ICT for ELT in the Horn of Africa: Options and Approaches

Date:                          1-5 August 2010

Location:                  The University of Khartoum

Organizers

University of Khartoum

British Council

Clarity Language Consultants 

Introduction

Traditionally Africa has lagged behind the rest of the world regarding the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in language teaching with inadequate ICT infrastructures, limited financial resources, large class sizes and relatively low ICT skills among teachers and students, commonly cited as the main reasons for this.  However, this situation is gradually beginning to change.  In Sudan, for example, ICT equipment is now widely available and, in Khartoum and in other major urban centres, mobile Internet is increasingly becoming available.  At the same time, education ministries and universities are proving more willing to invest resources in ICT facilities for learning, and, while this tends to be more focused on science and technology subjects, there is a growing realisation that these can also be used for English language teaching. 

Aims and objectives

This workshop aims to raise participants’ awareness of the role ICT can play in language teaching and related fields, such as professional development training, and to explore ways in which it can be used effectively within the contextual constraints teachers face in Sub-Saharan Africa.  It is aimed primarily at tertiary level teachers of English / teacher trainers with a degree of ICT competence and an interest in seeing its use expanded within their university or institute.
Content

The workshop will focus on the following areas:

• rationale for using ICT for ELT
• practical ideas for using ICT in lessons
• getting to know a new program
• helping students with basic IT skills
• common technical problems and how to overcome them
• introduction to British Council ICT resources
• overview of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) software available
• integrating ICT materials into a course of study using Moodle
• using social networking / wikis / blogs / newsgroups
• ICT as a tool for professional development