The December 2007 issue of Educators' eZine
I wrote the article, below, about the origin of Inspiration Lane, to
explain to educators in instructional technology the problems I was
trying to solve by creating my site. My article was published this month, December 2007, in Educators' eZine, and reprinted here,
in techLEARNING.
I love how the editor, Gwen Solomon, changed the title I originally submitted, and rewrote it to: "The Amazing 500-in-1 ESOL/ ESL Website." Her new title highlights the uniqueness of the site I created, and is a fun, playful take on the daily changing content aspect of my site.
I also like how she placed this article in the "Professional Development" section of her publication. Hopefully, more teachers will be introduced to my site and use it to integrate technology in their classrooms. And, perhaps more professional development trainers in tech will be inspired to provide this kind of solution to teachers in their schools. Maybe more teachers will then be encouraged to solve problems using technology.
I think Gwen made great choices for my article submission. A caring,
intelligent editor can certainly be a big help. Thank you, Gwen! :)
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The Amazing 500-in-1 ESOL/ESL Website
By Susan Alyn
December 1, 2007
URL: techLEARNING.com
from Educators' eZine
It's no secret that technology is often an effective way to motivate
students, and this of course holds true for all subjects, including
English language learning. Although more and more non-English
speaking students enter the education system at every grade level,
teachers and professors in many English as a Second Language (ESL)
programs continue to shy away from technology, instead relying
heavily on curricula and teaching methods driven almost entirely
by textbooks. As an ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages)
certified teacher who has successfully taught in both K-12 and in
higher education, and one who eagerly embraces technology --
despite my lack of a degree in instructional technology --
I wanted to find a way to help other educators feel comfortable
using technology in their ESOL and ESL classroom.
My desire to help these teachers began when I saw firsthand
how discouraged, frustrated and bored these students become
when they are exposed to the same teaching methods over and
over, day in and day out. My insights resulted from an
experience I had [one] summer [in 2006], when I taught adult ESOL and
ESL learners in a private college's adult education program
for a professor out on medical leave. In my 13 years in
education I have repeatedly found myself working for a
department head, principal or other supervisor who seems
to fear technology, and/or has no aptitude or interest
in technology. This was yet again the situation here;
however, rarely had I ever seen so much computer equipment
in each classroom. SMART boards, computer keyboards and
other tech tools were all readily available to instructors
in every classroom. My supervisor confided to me she wished
she could think of some other way to use all this equipment
besides simply enlarging and projecting the textbook page
on the whiteboard, which she dutifully did in each class
she taught.
It was not long before I was actually using the SMART board
in my classes with the computer keyboard, showing my students
a variety of ESL web sites at the end of each class. I found
my students eagerly looked forward to finishing the day's
lesson, and moving on to the more unpredictable, fun and
challenging task of applying their English language skills
to the online world.
I soon developed a simple website, actually a portal
listing links to numerous ESL sites which I wanted to
visit with my students. I could now easily access these
links in class, as I realized it was important to continuously
offer different online content to the students. I also
placed a guest book on this site, and invited feedback from
my students. They quickly wrote overwhelmingly positive
comments. "I like learning this way!" was the gist
of every response.
During that time, and again months later, I read a news
article about a college being sued for dismissing college
students too early from class. This news made me think
more about my ESOL students and my colleagues in that
private college, and the gap between the department
head's tech knowledge and all the modern tech equipment
in that learning environment. Technology had greatly
motivated my own students, and I saw for myself how
simply devoting 5-20 minutes to technology at the
end of class on a regular basis made a huge difference
in motivating students. But, I realized that handing
my former department head a list of 500 ESL sites would
probably not inspire her to take her students to
visit such sites.
For teachers like her, I realized that instead of a list
with links to 500 ESL sites, what she really needed was
one link, to one web site – but one that has content that
changes 500+ times. I truly pondered this: How does one
create one site, with academic content that constantly changes. . .
Soon thereafter I figured out how to do this, and created
such a web site, for all ESOL, ESL and EFL teachers and
classes: it's called Inspiration Lane.
Can a teacher actually motivate ESL students by using
such a web site at the end of class on a regular basis?
I believe the answer is yes. But, you be the judge, and
let me know if my site works for you! I know it worked
for me, as I was using this same concept before I
figured out how to create it in a site. But now,
here it is: one web site for English language learners,
with daily changing academic content!
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Susan Alyn, M.A., also known as "summer," is an ESOL certified teacher in Florida, USA, and the creator and editor of Inspiration Lane.
