CALL Symposium

I have just attended a CALL Symposium put on by the UNITEC in Auckland. It was wonderful after having been working with a sense of isolation in my attempts to incorporate relevant CALL methodologies into my practice. There are other practitioners out there, I feel like we are pioneers in a way, working with technology to extend the boundaries of language learning and acquisition ... yadda yadda yadda

I learned about issues with teacher training... how to get alongside other staff to offer support. The speaker wanted to highlight that the pedagogy must never by overshadowed by the need for technological instruction. In whatever the trainees learn about the technology, they must first know the theory and pedagogy (andragogy?).

I went to a demonstration of a product called MonoConc Pro developed by NZ academic at Auckland University. This could do a number of fancy statistical calculations with the corpora, (whatever corpora is available or you happen to be using with the product) but it was its application to teaching collocations that peaked my interest. The product is for sale, and I would like to get my hands on a copy. I would also love to get my mitts on a copy of the pronunciation product that a team at AUT have been developing called Pronline. Sound pedagogy, and great interaction with the learners. They will soon be releasing a version for the web, so I'm waiting in line.

And much much more.