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OER 4 Digital and tech for language and learning

5.1 Facilitators – Activity 1

Find out what learners know and use


2 girls sitting in a school looking at a laptop

Part 1

Where do learners see ICTs being used, for what purposes, and what ICTs do learners have access to?

Adapt and use the Digital Skills Audit (Digital Heritage Hub – also in the ‘Further resources’ section) or adapt the list from the table in the Section 1.

Ask if learners use a mobile phone for any of these?

  • Calls
  • SMS
  • Games
  • Entertainment
  • Radio
  • Facebook
  • Internet
  • Calculator
  • WhatsApp
  • Banking
  • Homework/school work
  • Email
  • Dictionary.

Alternatively, you can ask learners to tell or show you as a diagram, by writing lists underneath the headings:

  • ICTs that I use
  • ICTs that I know about but do not use
  • ICTs that my family (parents or older siblings) use but I do not
  • ICTs that I would like to learn about.

When you know what the learners have access to, what they would like to know about, and what is permitted to them, you can plan activities for their interests.

Part 2

Ask learners to choose as a group what they would like to learn about when it comes to ICTs. What you do next will depend on what the group decides.

If learners have the same or a similar homework assignment, choose an activity that will help them to work on it.

For instance, learners might know about Facebook, but are prohibited by their parents from using it. In these situations, learners should not do something that their parents do not allow. You can discuss the reasons why parents might prohibit certain platforms or social media.

For another variation of this activity: learners might know about social media or communication apps but are not sure how they work. You can demonstrate some of these, and how learners can stay safe on them. You can show the differences between social media that can be accessed mainly for viewing, such as Instagram, and digital platforms that are mainly for communicating with others, such as WhatsApp.

Learners could be interested in AI but what is it, and how does it work? Learners may have heard about Siri, Alexa or ChatGPT. With a tablet, a bluetooth speaker or a projector, you can demonstrate and discuss these tools.

You could:

  • Search the internet using key words (see Activity 2).
  • Use an online calculator.
  • Look up historical dates or timeline.
  • Use a speaker to listen and practise English or another language.
  • Listen to an AI programme on a telephone automatic answering system (e.g. ‘Press 1 for yes, press 2 for no’, etc.).
  • Look at email formats and how to write an email.
  • Try out text to voice software for speaking practice.
  • Try out a translation tool for vocabulary practice.
  • Experiment with a mapping programme to show directions.
  • Travel the world with Google Earth.
  • Use a search engine for information about a topic, such as future careers.
  • Complete a digital form together.
  • How to make a secure password.
  • Updating devices and software.