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Unit 17 covered equipment and teaching aids
There were a number of resources listed in this unit that may or may not be available in a classroom environment, the pros and cons of each, and possible applications. Following are the resources covered in this unit:
> White/black board
> Interactive whiteboard
> Overhead projector
> Visual aids
> Worksheets and work cards
> Cassette recorder
> CD Player
> Videos and DVDs
> Video camera
> Dictionaries
> Course books
> Resource books
> Photocopier
> Computers
> Online Resources
There were a number of excellent websites listed to use as resources for teaching English.
I can see that as a teacher that I will need to learn to be flexible and resourceful - the teaching place might be quite rudimentary, or it might be state of the art. It has been my privilege to teach in a very rudimentary setting, and it has forced me to become much more creative. I do like to have a whiteboard though. I carry a small one with me if I know I won't be in a classroom setting that already has one. However, one thing I do notice is that students really perk up if I bring in something new and different. Young and old alike. So I can see it is quite worth my time to get familiar with what resources are available to me no matter what the school has for me to use. I have had teachers that used a lot of resources as kind of a replacement for good teaching, and yet without them, the classes can get really boring. I realize that I must ensure that the teaching aids I use enhance learning and not detract from it.
Most of my students have a smart phone. Usually all of us have it out on the tables including myself. I often use "OK Google" or "Siri" to ask a question, and receive verbal and/or visual feedback. The students like this. It has inspired a number of them to start using the same for the sake of testing their ability to speak an understandable word or sentence. Also, they are constantly looking up words in their dictionaries. That can be good and bad, but it's just a fact of life that that is what they use. Of course the downside is that if they get bored they will start texting or various other things. Sometimes I like this better than them starting to talk to other students. And I just call them by name to answer a question. If they are focusing too much on the phone, I will ask them to stop.
I do like to show my students online resources or point out Youtube videos for them to watch. After all, this is the life now and I can see that those who watch a lot of English movies, etc. outside of class, have the best language skills.
