1. If a student is not literate in their first language, how can they use the computer in a second language? What support is provided for these students?
I have not had to deal with literacy issues in this particular class because all the students are at least basically literate before they get into this class. But we have used the Internet with students with literacy problems. We don't give them as much freedom because that kind of freedom and lack of structure would be overwhelming. But there are plenty of things that you can do that are a wonderful motivator to people with low literacy skills. Basic word processing for a student with low literacy skill is a godsend. It is a lot easier to hit a letter on a keyboard than it is to write one out. And you can make text big, and you can move it around easily, and people are excited to have something that looks good, especially if you have low literacy skills. Whenever we can we will provide bilingual support. We'll have students work together in pairs so that they can help each other. We set it up so they can go to a bookmark for specific things in advance. There are good materials out there for low literacy students. Even finding a really good picture of your country to give you something to talk about with other students, and have you name vocabulary items for things you want to learn, makes it a very powerful tool.
