Practical Technological Tools for Teaching and Connecting with Adolescent English Learners in the Post-Pandemic Age

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a new era of technological tools that were used by language teachers to develop their students’ English language skills. As a result of the sudden shift to online instruction, teachers at the Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics Academy middle school had little time to prepare and had limited resources to deliver an innovative curriculum. However, when schools returned to in-person learning and when COVID-19 relief funds were allocated to the school site to purchase new technology, these teachers gained access to more technology in their classrooms than ever before. This paper describes how teachers at this site leveraged the technological tools to achieve two goals: making the curriculum comprehensible and engaging for English learners to raise assessment scores; and using the technology to connect with their students. To achieve these goals, teachers were taught how to coalesce their tools in three ways: translating texts; digitizing their paper-based lessons; and “mirroring” input from their tablet computers to a larger screen. During an eight-week training, teachers implemented these innovations in their classrooms, reported their successes and reflected on their practice. This paper describes how four teachers used these tools inside their classrooms for innovative English language instruction.