Mobile learning classroom uses

As a professional English language teacher in foreign countries for many years, I used to get annoyed when my students brought in their digital translators, and always advised they were a crutch, especially for learning vocabulary. My argument was that if students knew they had it in their translator they became reliant on it, and did not retain it in their brain. Plus, they are not allowed to use they translators during standardized tests like the IELTS, TOEFL and other university entry exams, so it seemed like a bad strategy to get dependent on them.

Now the tables have turned. I am moving to teach in a country where Portuguese is the main language of commerce and government, and very few people speak English outside of the tourism sector. The first thing I plan to do do is buy an Ectaco Partner 900 and I cannot imagine going without it. I now have seen the light and I understand what it must feel like to be a foreign language speaker (of Farsi, Arabic, Vietnamese) in a country where the main languages are English (or Chinese, or Tamil, or Bahasa Malaysian).

I am now completely sold on these translators for survival, but also am starting to see learning applications that can be usefull for foreign language students. (My students are post-secondary adults). I would love to see a dialogue here about ways teachers are applying the use of translators to assist students, and hope we can use this space to share and collaborate.

Hey,

Thanks for your feedback and comments on everything they are really appreciated!

I studied some Psychology and Education in college. I even took some classes in learning how to learn, test preparation, exam creation and things of that nature. One of the main themes is that active learning provides better results then passive. By results i mean more knowledge retention. Passive learning (sitting in a classroom and hearing a lecture) is good for some students however it should most always be coupled with active like hands on projects and real world examples.

The P900 provides an interactive teaching method, the "Language Teacher". Speech recognition helps correct pronunciation and helps students visualize how a word is spoken. It does go one step further thought providing more active resources that our "Yellow Box" competitors don't. That's the ability to look up and hear a word or sentence, create your own learning program using flashcards, play language learning games and even use the device to communicate for you in real world situations. Immersing yourself in the language like this is how learning really takes place.

If you have any questions about using our devices in the classroom please don't hesitate to ask. We also have special pricing for Teachers, Students and Classroom sets so if you have any questions at all please feel free to email me at Jerry@ectaco.com