Hello everyone,

           

             My name is Tudor Sabie, I was born in Romania where I grew up during communism until 5th grade. Even TV was considered too much consumption of technology, hence only one hour a day of a government controlled channel was broadcasted, and it was usually about communism propaganda. The second technology devise was the ever present rotary dial phone, which was pretty much standard everywhere in the western world. Fast forward many years,  I am currently a graduate student in ESL, and my professional background includes substitute teaching and property management. I currently live in San Jose, CA where one full time job in education is not enough to live a modest life by western standards.  This background has shaped the way I see technology and education. Today, I see how important technology has become for learning, communication, and work. As an ESL student and future ESL teacher, I am interested in how technology can help English learners build confidence, practice real-life communication, and connect with opportunities beyond the classroom.

          Over the past few years, I have had the opportunity to work with students in different school settings, including public schools and adult education environments. These experiences have helped me become especially interested in English language development, adult ESL, and the way technology can support students who are building both language and academic confidence. I chose ESL as I can relate to the fact that I am a sequential bilingual. 

           My current professional goal is to continue developing as an ESL educator while completing my graduate program. In the future, I would like to teach English learners either in adult education, community college, or possibly(even preferably) abroad, in Asia. I am particularly interested in helping multilingual learners use English for real-life communication, academic success, and professional growth. Because many adult English learners are balancing school, work, family, and personal responsibilities, I believe technology can be especially powerful when it gives students more flexible, meaningful ways to practice language.

           For this lesson idea, I selected "ISTE Student Standard 1.7: Global Collaborator", specifically indicator '7.b ' which asks students to use collaborative technologies to work with others, including peers, experts, or community members, to examine issues from multiple viewpoints (International Society for Technology in Education [ISTE], 2024). I would connect this standard to English language development standards because the activity requires students to listen, speak, read, write, collaborate, and present information.

          The lesson I would create is called “Community Voices: Solving a Local Problem.” This lesson could work well with intermediate adult ESL students or older English learners. Students would work in small groups and choose a local problem, such as water use, public transportation, recycling, neighborhood safety, or healthy food options. Each group would research the problem from at least two different points of view. For example, if students choose water use, they might look at how the issue affects families, businesses, city workers, or community groups. Students could use Google Docs, Google Slides or Flip to collect information and make a short presentation. They could also interview someone in the community, email a local office, or watch a short video from a reliable source.

       At the end, each group would give a presentation. They would explain the problem, show different points of view, and suggest one possible solution. This lesson helps students practice English while also learning how to use technology in a useful way. The technology is not just added for fun. It helps students work together, organize ideas, and share what they learned.  Kolb’s Triple E Framework helped me think about whether technology really supports learning. The framework looks at three things: engagement, enhancement, and extension (Triple E Framework, n.d.). In this lesson, technology engages students because they are actively working with their group. It enhances learning because students can edit their writing, add pictures, give feedback, and organize their information. This is helpful for English learners because visuals and revision can make learning clearer.

         The lesson also extends learning outside the classroom because students connect English practice to real community issues. They are not only learning English for a test. They are using English to understand and talk about real life. Overall, I believe technology should not replace good teaching. It should support teaching by helping students communicate, collaborate, and connect learning to the real world.


                                                             References

International Society for Technology in Education. (2024). ISTE Standards for Students. https://iste.org/standards/students

Triple E Framework. (n.d.). Triple E Framework. https://www.tripleeframework.com/





Comments

  1. Holly CatlinMay 16, 2026 at 7:13 AM

    Tudor,
    I really like how many skills and concepts you have synthesized in this lesson. The lesson I posted was similar in it's emphasis of collaboration through a presentation, but I saw it through the lens of the ISTE standard about Engagement. I like how you framed it as a way to have students use technology as Global Collaborators. I also appreciate your consideration of visuals to make things clearer for ESL students. This simultaneously addresses multi-modal learning. Thanks for your insight!

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