I had the great opportunity to present for the IATEFL Young Learners SIG invited by Dennis Newson, who moderates the list.
What a pleasure to explore one area that is dear to me, but I´m not an expert at it. The presentation reminded me once again that there is no need to be an expert. Information is out there, your network is a powerful human resource that you can count on to learn about what is happening around the globe. Of course I had my own examples as I teach a group of tweens and the examples of my colleagues at the language school I work for in Brasilia. However, I wanted it to be a worldwide mosaic of young learners digital production. Twitter is the way to go. Just ask Twitterverse and you´ll be suprised by the abundance of resources, examples, ideas and generous educators ready to share and interact with you.
Just by preparing for the presentation I revisited some of my own beliefs in terms of teacher training and the fundamental role educators have in the process of their students´ digital literacy. I was reminded that, yes, young learners can have fun while doing serious school work. And certainly these youngsters can become better citizens, more prolific citizens if they are enabled to think critically, create, remix concepts, understand the process by which they become digitally literate, and not only persons that use the Net to socialize, as I see most of the students doing.
By starting with very simple, cost-effective tools, educators and learners can give a learning boost their digital experience to use the power of the online world to make a difference.
All the resources of the presentation are available at
http://brazilbridges.pbworks.com/Cybersurfing-with-Young-Learners
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