Chapter Nine: Educational Technology/ Using a Class Webpage for Learning

In the video "Using a Class Webpage for Learning," the instructor uses various webpages and tools to teach French. Technology has an interesting place in the second language classroom. Technology is an important tool that can encourage participation and further learning in students and can be a motivator by simply encouraging the students to learn material through the enjoyment of using the technology. In the video, the instructor uses a Webquest, web page, and email in order to teach French in her high school classroom. The students were assigned a Webquest, researching a French individual in order to create a biography. The students used the internet to research their individual and then typed the biography using French accents. The instructor used a class webpage in order to post the Webquest for the students. All of the sources that the students were to use were to be found from the internet, and the sources that the students were using were in both French and English. The instructor also encouraged the students to email her if the students had problems or questions. On her website, the instructor could have included many different tools and resources that the students could use in the class. Important tools that could be linked to the webpage could be French-English dictionaries and other language tools, culture pages, and music. The students in the video seemed to be encouraged to learn about their topic. The students preferred technology over the use of other activities, such as creating a poster. The students were encouraged to use technology and seem to prefer it, explaining that the technology was much easier to use. Technology can be an excellent tool to help students learn a foreign language and culture. Not only can students listen to the language being spoken, they can actually practice using the language through voice recognition software that helps students learn pronunciation and vocabulary. Also, students can take a virtual tour of the country to learn more about the culture. Through the use of technology, especially the internet, the students are able to research a culture and see how the culture lives.