Dinosaur No More
I've been teaching ELT since 2002 and over the years have accumulated a significant amount of paper: |
| My groaning resource shelf! |
Does my ELT resource shelf need to go? These resources have been collected over 12 years and I'm questioning whether they continue to have any relevance in the digital world. Getting rid of these is going to be hard - they've served me well over the years. When I was a CELTA trainee I was shown how to use photos and pictures to elicit response and bring out language and I would spend hours browsing magazines to pull out suitable images. Thankfully, I've been able to ditch all of these dog-eared pictures, thanks to the vast image bank on the Internet. It's so easy to find stimulating visual resources that also fit into the Equality & Diversity agenda.
The question is....
...will the digital tools and resources that we are about to be introduced to enable me to replace these old resources? It will be nice to clear the shelf and get rid of clutter, but can all of these be replaced in a way that ADDS VALUE to my lessons? My techno-sceptic self thinks not.
I wonder if your views have changed at all in the last month? I, too, still have a shelf (actually a filing cabinet) that contains the years of accumulated materials that I can't quite bear to throw away, but the truth is that I don't look at them anymore - most of the material that I use is in a digital format, even if it's still paper based exercises that get printed out. Even on this level, I think there IS value because it's so easy to adjust text, change questions, tailor material for specific learners.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that my views haven't changed yet. There's still a place for paper and "tactile" activities in my class - especially as all I have is a whiteboard and projector in the room where I teach. I've prepared a digital activity for our peer teach tomorrow, but I'll still be bringing my dog-eared paper resources as a back-up.
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