Reflective Journal for Week 4

Reading and writhing in English has become an important part of life since I took this online course, and I feel like I’m a student again. Each week, we’ll have a different topic and several assignments to do that really make time fly even faster. Not only will I gain lots of new ideas and web skills through this course, but I’ll also improve my writing skills by writing in English for all the discussions, tasks and journals, which also is related to this week’s topic, building reading and writing skills.

When I was doing my homework, my daughter was also very curious about the website, Starfll.com, that I surfed because it has vibrant colors and animated games to practice phonics and spelling. She was immediately attracted and wouldn’t let go of my laptop. Watching her getting everything right and laughing while playing those games let me think how lucky this generation is. When I began studying English in junior high school, my teacher just asked us to memorize all the facts and then gave us lots of tests, and many of my classmates have lost interest in learning since then.

Robert mentioned that our goal is to have a need-driven technology project, and we don't what to use technology in the classroom without knowing how the technology is going to satisfy our needs or solve the problems. I couldn’t agree with him more. Three or four years ago, English teachers here were asked to attend many workshops about the interactive whiteboard, telling us it was going to revolutionize the way we teach English in the classroom. But now, we still don’t have any whiteboards in my school. Moreover, a teacher who has used it for quite some time told me that he thought the whiteboards can be replaced by tablets. So, what’s the point of the wasted time when it is just a topic for the workshop, or it might be replaced some day?

Now, I want to talk about something which is irrelevant to this week’s course. I’m thinking that if it is possible some day technology can help all English learners to practice speaking at their computers, and I mean real and meaningful communication, just like you’re talking to a real person and exchanging ideas and thoughts with each other. Of the four language skills, you can always improve yourselves on your own by listening to English-speaking radios, reading English novels or keeping your diary in English. But, when it comes to speaking, you really have to talk to someone in person. With the technology of speech recognition and correction, learners of English can improve their pronunciation and intonation. Then, how about meaningful communication? Can technology like this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPIbGnBQcJY ) really be happening in the future? If this is true, it’ll definitely revolutionize the way we, nonnative speakers, learn how to speak English in a much more fun way.