Some Computer Hardware and Software for Teaching English

There are many stuff can be used for teaching English. For, those can be found easily in our daily life in form of media. It could be in electronic media, printed media, etc. But, we are going to learn about the electronic one in this occasion. That is computer or PC. These are some hardware and software can be used in teaching English coming from computer technology.

1. Adobe Flash

Adobe Flash (formerly called "Macromedia Flash") is a multimedia and software platform used for creating vector graphics, animation, games and rich Internet applications (RIAs) that can be viewed, played and executed in Adobe Flash Player. Flash is frequently used to add streamed video or audio players, advertisement and interactive multimedia content to web pages, although usage of Flash on websites is declining.

Flash manipulates vector and raster graphics to provide animation of text, drawings, and still images. It allows bidirectional streaming of audio and video, and it can capture user input via mouse, keyboard, microphone and camera. Flash applications and animations can be programmed using the object-oriented language called ActionScript. Adobe Flash Professional is the most popular and user-friendly authoring tool for creating the Flash content, which also allows automation via the JavaScript Flash language (JSFL).

Adobe Flash Player makes the Flash content accessible on various computer systems and devices and is available free of charge for common web browsers (as a plug-in) under a few of the major operating systems, some smartphones and tablets, and a few other electronic devices using Flash Lite.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Flash

By using this software, the teacher is able to make a kind of innovative and creative game for the students. Since it is simple to learn, there are many teachers use it nowadays.

2. Microsoft Power Point

PowerPoint presentations consist of a number of individual pages or "slides". The "slide" analogy is a reference to the slide projector. A better analogy would be the "foils" (or transparencies/plastic sheets) that are shown with an overhead projector, although they are in decline now. Slides may contain text, graphics, sound, movies, and other objects, which may be arranged freely. The presentation can be printed, displayed live on a computer, or navigated through at the command of the presenter. For larger audiences the computer display is often projected using a video projector. Slides can also form the basis of webcasts.

PowerPoint provides three types of movements:

1. Entrance, emphasis, and exit of elements on a slide itself are controlled by what PowerPoint calls Custom Animations.
2. Transitions, on the other hand, are movements between slides. These can be animated in a variety of ways.
3. Custom animation can be used to create small story boards by animating pictures to enter, exit or move.

PowerPoint provides numerous features that offer flexibility and the ability to create a professional presentation. One of the features provides the ability to create a presentation that includes music which plays throughout the entire presentation or sound effects for particular slides. In addition to the ability to add sound files, the presentation can be designed to run, like a movie, on its own. PowerPoint allows the user to record the slide show with narration and laser pointer. The user may customize slide shows to show the slides in a different order than originally designed and to have slides appear multiple times. Microsoft also offers the ability to broadcast the presentation to specific users via a link and Windows Live.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_PowerPoint

This is one of the software which comes bundle with the microsoft office package. Many people already use it for teaching and others presentation.

3. Prezi

Prezi is used at Oregon State University as well as at the Dwight School and elsewhere in primary education and higher education. It can be used by teachers and students to collaborate on presentations with multiple users having access and the ability to edit the same presentation, and to allow students to construct and present their knowledge in different learning styles. The product is also being used in e-learning and edutainment. However note that Prezi is considered by Web2Access to be an 'inaccessible service'. Educators have been advised that Prezi is not ADA/508 compliant and that an accessible PowerPoint version of the presentation should be provided online for students where a Prezi has been used.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prezi

This is also one of presentation software. Maybe some of you haven't seen it used during the presentation, but this software may give you another view or appearance of presentation software since maybe some of the teacher often use the power point for their presentation. You can try it for another enjoyment in giving lesson.

4. Perfect English Pronunciation

The “Perfect English Pronunciation” (PEP) app is the first in its category that truly improves English pronunciation. It uses the most effective methods of accent reduction through fascinating see-through 3D animations. These easy to use, comprehensive lessons include; retraining your articulation muscles, interactive jaw exercises and face diagrams to instruct proper tongue placement. Practice and track your progress with included audio and video recorder feature.

The app is based on well-known celebrity Speech and Accents Specialist Susan Cameron’s book, Perfecting Your English Pronunciation. Educational text content was licensed from McGraw-Hill Professional, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

You can download it at: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=the.r

This software can be used to test and correct your pronunciation. As we know English as foreign language is taught around the world and the learners also come from many countries and accents to so that they may find some error in pronouncing words. By using this software teachers can check the progress of their students directly in class.

5.LCD Projector

In the past, a teacher who wanted to display information for a classroom full of students had only a few options at his disposal: writing everything out on the chalkboard manually or projecting it onto a screen using a transparency projector. Today, the liquid crystal display (LCD) technology becoming common in homes has also made its way into the classroom. If you're an educator who teaches in a school equipped with LCD screens, you can incorporate this technology into your lessons in several ways.

Source: http://www.ehow.com/how_7509722_use-lcd-projectors-education.html

6. Speaker

Computer speakers, or multimedia speakers, are speakers external to a computer, that disable the lower fidelity built-in speaker. They often have a low-power internal amplifier.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_speaker

The speaker or loud speaker can be used in teaching and learning process. It is often used as the media to conduct any kind of listening exercise of to the material that provides visual aid; for example, video that needs a loudspeaker to produce the sound loudly for the audience.


7. Headphones

Headphones (or "head-phones" in the early days of telephony and radio) are a pair of small loudspeaker that are designed to be held in place close to a user's ears. They are also known as earspeakers, earphones or, colloquially, cans. The alternate in-ear versions are known as earbuds or earphones. In the context of telecommunication, a headset is a combination of headphone and microphone. Headphones either have wires for connection to a signal source such as an audio amplifier, radio, CD player, portable media player, mobile phone, electronic musical instrument, or have a wireless device, which is used to pick up signal without using a cable.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headphones

The function of this device is almost similar with the speaker or loudspeaker, but if the speaker can't reach the audience who takes a seat at the back row, this device is able to reach all the audiences by delivering its sound directly through audience's ears so that it will produce the sound clearer than speaker.