23 Things

I truly enjoyed reading Chris blog entry about “The myth of the Digital Native”. I agree with Chris about the fact that the Native vs. Immigrant metaphor is wrong on many different levels. As a language teacher and an immigrant, I cringe when someone compares technology tools to a language and the digital technology to a culture. I do not believe that there is truly a “digital generation” since all children born over since the start of the “digital age” did not have equal access to digital technology. In fact, access to digital technology is more often determined by the social economic status than by the period of time when a person is born. I also enjoyed reading Exhibit A, as I have encountered many similar behaviors from students over the years, and I have also met the students at the other end of the spectrum who are incredibly adept at using technology. They just do not represent their entire generation.
However, I also agree with Chris when he states that students have become increasingly less afraid of digital technology and I believe that this ability to embrace digital tools is what defines best the digital generation.

Dan Myer’s post about homework was also interesting to me. Although I agree with him when he states that the students who completes homework are often the students who best master the concept, I also feel that a student’s ability to increase his/her mastery of a foreign language is directly connected to the time they spend exposed to comprehensible input. I do not feel that it is just a problem of class management. I believe that students’ performance is connected to the amount of time spent reading or writing stories outside of class. I am very interested in hearing from other language teachers to find out how they have incorporated blogging in the target language in their homework assignments.

I see benefits to blogging with students at the advanced levels of language instruction, when students can write critically about various issues, but I struggle to find an effective way to use blogs with students during the first and second year of language learning. I’d be very interested in hearing from other language teachers on this topic.