Introduction | Whole class teaching | Resources | Find answers
Whole class teaching
Whether using just a computer and data projector, or an interactive whiteboard as well, the facility to display a computer screen large enough for the whole class to see enables teachers to use ICT to transform whole-class teaching. Resources and applications can be called up easily from the school network or VLE (Virtual Learning Environment): worksheets, presentations, interactive exercises, Web pages, or CDROMs and DVDs can all be accessed and used to enliven and enrich whole class teaching in various ways. Where an interactive whiteboard is available the many features of its software can be used to great effect.
The comments on this page deal with three areas in which ICT can be exploited to enhance whole-class teaching.
- Using presentations effectively
- Sharing electronic resources with the whole class
- Using the interactive whiteboard effectively
Using presentations effectively
Presentation software such as MS PowerPoint can be employed to great effect when working with the whole class.
- With careful use of text, images, audio and video, it is possible to create multimedia teaching resources.
- With judicious use of the animation settings a teacher can direct the attention of the pupils to specific elements of language and also create opportunities for productive whole class discussion.
Presentation software enables the creation of multimedia teaching resources, which appeal to differing learning styles among pupils and can offer much-needed support in a target language classroom. Images, whether clip art or digital photographs, can be used to supplement text on each slide. Clip art images are sold commercially or can be downloaded from Microsoft Clip Art Gallery while mobile phones or digital cameras enable teachers to capture numerous images: perhaps on exchange trips, on holiday or within the school or locality. Digital photos, when inserted into PowerPoint, can be edited and compressed with the Photo toolbar. See Resources for further comment on working with images when creating resources.
Audio can be added to slides, not only as sound effects, but also by recording speech directly to the presentation. It is also possible to insert sound or movie files into slides. As with images, audio and video clips can be created quite quickly, whether with mobile phones, digital cameras or mp3 voice recorders.
The custom animation settings available in the software allow the teacher to determine exactly how each element of a slide is to be presented. The elements of a slide, images, text, audio or video, can be set to appear in a specific order, enabling the teacher to break down points of learning into smaller chunks and use questioning to develop pupil understanding. This may mean, for example, that text appears letter by letter, word by word or in phrases. It may also mean that a voice recording can be heard at exactly the same time as an image appears. If items in a slide are set to appear on a click of the mouse, the teacher is able to pause in order to work with the whole class to decide which word, letter or phrase appears next.
This approach could be used to work with the whole class in order to build the transcript of recorded speech, whether from an inserted video clip or audio recording used to match an image. If working with text on the agreement of nouns and adjectives, animation settings can be used to delay the introduction of adjectival endings until suitable whole class discussion has taken place. Of course, colour coding of nouns according to gender can be used on a slide as a visual clue to assist pupils in deciding the correct form of adjective.
For useful ideas on working with presentation software go to Technology for Languages where you will find downloadable PDF documents.
Sharing electronic resources with the whole class
Electronic worksheets, interactive games, presentations, images, video clips, saved web pages, and CDROMs or DVDs can all be shared with the whole class and used to develop understanding and competence in the target language or to develop an awareness and understanding of the culture of the country or countries where the target language is spoken.
Ideally, an interactive whiteboard would be used to access resources stored on the school network or VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) but, of course, not every teacher has permanent access to such a facility. However, if there is a screen, a computer or laptop linked to the network and a data projector the teacher can use the mouse to interact between screen and computer. The mouse can be used very effectively to guide pupils, to switch documents, to change colours, to summon resources and so on.
Electronic worksheets created by a teacher and accessed on a screen can be used for effective text manipulation exercises with the whole class. Matching activities, gap-fill exercises, colour coding and text reconstruction can all be completed as a whole class activity. To engage pupils more actively the class can work in teams to determine on paper what they consider the correct answers and representatives from each team can come to the computer or laptop and use the mouse to manipulate the text on screen. Hyperlinks placed in the worksheet can link to correct versions for instant viewing by the whole class. Interactive games produced by the teacher with authoring software can be completed as an on-screen whole-class activity as can many of the activities contained on commercial CDROMs or DVDs. There is also the potential to share models of pupil work and look at ways of correcting and improving it. The class might also work together on an email message to a partner class abroad.
Using the interactive whiteboard effectively
ICT enables teachers to transform whole-class teaching and perhaps the most powerful innovation in this regard is the interactive whiteboard. Its numerous features bring versatility, pace and dynamism to the languages classroom. A teacher can present work and engage pupils in a wide number of very stimulating ways. Moreover, the interactive whiteboard is as appealing and valuable with very young learners as it is with those learning languages at Key Stage 4 or for A level or in other contexts, such as further education or adult education.
The interactive whiteboard can be used in many ways:
- Text or images can be hidden and revealed electronically. Both teacher and pupil can use the electronic pen or their finger, depending on the make of board, to match items or colour language items. Text can be dragged and dropped to re-order sentences, to unjumble words or to complete gap-fill activities.
- Layers can be used by more experienced practitioners to create exciting activities, where, for example, the board refuses to accept a wrong answer. This can really capture the interest of a class if a pupil has been called to the board to drag and drop an answer into place.
- Screens can be saved so that teachers can reuse notes, diagrams, explanations and examples in subsequent lessons.
- Applications such as authoring software are particularly effective when used with the interactive whiteboard. The teacher can summon any number of activities and organise the class into teams to come to the board and interact with the activity or game. To make it more exciting, these activities can be set so pupils have to work against the clock.
- Teachers can annotate over a screen and save the screen. This is very useful when working with a web page or a presentation and the teacher wishes to draw the attention of the class to specific points of grammar or language. Pupils’ work, if completed electronically, can also be called up to the board and the teacher can use the annotation facility to help the whole class to focus on mistakes and ways to improve expression.
- Electronic voting, if available, enables a teacher to create activities which require the pupils to use a special personal device to 'vote' on the correct answer. The teacher is given an instant picture of how many pupils have the right answer and who has failed to understand.
