In the university where I work, there isn't much involvement of technology in English language teaching. The only technology that has been employed there is Language Labs, where the teacher gives listening classes. Therefore, there is a big difference between the description given by Gates and my teaching situation.
The students don't have easy access to Internet since the library has limited capacity and students will have to pay to use the computers. Many students go to Net Bar outside school to surf the net, but few do it for the sake of study or language learning. What's more, English teachers there are not quite familiar with the information technology, and many don't have access to Internet at all. Thus, few teachers surf the net to gain teaching materials for their classes. Classroom teaching is still teacher-centered and lacks of communication with the students.
Although I agree with Gates in saying that connecting classrooms to the network will enable students and teachers to communicate with their counterparts across town and around the world, there is a long way to go before my university to catch up. Hopefully, I expect we'll have our Digital White Board, Multimedia, and better classroom environment soon.
The students don't have easy access to Internet since the library has limited capacity and students will have to pay to use the computers. Many students go to Net Bar outside school to surf the net, but few do it for the sake of study or language learning. What's more, English teachers there are not quite familiar with the information technology, and many don't have access to Internet at all. Thus, few teachers surf the net to gain teaching materials for their classes. Classroom teaching is still teacher-centered and lacks of communication with the students.
Although I agree with Gates in saying that connecting classrooms to the network will enable students and teachers to communicate with their counterparts across town and around the world, there is a long way to go before my university to catch up. Hopefully, I expect we'll have our Digital White Board, Multimedia, and better classroom environment soon.
