Session 2 Workshop 1

I have been a primary and secondary school teacher from 1991 to 2017. In the last 5 years I have been working in the AMEP at TasTAFE, teaching the Certificate of Spoken and Written English (CSWE) to learners from migrant and refugee backgrounds – mostly in the lower levels – Pre and Cert I and mostly in the Youth program (18-25 year olds). I have a Master of Education (Technology Integration) and recently completed a Grad certificate of Instructional Design at Monash University.

Using assistive technologies on phones and computers to develop greater independence while still learning English

Our ESL students can’t read or write well yet in English. How can we support them to be as independent as possible with their learning, and in the community, by using accessibility features and apps that they have at their fingertips – on their phones and/or computers?

This workshop aims to provide teachers with knowledge of some readily available tools that they can demonstrate to students, to assist them to be a little more independent in their settlement journeys, while they are still learning English. These tools are especially useful for students with spiky profiles enabling them to use their strengths while developing their skills in other areas.

It will be a very hands-on session, with participants trying out different accessibility features and apps that they could show students. This workshop is not based on academic research, but on practical experience. The tools are not perfect and won’t suit every teacher or learner all of the time – but for students who are still learning to read English but have some oral English skills – read aloud functions give them an opportunity to listen while reading. For those who can comprehend a written message, but lack experience and confidence with oral language, being able to listen to it, or dictate a message, can help them to focus on speech and pronunciation in privacy. For students who can’t spell well yet – speak to write features can help them to respond to text messages and emails a little better. They can also focus attention on the need to pronounce initial sounds carefully, which will ultimately assist them with their spelling. Knowing how to take a photograph of a paragraph and read an instant (not perfect) translation in your own language is a great tool for many.

We will explore immersive reader (listening, comprehension, translation grammar, size etc), select to speak – print to audio, and voice recorder – speech to text – for messaging and typing.