--- Forwarded Message from "Violeta" <[log in to unmask]> --- >From: "Violeta" <[log in to unmask]> >To: "Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum " <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Re: LLTI Digest - 17 Nov 1999 to 18 Nov 1999 (#1999-123) >Date: Sun, 21 Nov 1999 21:32:01 +0200 ------------------ Dear language teachers, A barrier to reaching my goal of integrating technology into my teaching than lack of time is the REAL (TANGIBLE) access to computers and the Internet at school. In Bulgaria there is a school subject "Informatics" which is compulsory for high school students, so the priority goes to the Informatics classes. As it is not required to use computers and the Internet in the foreign language classroom, it is very difficult to fight for access to the IT lab. We are in the shadow of Informatics. We have the "leftovers" of the time for using the IT - when there are no Informatics classes. And when there are no Informatics classes the room is locked. I take my students (10-15) twice a year to a computer lab at the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics of Sofia University and there we enjoy sharing sites and browsing. On a regular basis I work with 5-6 students from every class (there are 30 students in a class) in the 10-th grade (this makes about 30 students out of 150 who have access to computers at home). We exchange messages all year round. I usually assign a topic to a group of students or an individual student and ask them to prepare a report for the whole class. The students are very proud of their findings. After this oral publication of their work other students from the class make posters and display them in the hallways. Last year my students were in the 9th grade and they participated in a few e-mail projects within I*EARN. They made great posters about the following projects: "Flowers and Symbols", "Our EFL Classroom Behavioral Rules", "Everyday Life", "Moments of Catharsis". Last year we got 40 cards, each for a 5-hour free access to an Internet Cafe in the Municipal Library in Sofia given to us by the Open Society Foundation in Sofia. The students without Internet at home went there and they were supervised by their peers with skills for Internet use. It is difficult, almost impossible to have access to computers in the language classroom because the Informatics teachers are jealous and they have the key and are in charge of the hardware and software. The school principal confessed that she is not an expert and said that all the teachers should comply with the Informatics teachers requirements and their classes. I would like to ask you to share the situation at your schools so that I could compare. here's a list of questions I would like you to answer: 1. How is the access for students and teachers to computers organized at your school? 2. What official steps shoud a language teacher take at your school if he/she wants to book time for access to computers prior, during or after his/her classes? 3. How many hours a week are the computers accessible to teachers and students at your school? Best wishes, Violeta Tsoneva, Ph. D. EFL Teacher German Language High School 26 Pozitano St Sofia 1000, Bulgaria e-mail: [log in to unmask]