[Whistleblower]

I can see the potential of Skype with language acquisition for language learners. But the drawback is you learn the art of speaking and listening but you would not learn the art of detecting body language via communication, especially for language learners. It is, I believe, for language learners important to learn the communication via body language as well as more conventional areas of communication. Image a situation where a language learner has learnt via Skype from a high-context culture and visiting a low-context culture. There will be the immediate shock of the amount of language conveyed through the body. Furthermore, the language acquirer will have difficulty conveying emotion from a non-communicative body. Thus, I believe that human interaction is important for developing language, as well as cultural, understanding.

Nonetheless, I have started looking at the opportunity of iPod within the classroom. There are some podcasts that provide conversational English and this is just another area to improve language acquisition for students. What do you think about the possibility of iPod within the classroom? There is a lot of potential.