WORKSHOP #5 - Using technology in and beyond the language classroom

On May 9th and 16th our attentions were drawn to technology. Mrs. Maria Nilce Pontes Martinelli, owner of Cultura Inglesa - Uberaba, talked to us about the usage of technology in and beyond the classroom. We had two excellent meetings with Mrs. Martinelli, where we discussed the benefits of technology applied to language acquisition. She first provided an outlook of what there is avaliable on and offline regarding education and information technology. We talked about blogs, wikis, voice and text chat, podcasting, e-boards and their effects on our students and the results achieved so far. At the end of her first workshop (April, 9th) se left us with 5 questions:

1- Does using text/voice chat with learners improve their English?
2- What kind of English should learners use in chat ?
3- What technical skills do teachers/learners need to be able to use in chat?
4- What benefits does the use of chat bring to the classroom?
5- Is it better to use text or voice chat with language?

Next, on April 16th, Mrs. Martinelli took us to Cultura Inglesa, where we were shown the e-board. The e-board is an interactive board, which works just like a computer. The board is just like a computer screen, and there is a special pen to operate it, that works like a mouse. We could see an effective learning tool in practice and how it works, though we didn't get to use it. The benefits and usages for such tool are potentially limitless, however, it is utopic to think that these new technological gadgets will be made readily avaliable for all students. It's nothing more than an ideal future to dream about. Nevertheless, working with an e-board was an unique experience for me and I hope to work with it again soon.