June, 2018 - Eslflow

Revolution in the Listening/Speaking Classroom

Listening teacher’s paradise: Ipad Pro and JBL Charge chargeable speaker

New mobile, lightweight technologies using bluetooth and rechargeable batteries are totally changing the lives of ESL teachers.
In particular a combination of the Ipad Pro and the JBL Charge speaker are pretty much the stuff of dreams (of the 20th century teacher!!) come to life.

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When I started teaching listening/speaking I had to teach with cassettes. Anyone who used to do this knows what a time-consuming, annoying hassle it was rewinding and forwarding tapes. There was no way you could pay attention to individual students and easily manage listening materials at the same time. That’s to say nothing of the irritation when tapes got old or broke. And if you worked in a sound lab you had to master dashboards with a thousand functions.

Wow…. sound labs seem so dated now! Do people still use them?

New technology has revolutionized the life of a listening/speaking teacher. It’s so refreshing to walk into a classroom and do nearly everything more efficiently than ever before. I use an Ipad Pro with a bluetooth connection to a JBL Charge chargeable speaker.

This set up is so light and mobile and has many benefits. As a remote to manage the listenings, the Ipad Pro is better than using an Iphone or any other mobile phone as its screen is bigger and the touchscreen is more sensitive. With this set up I am in total control of my equipment and never have to worry about what audio equipment is available in the classroom. I never have to worry about finding technicians when equipment breaks down.

When I’m teaching I can move around the classroom and monitor students at the same time as I am controlling the listening. If I realize the students are missing something I can stop on the spot and explain or clarify or replay instantly. Moreover, I find that I am able to think of new techniques and put them into action instantaneously.