Using ICT in Basic Skills teaching
Catherine MacRae, September

In our Expert column early last year, Barbara Nance wrote about her commitment to developing the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in literacy and numeracy as a part of teaching Basic and ESOL skills to adult learners. This month, Catherine MacRae, a Basic Skills teacher who works in London, shares some of her practical experience of using ICT in her lessons.

Katie works as a teacher trainer at Westminster-Kingsway College as well as teaching in the workplace, hospitals, hotels, care homes and community centres. "I use ICT extensively," she explains, "a lot depends on what's available on site. A few of the community centres I work with have overhead projectors as well as interactive white boards and a full bank of computers, so when that's available, I take full advantage of it."

Instant handouts

"I endeavour to use ICT in every lesson," Katie says. "I try to vary my lessons with writing, reading, speaking and listening which are all elements of the national curriculum." Katie uses a range of learning tools, which include the web and software programmes and often produces her own handouts as the lesson is in progress to get her class's input. "I'll use Microsoft Word up on the screen using a data projector in conjunction with a topic we're discussing," Katie explains. "For example, we might discuss what writing instructions are, and I'll ask the class for an example such as, 'Stir the soup' or 'Chop the vegetables.' Instructions generally begin with a verb, so that verb will go up on screen," When she's done, Katie highlights or underlines the main points of the lesson and then prints it off for her students, creating an instant handout. She believes this is a good opportunity to involve her class in the process of creating learning material.

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