Ideal language lab facility proposal

My idea for a language lab facility is quite different from that of traditional language labs I remember from elementary school. Rather than having students listen to dialogs on audio cassette tapes, which are, of course, very outdated, I would rather use this facility to give students the opportunity not only to listen to and interpret speech from native speakers, but also to interact on a level other than face-to-face dialogue because feel that the classroom is the ideal place for face-to-face interaction, but this language lab should be there to supplement that with other types of authentic communication. I propose a language lab facility that would include a form of synchronous or asynchronous communication with native speakers (if possible) or other L2 learners, an interactive language learning software, and time to allow them to browse the Web in search of information about the target culture. 

First, authentic synchronous communication. I would like to set up an online pen pal exchange, something like mylanguageexchange.com. Students would spend time in the language lab writing to their pen pals in the L2 and responding to what they receive from them. Using native speakers would be ideal, but if that is not an option for some reason, I would like to set up an e-mail exchange with another foreign language class either at my school or at another school in the country. I think students would enjoy writing back and forth to a student in another city or state (or country!). This would be personal writing time, and the teacher wouldn't necessarily have to make corrections to this. The idea would be to let the students freely write back and forth and only participation would be graded.

As far as language learning software goes, I'm not a big fan of Rosetta Stone. Fortunately, my job at a public library in Pasco County has exposed me to a number of language learning software titles that we offer to our library patrons. I have had a chance to personally work with Rosetta Stone and another piece of software called Mango Languages, the latter supporting an "educator edition." Mango is excellent because it's interactive like Rosetta Stone, but in between the lessons or "slides," there are little cultural notes and grammar notes that I think students greatly benefit from. I would not require Mango specifically in my language lab, but I'm mentioning it because I'm very familiar with it. Any other comparable language learning software would suffice as long as it is interactive and does not require that students merely listen and repeat because this is not in line with my goals for this facility. As I stated above, I want students to do more than regurgitate information that is fed to them.


Finally, time for Web browsing. I think this is a vital part of the language lab. Students today are so accustomed to going online and instantly finding all of the information they need. I want students to feel comfortable with the L2, so I would like to give them an opportunity to do something they're used to while using the language lab. I would give a different assignment for every time students go to the language lab, but in general, I would ask them to spend a certain amount of time browsing the Web (only in the L2) in search of something that strikes them as interesting or fun. This could be a game, a news article, a book or movie review, anything (appropriate) that they can find in the L2 would suffice. I choose this element for my language lab because it will expose students to real, authentic, and natural language in the written form as it appears all over the Web. A lot of students might think that there isn't a lot of information available online in the L2 or that everything that is available is of no interest, but with some guidance from the teacher I think students will be surprised that they can find a lot of material online in whatever their L2 happens to be. The goal is just to get them motivated and to allow them to be creative in looking for what interests them. The teacher, of course, would circulate to make sure that students are on-track and to give support where needed. Also, for this element, students would be asked to blog about what they found and to share their posts with their classmates.


My language lab would exist to give students support in areas that can be hard to cover in the classroom when the focus on speaking. I have heard from so many students in classrooms I have observed that they just don't speak enough in class, so I would like to put a lot of emphasis on, among other things, face-to-face interaction (both in pairs and in groups) in my classroom, while the language lab would serve as scaffolding for writing, reading and listening skills and would complement what we do in class.

Chapter 6 Reflection

Robert J. Blake's sixth chapter helped me think critically about a lot of information I have learned in previous classes as well as make me reflect upon new information that I learned in this one. Two ideas in particular stuck me as significant in this chapter, the first being that classrooms should be student-centered and that second being that how technology is used is more important than choosing which technological tool to use.

The fact that classrooms should be student-centered is something I learned a few semesters ago. It's something I had always considered a personal philosophy because it makes sense that the student should be the producer and the teacher should the facilitator of learning. In the context of technology, it is the student who makes use and takes of advantage of the technological tools and resources at their disposal to enhance learning. In addition, I think it is important for teachers to consider the purpose of the technology they use in the classroom and should never choose to use something without reason; as I mentioned, these resources should be used to enhance learning in some way or another and not merely as filler or as an alternative.

 I also enourmously appreciate Blake's "teaching pigs to fly" analogy in this chapter. He suggests that trying to use technology to do what people do best can be compared to teaching pigs to fly, and I completely agree. It should not be our goal to seek out a technological tool as replacement for what teachers can do better; technology should be used, rather, as an enhancement, and with a purpose.


This chapter contained a lot of information that truly made me stop and think about how to implement some of the tools and resources we have learned about in this class. In this sort of "putting it all together" chapter, as Blake named it, I found a much needed larger perspective on technology that helped me see the bigger picture.

References:

Blake, R.J. (2008). Brave new digital classroom: Technology and foreign language learning. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

Web site review

For this post, I will review the following site: http://banlangteaching.blogspot.com/2009/09/principles-for-teaching-ell-students.html

I agree with a lot of information found on this blog post. The author suggests using a number of multimedia tools like music, television and radio in the classroom. I've always been an advocate of using authentic materials in the classroom. I absolutely love exposing students to news Web sites in the L2 because there is such an abundance of information there for all levels of proficiency. Music is also a big part of my teaching philosophy. When I am studying a new language, I love to listen to the culture's music for a number of reasons; it helps you develop an ear for the language, you learn new vocabulary and exposes you to some cultural elements, as well. As a number of my former teachers (and professors) have done, I would love to carry on the tradition of playing some music at the beginning of each class to catch students' attention. I would use the Internet to find the music. 

The author of this post also suggests using some other technique that I have learned and talked about in other courses at USF, such as slowing speech and enunciating, using gestures, role-playing activities and dramatic interaction to reinforce what is being learned.


I think the information here is very useful, and what I like most about this post is that it can be read as a sort of list, a list of rules of thumb for foreign language teaching. I would like to keep this bookmarked so that I can refer to it in the future and apply some of these strategies to my lesson plans.

Internet Reciprocal Teaching

I really enjoyed the PowerPoint about Internet reciprocal teaching because it reminded me of a number of activities I did as a student in high school, some of my favorite classroom activities of my high school career. Fortunately, we did these activities in my French class, among others, so I have a idea of what this would look like in a foreign language classroom. Granted, I was participating in the activity as a student so I wasn't thinking critically about its importance at the time, but I can say that as a student it was an activity that helped me really engage the class because it allowed me to research topics, find things that I found personally interesting and present them back to my classmates.

I think this is an approach that has the potential to help a lot of students because, first, they tend to enjoy hands-on activities, and second, because it allows for a certain amount of creativity depending upon the exact parameters of the activity. My teacher, for example, gave us some vague (in a good way) guidelines about what we could research online, and it was up to us to find something that interested us, something that we would create a presentation about and enthusiastically describe and explain to our classmates. A lot of students talked about aspects of French history that they liked, others looked up current events in news articles from Francophone Web sites. 

In general, it's a great way to implement technology into the classroom, and what's most important is that it's meaningful! Students will gain some knowledge by doing the research and will be able to practice speaking and writing for the presentation portion. 

Listerv postings

First post:

Hi everyone,

This is my first time creating an original post, but I've been replying to your posts for a little while now. I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts on whether or not French teachers whose native accent is something other than the "standard" Parisian French accent should make an effort to sound more international.

Having spent a lot of time in Montréal, my accent is that of a typical Québécois, and I find that some people (even people from France) have a hard time understanding me. I wonder if having a teacher from somewhere other than France can affect an English-speaking student's ability to understand mainstream Metropolitan French, and if so, how?

I would appreciate any feedback.

Merci,
Michael Lewis
michaellewis@mail.usf.edu

------------------------------------

Second post:

Hi Linda,

I agree that when pronunciation hinders learning, there is a problem, but on the other hand, exposing the students to different accents might be considered beneficial to them. As you said, though, it really depends upon what they plan to use the foreign language for. I posted a similar topic a few moments ago about French pronunciation in which I asked whether French speakers who don't have a "standard" accent should make an effort to sound more international or standard. I would like to know what you think, too!

Michael Lewis
michaellewis@mail.usf.edu

Chapter 5 Reflection

In chapter five of Robert J. Blake's Brave New Digital Classroom: Technology and Foreign Language Learning, the topic of distance learning is discussed, as it relates to foreign language education. This is undoubtedly a very touchy subject because of deeply-held beliefs that a lot of foreign language teachers, both new and old, might have about classes that are taught entirely in an online or distance learning format. The theory goes that student need to have face-to-face, authentic interaction with (native?) speakers of the foreign language in order to achieve adequate proficiency, especially oral proficiency, in the language. Of course, distance learning for foreign language classes has some limitation, but this does not mean that they should be entirely ignored. 


As Blake mentions, distance learning foreign language classes attract a certain type of students. Students who have tight schedules and who need fewer in-class hours might be inclined to take an online Spanish class, for example. The fact of the matter is that due to the fact that the class is online, students will probably have to put even more time and effort into achieving the same proficiency they would achieve in an on-campus class. As a teacher, I would also ask myself what I could do to motivate students knowing that most or at least a large portion of the student population in these distance learning classes might be made up of students who are expecting to do less work and put in less effort than they may in an on-campus class. 


In terms of technology, though, Blake mentions a number of studies (there aren't many, apparently) that serve to evaluate distance learning foreign language classes. In a few studies, the technology used was a little outdated. Personally, I think there is a great amount of technology at our disposal to make these distance learning classes as rich an experience as their on-campus counterparts. Blake mentions synchronous and asynchronous chat sessions that allow teachers and students to communicate, either in real-time or not, as well as flash animation that can make the experience fun and engaging. Video chatting with Skype is something that I would also consider an option because it allows teacher-student and student-student communication to occur in an environment that's as authentic as possible without actually meeting in person. 


I do believe that distance learning can work as a format for foreign language education, but I think it's important to consider the student population and to design the curriculum around their expectations while also making the experience as rich and engaging as possible.

References:

Blake, R.J. (2008). Brave new digital classroom: Technology and foreign language learning. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

Web site review: Carnegie Mellon

Bonsoir,

For this assignment, I will be talking about Carnegie Mellon's Educational Technology Web page which is located here: http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/technology/index.html.

The page layout is easily navigable. It's very simple overall, and all the information we would need is listed right on this page. I find that there isn't a whole lot of useful information on this site though, at least for me personally and probably for a lot of USF students. The whole first section is dedicated to tools that we have here at USF such as Blackboard, SafeAssignment, TurnItIn, and the "clickers." We should consider ourselves lucky to be attending a university that has access to this technology. We have already been exposed to it which will make it that much easier for us to become used to it if we ever have the opportunity to use it as teachers instead of as students. Other links on this page provide information about podcasting and webcasting. The site also elaborates on some projects that Carnegie Mellon's Office of Technology for Education (OTE) is working on as they relate to introducing technology to the classroom. This is probably the most unique part of the Web site because most of the other parts contain very common information, information that we have seen before in other Web sites. This is not to say that is isn't still useful information, however. 


Overall, I feel like this page doesn't have as much useful information as other sites we have reviewed, but as I mentioned above, I do like the projects section. I do have a problem trying to see how these projects are related to my future teaching, however. I will bookmark the site and check back frequently for more information!.

Second Life reflection

The one idea that I can't get out of my head about this assignment is that I truly think online virtual worlds could work in the foreign language classroom, but that I'm not sure Second Life is the proper one. Throughout my avatar's "journeys," I encountered a lot of interesting things. A lot if it, however, would probably be quite inappropriate for high school users. I "teleported" to a French-speaking area in the game, and the other users were saying a lot of inappropriate things (granted, in the target language). The fact that teachers can't control the content that students would potentially be exposed to is a major concern of mine. The idea of a Teen version of Second Life would be an excellent tool. Having a controlled environment for teenagers would make it a more acceptable resource for use in high school foreign language classrooms.


In general, however, I really think using virtual worlds could be an excellent innovation for foreign language teaching. This could solve problems of limitations when it comes to having access to native speakers of a target language. For example, a Spanish teacher who teaches Spanish in an area where this language is not very commonly used might have a hard time gaining access to a native speaker or native speakers with whom the students could converse. Making use of virtual worlds, this teacher could connect with a native speaker of Spanish anywhere around the world as long as he or she is using the same program that houses the virtual world. Also, to a certain degree, these environments allow for some type of authentic communication to occur. Students may not necessarily be speaking aloud, but they are speaking in real time to another speaker of the target language and are forced to think on their feet just as they would in a real, in-person conversation. Virtual worlds are also useful for recreating real-world situations that would be hard to recreate in the classroom, in an attempt to make experiences as authentic as possible for the foreign language learner.


Overall, I think virtual worlds could be very useful in the foreign languge classroom. I'm not sure that Second Life has enough restrictions to be used in a high school setting, but surely there must be something similar that teachers can use. I think nothing beats authentic, in-person interactions when it comes to learning a new language and practicing it, but this is certainly something to look into.

Listerv postings

The following are my two postings on the FLTEACH listserv:

Hi Josh,

I can sympathize with you. I know it can be difficult at times to think of how first year foreign language students in high school can be encouraged to use solely the target language. I can tell you from first-hand experience that it is possible! In one of my college courses, a retired instructor came to give a presentation to my class Secondary Foreign Language Teaching Methods class. At one point, he began speaking in German (and only in German). Most of had had little to no familiarity with the language, but we all completely understood his message because he made is comprehensible to us. He used familiar gestures, drew pictures on the board, and wrote some things down all while giving us his life story in the L2. So, when considering your Spanish 1 students, just remember the importance of comprehensible input. If you make it understandable to them using some suggestioned I just mentioned, they will have a blast and be amazed at how much they can understand. :)

Best of luck,
Michael Lewis

---

Bonjour Rebecca,

Thanks for sharing this information! The French culture has such deeply rooted etiquette rules and traditions, and because of this, as you mentioned, it is a great idea to set up some sort of social gathering to expose students to this sort of thing. The Web sites you provided are excellent examples of this. In my high school (when I was a student), my teacher would organize a "progressive dinner" each year. We would choose 3 students' houses, and the entire French club would meet at each one, the first house being for the appetizers, the second for the entrée, and the third for dessert. It's a great opportunity to showcase French food and to expose students to French table manners. To what you said I would only add that it is also a great chance for students to practice particular "language chunks" such as "may I have..." or "I would like..." and other dining-related phrases.

Merci !
Michael Lewis

Chapter 4 Reflection

For this assignment I will review chapter four of Robert J. Blake's book.

In this chapter, Blake discusses CMC, or computer-mediated communication. Initially, he defines it and gives a few examples. He continues by outlining first generation and second generation computer-mediated communication methods. Some of the first generation tools are still used, but perhaps not as frequently. E-mail is definitely still in use, and is especially useful when two participants in an online discussion don't use the same chat service. They can e-mail each other and engage in asynchronous CMC. Threaded forums are also in use still. I don't know how effective they are for carrying out conversation, but I know of several instances where they are useful, specifically for foreign language learning. A lot of people who learn foreign languages in college nowadays probably know about wordreference.com. This site provides an excellent forum environment in which learners of a particular language can seek advice from native speakers on issues of grammar and speaking, etc. Blake also mentions electronic mailing lists. Even though we are using them for this class, I don't think they are really used that frequently. I can't say that with certainty, but I don't really know anyone who uses them. I have found, however, that they can be very efficient for seeing what other educators think about a given topic; you can even join the chat if you so choose. 


Blake turns next to second generation CMC tools. This was the most interesting part of the chapter for me because these are tools that we use today. Blogs and wikis are two good examples that are mentioned by Blake. They are both examples of asynchronous CMC that are in use to this day. Blogs are especially useful for situations in which someone makes a post and can receive feedback from other users. I see solid, practical applications for such a thing in foreign language classrooms. Students can post assignments online and review feedback from the instructor and other students right away, all in the target language. Wikis are obviously very useful, as well, because they allow for collaboration. Blake also talks about chatting, or instant messaging, later on in the chapter. This would be an example of synchronous CMC. Chatting with or without audio can be extremely useful in the foreign language classroom. Teachers could provide instantaneous feedback to what students are writing or saying, without having to be in the classroom. Teachers could also use this as an opportunity to model correct speech and writing.


Overall, this chapter has provided a lot of information about computer-mediated communication and how it can be used in foreign language classrooms. I find that blogs, wikis and chatting would fit my classroom best.

References:

Blake, R.J. (2008). Brave new digital classroom: Technology and foreign language learning. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

Web site review: Power to Learn

For this assignment, I will be reviewing the following Web site: http://www.powertolearn.com/articles/teaching_with_technology/index.shtml.

I found this site to be very useful! I like the fact that it has an archive of articles that one can browse. It's easy to find topics that are interesting or relevant to what we are teaching or topics that include technology we might be interested in using in our classrooms. I found a number of articles right away that I started reading. I found myself bookmarked them for future reference. It seems that they are published somewhat frequently, as well.  

There are also a number of other resources on this Web site that are useful, such as the "technology resources" page which provides information about various Web sites and software that might be of use to us as teachers.There is also a very good software review page on this Web site. 


My favorite part though, are the lesson activities. If you click on that link, you can find lesson activities specifically for World Language classes, and each one enumerates the technology and materials needed for the activity.


Overall I find this site very useful. I will definitely be bookmarking it!

Chapter 3 Reflection

Chapter three of Robert J. Brake's book, Brave New Digital Classroom: Technology and Foreign Language Learning, discusses the history of CALL, or computer-assisted language learning, and a overview of its evaluation.

First, I really appreciated Blake's reference to Skinnerian behaviorism. I enjoyed these topics in previous psychology and education classes and using this reference really helps me understand the beginning and evolution of CALL. In the 1960s, as Blake explains, a time when technology was limited, foreign language learning and the use of technology consisted of using programs to train or condition students to produce correct responses to particular stimuli. In plain terms, this means that students were trained to memorize appropriate expressions that they would be able to use when confronted with native speakers in authentic situations. I'm happy to report that, based on my own observations, language learning has come a long way since then. I feel that we now take a more thematic approach and try to foster a community of learners. In other words, we try to approach language learning in a more logical way, rather than simply having students perform drill activities and memorization acivities. We also want students to interact with each other and to create situations that come as close as possible to authentic situations with native speakers. One particular idea that I took from this chapter is that there are so many ways to integrate technology into these concepts, ways which I outline in my reflection on the second chapter.

Another section of this chapter that I found interesting was Blake's section on CALL evaluation. I particularly liked the where he cites the format for evaluation in the CALICO Journal: technical preview, operational description, teacher fit and learner fit. The former two seem obvious, of course, but the latter we might take for granted. It is important to ensure that whatever technology or software we use in our classrooms fit the teacher's methodological approach and that it matches the students' needs and interests. If the technology is something that will not develop student motivation and interest, then it may not be the best fit for that particular classroom.

Overall I found the chapter very useful because it explain not only how to review software and other technology for our classrooms, but it also gave some examples and cited some resources, making doing so much easier. 

References:

Blake, R.J. (2008). Brave new digital classroom: Technology and foreign language learning. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

Web site review: Langwitches

http://langwitches.org/index.htm 

Langwitches is a very interesting Web site and resource for teachers of foreign languages as well as ESOL teachers. 

In terms of its style and design, the Web site is fairly well designed with a simple navigation interface. Links at the top of the page bring us to pages on "projects & ideas," "links," "software," "tutorials," "standards" and "workshops." I did find some inconsistencies in the links, however. For example, after clicking on "projects & ideas," some of the items are marked as "coming soon..." (e.g., "iPod") despite the fact that they are readily accessible in the menu on the right-hand side of the page. I only mention this because it can lead to confusion and potentially missing out on information that is actually available on the site.

Apart from the stylistic aspects, langwitches.org is actually a useful resource for teachers. I find the "projects & ideas" and "links" sections to be the most helpful to me. The site outlines and defines a number of technological tools and Web-based activities that teachers can make use of in the foreign language or ESOL classroom such as blogging, podcasting, webquests, distance learning, using digital images/videos and much more. I like the idea of having a link in each section directing us to a site that lists which NETS standards each of these tools addresses, like on the blogging page, but unfortunately the link to most of them is broken, showing a "page not found" message. The "software" section shows a small number of tools that can be used and provides an active link for some of them. I also very much like the "standards" page because it is convenient to have technology standards handy in one place like this. A couple of workshops are also posted in the "workshops" section, but they have not been updated recently and there have not been any recent ones as far as I can tell.

Overall, I feel that langwitches.org has the potential to be a great resource for teachers if the inconsistencies are fixed and if the site is kept up-to-date. On the other hand, a link is posted on the site for the Langwitches blog which appears to be updated regularly. I look forward to reading the blog!

Wiki links

Hi everyone,

Below are the links to my group's wiki page as well as to my own individual page.

Group:

http://fle4290001b11.wikispaces.com/Group+Page 

Individual:

http://fle4290001b11.wikispaces.com/Michael+Lewis 

Chapter 2 Reflection

Chapter 2 of Robert J. Blake's Brave New Digital Classroom: Technology and Foreign Language Learning provides a lot of detailed, in-depth explanations about the history and applications of the Internet, programming languages, web browsers, etc., but it also provides powerful insights on how we can create a Web-based pedagogy for foreign language learning. I found this chapter to be quite interesting (after moving past some of the technical jargon), and I can agree with most of what Blake says.

I found his analysis of the number of Internet users who speak English and other languages very interesting. I disagree, however, with his statement that English seems to be the  de facto language of the Internet (p. 25). I just don't see any evidence of that. If one frequents English-language Web sites, then of course English will be the major language. The fact that the largest chunk of Web sites on the Internet are in English is not enough to say that it is the "official" language of the Internet. There are thousands upon thousands of resources available online for any of the languages we in this course will teach, and this makes the Web a very suitable tool, perhaps the most suitable technological tool, when it comes to foreign language learners. 


Another aspect of this chapter that caught my attention was the section entitled "Toward a pedagogy for Web-based language learning" on page 38. Blake mentions that, arguably, nothing is inherently wrong with using grammar drills and other similar exercising in the foreign language curriculum, but this is not the sort of thing we should expect to see when incorporating technology, specifically the Internet, into the curriculum. I feel that there are so many more significant and dynamic resources available online that the Internet should be used as a tool to promote, as Blake suggests, negotiation of meaning and to allow for comprenehsible input. For example, consider how showing a YouTube video (or video from a similar site that is not blocked in public schools) or reading an actual news article from an authentic L2 source could enhance learning. When compared to doing grammar exercises, these multimedia experiences using the Internet have the advantage of allowing teachers to meet FL standards and increase student motivation at the same time. I think they really do have an important role in any foreign language curriculum.

References:

Blake, R.J. (2008). Brave new digital classroom: Technology and foreign language learning. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

Mon groupe

Hi everyone,

My group members are:

Nicole de la Rosa

Elizabeth Gomez

and Yadira Camacho

Web site review

Bonjour tout le monde,

The Web site I chose for the Web site review assignment is the following: http://flteaching.wikispaces.com/Technology


It is a wiki from wikispaces.com dedicated to foreign language teaching. I chose to review the page specifically about technology in the foreign language classroom. The site, in general, is very well organized and is divided into several different sections to which one has quick access in the "contents" section near the top of the page. It gives a brief introduction of why technology should be used in our classrooms, and then goes into detail about the different tools available to teachers and how to use them efficiently, citing examples of each. 


The page talks about CALL, or computer-assisted language learning, in great detail, giving a standard definition as well as information about its history and theories related to it. It then cites examples of various "tools" that can be used in the foreign language classroom such as commercial software, the World Wide Web and simulation software. While this information is very valuable to us as future foreign language teachers, I think my favorite part of this site are the testimonies from foreign language instructors from various universities across the Southeast (mostly Florida), each giving their own opinion about how the use of technology has the potential to enhance foreign language learning in the classroom. The page then offers a collection of resources offered by some of these instructors. Another great aspect of this wiki page (which I didn't even notice right away) is the discussion board or forum. While a lot of them seem to be rather old, dating back to 2006, they information there is still pertinent for the most part and can be harnessed to enhance our own use of technology in the classroom. 


I would certainly recommend this site to any teacher who is looking for information about the technological tools and resources available for their classrooms and about how to use them. At the very least it can be used to read the testimonies of instructors who already use technology in their classrooms and to benefit from previous discussion in the forum section.

Chapter 1 Reflection

Bonjour !

The first chapter of Robert J. Blake's Brave New Digital Classroom: Technology and Foreign Language Learning takes an interesting approach in answering the question of why technology should be present in the foreign language classroom. I appreciate the fact that he enumerates statistics from his experience working with the Foreign Service Institute to illustrate that learning (rather, acquiring) a foreign language requires a awful lot of time. He states that, based on estimates, it takes a total of 600 hours -- that's twenty 30-hour weeks -- of study to "reach a high level of fluency" (p. 1). Furthermore, he makes the point that technology is present only to serve as a tool in language acquisition, not as a new methodology or a means by which to replace language teachers. I certainly agree with this point, and I would go so far as to say that technology shouldn't replace foreign language teachers. We as future teachers are needed to facilitate our students' learning, and there are many technological tools that help us to do this. I think the Internet in particular can be an excellent way to expose students to authentic cultural experiences. As Dr. Rogers mentioned in her introductory letter for this course, the textbooks she has used (textbooks I have used, too) often showed an antiquated view of the target culture. Many resources online such can be used to show real French people, for example, and real French culture. 


Blake then takes on four "myths" related to technology and second language acquisition. The first is that technology is monolithic. The second is that technology is a methodology in and of itself. The third is that technology is advancing too quickly for us to keep up. Finally, the fourth is that technology will replace teachers. Because I already touched on the second and fourth myths, I will now discuss the remaining two. I agree with Blake when he implies that some people use the word "Internet" or "technology" and think them sufficient to describe the wide variety of tools available to teachers. We need to become aware of the different types of tools that are at our disposal and how to use them in our classroom, which is exactly what I hope to do in this course. As for whether or not technology is advancing too quickly for teachers, we cannot deny that things change quickly. With new changes, however, come new opportunities for students. So schools and language teachers should make an effort to embrace new technologies and to learn how to apply them efficiently to their classrooms.

References:

Blake, R.J. (2008). Brave new digital classroom: Technology and foreign language learning. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.