As a language teacher, I am hesitant to incorporate student-use of technology, for fear that it might interrupt their acquisition of personal interaction and self-expression skills. With the myriad online translators and dictionaries that exits today, a student doesn't really need to memorize verb conjugations in order to figure out how to say something in Spanish. My goal as that student's teacher, however, is to teach him or her how language works and how to use it to communicate with people of other cultures. As teenagers interact more and more through Facebook and text messages, I worry that they are losing their ability to relate to each other. While they are in my class, I want them to engage one another in the communicative process and practice respectful collaboration. Looking at screens may only hinder this.
I suppose this makes my teaching style sound old-school. I understand that today's youth must be prepared for the world that they will face once they're ready to enter the work-force. Our technology is advancing so rapidly that I cannot even predict how different it will be when that happens a few years from now. However, they'll also need to be communicatively competent and most will need Spanish in the professions they choose.
I'm not saying that I don't use technology in the classroom to keep students engaged. We have a language lab that provides all students an opportunity to record their speaking practice and listen to themselves, assessing their own grammar and pronunciation. I often use Powerpoint to give students visuals for the vocabulary that we study. I post articles, songs and videos for students so that they can engage with Latin American culture outside of the classroom. I have used discussion boards on our course webpage for students to post their reflections on readings and comment on one another's posts. I am very cautious, however, to not make technology too much of a focus so that my students understand the importance of face-to-face communication.
