The leaps and bounds taken by all things technological in the last few decades have left no industry untouched, and that includes TEFL. Centuries ago, when scholars were dreaming up new and imaginative ways of learning the English language, they couldn't have foreseen the tools that we now have at our fingertips.
For this reason, your job as an EFL teacher will be a vastly different one to that of your predecessors! Scroll on to find out more about how technology has changed the way we teach English.
More visual resources for students
These days we don't have to content ourselves with faded textbooks and old printouts to use in class. We can load a thousand images, videos and diagrams onto a computer and project it onto the whiteboard for the whole room to see. More and more language centres are choosing to update their classrooms to include modern technology like projectors and tactile whiteboards.
What effect does this have on English teaching?
For a start, it means that there is now a lot more provision for those visual learners among us. For these students, being presented with graphics and examples on a computer screen is likely to be preferable to reading or listening to a grammar explanation. As a result, you'll find that they are more productive and engaged in the lesson.
While devices such as the ones mentioned previously can present an added cost for language centres, those who have modernised tend to find it an investment rather than a waste. Even teachers can be more motivated when given new and more efficient tools to work with.
Another advantage of these visual resources is the ability to quickly send them to learners via email, making sure that nobody misses anything important. Previously, not much could be done about students missing class apart from giving copies of the completed exercises the next day. An explanation can't be repeated for one student if the others have already grasped it. This way, your presentation, examples or carefully prepared slide show can be sent, making sure the whole class is singing from the same hymn sheet.
Online classes
With the advent of Skype and similar online communication tools, teaching doesn't even have to take place in a classroom anymore. Classes can just as easily be performed over the internet from thousands of miles away.
For students, this is a total revelation. They can now fit learning English around their hectic work schedules, and no longer have to worry about the added time and hassle of attending conventional lessons.
Due to its popularity among learners, companies specialising in English teaching online have sprung up all over the place, meaning that your job as a teacher may not even have a base or headquarters. You may find yourself working entirely from home, from the comfort of your office chair.
Other than the ease of working from said chair, how does this change actually help you?
Well, online teaching requires no travel whatsoever. If you have a good laptop and a decent internet connection, there's no reason for you to move at all. A far cry from some long-suffering English teachers, who need to move around for their lessons.
Also, there's every chance of earning more money. Given that imparting classes online supposes lower overhead costs, an organisation may well pay you much more than you could expect from anywhere else.
Flexible work schedules should also receive a mention here. With all of this new technology, there's no reason why you can't figure out a timetable that works around your other commitments.
These online classes and what they mean for today's teachers might seem like the norm now, but they really have provided a generation of new teachers with the assurances that they need to be able to work from home and still make a living from teaching English. Something that, even 10 years ago, wouldn't have been so workable.
It's greener
Let's not exaggerate and say that TEFL is one of the least eco-friendly industries around. There are other fields that send our profession rocketing down that particular list.
It is, however, true that we use mountains and mountains of paper. Unthinkable amounts of paper.
The textbooks alone are a hefty part of this, but the extra resources given to learners throughout the course amounts to a lot of trees being cut down.
New technologies can help us to combat this. Instead of printing out reams of material, we can now set up Moodle pages, intranets, and email chats. All so that learners can stay up-to-date with class material, informed about updates, and just about anything else that paper would previously have achieved.
Perhaps it’s not the most visible effect that modern advances have had on EFL, but it's certainly a gratifying one. Doing our bit for the planet!
Fast translation tools
Have you ever tried to watch a film or read a book in a foreign language? If you have, you'll know that in the beginning it can be heavy going. People often feel the need to stop and go over some parts again or look up words and structures in the dictionary. Doing so can be slow and demotivating, so much so that learners often give up, so that any practice students might have been willing to do outside your class is lost.
All that frustration is now becoming a thing of the past. Foreign language students now have a vast array of tools at their disposal, all intended to make their endeavours easier. Streaming services have most of their catalogues subtitled in many languages, translation tools make quick work of translating entire blocks of text to use for reference, and bitesize podcasts are now available at the touch of a button.
The laborious process of slow progress and playing around with a dictionary has been replaced with faster and infinitely more enjoyable ways to practise the language.
How does this make our job easier?
Simply put, students can now enjoy practising their English skills outside a classroom environment. They don't need a teacher to make it fun all the time because technology has done it for you!
The result is a student who advances a lot faster than they would have done years ago, and who feels motivated to continue learning. Everybody is a winner!
Clearly, technology has been instrumental in making life as an English teacher a lot easier. In the new few decades, we may see even wider-reaching advances for the industry.
Here's hoping that it continues to help!
