by Language educators are talking about the LIVE Language Lab teaching application. As a developer of instructional technology for language teaching, we at SANS Inc. listen closely to what teachers have to say. You are the experts in your field. Some of the best feedback we receive is a result of discovering and sharing those “aha moments” as LIVE Language Lab becomes a regular part of synchronous language classes.
We continually learn about what is useful to engage students, to develop core communication skills, to assess students, and more. In turn, we regularly review our teaching tools and add, revise, tweak, to provide the best technology to fit evolving language teaching methodologies.
SEEING THE TECHNOLOGY THROUGH A TEACHER’S EYES
Our local SANS specialist in the Southeastern U.S., Daniel Maaske, has been busy with training sessions for world languages departments at schools in Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, and Alabama. According to Daniel, “Teachers are excited to start implementing the interactive tools in LIVE Language Lab with their students. It is always great to see the extent to which teachers feel their students will benefit from using LIVE as they see all the tools and try them out. They can’t wait to get started.”
With a focus on communicative language teaching, the ability to pair and group students for conversation practice and easily, record, monitor, and provide real-time feedback typically gets a big WOW! Many teachers are telling us that they see some great possibilities in the fact that students can easily review their individual recordings or quickly open recordings for peer-review exercises at the end of an activity.
FLEXIBILITY OPENS MORE POSSIBILITIES TO ENGAGE STUDENTS
We are also hearing about how “flexible” LIVE Language Lab is. Being a browser-based application opens so many more opportunities for varied learning scenarios.
Our Midwest U.S. specialist in Chicago, reports thumbs-up feedback on LIVE Language Lab too. A tech director recently commented, “I think you have a great product and really like that it can be used on any computer, which allows more flexibility in our use of technology and space.” The idea of a dedicated room for language lab technology is a thing of the past. Now, wherever your language class is, LIVE Language Lab is immediately accessible.
THIS IS PROOF POSITIVE
For us at SANS, there is nothing better than getting feedback from language educators and seeing positive results in world language programs that are using LIVE Language Lab. Seeing how it is working to help language teachers reach their goals is awesome!
To that point, we recently heard from Ms. Lane Guzman, the World Languages Department Chair at Jefferson High School, in Jefferson, GA.
Ms. Guzman shared, “We are enjoying using our new language lab application. It is very user-friendly for teachers and students to use. Students can communicate much more in the target language. It has been particularly useful for students in the classroom and those at home to use it at the same time. The customer service provided by SANS has been prompt and extremely helpful.”
Comments like this continue to add credence to what we do as a company totally focused on communicative technology for language teaching.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
If you are using LIVE Language Lab with your students, we would love to hear what you think? Which tools do you find most effective? Are your students getting more time for speaking practice? Have you been able to personalize learning to accommodate the needs of different students? Are speaking exams easier to facilitate? What other teaching tools would be helpful?
If you have not yet seen LIVE Language Lab On-Demand we would be happy to give you a tour, virtual or in-person, or just take a look at this quick video overview now.
Let’s continue the dialogue. We’re waiting for your feedback.
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