David and others,
Interesting that you should ask about who is connected. I teach two classes
and I didn't mention my second class because it is mostly senior Koreans in
their 70's. While none of the older Koreans  are connected (one of my
students said his granddaughter told him to stay away from the computer so
he wouldn't break it!), about half of their children n are and manage to do
things like buy airline tickets for them. I do have an Afghan woman in that
class who has just begun  voice chat with her widespread family (Russia,
Denmark, Texas, California, Hawaii). A Korean in her 50's who is visiting
her daughter here uses the Internet for everything (banking, shopping,
travel, e-mail, etc.)
My refugee class is mostly made of family groups so I can't separate out the
genders; if one is connected, thay all are and are online together as a
family. Since they are new immigrants, most of them live with family who
have been here for a while. When that's the case, they invariably have a
computer and the Internet at home. Today, for example, I started the new
year and had a family of four Moldovans(mother, father, and grown son and
his wife) who have been in the country for less than a month. They are
living with the father's sister's family and they have a computer. I just
launched a Hot Potatoes health unit to support my class instruction and they
were eager to continue what they started in the lab at home. The percentage
of connectedness is about 75%. Internet "telephony" takes the form of voice
chat. I haven't polled, but I'd guess a third of those who connect use voice
chat. All of those who have the Internet use e-mail.
My population is too small to see trends. I do see that the younger
immigrants are extremely adept in using technology. I'm thinking of two
young ladies in particular. One has a website that she uses to bridge
between home (Ukraine) and here. She spent her spare time learning new
software packages and got a digital video camera with her first paycheck.
And so did the other young lady who is from Iran. She also has a video
camera, does constant voice chat when she is at home (I've visited the
apartment she shares with her mother on two or three occasions) and often
has a cell phone on the other ear, while listening to contemporary Iranian
music over the web at the same time. This seems to echo what we are hearing
about our own digital generation. It may be a worldwide phenomenon.
This off-topic, but maybe not.... Last night I got a Skype call out of the
blue from a stranger. He spoke only a few English phrases and I had a
difficult time getting his country from him. He kept on throwing out French,
German, and Russian phrases at me. I couldn't communicate in any of them.
Looking at his profile and his few responses to me, I discovered that he was
a Kurd living in Poland. He was 15 and his 10 year old brother was with him.
They were trying to coax me to speak Kurdish phrases and would applaud when
I mimicked them accurately (I felt like a trained chimp act...). Their aim
appeared to be to practice English, but were willing to talk in German,
Russian or French as well. Tonight I voice chatted with a friend from
Guangdong, China and text chatted with the husband of a former student who
is from Cambodia. I guess one trend I may be seeing is a lot of barriers are
coming down. 
My guess would be that the ABE students are a lot less connected since they
may not be literate in any language, are probably on the bottom rung
economically and are probably not sharing a home like my new immigrants. Am
I right? 
Bruce Moon
Adult ESL teacher


-----Original Message-----
From: technology-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:technology-bounces at nifl.gov] On
Behalf Of David Rosen
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2006 11:30 AM
To: The Technology and Literacy Discussion List
Subject: [Technology] Internet Use from Home, Simulations

Bruce and others,

You mentioned that a simulation to teach online banking and shopping  
might be valuable.  I agree, and think simulations have a lot of  
potential in adult literacy education. If Technology e-list  
subscribers will e-mail me or post to the list some of their favorite  
simulations I will compile these and add a section on simulations to  
the Literacy list. ( http://alri.org/literacylist.html )

Bruce, what % of your students (by gender) have access to the  
Internet from home? Of these, what % use e-mail?  What % use Internet  
telephony? What trends do you see in access and use of the Internet  
from home?  More ESL/ELL students getting access from home? More  
using e-mail? More using Internet telephony? Or something else?

How about other teachers on this list?  have you surveyed your  
students? What trends are you seeing? Are there differences between  
ELL and ABE students?

David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net



On Jan 3, 2006, at 2:10 PM, Bruce Moon wrote:


> I suspect that the nature of the Internet and the abuses of it may  

> have

> already skewed what we teach. I doubt if very many of us are going  

> to teach

> our students how to download music or use a chat room.  Because it  

> involves

> setting up an account and submitting personal information, we  

> probably won't

> be teaching students to use auctions either. Perhaps we do need to  

> examine

> our teaching, though, to make sure that we don't direct our  

> teaching in just

> the way that we use the Internet. Here I am thinking of how elementary

> school teachers tend to teach fiction books when boys are  

> interested in

> non-fiction, perhaps unknowingly transmitting the idea that reading is

> "sissy stuff". If it there was a simulation to  teach online  

> banking and

> shopping, those might be valuable skills to teach our students of  

> both sexes

> to minimize the digital divide.

> 	As a sidelight, I teach refugees from former Soviet Union countries.

> Sometimes within days of entry, the men in the men who are online  

> searching

> auto auction sites. Within their community, there is a network of  

> workers

> who can take a damaged auto and make it look like new. They are  

> looking for

> just the right car to take to their family friends. I drive a 1991  

> Toyota

> pickup; all of my students drive 21st century cars.

> 	Thinking about my students, I don't think that the stereotypes

> necessarily apply as they are driven by their needs as newcomers  

> who want to

> continue their connections with their homeland. E-mail to friends  

> back home

> seems to be equally used by both. Both men and women like to  

> download music

> from "home". First language news sites are also popular, perhaps  

> more with

> the men. And a few of the  more net savvy of both sexes find the first

> language java chat sites that the school's proxy hasn't been able  

> to block.

> Bruce Moon

> Adult ESL educator

> Rio Linda, CA

>

>

> ----------------------------------------------------

> National Insitute for Literacy

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> Technology at nifl.gov

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