Магистрант Шайхисламова А.З., к.п.н. Тургинбаева Л.В.

Региональный социальный инновационный университет, Казахстан

Южно-Казахстанский государственный педагогический институт, Казахстан

METHODOLOGICAL FEATURES OF GOOGLE APPS USE IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING

As technology continues to get more and more popular, classroom attention spans are getting shorter and shorter.

Times are changing quickly and ESL teachers have to hop on board before the train leaves. Keeping the attention of a student while you’re teaching may seem difficult at times, but fear not! Help is on the way!

By working with technology, using some of these apps will effectively help you add a new dimension to your teaching. It’ll also give students a break from the traditional classroom, all while still reinforcing the skills they are learning.

There’s no better time than the present to upgrade your teaching and try out some of the best apps for ESL teachers!

They say that the secret to learning is repetition and this couldn’t be truer than when it comes to learning a second language.

To this end here’s how I am using Google apps to teach English online. Having been through the process of learning a second language a couple of times myself I can see the possible short-cuts which enable one to be picked up in the most efficient manner possible. In my opinion the most important step in learning a new language is speaking it, not just listening, not just reading and certainly not just writing.

Speaking and making mistakes is definitely the fastest way to learn. Incidentally it’s this fear of making mistakes that is given as the reason for why many adults learn slower than youngsters.

First let’s take a closer look at how using these apps is beneficial to ESL teachers like yourself.

Technology is always an exciting addition to any classroom. Students typically love working with technology and prefer it over reading and writing in a traditional way. Using apps in the classroom is one great way to spice up the students’ learning and help keep them engaged in the material.

Using apps in the classroom adds a whole new dimension to students’ learning. It’s not news that repetition and review are essential to the success of learning a language. Apps reinforce the material and allow students to experience English in yet another form.

With the easy accessibility of apps, they can be used both inside and outside of the classroom. Apps are so easy to use for both students and teachers, and require absolutely no prep time.

These types of apps are not only useful for teachers when writing curriculum, but they’re also excellent for students to use during classroom activities or unstructured classroom time.

FluentU. FluentU is very unique among the apps on this list. FluentU takes real-world videos—like music videos, commercials, news, cartoons and inspiring talks – and turns them into English learning experiences. Unlike traditional apps, FluentU uses a natural approach that helps you ease your students into English language and culture over time. They’ll learn English as it’s spoken in real life.

FluentU has a huge collection of authentic English videos that people in the English-speaking world actually watch on the regular. This is content that’s known internationally for its quality and entertainment value. Students get extremely excited when they see their favorite videos pop up in their English classroom.

But it doesn’t just stop with great videos. On FluentU, all the videos are sorted by skill level and come with built-in language lessons.

These videos are also carefully annotated for students. Words come with example sentences and definitions. Students will be able to add them to their own vocabulary lists, and even see how the words are used in other videos.

FluentU brings authentic content within reach by providing interactive captions and in-context definitions on-screen.

These great videos are all accompanied by interactive features and active learning tools for students, like multimedia flashcards and fun games like fill in the blank.

Google Docs. If you’ve used Microsoft Word then getting along with Google Docs is a cinch. One of the most useful features of Google Docs is the ability to share a document, allowing myself and my student to simultaneously edit the same document. I always start with the student typing in the day and date into the open document and then we quickly go over what was covered in the last session. This is so much better than relying on memory.

So we had verbal repetition during the last session, we also wrote things down during the last session and now we’re reading it again, you get the idea of repetition being important.

Any problems can now easily be identified and further repetition made if necessary. Even if the coaching I’m giving is in person, it still means that both parties are sat down with an open copy of a Google Doc.

Once the last session has been dealt with it’s time to move onto fresh things.

Speak English! In this unique app, the user listens to recordings of English speakers talking about a span of topics – like job interviews or customer service. After listening to it as many times as they’d like, the user then records themselves repeating the phrase. Finally, the user then gets to audibly compare his or her voice to that of the recording. Speak English! is a really helpful app for getting students to learn and practice enunciation.

Using any of these apps will surely provide a new, innovative dimension to student learning that will boost their language learning productivity. And while apps shouldn’t be a replacement for an interactive and well-planned curriculum, FLT teachers find that they’re great supplements to any ESL course.