Foreign language classroom

During the last few years important developments have taken place in this field. As a result there is a great variety of teaching aids and teaching materials at the teacher's disposal. By teaching aids we mean various devices which can help the foreign language teacher in presenting linguistic material to his pupils and fixing it in their memory; in testing pupils' knowledge of words, phrases, and grammar items, their habits and skills in using them.

Teaching aids which are at teachers' disposal in contemporary schools may be grouped into (1) non-mechanical aids and (2) mechanical aids.

Non-mechanical aids are:

a blackboard, the oldest aid in the classroom; the teacher turns to the blackboard whenever he needs to write something while explaining some new linguistic material to his pupils, correcting pupils' mistakes, or arranging the class to work at some words and sentence patterns, etc.; the blackboard can also be used for quick drawing to supply pupils with «objects» to speak about;¹

a flannel-board is a board covered with flannel or other soft fabric for sticking pictures on its surface), it is used for creating vivid situations which would stimulate pupils'' oral language; the teacher can have a flannel-board made in a workshop or buy one in a specialized shop; the use of a flannel-board with cut-outs prepared by the teacher or pupils, leads to active participation in the use of the target language, as each pupil makes his contribution to working out «a scene» on

the flannel-board;

a magnet board (a board which has the properties of a magnet, i.e., can attract special cards with letters, words, phrases or pictures on it) used with the same purpose as a flannel-board;

a lantern which is used for throwing pictures onto a screen.

Mechanical aids are;

tape recorders (ordinary and twin-track); the same tape may be played back as many times as is necessary, the twin - track tape recorder allows the pupil to play back the tape listening to the speaker's voice and recording his own on the second track, the lower one, without erasing the first track with the voice of the speaker, the tape recorder is considered to be the most important aid in teaching and learning a foreign language;

a gramophone or - record player is also an audio equipment available in every school; the record player is an indispensable supplement to contemporary textbooks and other teaching materials as they are designed to be used with the long-playing records which accompany them;

an opaque projector or epidiascope used for projection of illustrations and photographs;

a filmstrip projector which can be used in a partially darkened room (the Soviet filmstrip projector JI3TH does not require a darkened room);

an overhead projector used for projection of a table, a scheme, a chart, a plan, a map or a text for everyone to see on a screen;

television and radio equipment: television would make it possible to demonstrate the language in increasingly varied everyday situations; pupils are invited to look, listen, and speak; television and radio programs are broadcast, but it is not always easy for teachers using these programs to synchronize their lesson time with the time of the television or radio transmissions;,

teaching machines ^a which can be utilized for presenting information to the pupils, for drilling, or testing; the teaching machine can provide an interaction between the pupil and the «programme»; the learner obtains a stimulus and a feed-back from his response; thus, favourable conditions are created for individual pupils to learn, for instance, vocabulary, grammar, reading, etc.;

a language laboratory, this is a special classroom designed for language learning. It is equipped with individual private or semi-private stalls or booths. They are connected with a network of audio wiring, the nerve centre of which is the monitoring console which has a switch board and tapedecks, making it possible to play tapes and send the programme to all or any combination of booths. The teacher at the monitoring console can listen in, or can have a two-way conversation with any pupil.

There are two main types of language laboratories - library and broadcast systems. The library system is suitable for students capable of independent study; each student selects his own material and uses it as he wishes. The broadcast system is suitable for class work when the same material is presented at the same time to a whole group of students, and a Class works together under a teacher's direction.

The language laboratory is used for listening and speaking. The pupil's participation may be imitation or response to cues according to a model. The language laboratory is used for «structural drills» which usually involve rephrasing sentences according to a model, or effecting substitutions. The language laboratory is often used for exercises and tests in oral comprehension.

Tape recorders fulfill all the functions required for this use of the language laboratory. Tape programs can be associated with visual aids for individual work or work in pairs.

The language laboratory keeps a full class of pupils working and learning for the entire period, and thus enables the teacher to teach the foreign language more effectively.

In conclusion, it must be said that the use of teaching aids is very demanding on the teacher. He must know about each aid described above, be able to operate it, and train pupils to use it. He should also know what preparations must be made for classroom use of each of these teaching aids, - and what.teaching materials he has at his disposal.

In teaching foreign languages in our secondary schools most of the teaching aids are available. Each school should be equipped with a filmstrip projector, a film projector, an opaque projector, a tape recorder and a phonograph. Specialized schools, where English is taught nine years, should have language laboratories. When used in different combinations teaching aids can offer valuable help to the teacher of a foreign language in making the learning of this subject in schools more effective for pupils.

The introduction of video conferencing platforms such as Skype, Adobe Connect, Marratech, etc., initiated a revolution in distance foreign language education. This new virtual classroom allows direct and instant interaction between teachers and students throughout the world, as well as among students themselves. Nonetheless, video conferencing also poses new challenges, such as the necessity of developing new teaching methodologies, pedagogies and modified syllabi. This new technology also generates difficulties and limitations due to the technological requirements needed for this interaction. Since current trends in foreign language education have shifted towards the promotion of intercultural communication competence which has its own specific teaching methods and tools, successful distance foreign language programs require innovative solutions that take into account both the developments in communication technology and intercultural educational perspectives in a synergistic way. The main focus of the paper is to bring together these two areas and to shed light on how the instant virtual language learning environment provided by video conferencing can help us in the implementation of the theory of intercultural communication in foreign language education.

The paper presents a pilot study that was conducted in order to explore the possibilities and limitations generated by video conferencing technology from the perspective of the theory of intercultural communication in foreign language education. The results of the study provide an important starting point for a new direction for research in this field.

According to the last investigations, the new generation video conferencing tools, such as NetMeeting, allow for better audiovisual interaction between teacher and students and greatly enrich the learning environment for language learners in virtual spaces.

It is better to prepare a questionnaire for the students to learn their views on the effectiveness of this form of teaching the English language and their assessment of the students' communication skills, again with a focus on intercultural communication.

Use of video movies at a lesson of a foreign language brings an increasing variety to the educational process, promotes the activization of pupils, and increases their interest to a subject. The video movie is an effective tool of development of skills of oral speech, and is undoubted, promotes fixing of lexical, grammatical and phonetic material, expansion of a lexical word stock, promotes pupils' preparation for understanding of speech of different people, and the creation of the natural language environment at a lesson.

The basic purpose of video movies is the activization of speech and thinking activity of the trainees in the course of mastering a language material by means of modeling of the speech situations.

The socio-cultural competence being one of main tasks of training English today, means the deep knowledge of one's own culture and culture of the country of the studied language. Existence of profile level at the high school, caused by more internal motivation of pupils to subject studying, and gives the chance to the teacher:

to increase the specific weight of the linguistic information;

to expand data from literature, science, art of the country of studied language;

to raise the questions from history of interaction of the countries of studied language with our country;

to use widely the comparison of the English language with the native language;

to increase the volume of the vocabulary, including the expense of philological terminology (linguistic, literary).

Among problems, theoretically and foreign languages experimentally solved by a technique, communicative competence and ways of its achievement is one of the most actual. Modern interpretations of communicative competence of area of teaching of foreign languages go back to definition of the American scientist D. Himes according to which, communicative competence is that it is necessary to know speaking for communication implementation in circumstances. To seize communicative competence in English, without being in the country of studied language, business very difficult. Therefore an important task of the teacher is creation of real and imagined situations of communication at a lesson of a foreign language, using for this purpose various methods and working methods (role-playing games, discussions, creative projects, etc.).

Not less important is the problem of familiarizing of school students to cultural values of the people - the native speaker. For this purpose the great value has use of authentic materials (drawings, texts, sound recordings, etc.). Acquaintance to life of the English-speaking countries happens generally through the text and illustrations to it. Letters, advertisements, signs, questionnaires, the menus meeting in modern textbooks, allow school students to be guided better in the country of studied language in case of its real visit. Along with it it is important to know the pupil evident idea of life, traditions, language realities of the English-speaking countries. The educational video movies which use promotes implementation of the major requirement of a communicative technique can serve this purpose… to present process of mastering by language as comprehension of live foreign-language reality….

Moreover, use of videos at lessons promotes an individualization of training and development of motivation of speech activity of trainees. When using video movies at lessons of a foreign language two types of motivation develop: self-motivation when the movie is interesting in itself, and motivation which is reached by that will be shown to the pupil that he can understand language which studies. It brings satisfaction and gives belief in the forces and desire to further improvement. It is necessary to aspire to that pupils had satisfaction from the movie through understanding of language and not just through an interesting and entertaining plot.

One more advantage of the video movie is power of impression and emotional impact on pupils. Therefore the main attention has to be directed on formation at pupils of the personal relation to the seen. Successful achievement of such purpose is possible only, first, at systematic display of video movies, and secondly, at methodically organized demonstration.

It should be noted that application at a lesson of video records is not only use of one more source of information. Use of video promotes development of the various parties of mental activity of pupils, and, first of all, attention and memory. During viewing in a class there is an atmosphere of informative joint activity. In these conditions even the inattentive pupil becomes attentive. To understand contents of the video movie, pupils need to make necessary efforts. So, the involuntary attention passes to the any. And intensity of attention has impact on storing process, use of various channels of receipt of information (acoustical, visual, the motor perception) positively influences durability of imprinting of a regional geographic and language material.

Thus, psychological features of influence of educational video movies on pupils (ability to operate attention of each pupil and group audience, to influence the volume of long-term memory and increase in durability of storing, to make emotional impact on pupils and to increase motivation of training) promote an intensification of educational process and create favorable conditions for formation communicative (language and sociocultural) competences of school students.

Now at pupils «Video English for School» and «Everyday Conversations in English» video courses use great popularity. These video courses are released by the Title publishing house together with television of the Manchester university and the Language Video Production (LVP) company.

These video courses are popular more than in 27 countries of the world for many years thanks to the unique technique. Each plot repeats in various options 2-4 times (duration of each option of a plot of 1-4 minutes):

* Being trained listen to dialogue of actors;

* Dialogue repeats with subtitling;

* Actors address to being trained with a question, and on the screen there is an answer text help. The same occurs if the being trained have to ask a question;

* Actors continue dialogue with being trained, but this time the help are the first letters of words which should be said.

The video course of «Video English for School» consists of the 5 (or the 4th) cartridges and includes 99 plots which will help pupils to make active basic knowledge on English. The videocourse can be used:

* With various teaching methodixes at mass school;

* On any, including initial, grade level;

* For work in a class;

* For independent work.

The lexicon and grammar are processed in the situations typical for the English environment, and cover subject of program requirements for high comprehensive school. The dialogues presented in videotapes, are constructed so that allow the viewer not only to understand speech of native speakers, but also to communicate with them. The dialogical form of communication is the most characteristic for manifestation of communicative function of language. Dialogical communication includes 2 inseparably linked types of speech activity - a govoreniye and hearing. Thus it is considered as unity of linguistic and paralinguistic components, i.e. the existence of a component having external manifestation admits. Therefore, dialogical communication can be shown and to the viewer. Moreover, admits that externally expressed component plays sometimes a predominating role as at registration of a verbal component (the part of information is expressed by a mimicry, gestures), and for its understanding. (The contents of some phrases can be unclear if it is shown only aurally). It follows from this that acquaintance to an external component of dialogical communication is necessary since ignoring it in the course of training obviously predetermines defective results in communication not only from the point of view of understanding of dialogical speech, but also grinding of sight of registration of own statements: speech of pupils as a result of such training is unnatural.

t is obvious that within studies demonstration of dialogical communication is necessary. The video course of «Video English for School» gives fine possibility of training of dialogical speech with dialogue sample use. Work with dialogue sample begins according to the Scheme presented in the video course. However for development of abilities of dialogical communication on this speech material of these tasks happens insufficiently therefore the teacher, proceeding from specific conditions of the group, uses also other receptions.

One of such receptions with which formation of skill of speech communication begins is work with cards. This work can be carried out in couples, on a chain, with the whole group depending on complexity of video of a plot and from readiness of group. The teacher prepares a card of remarks. If group strong, pupils prepare a card: each remark is written out on a separate card. Then gambling is held. Having arranged before itself cards, partners carry out a round in which one throws a remark provocation, a remark call, and another has to parry it immediately. Thus, on the minimum dialogical unities (two remarks: the remark incentive and remark answer) is fulfilled speed of reaction, tempo of speech, and also natural expressional registration of the statement, i.e. preparation for speech communication taking into account unity of its linguistic and paralinguistic components is carried out.

Further training in own speech communication - playing of mini-situations on the fulfilled speech material follows. Efficiency of use of video movies when training speech depends not only on exact definition of its place in training system, but also on that, the structure of video of occupation as educational opportunities of the video movie are coordinated with problems of training is how rationally organized. In structure of video of occupation for training of oral speech it is possible to allocate four stages:

the preparatory - a stage of preliminary removal of language and l difficulties;

perception of the video movie - development of abilities of perception of information;

control of understanding of the main contents;

development of language skills of oral speech.

Repeated viewing of a fragment can precede the fourth stage. Into qualities of an example we bring possible option of work with video a plot No. 67: «Their ship was called the Mayflower» from course «Video English for School» video to a lesson No. 46 of I.N. Vereshchagina of English IV

1. Preparatory work.

The pupil is told the name of the movie and it is offered to guess about what there will be a movie. Then values of new words which are necessary for understanding of the movie speak and are intended for active possession.

2. Perception of the video movie. Before viewing pupils receive installation:

Watch the video and answer the questions: a) Who were the Piligrim Fathers? b) Why did they leave England? c) How many people went to America and what did they do there? d) What holiday do Americans celebrate in November?

3. Check of understanding of the main contents.

At first pupils answer the questions put by the teacher before viewing. Then it is possible to use exercises of type Choose the correct answer, Arrange offers in logical sequence, etc.

For example, it is possible to suggest to execute exercise in a class orally, and at home in writing.

Which is right?

The Piligrim Fathers were a group of people who went to England/America America is right

They didn't want/wanted to be free to practise their religion

Their ship was called the Mayflower/the New Land

Plymouth is a port on the south/east coast of England

There were no engines/no sails in those ships.

It took them almost two/four months to cross the Atlantic.

Ten/five people became sick and died.

They thanked God for their old/new home.

In December/November Americans celebrate ThanksgivingDay.

4. Development of skills of oral speech.

The communicative speech can be stimulated by means of various tasks.

1. Describe the Piligrim Fathers.

Act out a dialogue between Oliver, Nicola and Mother about the Piligrim

Fathers voyage.

Prove that the Piligrim Fathers were brave and strong people.

For the solution of each of objectives pupils have to know not only the general contents of the video movie, but also remember details, and also be able to estimate events, to give the characteristic to characters, using thus words and expressions from speech maintenance of the video movie.

For development of skills of the monological statement videotapes from the course «Everyday Conversations in English» are used as they have narrative character, descriptive character that is inherent in monological speech. Work on a language and speech material has to precede mastering by ability of the coherent statement. Differently, pupils need to provide sufficient training in correctness of phonetic, grammatical and lexical registration of statements. It is promoted by the various exercises developed to each video to a plot.

Existence of video of copies of the house provides opportunity for independent work in house conditions that allows to achieve at smaller time and power expenditure mastering by large volume of a speech material and at bigger extent of automation - the corresponding skills and abilities. Thanks to three-dimensional influence: to synthesis of a sound, action and the emotional experience which is taking place during the work with the video record, involuntariness and durability of storing of speech cliches and creation of stable associative relations is provided. Thanks to a studying in the conditional and real language environment which role carries out the video record, the speech potential which at a certain stage (at different pupils at different times) brings them to qualitative level of proficiency in a foreign language is created.

As experience over development of monological speech the project work Guide-interpreter of Pupils 5 of a class according to video can serve plots of «The United Kingdom Great Britain and Northern Ireland» of video of the course «Everyday Conversations in English».

Practice of work on training in English at elementary school shows that at the initial stage of training in a foreign language animation videos are especially effective. Their use allows to develop speech activity of school students, and also to increase speech activity of training.

Efficiency of use of video animated films depends on the rational organization of occupations.

In structure видерурока it is possible to allocate the following stages:

The provident work including a lingvostranovedchesky material, the comment, installation on understanding.

Movie demonstration.

Understanding check by means of questions.

Activization of a language material by means of tasks.

Retelling of the contents in an oral and written form.

There is an experience with the Russian animated film Wait a moment. When passing a modal verb «сап» in the 2nd class the plot mounted from separate episodes where the hare and a wolf carry out various actions is shown. The pupil are given the following tasks:

Speech activity of pupils when all being trained become participants of speech communication during a role-playing game has to become final part of a task.

Use of educational videos of courses and animation is opened by ample opportunities for active work in the course of formation of speech skills and abilities of pupils and do educational process of mastering by a foreign language attractive to school students at all grade levels.

With any text in a technique of training foreign languages can allocate three main stages: dotekstovy stage (pre-viewing), text stage (while viewing), posttext stage (after-viewing (post)).

Basic purpose of video movies - activization of activity of trainees in the course of mastering by a language material by means of modeling of the corresponding speech situations.

3.3 Use of internet resources at lessons of English language

The computer is often used as an effective help for pupils at the lesson. There are many CD educational programs and methods for studying the English language. The computer can be used in studying new vocabulary, improving such skills as reading and listening comprehension, etc. I think that the role of instructions and the way the teacher sets them is very important. Also, in any opinion, that the logical sequence of the lesson is important, too. The activities should be various because it will be interesting for students and the lesson will not be so boring. The teacher should use more different games for pronunciation, grammar, spelling and writing.A main objective of training the foreign languages at school is the formation and development of communicative culture of schoolchildren, training to practical mastering by a foreign language. The problem of the teacher consists in creating conditions of practical mastering by language for each pupil, to choose such methods of training which would allow each pupil to show the activity, the creativity. Last years is even more often brought up a question on application of a new information technology in high school. It not only new means, but also new forms and the teaching methods, the new approach to training process.

Benefits of Computers in the Classroom:

Student activities are naturally low risk. The actions are between the learner and the computer only.

Students are able to work at their own pace; they can easily move on to another assignment if they finish ahead of the class.

Specifically when using ESL software, the computer is an extremely patient tutor. It is not in a rush, nor does it have to answer the rest of the class' questions. The computer works one-on-one with the student and moves along with them, never too fast or too slow.

On the computer, students can easily go back and relearn something they do not understand during an activity. With a teacher, it may take time to go over the information again, or it may be embarrassing to ask the teacher a question Researchers have found that students write more proficiently and fluently when using the computer Students are able to learn skills for the work force as they learn the English language. Knowing computer programs and how to use them is important in finding work and performing work efficiently.

A computer incorporates culture, grammar and real language use in the classroom while students gain access to audio, visual and textual information about the language.

As a tool, it greatly enhances the ESL teacher's ability to impact each and every student [14,5 8].

How to use a computer in class: The principle idea is that the computer is treated as just another - albeit powerful - learning tool. As such, the computer is not the focus of the lesson - effective English learning is.

1. Select target structure or function by deciding what students need to focus on considering past lessons and future goals.

2. Select computer materials to be used: Are you going to use a program, the Internet or maybe word processing? Choose just one.

3. Plan the lesson in the typical four areas: warm-up, introduction of materials, class work, and summary. Divide the computer section of the lesson into at least two sections.

Make sure that you prepare the computer before you enter the classroom. This means loading the computer with the chosen material ahead of time.

When you begin to use the computer in class, remind students that more experienced computer users should be patient and help less experienced users.

Students who are not comfortable using computers should be placed with students who are.

Have students work on the first task. Communication should be encouraged, as working with a computer is a great task for conversation.

After task is finished, discuss specific language skills and/or objectives with students.

Have students work on second task and repeat the above.

Use the computer as a springboard for discussion. For example, ask students explain to other students what they have just read in reading comprehension. [15,54] The Advantages of Computer in Organizing English Teaching and Learning: Looked at from the point of view of the teaching models and of language as information processing, the computer has certain strengths of handling the English teaching and learning. Four distinct advantages of the computer can be recognized:

1. Its capacity to control presentation. Unlike a book, it can present fragments which add up to a whole; it can do so with any built-in time delay chosen by the students or selected for him. It can combine visual or graphic information with text; it can highlight features of text using color and movement. Potentially this is a great advantage over the linear fixed presentation of a book [16,45].

2. Its novelty and creativity Oddly enough the computer is creative. Unlike any other classroom aid, it can vary the exercise each time. It is done and adapted its language to what the students produce, within certain limits [17,23].

3. Feedback. The computer is capable of analyzing what the student does and taking account of this in what it does next. One way of using this capability is through error correction; the student's mistakes can be characterized and the appropriate advice given to him; or the computer may best its next move on an
analysis of what the student types, whether in terms of increasing difficulty of the exercise, or of an answer in an exercise, or of altering the screen display [18,35].

4. Its adaptability. The first three advantages of the computer applied to the student, the last applies to the teacher. Unlike books or tapes, which are produced in a single uniform from publisher, computer programs can be adapted by the teachers to suit the needs of their students. A sophisticated way of doing this is for the teacher to master sufficient programming expertise to adapt the vocabulary, the level, the scoring scheme, or whatever of a program to his or her students [19,65] foreign language through visual or.audio perception. They must be capable of contributing to the achievement of the practical, cultural, and educational aims of learning a foreign language. Since pupils learn a foreign language for several years, it is necessary for the teacher to have a wide variety of materials which make it possible to progress with an increasing sophistication to match the pupils' continually growing command of the foreign language. Good teaching materials will help greatly to reinforce the pupils' initial desire to learn the language and to sustain their enthusiasm throughout the course. Last years is even more often brought up a question on application of a new information technology in high school. It not only new means, but also new forms and the teaching methods, the new approach to training process. A main objective of training to foreign languages is formation and development of communicative culture of schoolchildren, training to practical mastering by a foreign language. The problem of the teacher consists in creating conditions of practical mastering by language for each pupil, to choose such methods of training which would allow each pupil to show the activity, the creativity. The problem of the teacher - to stir up informative activity of the pupil in the course of training to foreign languages. Modern pedagogical technologies such as training in cooperation, the design technique, use of a new information technology, the Internet - resources help to realise the psychological approach in training, provide an individualization and differentiation of training with the account of abilities of children, their level trained, propensities etc.

Forms of work with computer training programs at foreign language lessons include:

lexicon studying;

work over the pronunciation;

training of dialogical and monological speech;

training of writing;

working over the grammatical phenomena.

Possibilities of use the Internet - resources are huge. The global network the Internet creates conditions for reception of any necessary for pupils and teachers of the information which are in an every spot on the globe: a regional geographic material, news from a life of youth, article from newspapers and the magazines, the necessary literature etc. In the present work an object in view: to result a technique of teaching of English language at school in conformity with development of a modern information technology.

At lessons of English language by means of the Internet it is possible to solve variety of didactic problems: to form skills and abilities of reading,

using materials of a global network;

to improve abilities of written speech of schoolchildren;

to fill up a lexicon of pupils;

To form at schoolchildren steady motivation to studying of English language.

Besides, work is directed on studying of possibilities of Internet technologies for expansion of an outlook of schoolchildren, to adjust and support business ties and contacts to the contemporaries in the English-speaking countries. A main objective of studying of a foreign language in high school - formation of the communicative competence, all other purposes (educational, educational, developing) are realised in the course of realisation of this overall objective. The communicative approach means training to dialogue and formation of ability to intercultural interaction. Communicative training to language by means of the Internet underlines importance of development of ability of pupils and their desire is exact and to a place to use a studied foreign language for effective dialogue. Paramount value is given to understanding, transfer of the maintenance and sense expression, and studying of structure and the foreign language dictionary serve this purpose. In addition to the communicative requirements, trained it is necessary to master a work technique on the Internet to be more responsible for own training. They need to develop ability to cope with a situation when their language resources are insufficiently adequate; to have good educational skills; ability to estimate own speech and successes, and also ability to define and resolve educational problems. Development of independence of the learners by means of a global network represents gradual process with which it is necessary to encourage constantly. Probably, most important problem facing to the teacher of language, the finding of optimum ways is to conduct the schoolchildren to gradually increasing independence.

Training in original language, the Internet helps with formation of skills of informal conversation, and also in training to lexicon and grammar, providing original interest and, hence, efficiency. Moreover, the Internet develops skills, important not only for a foreign language. It, first of all, is connected with cogitative operations: the analysis, synthesis, abstraction, identification, comparison, comparison, verbal and semantic forecasting and anticipation etc. Thus, skills and the abilities formed by means of Internet technologies, fall outside the limits the competence speaking another language even within the limits of «language» aspect. The Internet develops social and psychological qualities of the trained: their self-trust and their ability to work in collective; creates atmosphere favourable for training, acting as means of the interactive approach. Interactivity not simply creates real situations from a life, but also forces pupils to react adequately to them by means of a foreign language. And when it starts to turn out, it is possible to speak about the language competence. Let even in the presence of errors. The main ability spontaneously, harmoniously to react to statements of others, expressing the feelings and emotions, being arranged and being reconstructed on the move i.e. we can consider interactivity as a way of self-development through the Internet: possibility to observe and copy language use, skills, samples of behaviour of partners; to take new values of problems during their joint discussion.

Teachers have been using online communication in the language classroom for more than ten years now. Readers will note that these guidelines are independent of the particular technological tools being used. As has been noted elsewhere, «technology is developing so rapidly that it can often be difficult or even overwhelming to harness, somewhat like trying to get a drink of water from a gushing fire hydrant». In order to make effective use of new technologies, the teachers must thus take a step back and focus on some basic pedagogical requirements. The following guidelines are designed to help teachers implement computer network-based activities into the second language classroom. 1: Consider Carefully Your Goals: There are several possible reasons for using the Internet in language teaching. One rationale is found in the belief that the linguistic nature of online communication is desirable for promoting language learning. It has been found, for example, that electronic discourse tends to be more lexically and syntactically more complex than oral discourse and features a broad range of linguistic functions beneficial for language learning. Another possible reason for using the Internet is that it creates optimal conditions for learning to write, since it provides an authentic audience for written communication. A third possible reason is that it can increase students' motivation. A fourth possible reason is the belief that learning computer skills is essential to students' future success; this reason suggests that it is not only a matter of using the Internet to learn English but also of learning English to be able to function well on the Internet. None of these reasons are more or less legitimate than any of the others. However, since there are so many ways to integrate the Internet into classroom instruction, it is important for the teacher to clarify his or her goals. If, for example, one of the teacher's goals is to teach students new computer skills, the teacher may want to choose Internet applications which will be most useful to them outside of the classroom, with activities structured so that students steadily gain mastery of more skills. If the immediate goal is to create a certain kind of linguistic environment for students, once again, the teacher should consider what types of language experiences would be beneficial and structure computer activities accordingly. If the goal is to teach writing, Internet activities should be structured so that they steadily bring about an increase in the types of writing processes and relationships essential to becoming a better writer. As will be discussed further below, little is usually gained by just adding random online activities into a classroom. Clarifying course goals is, thus, an important first step toward successful use of the Internet.

Think Integration: Most teachers who have used the Internet have started out with some kind of simple key pal (computer pen pal) exchanges. And most teachers who have used these exchanges have felt something lacking. Simply put, there is no more reason to except a significant educational outcome from simply creating a pen pal connection than there is from simply bringing two students into a room and asking them to talk. Over time, greater involvement on the teacher's part in creating learning activities that create sufficient linguistic and cognitive demands on the student is needed to get maximum benefit from Internet exchanges. And, as a number of people have noted, this teacher intervention is most successful when it brings about activities and projects that are well-integrated into the course curriculum as a whole. Bruce Roberts, the coordinator of the Intercultural E-Mail Classroom Connections program, explained this point well: There is a significant difference in educational outcome depending on whether a teacher chooses to incorporate e-mail classroom connections as (1) an ADD-ON process, like one would include a guest speaker, or (2) an INTEGRATED process, in the way one would include a new textbook. The e-mail classroom connections seems sufficiently complex and time-consuming that if there are goals beyond merely having each student send a letter to a person at a distant school, the ADD-ON approach can lead to frustration and expected academic results<the necessary time and resources come from other things that also need to be done. On the other hand, when the e-mail classroom connection processes are truly integrated into the ongoing structure of homework and classroom interaction, then the results can be educationally transforming. Of course there are many ways that Internet activities can be integrated into the overall design and goals of a course (see Sayers, 1993 for a good overview). The teacher can work with students to create research questions which are then investigated in collaboration with foreign partners, Students and long-distant partners can work collaboratively on publications. Or students can use exchange partners as experts to supply information on vocabulary, grammar, or cultural points which emerge in the class. Again, the choice has to be made by the classroom teacher, preferably in ongoing consultation with the students. Nevertheless, as Roberts suggests above, it does behoove the teacher to think about how to integrate online connections into the class rather than adding these connections on top of the rest of the classroom activities in a disconnected fashion.

3. Don't Underestimate the Complexity: Most English teachers, even those who consider themselves computer novices, have several relative advantages when learning to use the Internet. They are, in most cases, skilled at English, experienced at typing or keyboarding, and have some basic computer literacy (i.e., they probably have at least used the computer for word processing). ESL students, on the other hand, at least in some cases, may lack these basic prerequisites. Though we have had students who are quite experienced with computers, we have also had students who had seldom used a computer; lacked basic knowledge such as how to operate a mouse or open a folder; and lacked the vocabulary, reading, and listening skills to follow instructions for using the computer. Beyond these issues of learner preparation, there are a number of other complexities in introducing Internet-based activities in the ESL classroom. Activities in a single class may be dependent on scheduling the computer lab, and on students finding computers outside the class time to continue their activities. Hardware and software can malfunction and computer systems can be down. Students' schedules might not permit them to return to the computer lab at a time when computers are available to complete their assignments. Exchanges between classes are even more complex. The partner class might have absent students, or might not meet in a particular week due to holidays or other activities in that location. The partner teacher might not have the same understanding of the nature of the exchange, and working through differences can cause further delays. The students might have differences in background, language, and experience which can cause further complications. None of these potential problems mean, that Internet based activities, shouldn't be used. But in attempting to integrate online teaching, it is best not to be overly ambitious in the beginning. A situation which overwhelms both students and teacher in technical difficulties-is not likely to bring about the desired results. It is better to start small and to create the kinds of activities which have a direct purpose and are well-integrated into classroom goals. If these activities prove successful, you can build from there and attempt a more ambitious plan the following semester.

4. Provide Necessary Support: Mindful of the complexities which can arise in Internet usage, teachers need to provide support sufficient to prevent students from being overwhelmed by difficulties. This kind of support can take numerous forms: creating detailed handouts that students can refer to when class is finished and the teacher's personal help is not accessible; building technology training sessions into the class schedule, not only in the beginning but on an ongoing basis; working with the computer center to set up log-on systems and other procedures which are as-simple and intuitive as possible; assigning students to work in pairs or groups, both in and out of the lab, so that they can provide assistance to each other; providing details to the students about how and when they can get assistance from technology specialists or others on campus outside of class; and being available to help students at times when they are most likely to need it.

5. Involve Students in Decisions: The concept of a learner-centered curriculum predates, and Insignificance, than the Internet enhanced classroom. However, this concept seems particularly important when considering network-based teaching. First of all, as indicated above, network-based teaching involves a number of special complexities. It will be difficult, indeed, for a teacher to be fully aware of the impact of these complexities without regular consultation with students. This might involve anonymous surveys, class discussions, or similar means of involving students in expressing their opinions about the process of implementing technologies. Notably favorable is that the nature of computer-mediated communication creates opportunities for more concentrated interaction. To fully exploit these opportunities, the teacher must learn to become a «guide on the side» rather than a «sage on the stage». A situation which is based on communication between students but in which the students have little say over the topics or outcomes of that communication is not likely to lead to the kind of atmosphere optimal for language learning. As pointed out elsewhere, involving students in determining the class direction does not imply a passive role for teachers. Teachers' contributions in a learner-centered, network-enhanced classroom include coordinating group planning, focusing students' attention on linguistic aspects of computer mediated texts, helping students gain meta-linguistic awareness of genres and discourses, and assisting students in developing appropriate learning strategies.

Young children like to sing and play various games, that is why songs and games should constitute an important part of teaching materials.⁴ Folksongs and popular current songs develop a feeling for the distinctive culture being studied. They furnish a frame work for pronunciation practice. Games give an opportunity for spontaneous self-expression in the foreign language and can be used as a device for relaxation.

Practical and educational functions of teaching materials are as follows:

Teaching materials used in various combinations allow the teacher to develop his pupils' oral-aural skills. Recorded materials can provide the teacher and the pupil with an authentic model, tireless and consistent repetition and many different voices,

These materials are valuable for presentation, exercises, revision, testing, etc. Visual materials have an important role to play in the development of hearing and speaking skills. Carefully devised they help to get rid of the necessity for constant translation and assist the teacher in keeping the lesson within the foreign language.

By portraying the context of situation, the gestures and expressions of the speakers, and even their personalities, visual aids allow immediate understanding and provide a stimulus to oral composition.

Especially important are graded materials designed for the teaching of reading. Graded reading materials are essential at every stage from the introduction to reading in association with audio and visual «props», through the elementary stage of reading familiar material to intensive and extensive reading.

Graded materials are also important for the development of writing skills. Appropriately designed and selected these materials are needed to cover all stages from the introduction to writing through copy writing, memory writing and dictation to guided composition, and finally to free composition. Visual aids can provide a useful stimulus for writing, especially at the stage of guided composition.

Teaching materials can also be used to assist in the general development of the pupil's personality, and this is of great educational value.

Teaching materials acquire special importance in gaining cultural aims. From the earliest stages, thanks to visual aids, pupils are introduced to the foreign country and its people.

In this connection it is necessary to mention the qualities teaching materials should possess:

Authenticity. Whatever is presented to the pupils, whether linguistic or cultural material, it should be an authentic representation of the language or culture of the foreign country (countries).

Clarity. The materials must possess clarity of exposition which leaves the pupils in no doubt as to their meaning.

Practicality. To provide maximum help to the teacher, the materials must be practical in use, economic of cost and time, easy to store, and immediately accessible.

Appropriateness. To fulfill the role of motivating the learner and sustaining his enthusiasm, teaching materials must be appropriate to the age, interests, and abilities of pupils. They must also be appropriate to the functions which are required of them, i. e., whether the teacher needs them for presentation, exercises, testing, etc.