Hello, everybody!

My idea is that nothing is more topical at the present time than applying the newest technologies in teaching Business English. So it seems to me that it would be worthwhile to explore Web-materials available and online tools for BE teaching.

Hi Anastasia,

Welcome to our forum! I very much agree with you. Learning about the use of ICT in teaching is one of biggest areas of interest with the teachers I have contact with and help train. If you look at the links Jennifer and I have added to our introductions here in this forum you'll find lots of web-based resources listed, both authentic and ELT, and also connections to other like-minded teachers. The BESIG website is another great source of web-based materials.

In terms of online tools do you have anything in particular in mind?

Carl

Hi, Carl!

Thank you so much for your support and for the links provided! I will look at them very soon, it sounds really useful!

Concerning online tools - I think videoconferencing platforms should be really useful for BE courses in particular where students can practice Business Communication skills. So I would put them in the first place among e-tools for BE teaching. What about you? Maybe I'm overlooking some other useful tools?

Anastasia

Hi Anastasia,

I agree, for "live" synchronous activities in say a blended or distance learning context conferencing tools make a lot of sense. I've used dimdim and WiZiQ (both available free of charge) with some success. Are you familiar with these? If so, what do you think?

 Carl

Hi, Carl!

Kristina Smith and Lindsay Clanfield introduced us to theses free tools you mentioned. They also ran a presentation for us in OnSync setting. I liked OnSynce very much (though the great disadvantage is that it is charged for) because everyone can see and hear each other. I am not sure if it possible to do so in DimDim and WiZiQ, if it is then nothing better could be, really. Because I'm planning to do a 100% online course on Business Communication, such platforms matter a lot for me to organise activities for students on presentations, meetings and negotiations.

Hi Anastasia,

We've had quite a few problems with OnSync and in fact we will not be using it for much longer. At the moment I know of no other better free platforms for conferencing and in my experience WiZiQ, for example,was no less reliable than the pay for OnSync service. Will you alo be using Moodle for your asynchonous activities?

Carl

Hi Anastasia

I think you are right about the future of video conferencing with BE. I'm actually abig fan of http://www.tokbox.com/ which is free and multipurpose (video emails and microblogs as well as conferencing and 1 to 1) It runs in the browser and just needs to have Flash installed.

I wrote some teaching suggestions and a video demo which you can see here if you are interested: http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/2008/07/video-conferencing-for-efl.html

I thought WiZiQ was only free for a trial eriod. Is that not right?

Best

Nik

Hi Nik / Anastasia,

 Yes Tokbox is a really good and reliable service for one-to-one conferencing and you can embed the player in your class wiki or blog if you have one.

WiZiQ is still free, but you can upgrade to a premium account ($50 a year) and this allows you to run sessions with up to 500 participants! But having never tried I wouldn't know how well that works! The biggest problem we had with WiZiQ was the reliablity of the session recordings - you can choose to record your sessions and then let people who could not attend, for example, view them online by giving them the URL. This, when last I tried, was quite hit and miss, but the actual conference sessions themselves were relatively trouble free

Another free tool you might like to experiment with is is Userplane. It looks interesting but I have never tried it so I can't say too much about it. And of course we shouldn't forget Skype! In the Cert IBET course we're running at the moment we've been experimenting with Skype and asking participants to conference call in pairs / small groups to carry some of the tasks. They can choose to video confernence or just use audio and the text text option is always available too. For Mac users, I've noticed they have recently added screen-sharing, which is really handy for taking students on a web tours, for example, but I'm sorry to say I haven't had a chance to use this yet.

Carl

Hi Carl and Anstasia,

Reading your posts and having a quick look at your postings, it seems that there's a lot of software and e-learning technologies going on in the field of Teaching Business. My only experience in e-learning was/is as a user, or you can call it as a candidate. I have used Moodle and First Class, but I do not know how I can integrate these in my teaching. I understand that these are service providers, but does the British Council commission them to run online courses? or this is free service?

I would also like to know how much ICT is integrated in your classroom teaching? What technologies  and software do you use?

I am not that competent in IT technologies, but I would like to gain the utmost benefit I could get from you guys to enhance not only my teaching business techniques but also to share them with colleagues in my centre.

 Cheers,

 Sahar

Hi everyone,

I am for technology too. I think this topic is very popular now and it will be dIscussed during IATEFL a lot. We've tried OnSync and dimdim during our course on moderation skills and there were always some problems with them. Yes, they are not perfect at all. However, I like the idea of using conference platform for teaching online. I would certainly try to apply such techniques to my teaching. Thank you all for the helpful clarification on the matter.

I am personally very interested in using some particular sites and small downloadable devices, such as www.wordle.net, Hot Potatoes, www.slideshare.net, using PowerPoint presentations for teaching English, podcasts, webquests, etc. I think this list will never be complete:))) I hope there will be some online trainings or anything during IATEFL because when I study these sites and devices myself it takes a great amount of time that teachers just don't have.

Probably, such topic as CLIL will be mentioned during IATEFL too. It is a new topic in Russia, it is just beginning to attract attention here in comparison with some European contries. Certainly, modern teachers of English are not just English teachers but teachers of English + some other subject. For example English/economics/etc. +computer skills. So if you didn't have chance to get second/third/etc. education yet, you should probably do it:)))))

By the way, my colleague-economist at the institute where I teach often help me design some tasks for my students. It is very useful as I am not an expert in this field.:) What do you think about CLIL? Have you ever had an experience in content and language integrated teaching?

Nataliya 

Hi carl and all,

 I very much appreciate your clarification on the use of ICT and e-learning tools currently used in teaching Business. When I first started teaching, I used to use flipcharts, OHPs, etc but now I use Powerpoint, Video camera, IWB, Webquests, Wida and some useful websites. I have not tried using blogs with Business English, but that's a brilliant idea, which I shall adopt in my next course. It's a fast growing technological age where technology has the upper hand.

I agree with you both Natalia and Anastasia about CLIL, it's a very crucial issue, especially when teachers of English are not necessarily native speakers like me, but are teaching English as a second language. So being bilingual is not enough, this is what has triggered me to take several courses in Buisness and law.  I must say that this has helped me a lot in clarifying ambigious terms and expressions in the different business fields.Though I am not that technology expert, but now I walk into  classes more confidently and even use the dogme appraoch in some classes.

My first experience was teaching Legal English for judges and prosecutors, to be honest I could not make heads or tails of what was going on, and I was lost. I was selected to teach that course just for being multilingual and would be able to translate terms easily. Being thrown into the fire, I discovered that there's a lot there to study and learn before stepping into class. To add insult to injury, there was no one to consult, so I had to study and familiarise myself with all the legal jargon and issues in order to meet the learners' needs and create a sound course. The first two terms were very challenging, but with continual reading and research things started to look better and we had that contract for three years.

As Natalia quoted:"Life is short, and knowledge is endless...", that's 100% true, but I quote Mark Doren here: "Any piece of knowledge I acquire today has a value at this moment exactly proportioned to my skill to deal with it. Tomorrow, when I know more, I recall that piece of knowledge and use it better."  This is what I am trying to do with the knowledge I have been enlighted with in this forum.

 Thank you,

Sahar

Hi, Nataliya and all!

That's a successful strategy indeed to turn your disadvantages into advantages, that's how a good tutor should do.

Concerning my situation, as our program is the experimental one it runs for 5 years throughout the whole studying period of our students at our Department for International Business, so for us, tutors of English there, it is crucial to be aware of at least some basics of Economics. The material we are using at the senior courses are quite difficult to comprehend, and very often we have to help our students to understand them. And even for ourselves in order to conduct the classes efficiently we need to know the terms, otherwise how can we organise the class efficiently.

I know that the majority of BE courses around Russia usually run for 2, maximum 3 years. Not all GE instructors can teach BE, as it requires learning lots of new terms, and some general idea of economic realia. That's what we have faced at our department already. I would say teaching BE needs some passion from the tutors, desire to know this enigmatic and exciting field.

Anastasia