2in1: Language & Computer Laboratory

   Usually every school especially senior high school has computer laboratory and language laboratory which has different function of course. In language laboratory students usually use a headphone, look at the monitor and listen to the teacher and to the dialogue or story that played. In the other side in computer laboratory students can use the computer for studying about the programs that they learned, use the headphone and listening to the music, or maybe browsing if there is internet connection and it is not forbidden to be used for students.

            Then the question comes up, why don’t we choose one of them? It will spend a lot of money if the school has the language laboratory and computer laboratory at once. Both of those facilities use computers and it will take high school budget to pay the electricity. Well that question maybe can be asked in my college SSE, where there are three computer laboratories and all of them can be used and in good condition. So we can consider which one that will be more useful and more effective to help students in learning.

            In my opinion, I prefer to choose only the computer laboratory than both of computer and language laboratory. Because computer laboratory has more function than thee language laboratory. In computer laboratory we can study about computer programs in computer subject and also we can listen to the dialogue or story or the teacher if we are in language subject. What we have to provide is only a room, unit of computers, LCD, projector and the internet connection.

            in language subject, the students or the teachers will need programs which can support the language learning activity, especially in listening session. In the computer laboratory students can brows to open a website which provides material for listening session. It will be more fun I think for students in learn about listening session. Also in computer laboratory which provides projector and LCD students can watch video or movie and listen to it. It also can be useful for their learning processes. With all of those things I think we already can do the learning process of both of those subjects. Then it will be more effective and efficient, won’t it? Then we can name it as “Computer and Language Laboratory”

it is easy! Listening & Speaking

            In earning language we need to do these two important things. First is listening, second is speaking. As we can see a baby who can say a word ”mama” because she often hear her mother says “mama”. It also happens for other words. It means that people usually listen first so after that the sound of the word can recorded by our brain and it will put in our memory so we can produce the same word by saying it.

            Nowadays there are many tools which can help language learners in listening for the foreign language. it will help the learners to know how to produce the sound of the word. From the TLL class I got some websites which can be used for it. There are:

·         Interactive Audio - Picture English Lessons

·         John’s ESL Community – Listening Activities

In the other side, there are also students who can understand easily if they give responses to what they learn. Below there are websites which allow students to do the responses while listening so that they will more understand what they hear easily. Here they are

·         Live Action English Interactive

·         WII ( Game )

·         Learning Oral English

·         American English Pronunciation Practice

After they listen to the words then it is time to practice it by speaking. Below there are some websites which can be used to help teacher to do the speaking session in the class:

·         Kalinago.blogspot.com

·         ScMOOze University

·         Voice thread

By using those website, the teacher can make the learning process of speaking and listening become more fun and the students hopefully can learn easily too. Although the technologies are really help the students, the most important role still placed by the pedagogy because the technology will not created if there is nothing who need it.

The Transform of Communication Tools

                Have you ever use pager? Or have you ever the “old style” of mobile phone? Are you still listening music from radio tape? Well, as a digital native I’m sure that all of you have already known those things. Moreover now you have many communication technologies that more modern than the things that I mentioned above.

            Maybe for listening music, a few years ago we still use radio tape and cassette, but now we have mp3 player or even mp4 player which can save a lots of songs and video also for mp4 player and it is portable. We can save many songs that we like in our mp3 or mp4 player and we can replay the songs that we like again and again. The mp3 and mp4 players also can be used for learning languages. We can save the conversations or songs in English and we can replay it when we still can’t hear it clearly.

            In the other side there was also PDA. Well, although it doesn’t exist anymore now but we also can use it for learning languages. The PDA can open the pdf file although in little size. Honestly I don’t know well about the PDA because I never use it. But nowadays there is an iPad which is like computer but smaller and more stylish with the touch screen and we can zoon the screen and the screen size is wider than the PDA so we can read the file easier.

            About cell phone, there were many types of cell phones which have different functions. In the first era of cell phone the size is bigger than the cell phones now and it only can be used fro call. The next generation of cell phone can be used for send short message, and then it included the vga camera, radio fm, mp3 player, video player, voice recorder, internet, and also we can install many applications that we want in there. I’m sure that in the future we only need a mobile phone for doing our jobs because all function is in there. Even now there is.

            The mobile phone itself also can be used as the tool for learning language. we can download and install many applications about language like English-Indonesia dictionary, thesaurus dictionary, or even we can put not only English dictionary but also other languages dictionary inside. That’s why now to learn about language is easier. We don’t have to take much time for go to course and spend much money because there is the technology that make it more simple and easier.

               

Social Networks as Learning Tool

             Can you see how fast the technology of information is increasing now? Yes, it becomes very fast. Now we can find lots of information easily, and very fast. We only have to open the site, write the keyword and then with just one click you will find so many information that related to your keyword. In this era there are many social networks which can connect you to all of your friend or even to all of people in everywhere. For examples there are Friendster, facebook, skype, twitter, youtube, google talk, yahoo messager, hello, blog, and maybe there will be some new social network that will be exist in the future.

            Everybody now has already become so familiar with those social networks. Even social networks are not only for chat with friends but also it used for sell something, to promote something and also for studying.  Yes, for studying. The teacher and the students can use it for studying.

For example we can use facebook chat application to have a discussion with our callmates, or the teacher can ask the students to write something about the material and post it in facebook and then send the link to the teacher. Then the teacher and the other students can give feedback too through comment. We also can use youtube also as study tool for the teaching and learning activity. The teacher can download a video that has relation with the lesson and show it to the students in front of the class. The teacher and the students also can record a video about learning activities and upload it into youtube and the other students will give the comments about the video.

The other examples are skype and blog. The skype can help us to connect with the other people through video. So we still can talk face to face to each other even we are far apart with skype. So the teacher and students also can use it as video conference if the teacher can’t attend in the class. So there is no reason to be left behind about information. And with blog, we can use it to post and share our writing about the lesson that the students has already learned in the class and write their opinion or maybe their question about the lesson and the other students can help to give feedback or answer the question by write a comment there.

There are so many benefits that we can get from internet especially social network. But there are also the bad thing if we use internet to study because we can easily do plagiarism or cheat, and there are lots of bad content if we pen that. So the teacher can use those social networks in class but the teacher has to give the advice that the students is only able to open the site which has related to the material. Actually I still confuse how to make my students in future to not open the wrong site because as a teacher I can’t observe my students one by one. So how about the others? Do you have any suggestion how to make the students go in the right track?

Technology in Language Learning

Today is my first day in TLL class. It is learn about technology that we use or help us when learning language or other subject. Until now, I think I have used many kind of technologies to help me to learn. For example like computer, disket, flashdisk, laptop, internet connection, tv, radio, and so on. Some of Technologies that I have used not only to help me to learn about materials in school but also for communicate to other people in this world like facebook, twitter, friendster, chat, blogg, foursquare, gtalk, yahoo messenger, and sso on. Those kind are well known as social network that can help us to talk and connect with many people around the world. Now, there are some new social networks like skype, hello, yahoo koprol and many others things else.

Technology that I have already used not only a kind of site in internet but also kind of hardware like computer and laptop to type texts, save data, device for connecting to internet and many others function else. Nowadays there are also many new technologies which are more modern than computer or lapto. For example like ipad and galaxy tab that can do what computer and laptop can do. But they are also loo more stylish and easier to use. It's easier to bring and have slim size. Those gadgets also can connect to internet and don't need any keyboard to type, it's al about touch screen.

As a new generation of teacher who live in digital era like now, I have to be able to use those technologies in teaching especially in language teaching. Because all students and a lot of people outside who are live in this digital era wil also use it. So I think I have to have an ability to use digital technology as well because I'm sure that my future students must be understand about the usage of digital technologies too and they also use it for help them in many things. Even maybe they are more expert than me in using those technologies. But it's not a problem. For me to be a teacher doesn't mean to be more expert than the students but to help them become an expert one in learning.

So my task when I become a teacher someday is to control my students while using the technologies in right way and to make the learning process becomes more fun and easier to be understood by my students.