Using Technology in the Classroom

Hey … Tech it Easy!

Kimberley Mullins, French Teacher

The impact of COVID resulted in teaching having to pivot massively to online teaching. This was a huge adjustment and was harder for some subjects than other. 

I discovered this to be the case with teaching French. There were very few online resources. And even less so for primary-aged students. 

I scoured the Internet for decent apps. I read teaching blogs, contacted colleagues and tested dozens of ‘games’ and programs. I tried them out on my students for user-friendliness and the level of effort required to implement them into the middle of a lesson. What evolved for me was a way of integrating a variety of apps that support speaking, listening, groupwork and collaboration.  

The students LOVE using their iPads. They cannot imagine their life without them. It’s natural for them to use iPads to learn language and augment their understanding of grammar or vocabulary. We, as teachers, can use this to our advantage.

So, this year, I ran a professional learning workshop, Tech It Easy, on how to use apps such as Flippity, Gimkit, Wordwall and Blooket in conjunction with a unit of work. I had 25 teachers attend, with greatly varying levels of tech expertise, and took them through the process of creating a unit with the technology embedded in it from the very beginning. 

We used Wordwall to learn vocabulary and verbs and to create listening activities.  We used Flippity to create randomizers and magnetic words (making longer sentences and translation). We used Blooket to create fill-in-the-blanks and translations. And Gimkit, well it’s just fun!

At Kilvington, the Junior School students take their iPad to every single French session. They have become adept (and fast!) at logging onto these apps, it’s a seamless transition to an activity that consolidates their learning, and it’s something they love doing. I can’t imagine teaching French without them now!