Implementing CALL in a Malaysian Classroom

2. How do you think it would help (or would not help) your students to learn English?

- It would help in a sense that it can sparks interest and fun in learning the language. There are almost no boundaries in how to to teach using ICT. Teachers can use a lot of graphics, animations, graphs, tables, flash, games, and etc to make learning English voluntary and enjoyable. I stress this matter because my biggest problem during the practicum was class-control. At time i did not feel like i was teaching but i was actually mother-ing or babysitting them in the classroom. In the worst case scenario, i felt like a police officer who tried to control out-of-this-world traffic jam. Even if i can get them in control, i did not want them to do it out of fear. So, what i did was i used to give them a song to listen to and they instantly listened to what i wanted to say and genuinely showed interest in that particular lesson. It was just a kiddie song on a worn-out cassete player. Therefore, just imagine what ICT can do to intrigue young learners interest in learning English. Besides that, ICT can provide the students with more space to expand their creativity. Now, most students actually have to do their in-class work or homework in a exercise book and do it in a specific way that sometimes even annoyed me as a teacher to check their works ( from the blanks, lines until to the fullstop in a sentence must be told by the teacher because they are not used to be given chance to do their work in their own way) . I would utilize ICT to let the students know that there are more ways to do the exercises and drills. However, my biggest concern with ICT is whether teachers are fully equipped with the sufficient knowledge or skills in ICT. More training should be done in how to integrate a lesson with ICT and what the teacher role in teaching English using ICT.