Teach English in ShuAngqiaohe Zhen - Tianjin

Computer Aided Language LearningOver the past ten years, the educational world has seen a rush towards the new possibilities presented by the use of computers in the classroom. As always happens with new technology or techniques, some people have thoroughly embraced CALL as something amazing that is going to change the way all language is taught. On the other hand, there are many people who do not feel comfortable with new technology, or anything new for that matter and they have not been as supportive of the ?CALL revolution?. Around the world there are varying degrees of CALL adoption in the educational environment. Some universities require all new students to have a computer and an mp3 player of some sort. All lectures at these schools are supported with digital materials and very often even a podcast of the day?s lecture. There are also many other schools which have thoroughly embraced the hardware of CALL but had little understanding of the relevant software and development that is necessary to make a real CALL program work. Like any other technology, CALL is not a magical teaching phenomena, despite what many school administrators seem to think. Computers are merely tools and are only as good as their users. Taking traditional materials and simply uploading them to a network or the internet is not CALL. Materials must be rewritten and redesigned to really take advantage of computers and networked language learning. It seems that a number of administrators are happy to spend enormous amounts of money on computer hardware and even on commercial educational software such as webCT and Blackboard, but they haven?t fully understood that the materials must be developed to be used in these systems. Without specialized material development, these systems are merely like books with beautiful covers and nothing written inside. This may be very good for marketing the school or program but does nothing for real educational advancement. At the very heart of CALL development is the simple principle that language learning systems must be intuitive. Systems need to be designed to be constantly monitoring each individual student?s abilities and adapting the materials to accommodate both their strong and weak points. Intuitive adaptation of a learning environment supports and builds student confidence, while at the same time offers repeated practice of trouble areas. The "Free Rice" website is a fabulously simple example of this intuitive adaptation. The future of CALL resides in intuitive systems that are constantly evolving and take advantage of everything the internet has to offer. Open-source platforms such as Moodle are continuously under development by volunteers who are working to make Moodle and their individual applications better. With the launch of the totally redesigned Moodle system earlier this year, educators around the world now have a free, easy to use and incredibly flexible educational platform. As the system is not just designed for language learning, educators from all fields are contributing to the development. Moodle operates in a similar way to the currently popular social networking sites like Facebook. Within the system users can import images, audio, video or almost anything found online. The teachers can monitor the content from the entire site and easily grade all activities. Essentially, Moodle offers everything available on the net in a secure environment and provides both students and teachers with the tools that make learning and teaching easier and more enjoyable.