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Skillswise expert column
   
   

Using ICT in Basic Skills teaching
Catherine MacRae, teacher trainer, Westminster-Kingsway College
September 04

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.

Bringing the world into the classroom

Katie also makes use of adult education sites on the web that provide interactive material. "I've used BBC's Skillswise material in ways such as projecting a quiz onto the screen," Katie explains, "and I've also used California Distance Learning, an on-line project which provides abridged news stories. For each news story, there is a series on on-line exercises that includes vocabulary." Katie hands out the story and asks students to read parts of it aloud. When the story has been read, they discuss it and Katie asks comprehension and vocabulary-based questions, using the online quizzes.

Another site Katie uses is Adventure Learning which posts the on-line journals of a group of people travelling around the world. Photos and journal excerpts from the website are put on the screen along with a map of the area the travellers are visiting so that the class is given the opportunity to discuss it. Katie asks people in the class to read the web logs and answer questions based on a handout. Finally, she'll ask her student to write about what they see in the photographs as she firmly believes pictures can be powerful tools for writing, "What we see in the pictures are amazing things, like glaciers, that you don't find in your own back garden." The photos enable to tutor to adapt the site to entry level learners, who may describe a picture or relate a similar travel experience in a discussion. Again, this personal travel story can be typed up and projected on the overhead projector.

'Baton' stories

When it comes to ICT, Katie doesn't rely solely on the web for teaching material. One of her favourite lessons that incorporates ICT is building a 'Baton' story. "As the name suggests, it's a continuum story," Katie explains. She begins the story with something like, 'I was walking down the street one day when suddenly…' She will then pass the baton (whiteboard marker) to one of her students in the class. That person will add to the sentence before passing the baton to someone else in the group until everyone has had a turn. As the story builds, Katie types it up, projecting the story on screen. When the story is finished, the class reads it aloud. Katie prints the story and hands out a copy to everyone. "What happens is that the story becomes our learning material," Katie explains. "This is known as 'the Language Experience Approach', which was conceptualised by Paulo Freire. The story is created by the students and becomes their learning material. Katie says she goes on to use the story for spelling, grammar, comprehension and other exercises. "It's an interesting way to use Word and it's nothing more complicated than Word. You don't need ICT to do a baton story, but it makes it more interactive and it brings students into the learning process."

Powerpoint

Katie cites Microsoft PowerPoint as another great tool for teachers. "I think some people are put off and think it's difficult, but you can learn it in five minutes. PowerPoint allows you to create very crisp, clear material, which you can project onto the screen. You can also fade text in and out and use graphics and clipart." City College in Manchester provide a list of web sites for teaching, some of which include PowerPoint presentations that are ready to go.

Using audio

Audio components can also be useful ICT tools. Katie gets her students used to the range of English accents that can be heard around the world by listening to audio material from the UK and North America. "Sometimes, if English is your second language, it's hard to hear the differences between similar (sounding) words. Using an audio quiz can be a small exercise that is used as an 'add in' to a fuller lesson. "I use the BBC's World Service which has some wonderful listening exercises. Learners can listen to the news as well as songs with lyrics that are available to read and print off. The World Service also has columns written by experts who answer questions about grammar. Katie has also used voice recognition software, which can recognise dictated words and write them on the screen or read scanned in texts, typed texts or texts from the internet. These programs can be useful for non-readers. She advises that students need a bit of training to use these programmes and the software needs to be loaded onto your computer system.

ICT skills

In addition to enhancing her teaching, Katie feels ICT also gives her students the chance to improve their computer skills, whether it's becoming more familiar with a keyboard or getting used to Word. At Entry level, using a mouse and a keyboard can be difficult and some people catch on more quickly than others. Katie suggests MS Paint, on the computer. "It helps students to see the motion and become more familiar with manipulating the mouse.

What ICT can add

ICT supports Katie's teaching in every way she can think of, whether it's projecting an individual student's work so they can share it with the class, or building a story as a group. "ICT augments what you're teaching and makes it more interesting," Katie confirms. She believes her students benefit because ICT makes the lesson more interesting and more dynamic. There are more elements and layers in an ICT enhanced lesson. "It gives you a way to vary a lesson, especially if you are sitting in a small community centre, around a small table where you don't have a lot of room to move around." Katie hopes more teachers will present their teaching material this way so that individual tutors are not constantly having to reinvent the wheel, but instead, can borrow other people's material while sharing their own. And overall, she feels she has received favourable feedback from her students in her efforts to integrate ICT into her lessons. "If I have access to computers and an overhead projector, then there will always be an element of ICT." It isn't the whole lesson, but a valuable part of the lesson.

Useful links

You can find Skillswise at http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise
This Expert column article is BBC Copyright