ICT in TESOL Katie Webb

WhatsApp. I am ALMOST certain you'll have heard of WhatsApp but did you know it could be used as a learning tool? Well, that's what I am going to talk about this week but first here is the backstory of this post.  Around a week ago I was talking to my partner about this blog and he suddenly said: "I can't believe you haven't dedicated a post to WhatsApp considering that's your Ph.D." This caused a eureka moment and quite a lot of disbelief - I mean HOW I had I not thought of this myself? 😹  WhatsApp and my Ph.D. (If you don't care about this. - skip this part 😆). So, my Ph.D. will look at how online synchronous chat (participants communicating in real-time through digital messaging services e.g. WhatsApp) is being used with teacher- trainees on the CELTA course. For those that don't know anything about the CELTA - it is an ELT teacher training course - a major component of this course is the observed teaching practice sessions t...

This week I am going to be talking about the student engagement platform Nearpod . .. FYI I have never used it as a teacher, BUT I have experienced it as a student and, for me , it really does enhances learning 🙌 What can you do on Nearpod? Well, what can't you do might be an easier question to answer...  Think of it as a platform where you build a lesson - and to do this you can  create slides (similar to those in PowerPoint),  import slides you've already created, add pdfs, pictures and audio. Then to make it interactive you can c reate multiple-choice quizzes,  polls,  a collaboration board, insert gap fills or matching activities among other things⇩  The activities you can utilise on Nearpod To get a feel for it why not take a look at the example lesson I built.    The lesson I have built is to be used synchronously in the classroom  (the slides have been kept real simple but would be expanded on) with teacher trainees...