Digital immigrants have seen the evolution of the World Wide Web from, what is now known to be, “web 1.0” to “web 2.0”. What makes them different? According to Dooley, Jones and Iverson, in their “Web 2.0 adoption and user characteristics” (2012), “Web 1.0 had fairly static content, allowing for little to no participation from viewers, with only experienced Web developers having the capacity to modify and update Web pages” On the other hand, “Web 2.0 involves the use of Web pages as a two-way form of communication between users, allowing them to prepare and share content such as information, photos, videos, and links”. Our students are really familiarized with technology, since it forms an important part of their everyday life. As teachers, we have to get profit from this, bringing it to the educational environment. Web 2.0 not only provides a huge variety of entertaining devices, but also pedagogical applications are available.
We would like to share some of our creations. We used www.jalbum.net to create a photo gallery. The idea is to present “ a day in someone’s life”. This page allowed us to include images with a brief description in
the form of a gallery (link to our gallery: http://jalbum.net/en/browse/user/album/1659731). In this way, students can develop their writing skills by connecting language with real life situations. Another website we found useful, and that can complement the previous activity, is http://tellegami.com/ this is a cellphone application that you have to download to your phone, and after recording you are allowed to share it with other people. Students can create an avatar and record themselves to make it speak. Our avatar retells the descriptions that appear in the photographs and thus, listening and speaking skills are revisited.
It is a MUST for teachers to get profit from the internet and all the elements that it provides. The infinite uses it has can lead to limitless practices inside - and outside - the classroom. Students will take it as both a challenge and entertainment at the same time. TRY IT!
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