Category Archives: Technology

Join the conversation November 6th on #CdnELTchat


Written by - teslontario
image source: #CdnELTchatt

If you’re a Twitter user, read on to learn all about how you can join the next #CdnELTchat which takes place tomorrow, November 6th.  Below is a recap of last month’s chat from the #CdnELTchat moderators.

In our personal lives, we use YouTube playlists, Facebook feeds, pins on Pinterest, Instagram feeds, saved tweets on Twitter etc. to save and share videos, news, images and information. With the increase of accessible information and resources online, what can educators and students do to curate content effectively?  Bonnie Jean Nicholas (@EALStories) and Jennifer Chow (@jennifermchow) moderated a #CdnELTchat on “Content Curation” to explore this topic.

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TechKnow at the TESL ON 2018 Conference


Written by - Kevin O'Brien
image source: bigstockphotos.com

For the last 20 years, TESL Ontario has held technology workshops at the annual conference to introduce and provide conference attendees with the opportunity to learn from the many individuals who utilize technology in the classroom. Over the years, the interest has grown along with the opportunities to use technology from computers to tablets to smart phones. Most of our students have one or several of these devices. The use of these devices Continue reading →

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Use Technology for an ESL Scavenger Hunt


Written by - Nancy Van Dorp
Tourists using navigation tools to explore the city. Man with two women friends exploring the city with travel accessories.
image source: www.bigstockphoto.com

At some point in your classroom, you’ve probably created a scavenger hunt for your students. You know, the type where you hide things and provide questions, clues, or riddles to find the hidden items. These scavenger hunts have traditionally been used as a way to get students familiar with their surroundings or as vocabulary association exercises. But add the wonders of technology and the increase of ownership of mobile devices by students, and you can take scavenger hunting to a whole new level. Continue reading →

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Gamification in Education: Hype or Useful Teacher Tool?


Written by - teslontario
image source: bigstockphoto.com

This year at the TESL ON conference, Deborah Healey, TESOL International Association, will be one of our Keynote Speakers. The following blog post was written by Deborah. Here she gives you a taste of what she will be sharing at the conference.

Gamification in Education: Hype or Useful Teacher Tool? This is a question that I’ve been asking for the past few years, as I’ve tried gamifying some of my classes. Most teachers (myself included) have long used games in the English language classroom and in teacher training to encourage motivation and add a fun factor to learning. Some teachers have been able to use game-based learning, where a game sets the context for learning. Continue reading →

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Yes, you can! Making Virtual Tours


Written by - John Allan @mrpottz
image source: John Allan

Last year in the post, Change the Routine Without Disrupting the Class – Take A Virtual Field Trip, I shared suggestions about taking students on virtual field trips. Since then I have been exploring different virtual spaces with students and my peers.  It has been fun and rewarding.  A few topics that we explored included: Continue reading →

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Learning English Through Songs


Written by - Michael Karas
 

As teachers, we often encourage learners to expose themselves to as much English as possible. One way for learners to do this is by listening to English songs. They are readily available through apps like Spotify and YouTube and can be enjoyed ‘on the go’ as people go about their busy lives. In the classroom, many teachers use songs to enhance their lessons, especially when teaching children. Using a song from a children’s story, one study found songs could potentially contribute to vocabulary learning (Medina, 1993). However, we know very little about the impact of listening to popular ‘everyday’ songs on vocabulary learning as very little research has been conducted in this area (Maneshi, 2017).

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Smart Phones in the Pronunciation Class? Yes!


Written by - Guest Contributor
Multicultural friends group using smartphone with coffee at university college break - People hands addicted by mobile smart phone - Technology concept with connected trendy millennials - Filter image
image source: www.bigstockphoto.com

Sometimes students come up with great ideas for learning!  When I taught a couple of pronunciation classes at our local community college a few years ago, I was struck by the students’ use of their phones in class – not so much as a distraction or a deterrent to learning, but as an aid to help them produce accurate speech.  The primary advantages I observed are that the phone can provide individual feedback at the touch of a button and that it is available for practice outside the classroom as well. Continue reading →

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#CdnELTchat, A Twitter Chat for Language Instructors


Written by - John Allan @mrpottz

What is a Twitter chat?

Twitter is a microblogging tool that has recently been made most famous by the American President Donald Trump. Ok, it was popular before he started running for office, but my point is that everyone is familiar with Twitter.  It has approximately one hundred million active users daily.  A twitter chat is simply a collection of users that contribute to an online conversation using a common hashtag (#).   Twitter chats sometimes feature a guest that allows a community access to his/her expertise.

#CdnELTchat

This post is addressed to English language teachers across Canada.  Continue reading →

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On Leaving


Written by - Anna Bartosik
Image by Sanjeevan SatheesKumar on Unsplash

The position was meant to be something new to try out, to add some freshness into my PD experience. Fast forward three years, and the job of Twitter Manager for TESL Ontario is much more than that and still interests me. Why am I leaving?

It has been a challenging couple of years, and the reason I need to leave Continue reading →

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Teach Writing with a Web Design Project


Written by - John Allan @mrpottz
image source: John Allan

One of my courses specifies that students create a presentation on an educational resource and present it to their peers.  The following is a model I’d like to share with you as a potential means of using a common theme with a final presentation as a way of promoting inquiry, research, collaboration, communication, planning, and writing within one term of instruction. The project comprises eight separate activities.  Each activity involves the students practicing language and social skills in a variety of ways.  These steps are detailed below in the section, Project Process. Continue reading →

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