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Robots in ESL


I must admit I was a little skeptical at first. How can robots help the development of competencies in ESL? They can be very entertaining, but what can they bring to a language class? Lately, I had the chance to collaborate with colleagues and share about our visions of how robots could be used in the ESL classroom. Would you be willing to use robots on your first day of school? I personally think it would be a great way to break the ice, trigger collaboration and prompt students to speak English right away. How do you think this activity would reflect on your classroom climate? I'm pretty sure it would be beneficial. Of course, students would need enough functional language and vocabulary input and resources to be able to complete the task effectively.


When it comes to competency development, the task may vary depending on the robots available. Use robots to create problem-solving activities in which students will have to interact orally to find an answer or solution. What's great about robots is that the difficulty level of activities can vary greatly with a same robot, making them accessible to different grades. For younger learners, robots can be used on picture mats to practice vocabulary from a story or song. What a great way to replace the traditional flashcards. Why not tape story characters to your robots and have students retell stories in their own words by making "characters" move around? I believe robots can be a great addition to a language class as long as the educational aim is kept in mind.

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