[Whistleblower]

Hello all.

Just a thought I had whilst preparing my material last weekend. I teach at a local English Institute in Korea. Although it might not be great I try and do a good job under the circumstances.

I was thinking what equipment are required to make teaching in class easier and equipment you have in your school. In my class, all I have is a whiteboard, some board markers, an eraser, my iPod, a small TV with a DVD player and a tape deck with a dodgy CD Player. I have no OHP, no projector and no computer in my classroom. Furthermore, there is no computer room for the students.

I am thinking more and more whether the school should invest in some more equipment to help assist teaching in the classroom.

What sort of equipment is required nowadays for teaching? What equipment do you have in your classroom?

[livinginkorea]

I think that having a computer or printer in your class is a must. Most schools have a printer in their teacher's room but in my last (public) school job they have a lovely printer and it was great. Actually before I left I printed about 100 pages from eslHQ's website, all in colour!

I think that a computer is the new must in the classroom. You can search some new ideas, games for students, exams, learn songs, write and keep student records, play CDs on it and many many more things.

After having the basic essentials in the classroom I would love to have a projector, especially for teaching kids. It's a great help for keeping them on track or for having them to read together..etc.

Don't expect your school to buy those for you those whistleblower

[susan53]

I was at a conference today and went to a session on how to use an interactive whiteboard. I'd seen them used in lessons before, but gennerally badly - by teachers who clearly weren't 100% confident in using them, and who were only using because there wasn't another board in the room. Those lessons left me thinking What's the point? But today's presentation was interesting. Various ways of using it were presented, all interesting. But publishers are also starting to produce digital versions of textbooks. The demonstration of what you could do with the new digital version of Cutting Edge solved a lot of the problems, like ensuring the students are "with you", which occur during teacher-class activities when the teacher is referring to the textbook.
At the moment it's all extremely expensive, but presuming that the price comes down as fast as it has done with other technology, they're going to be a great addition to the classroom.