Listening and speaking and technology have come a long way in a few short years. The

textbook does not take that completely into account. Because of amazing advances with

the Internet and other technologies, listening and speaking through the computer is a very

viable learning activity for students today. I have found students to be most motivated

when they’ve had an interesting activity where they could speak to or through the computer.

So concentrating now on speaking technologies first, let’s look at Skype as an example.

SYNCHRONOUS SPEAKING TECHNOLOGIES Skype is one of those. This is used for audio

calls, or it could be used for video calls. Hi! Eric doesn’t know I’m using him as

an example. Some versions of Skype include conference calls. Although I’m not sure

if you have to pay extra for that. A conference call is when more than one person is one the

line, using the line. Of course, video calls allow for work with the pragmatics of the

language. Pragmatics looks at language use in a social context and it includes the intention

of the language and non-verbal communication as well as tone of voice. Other software that

can use webcams are MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger. Most IM, instant messaging programs, can also

be used with webcams or voice only in addition to texting.

Teachers can do information gap activities with students using Skype in the school lab.

It does take some initial preparation by the teacher and the lab technician to set up generic

Skype accounts that match the station numbers in the lab and make sure the microphones are

working on each computer. Also, the computer stations should be added to the contacts.

So you would just click on “new contact”. And then students would just “call” each other. So they

would call each other by clicking on the name, and then click call if it’s an audio call.

If you have webcams on your computer, luck you, you can do a video call. So they would

call, this would say like station 14 for example, and they would call that person. Now, if it’s

an information gap, then maybe one student has a simple picture and they describe it

to the classmate and the classmate tries to draw it and then afterwards, they get together

and see the results. Let me show another possibility.

Elluminate vRooms is another website that can be used to pair students for activities.

You can create accounts for free vRooms that can accommodate up to three people at one

time. Elluminate is really designed to deliver online class instruction synchronously (I

have trouble with that word) using text, voice, video, and PowerPoint or other visuals. It

also allows the teacher to take control of the student screen and assist them if they

are struggling with a technical issue. But, the free accounts could allow students to

talk to each other, perhaps practicing conversations from a textbook, and the instructor could

be listening in and offer feedback on the exercise.