Skype
The best way to learn
a foreign language, I believe, is to communicate with other people. In this
case, I talk about the English language and the people you communicate with can
have English as their native language or as a foreign language. They say that
the best way to learn a new language is to be staying in the country where the
language is spoken ( or to get an English speaking loverJ), but it might only be possible for some of us. But
there is another magnificent way of meeting people, over the internet. You can
download a free program to your computer called “Skype”. You use it over your
ordinary internet connection and there is no connection charge, minute charge
or subscription fee, you only pay for your internet connection. Skype is like a telephone connection over the
internet. You just have to open an account and then you can get in contact with
friends all over the world. You can also use your webcam, if you have one
installed on your computer, so that you can see the person you are talking to. If
you want to, you can talk to more than one person at a time. You can also use
an ordinary “chat- function”, which means that you can also write a text and
communicate that way.
As the teacher I
might be the person to help my pupils to find appropriate friends to contact
and talk to, by using Skype. The best idea, I think, is to get in contact with another
teacher and connect my pupils with her/ his pupils. Then you will have to give
them material to work with, like topics to talk about and later on also tasks
that they can solve together.
The first thing they
must do is to get to know each other, so at their first meeting they must do a
presentation. They will of course tell each other their names, ages, where they
live, family, class, interests, favorite things and so on.
For me as a teacher
it gives a lot of possibilities to work closely with other teachers all around
the world. We can share lots of knowledge and cooperate with our teaching.
This cooperation
might lead up to a class trip and we all can meet up in real life. What an
interesting and lovely experience it would be!
When I was reading your blog it felt as if you have read my thoughts. I completely agree with you that the best approach is to learn through all kinds of communication. During my school days, we did not communicate in class, therefore I have difficulties with that even today. The best way, as you write, is to confront with the new language.
ReplyDeleteI think, like you, that we may have great use of Skype in our profession but also private. When my adult children studied overseas we were able to communicate. I could in that way feel that I was close to them even if we were far apart.
I also believe that we as teachers may have cooperation by bringing pupils in our classes together and let them both the chat and speak via Skype. I think this would be very useful especially in English teaching. Another benefit is that we call each other for free. You can also use Skype on your iPhone. Skype for iPhone available at AppStore and the program is free.
Skype has many benefits just as you write. The disadvantages I can see are that Skype requires that your computer must be on and the software started to be able to make or receive a call. Although there is a service in the software, that makes you record a voice mailbox. However, you have to subscribe to this feature. In other words, you cannot call up spontaneously without your needing to book a time for the call. Another point that is important to think about is to get good quality on calls, you need a fast internet.
Skype is not a difficult technology, but a certain technological knowledge may be needed for some things that may be obvious to some are not so obvious to others.
A last disadvantage is that some mobile operators in the world have talked about blocking Skype, this is in and of itself not a flaw in the program. It would degrade the use based on what you write. Let's hope it does not become a reality.
On the whole, Skype is a great application for iPhone. Given the sound quality it can replace traditional mobile calls to a certain extent.
//Lena Marmont
Hi guys!
ReplyDeleteI've heard a lot about Skype from friends that teach. I'm also a teacher, but I haven't started using the tool... yet. After I read your blog post I got really curious about Skype and as I now write this comment I'm thinking of when I will start my own English Skype project =)
I agree with you when you say that Skype can encourage students to practice their communicative skill. It's a good method to learn a foreign language and I think it works well, because the situation is authentic.
One thing I thought about when I was reading this blog post was how to select an appropriate and interesting class to communicate with. You wrote that Skype gives possibilities to work with people all around the world, which made me think about using etwinning.net. It’s a source where you can find classes in Europe to work with. You sign in, select a class and you start your collaborating work.
Thank you for a very interesting blog post. You really inspired me =)
/Hanna Svedberg