I can't live without my....

During the last few years, accept for my cell phone and mp3 player, I have been pretty much on the fence with respect to all those portable computer and communications gadgets. I never got a laptop, a PDA, a pocket PC or a GPS navigator. So when I started giving classes to my new client, Research in Motion, it was pretty obvious what was gonna happen next. These are the people who make the Blackberry cell phones. It took them less than two weeks to convince me that I needed one of their phones to organise my life and, I have to admit, they were right! Now I don't have to look for a computer to check my email. It comes directly to my phone. I can store all my music, audio and text files. It has a nice camera for those unexpected photo opportunities. It has voice recognition and hands free so that I can talk while I'm driving and GPS for when I get lost. As far as I can tell, I have everything I could possibly need, from my calendar and agenda to my flickr pictures, all in my pocket!

Basics

Language teaching, more than any other subject, provides an unlimited choice of subject matter, methods and materials. It is perhaps the only classroom where a discussion of the weather or the latest news would not be considered unprofessional or irresponsible. And therein lies the danger, both on the part of the student and of the teacher, of losing sight of the objectives of the class. The teacher, first and foremost, has to make sure that the students are called upon to use all four language skills at some point during each class. The teacher must take to the class on a regular basis a variety of reading and listening materials to avoid that the students become accustomed to and therefore limited to the teacher's voice and way of speaking. The students, on the other hand, must filter what is presented in each class and take what is useful for them.