Incorporating new technologies into our teaching practice does not mean we need to reinvent the pedagogic wheel. The learning principles that underpin many of the tasks, activities and approaches we commonly use today can be improved, extended or even transformed through the considered and informed use of new tools such as virtual reality. In this post, we’ll look at two ways in which VR might be used to achieve this.

Role play

You’re a taxi driver, go! You’re checking in at the airport, go! You’re in a restaurant and you’re not happy with your meal, go! (more…)

As the English language supervisor for Kota Kinabalu district in Sabah, Malaysia, I’m in charge of assisting English language teachers in my district with their professional development needs. One of the areas that many English teachers in Kota Kinabalu seems to struggle with is technology integration in the language classroom. Teachers generally find the idea fascinating, yet many lack the confidence to do it. (more…)

Like many people around the world, I recently took time off at the end of December and the New Year to relax at home. A common feature of any holiday season, alongside eating large meals and seeing family and old friends, is playing games. For example, my son was playing with a new video game console and within a short time I was addicted and striving to reach the ‘next level’. Then, after finishing off yet another large meal, someone suggested playing a board game that hadn’t been opened since last year. Initially, there was typical resistance to starting a game which had a long set of rules and which could take up the whole evening. And yet, 15 minutes later, everyone was thoroughly engrossed and participating fully. (more…)