ICT- Do we always keep the right side of the law?

Internet has always been of great help for students at school when it comes to searching for information; however, we cannot deny this current “cut and paste culture” has become part of every student’s life and is having a detrimental impact on their education. I was reading an article on plagiarism at schools in “The Guardian” newspaper and I asked to myself, "why is it that this has become common practice in every classroom?" So I decided to explore a bit more on the issue.

On the one hand, it might be possible that students lack citation resources management and so they resort to plagiarism. Most learners are not given appropriate instruction on the mechanics of appropriate citation and I firmly believe schools are largely responsible for this. Why not devoting some time to the teaching of citation and referencing techniques regularly at school? And why not testing our students on this? Besides, I think schools hardly ever pay attention to teaching good netiquette. However, if we are to educate this new “net-generation”, this should be a must for every institution, don't you think?

But this doesn’t seem to be the only reason behind this students’ new trends: many times we are forcing the students to “cut and paste” by placing too much emphasis on their marks. By rewarding students only for the results they get in their final written production instead of prizing them for their improvements during the process of writing, most students get obsessed with getting high marks no matter how they do so. So “the end justifies the means.” And there it is: already prepared material on whatever topic it can be imagined, in whatever format it might be required and written by leading experienced specialists on the field, ready to compensate students' lack of preparation, improve their work, and give them hopes for good grades.

So are we really preparing our students to make appropriate use of electronic sources of information? I believe it is our responsibility as teachers to help our students critically evaluate the information they find on the net and be aware of the importance of the use of different sources of information to back up their opinions, but also to teach them that words, images and ideas on the web are all someone’s intellectual property, and not theirs. Learners need to learn to always acknowledge their sources and form their own original piece of work. Or they will be running the risk of being accused of plagiarism.

Why Let Our Students Blog?

This is my first time posting on "Learning ICT" (information and communication technology) and I was wondering about what to share with you related to the topic. So I found this video on "blogging to learn," and I thought it would be a good idea to start thinking of ICT applied to our future, if not current, teaching careers and digital world.
I found it both inspiring and concise, and even though ideas are not fully developed, I believe images can tell more than words in this video.
Definitely, I'll need to get acquainted not only with blogs, but also with all these technological devices oround us! I'm almost sure they can work efficiently and be a great source of motivation for learners. What else can we ask for but motivated and eager to learn students?
So, If you have the time to do so, turn the volume up and have a look at it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whm3pxqkvB8&feature=related
Hope you find it inspiring, too!

Teaching ONLY English?

Today I went to Normal I school, to the same classroom I've been going to for the last month, since I started my teaching practices there. When the bell rang, the kids entered their classroom, sat at their seats and stared at me waiting for instructions, as they usually do. Great group, by the way! After that, I gave my lesson and fortunately, everything went as planned. However, one student in particular caught my attention: he couldn't copy words from the blackboard correctly, he couldn't recognize any of the linguistic items they'd been working with for a month, and he couldn't understand any of the things I was saying in English. It was like Chinese for him. So I talked to his teacher and I learnt this kid is "particularly slow", and I hadn't realized that before. This kept me thinking. What can we do to help this kind of children learn?

There are quick brilliant learners in every classroom, but schools are full of those really "slow" and "not precisely bright" students, too. Let me tell you I really believe THESE are the ones in greater need of help. So what are we doing to help these little "creatures" learn? It might be possible that particularly weak students do not feel confident enough to participate in their English lessons, having fewer opportunities to use the language and to correct their mistakes, and having fewer opportinities to feel proud of their achievements in communicating their ideas in a foreign language. It seems they generally feel they are not capable of carrying out any task, and therefore, they don't do it. But we don't realize this can be working this way. So we just prefer reaching the conclusion that they are not good for English at all and that there is not room for improvement. And that's all.

But is their facility for the language or their level of English the heart of the problem? I firmly believe they are not. Maybe we should start thinking about how to work on their self-confidence first, rather than on their language, help them develop their self-esteem, make them feel secure enough to take risks, and make mistakes, and learn from them, give these students responsibilities in every lesson, make them feel important and useful in class. And stop pointing out their error all the time. Can they really improve if they are just penalized for every mistake they make? Probably they will just end up shutting their mouths and being afraid of opening them again.

Sometimes, I believe, our lesson plans are great, our lesson, perfectly organized and loaded with entertaining and meaningful activities which, we are almost convinced, will inevitably lead to acquisition. But we need to remember, from time to time, that acquisition is not the same in every individual. Different children, different levels of English, different capacities, different abilities, different interests and different needs coexist in our classrooms. Even our best lessons might not be enough for our so-called slow students.

So, I wonder whether teaching English aims only at having proficient English speakers by the end of the year. I believe there should be many other aims in teaching. What about first encouraging them to be proud of their achievements? What about first helping our learners feel they are capable of learning? Maybe, only then, if everything goes right, might these so-called "slow" students be able to try learning English. Or not. But at least they'll know you've made an effort to help them be better learners FOR LIFE.

Learning ICT