Learning ESL in an easier way with the help of technology.

We all know how boring can get learning something in the traditional way, sitting in a room you and your books or having a teacher that forces you to learn by heart new vocabulary that is need ,however the method does not encourage some to learn that language but does the exact opposite sometimes.

We have all been there and we can all relate and that is why we as teachers need to find more fun activities to engage our students and this is were technology comes to offer as it's helping hand .

Knowing that technology is part of everyone's lives now days we can take advantage of that fact through some technological tools that i found and that i will mention bellow.

1- Online Games

Online Games is a trend that children follow devotedly ,passing most of their time playing virtual games in front of their computer or phone. Though that can be considered as distraction from studying all we have to do is introduce them to the right games that benefit us ,games that are educational and make them obtain knowledge while playing them. Funbrain is one place where you can find such educational games and books .StarFall  has multiple games for younger students to increase English literacy skills .Also there are digital games of traditional games that can be played in the classroom on the white board such as Hangman, Scramble or Boggle.

2- Pen Pals

Sending letters with post mail it seems that is something left to the past as now you can exchange messages via social apps or emails. Students this days use this kind of communication very frequently and because of the amount of time that takes of their lives we should make good use and benefit of such preference of communication. Pen Pal will enable them to communicate  and interact with new people without making them feel like they are taking an extra mile to learn or do their homework. The only thing you need to do is to make an arrangement with an English speaking class in another country and have students write to their pen pals regularly .This is a great way for them to practice their English writing and reading comprehension skills  while making new friendships .

3- Apps

What is more easy and accessible than an app that you can have on your phone , iPads or Tablets .Apps that will not frustrate you but will make you feel relaxed ,receiving enjoyment from the activity .For practicing grammar rules apps like Grammar Up allow students to test their knowledge in specific  topics such as verbs, prepositions etc. One good app for helping with the pronunciation of the words is Sounds Right by British Council which is a simple chart with great big resonance, when learning British English refer to Sounds Right for proper pronunciation of vowels and diphthongs ,with the former listed by mouth shape .

As you can see making use of technology that is used in our students every day lives can bring many benefits as well as simplify our work and make more enjoyable their learning process .

I hope this blog helped you in terms of finding some apps or tools to use in the future.

Till next time, have a good day everyone.