Rapid progress of technology development has significant impact on our daily lives. Foreign language learning is not an exception. For example, ICT lets access learning resources independently to living place. It is especially important thing to people living in rural area or districts lacking learning offers.
ICT could help people to reach free resources for language learning:
– free online courses (for example, Effective Language Learning),
– interesting texts (using search engines like Google) or free e-books (e.g. Google books),
– video or audio materials (on Youtube),
– various tests of language level (Transparent Language),
– free dictionaries (for example, Cambridge Dictionaries)
– forums in foreign language (e.g. Learn German Forum) .
Also ICT lets to meet people online, who are living all over the world. Nowadays it’s easy to reach each other without leaving your home. Therefore, people have a chance to practice their foreign language skills; and it is very important for language learning – using the language every day.
In order to benefit from these mentioned technological advantages for language learning, people should have knowledge about this and should be skilled in ICT even at basic level. Lithuanian enterprise VšĮ “Žinių kodas” (Knowledge Code) during the implementation of Grundtvig partnership project “Feeling younger by getting older” (No. LLP-GRU-MP-2012-LT-00006) organized free five-day courses “ICT for remote effective foreign language learning”. Target group was seniors and youth working with/teaching seniors who are living in rural area. The main aim of the project is that young persons could help gain some skills that elderly people are lacking.
In the beginning of the course, learners were familiar with the only way of learning foreign language (traditional – in the classroom) and were convinced that learning foreign language cannot be interesting or easy. During the course learners found innovative ways how they could improve their foreign language skills using ICT. Also they found out that despite age and living place, ICT let elderly people to be active and they could improve their foreign language in attractive way.
DISCLAIMER: This publication has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
