Technology marches ever onwards in all walks of life, and the classroom is no exception. Long gone are the days of overhead projectors, cassette tapes and mimeograph machines, here at Oxford School of English we endeavour to embrace the latest teaching technologies in our continued efforts to deliver the most effective learning experience for our students.
Interactive whiteboards:
For many years, the trusty old-fashioned whiteboard was the cornerstone of every classroom. It had its downsides with limited space and you’d usually finish your day with your hands covered in pen ink, but teachers were used to it. Oxford School of English transitioned to using all interactive computer white boards in 2023 when we moved from our previous location above the old Clarendon Centre to our current home on Friars Entry. At first, some of the teachers were skeptical about the benefits of IWBs having had some bad experiences when the technology was in its infancy, however everyone quickly saw how much the technology has improved since its initial form and what an incredibly useful tool it is in helping our students achieve their language goals.
When using an interactive whiteboard classes immediately become more dynamic through use of video and images. Complex language ideas and vocabulary can be demonstrated much more clearly. Lessons can be saved and sent to students later for them to revise the grammar rules at home.
Classroom presentation tools:
Most modern coursebooks come with extensive classroom presentation tools which make it much easier to share the ideas explored in the text books, correct mistakes and analyse reading texts and listening. They are a great benefit both to us as teachers and to our students who can revise things at home with the online tools.
Laptops:
While handwriting has proven benefits in encouraging knowledge retention, for some tasks nothing beats a laptop. We have a suite of Lenovo Thinkpads for our students to use in class to take notes or work on projects.
AI:
A hotly-debated topic in every staffroom and classroom around the country (if not the world!). AI can be useful as a tool but it can never replace a teacher or hard work. One of the main positive uses of it is just as a chatbot because 99% of the time it produces grammatically correct English sentences and increases your exposure to correct English however the factual content of these sentences should never be trusted.
Some students might be tempted to use it to write but that’s a big no-no in our opinion. Your brain is a muscle and you need to exercise it. Making mistakes is how we learn. It’s much better for your English progress to hand in a piece of writing that is genuinely yours and has some errors in it than to give the teacher something which has perfect English but isn’t really your work. Maybe use it as a spark to give you an initial idea for an essay if your mind has gone blank, but the work should be yours.
Of course, there are times when AI can be helpful but be careful with it and always ask your teacher first. At Oxford School of English there are over a hundred years of combined English language teaching experience among our core teaching staff and more than once we’ve seen students led astray by something the AI tells them is correct but really isn’t.
VR:
The latest addition to our technological teaching toolkit is a set of state-of-the-art virtual reality headsets. VR has several exciting use cases in English language teaching and many more possibilities remain to be explored.
- Immersive teaching visualising complex concepts.
- Practical simulations for real-life situations and role-plays.
- Interactive lessons which engage students and give them ownership over the language.
One of our students having a great time in virtual reality.
Here at Oxford School of English we’re excited about the possibilities of using technology to enhance our already extremely high-standard of teaching. While nothing is truly a substitute for hard work, a talented experienced teacher and a motivated supportive class, technology is a valuable tool that can assist in both the teaching and learning of the English language. Sometimes it really does feel like we’re living in the future, and we aim to take advantage of that!