionably my first choice, this book gave me the most useful skill I've learnt in nearly 30 years in teaching [Amazon]

A bit of theory...
Then a bit of theory, with plenty of practical ideas in these three books too:

• Teaching Languages to Young Learners, Lynne Cameron (CUP): Essential background reading, you don't want to teach young learners without being familiar with what's in this book [Amazon]
• Teaching Teenagers, Herbert Puchta and Michael Schratz (Longman): Definitely my next choice. In my experience, one of the vital things about teaching kids is your attitude to them: this book changed my attitude to kids, radically so [Amazon]
• How Languages Are Learned, Patsy Lightbown and Nina Spada (OUP): One that all language teachers should read [Amazon]

Books full of practical classroom ideas...
And then five great resource books in the superb Oxford series:

• Drama with Children, Sarah Phillips (OUP), [Amazon]
• Storytelling with Children, Andrew Wright (OUP), [Amazon]
• Art and Crafts with Children, Andrew Wright (OUP) [Amazon]
  
• The Internet and Young Learners, Gordon Lewis (OUP) [Amazon]
• Writing with Children, Jackie Reilly and Vanessa Reily (OUP) [Amazon]

I put drama and storytelling first in my list there deliberately, with arts and crafts next. One of the most frequently asked questions on our support group is "Can anyone suggest games for young learners?".

But, at least in my own experience, I've found that drama and stories and making things are often in the end more engaging, more entertaining and more language-rich than most "games".

Oh, go on then, there's also a Games for Children in the same Oxford series...