Use Classroom Management Platforms and Other Tools to Overcome Barriers in Learning a Language
contributed by Al Kingsley, CEO of NetSupport
Teaching a language, whether for ESL students or those learning something new like French or Spanish – requires largely the same teaching skills as any other subject.
Yet, in some critical ways – especially for ESL students – the challenges are magnified by the comprehension barrier. Not unlike the barriers every student can face, students learning languages hit plateaus and lose focus, are unmotivated, get distracted, and probably most glaringly apparent, are hindered by lack of confidence.
Edtech can help. There are scores of products that are explicitly for language instruction and even more that are more general use, but when explored through the lens of language learning, have surprising benefits. So let’s look at the most common challenges language learners face and the surprising ways edtech can overcome them. Included in these tips are new ways to use your classroom management platform in ways you might not have realized.
Challenge No. 1: Focus
A class of 30 students is a handful. If they are all relatively close in skill, teaching is easier, but add a few ESL students or those behind grade level or above grade level, and the challenges multiply. Being on my county’s Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Board, I’m keenly aware of this impact on a teacher’s day especially when every teacher I’ve ever met is so dedicated to meeting every student’s individual needs.
Particularly for ESL students, they need learning tools suiting their skill level. Teachers usually know exactly the resource each student needs, but sometimes all 30 of them need a different resource or are on a different level. Keeping all of them on the track and engaged can pull away from instructional time. Your classroom management solution is probably the best resource you have for this particular problem. Use it to launch a learning app right on a student’s desktop without leaving your own. It’s also possible to send websites and documents to students, and monitor how long they’ve been on a site or a particular learning app without leaving your own desk.
Challenge No. 2: Motivation
Intrinsic motivation is what we’re aiming for, in other words guiding our students to feel agency and pride in their work. Teachers are terrific cheerleaders in this way and we don’t want tech to get in the way. Rather, see it as a tool to provide encouragement and nudge them along.
For the ESL student, developing a presentation about their home country, food, or really anything unique to their culture is a chance for a student to show off what they know. Many edtech tools are terrific for featuring this kind of creativity. Consider using a comic book program like Pixton, or a digital whiteboard like Creatly to storyboard presentations. Book Creator is another tool to present information. Each of these tools encourages creative expression and agency.
Don’t forget to check your classroom management platform because it most likely has a digital whiteboard, too. Teachers can give input directly onto the student’s device or even use it for whole-class instruction, and of course, the student can use it as a scratchboard or storyboarding tool.
Challenge No. 3: Distractions
Few people like to talk about distractions because it seems impossible to wrangle them under control. Distractions come from other students, phones, noises outside the window, and the very technology we place in front of our students. Teachers are excellent time managers, yet even veteran teachers agree that keeping students on task is difficult.
For the language learner, not staying on task is often a symptom of a more significant problem like not fully understanding the instructions in the first place. These students need more direct contact with their teacher to stay on task so using a classroom management platform like NetSupport School makes those nudges and redirects far less disruptive. From the app on the teacher’s desktop, they can see the students’ screens and what they are working on, and even shut down windows and apps for students who aren’t doing the right work.
This same tactic also helps the student learning a foreign language like those in French, Spanish, or German classes. With that same classroom management app, teachers can monitor how long a student has been engaging with the assigned material. Too long might not actually be intentional. The student could simply be struggling to understand, which a teacher can quickly recognize and remedy. Give additional instructions to individual students or to groups using either chat, audio, or video recordings. Then the student can replay or slow down the direction for better comprehension.
Challenge No. 4: Confidence
Poor self-esteem and lack of confidence are not the same thing, but they do tend to go together. I know plenty of students (and adults) with strong self-esteem who lack the confidence to do new things in unfamiliar situations. What’s startling is how many people don’t realize what is really behind them getting stuck or hitting a plateau. Teachers, on the other hand, have an uncanny ability to see why a student isn’t striving.
The time-honored approach of simply giving a few encouraging words works, and in these cases, the right edtech is a real asset. Giving students a venue for remaining anonymous while they take chances is perhaps the main reason I love quiz tools like Kahoot! and Jotform. Educators are familiar with Kahoot!, but perhaps not Jotform, which is free for limited use. Regardless of the tool you choose, try using surveys and question boards, whether it’s the ones included in your classroom management platform or using external tools and just managing it from the classroom management platform.
Working one-on-one with students is probably the most effective way to overcome confidence issues, though, and this is where the tools in NetSupport become particularly helpful. NetSupport School actually includes a Languages Lab feature that connects teachers more closely for audio monitoring. In addition to seeing what is happening at a student’s desk, indicators tell her when each student is either listening to audio or speaking into a microphone. Teachers can listen in on individual student’s progress there, and record anything so the student could refer to it later.
There’s a common theme to all of these suggestions: doing more using tech while also being more personal and private. Few teachers have enough time to address every individual’s needs and to do so without singling out any one individual for needing that support. That’s why tools that let teachers provide that help without every other student being aware of it are so valuable. This is the way to help those students who are struggling with a new language feel more respected and supported.
Al Kingsley is the CEO of NetSupport. He is an author, chair of Multi Academy Trust cluster of schools in the UK, an Apprenticeship Ambassador, and chair of his regional Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Board. A 30 year veteran in the sector he has written books on edtech, school governance, and school growth.
