LANGUAGE TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP (GINA)

COMMENT ON WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED ABOUT YOUR OWN APPROACH TO THE USE OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY.

        Nowadays, the use of technologies is something really common in our daily lives. Technologies are changing our working methods, and they are changing educational methods too. However, many people is warned of the possible harmful effects that technologies can have in the education of our children.

       On the one hand, technologies can be useful in education because children are really interested on them, so we can use them in order to catch their attention. Moreover, using technologies they can share information and work together from different places. Another advantage is that some technologies are really easy to use, that’s why children can find a lot of information without difficulties.

       On the other hand, we should be careful with the technologies that we use with children because technologies can be really harmful if children use them in a bad way. We should catch their attention while they are using it because some technologies as for example ‘the Internet’ keeps children amused in non-educational WebPages as Facebook, Twitter and so on. Moreover, we should teach them that they can find a lot of information using technologies, but they should learn to select only the valid information.

       In Spain the use of technologies in education is something new and only a few teachers use them because they are afraid. It’s something new that a lot of adults don’t know how to use!

         In conclusion, pupils should understand that technologies are really interesting and they can be a really useful tool to learn, but they should be used carefully. We must teach to our students how to use them or it can have dangerous consequences!

MARIA

CRITICAL PEDAGOGY (SEAN)

IN YOUR EXPERIENCE IN EDUCATION, DESCRIBE A SITUATION WHERE YOU HAVE SEEN ASPECTS OF CRITICAL PEDAGOGY EMPLOYED

          Children find their models first in their parents and second in their teachers. It is very correctly said that the influence of the teacher is immense, that’s why our decisions and behaviors inside the class are so important.

          Nowadays, we live in a ‘cosmopolitan world’ where there is a great variety of cultures, religions and styles of life. The class is like a small society, that’s why is possible to find pupils with a lot of different characteristics. Due to globalization we can find different cultures inside the class, and our duty as critical teachers is to try to avoid cultural categories. We should imply in our class the fact that all the cultures are situated at the same level, there isn’t better cultures than others.

         If there is one child who comes from another culture the teacher should reinforce this, showing to the rest of the classroom that to have people in class with different cultures is something really positive that can help us to understand how is the world where we live.

         According to my personal experience, I think that the Spanish educational system it’s not really critical according to cultural diversity because symbols and social practices that express culture (as for example dresses or burkas) are not allowed in class. I don’t agree with these measures because in my opinion every person should be allowed to wear the clothes that he/she prefer.

        To sum up, there’s a lot of behaviors about our teaching styles that are not included on the curriculum, but they are transmitted to the pupils through the “hidden curriculum”, and that’s why it’s so important to avoid the stereotypes about the different cultures and try to integrate all of them in order to create a “mini” intercultural society in our class where respect and coeducation are really important values.

                                                                                                                                                     MARIA