5 Ways to Implement Technology in the WL Classroom

Technology has been on the rise in all facets of life and has easily made its way into the modern classroom.  Language teachers need not fear and should embrace it as much as possible as its pros definitely outweigh the cons.  Keep reading to find five ways to implement technology in the World Language Classroom.

1.  Create A Profile of Your Classes

In order to use technology with your students, you must first find out who has access to what and when they have the opportunity to manipulate those resources.  For some this will be an easy situation as the school provides technology for students.  For others this may pose a problem.  Start by surveying the students to ask if they have access to the internet, an iPad, iphone, desktop or laptop computers.  This can be as simple as adding the following question to your first day information sheet:  "List the equipment you have to use technology both in and outside of school." 

2.  Obtain a Student Use Permission Form

After figuring out student access, the next step is to obtain permission from guardians for your students to use the technology in class.  Do this by checking with your school district to see if a form already exists that you can send home and have completed.  If not, a quick search via a search engine can provide examples.  Create your own and have your administration sign off on it.  

3.  Lay the Ground Rules

Using technology in the classroom can pose problems as students will want to play games, surf the net, or check facebook.  Be sure to create some ground rules for how it will be used in your classroom and provide scenarios for acceptable and unacceptable use in class.  Be sure to go over this with guardians and students and be consistent with consequences.

4.  Assign Activities

Now that you have access, permission, and guidelines in place its time for the learning to begin.  Students can use their devices to contact native speakers via a form of social media and ask a question pertaining to the content and concepts covered in class.  Then they can report back what they have learned.  There are also other unique resources available for you to use with your students.  

For Spanish:

Facebook Profile and Newsfeed

La Familia

La Casa Webquest

For French:

Les Loisirs

French Facebook Project

Faire des Courses

Virtual Trip

5.  Have Fun

Technology can add a whole new dimension to your course work and oftentimes students will associate their final products with the word FUN.  What kind of creative ways have you encouraged technology use in your classroom?