About the Portfolio

This platform is designed to share insightful technology-based classroom resources with teachers and learners. It is also a repository for cutting-edge language learning websites, professional development platforms, language learning mobile apps, ESL video lessons, Computer Assisted Language Learning articles, and video tutorials that all aim at enhancing teachers' digital literacy skills and supporting pedagogy in ESL/EFL classrooms. There is a wealth of online resources as the field of Technology-enhanced language teaching evolves in a jet-like speed. Therefore, we need to stay alert and update our digital knowledge so as to meet our millennial learners's needs since they are digital natives who learn better when technology is integrated. This space will also help us share our CALL experiences and the cutting-edge tech-oriented teaching approaches that are being used to create autonomous learning in digital classrooms. For the sake of practicality, many tabs have been added to the menu to enhance our professional growth in Computer-assisted language learning. 

Video presentation of the platform

My TELT experience

 

My name is Oumar Moussa Djigo and I teach English as a Foreign language in Senegal. My journey with technology-enhanced language teaching started in 2017, while completed an MA in teacher education at Warwick university. Since all my courses were blended, we were introduced to a variety of technology-oriented teaching strategies through Moodle, the university's learning Management system. These strategies entailed designing digital lessons, recording presentations, and tutorials based on our own experience with our target context in mind. Attending the 2017 IATFL conference was also an open door to more digital experiences. We were invited as Hornby scholars to attend technology-based sessions and report online for the virtual audience. Because there were cutting edge presentations featuring interesting online tools and teaching techniques such as Blended learning and its different components, we discovered a wealth of resources that would help us bring variety in our classrooms. In addition, working on a research paper entitled 'Flipping the EFL classroom with mobile devices in the Senegalese context' was ultimately the driving force that enhanced my digital literacy skills. It was a great opportunity to resort to self-directed learning through online platforms, language learning websites, collaborations with tech-savvy teachers, and technology-oriented research to better understand the Flipped method of teaching. After completion of the study and the MA program, I gave presentations on the affordances of the approach and shared with other practitioners online and in-person. When Covid hit, using technology to reach out to learners became a must in Senegal. The government initiated remote learning through the project 'learning from home' and invited teachers to record video lessons for 'Canal education', a broadcasting TV and YouTube channel that was followed by thousands of students around Senegal. We recorded video lessons based on Content and integrated language learning (CLIL) as well as on various grammar lessons. It was also the period when I first started teaching online through Zoom and Google Classroom as an alternative to schools' closure. Finally, taking the CALL course as part of the MATESOL program at Saint Michael's college was the pathway that honed my expertise in TELT. 

About my target learners

In Senegal, English is taught as a foreign language and French is the official language of instruction while students also speak a variety of national languages outside the school environment, including Wolof, Pulaar, Serere, and Joola. This multilingual setting does not always encourage foreign language learners to practice English outside the school environment. Therefore, integrating technology in English language teaching is a necessity as it enables extending instruction to virtual learning environments (VLEs) where students can interact with each other, access a wide range of learning materials, complete assignments online and receive feedback from their peers and/or teachers. For this reason, technology should be given much consideration in pre-service and in-service teacher training courses and programs so as to prepare classroom practitioners to take advantage of technology-based instruction through blended learning while making the most of students' mobile devices. Mobile learning has been studied and explored as an alternative to a lack of materials in low-resourced areas. Flipping my English classes with mobile devices enabled my learners to watch video lessons using their own pace, complete assignments before class time and work on projects, which was beneficial for their language proficiency. Technology-enhanced language learning should, therefore, play a pivotal role in EFL contexts in order to meet the multifaceted needs of our learners and develop their language abilities.