4:59 p.m. - 2005-11-02
Cell phone and Dictionary Policy
Cell Phones and Electronic dictionaries are the bane of my existence in the ESL classroom. China has more cell phones than anywhere else I have seen. Every person from the very old to the very young has a cell phone. They may not all work, but they are there none the less. These cell phones have a tendency to go off in the middle of class and in the middle of tests and exams.
Electronic dictionaries are worse. It would not be so bad if the students were purchasing good dictionaries, but they can't always afford a good one, so I have to put a ban on ALL dictionaries that are not paper English to English dictionaries. Half of the time the cheap ones have incorrect words and poor definitions, not to mention improper pronunciation hints. It is like that old joke where the man looked it up in the dictionary and instead of asking where the bathroom is he asks to purchase the other mans wife...
Cell phones and electronic dictionaries are an interuption in the classroom. When they go off in class and half the students jump, it tells me that they are disrupting the other students. When the dictionaries speak and everyone can hear it, it is a distraction. The worst part is that sometimes the students will use a dictionary on a word I am defining... at the same time, so they miss the meaning I give them and are unsure of where I am going with the topic.
The students are also not sure that what I say is right for them, so they will ignore my warnings and use their phone or dictionary in class.
Someday they will learn.
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