One of the best things you can do in your English classes is to encourage your learners to become autonomous learners. Learner autonomy is a process by which learners become responsible for their learning. In other words, they are able to set goals for learning and look for what they need to help themselves learn what they want to learn.
What does technology add to learner autonomy?
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Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has had tremendous development in the 21st century. This has had an influence on almost all aspects of human life including education. By means of ICT, learning can take place ubiquitously (anytime, anywhere). In other words, it breaks the boundaries and goes beyond the confines of the four walls of the classroom and scheduling. Learning can happen all around us, and everyone can be an initiator of learning without having to wait for a teacher to start the process. Learners are more inquisitive and this provides an opportunity for life-long learning.
There are various ICT tools that can help in learning English autonomously. Today, I would like to talk about one of them. That is, Simple English Videos.
Simple English Videos is an online English self-learning tool that is simple to use and easy to navigate.The materials are in form of videos that are made by Viki (British) and her husband, Jay (American). Vicki and Jay explore both British and American English to make authentic videos that can help people learn English in action accompanied with clear explanations. I have found the videos both instructional and entertaining because they are built on interesting converstations, stories, and comedy sketches. Therefore, you can introduce it to your students because it can motivate them to learn the language. The tool is accessible on the web by means of devices such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones. You can access this platform here.
Additionally, you can choose an aspect of the language that interests you more.
One of the drawbacks of Simple English Videos is that this learning tool does not provide room for learners to do actictivities to check their progress.
Do you think this tool can be useful for learners in your context? Please, leave a comment to say what you think about it.
Hi Jean, thank you for the useful review. It's the first time for me to experience Simple English Videos, so it was very intriguing to read your post. The first impression I had was that they are now so many 'authentic' language 'self-learning' tools out there! Wow. You've critise its limitation well though, that learners can't not check their learning process. It seems like the tool's more like inputting or showing contents rather than interacting with learners. I will have to consider this when using it in class. Thank you again, see you next week!
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