December 2, 2021 the Department of Foreign Languages of the Philological Faculty at the L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University held online seminar entitled «The use of digital resources in teaching foreign languages».
The seminar was devoted to the problems of effective methods of using digital technologies in foreign languages teaching in higher education, in particular, its theoretical and practical aspects, the development of effective online programs, recommendations for improving
the directions of online teaching and learning foreign languages were considered there.
1) The technology of using computer programs in foreign language teaching - Balkhimbekova P.Zh., Mukanova S.K.
2) Methods of using online platforms in foreign language classes – Niyazbekova A.M., Nurlybai A.
Assistant professor of the department Balkhimbekova P.Zh. and senior lecturer Mukanova S.K. were speaking on the topic "Technology of using computer programs in foreign language teaching ", in particular Mukanova S.K. dwelled on the issues of the digital technologies, how it is necessary to use them and in what fragments of the class they are the most effective.
The teachers shared their practical experience of using computer programs. Sites such as padlet.com, quizlet.com, socrative were presented. During the speech the teachers of the department took part in the games as students. Using the padlet as an example, she described how to use the online board in foreign language classes, and also how to show the existing boards on the topics: “The country in other countries”, “Traveling”. On the website of quizlet.com the participants of the seminar were able to take part in games to check the vocabulary material on the topic “Shops”. The material aroused a keen interest of the audience, since many people came across this content in the online environment.
At the end of this presentation P.Zh. Balkhimbekova and S.K. Mukanova were asked questions by the acting professor of the department Kurmanayeva D.K. about the use of these platforms in offline classes, about the members of online teams, about the video signals used with this platform, where the detailed answers were provided. Masters, senior lecturers Zagorulya O.L. and Niyazbekova A.A. offered their ideas on the volume and content of topics for classes using the Socrative program.
The second speakers - the masters, senior lecturers Niyazbekova A.M. and Nurlybay A.M. presented the speech about other digital platforms like Canva, Prezi, Explaineverything and Biteable, that they use in their educational process. The speakers recommended using Canva for doing SIW. They believe that this is the only site that makes the work of the SIW and practical tasks more rational and understandable. Only attached videos can be displayed on the platform. Another interesting 3D slideshow was shown on the Prezi platform.
The next platform Explaineverything explains online group work and the use of an online whiteboard where images and videos can also be added. As a final platform it was shown that the practical classes can be transformed by creating cartoons. The peculiarity of this platform is that you can use ready-made cartoons on various topics.
Ass. Professor Ustelimova N.A. in her speech notes that despite the short time of the transition of the educational process to online learning, the teachers of the department outlined good prospects for the further development of distance learning in foreign languages in the implementation of the quality of English teaching.
The third speaker acting professor of the department Kurmanayeva D.K. presented for the discussion an electronic textbook entitled “English course book “Environment and Natural Resources Protection” for Master students of “Management and Engineering in the field of Environmental Protection educational programs” and its authors are Sagimbayeva D. E., Kurmanayeva D.K., Tazhitova G.Z., Kassymbekova N.S. These teachers have been working at the master's program for a long time and have extensive experience in teaching academic English for non-linguistic specialties of the master's department.
Kurmanayeva D.K. in the form of a presentation gave a full description of this manual for each section. The electronic manual was created on the basis of a framework developed by the department of digital technologies of L.N. Gumilyov.
Assistant professors M.Zh. Tusupbekova and Ustelimova N.A. took part in the discussion, who noted the importance of creating a manual and recommended creating "Teaching Notes" for teachers who also teach classes for these educational programs.
By voting the members of the department unanimously recommended the electronic textbook “Environment and Natural Resources Protection” for Master students of “Management and Engineering in the field of Environmental Protection educational programs” for publication and wished the team of authors further success in creating new textbooks for other specialties for master department.
Summing up the results of the seminar, the participants expressed a unique positive opinion about the relevance of the issues considered, their novelty and the value of the information received for further practice.
