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More or less ,20 years ago students who tried to learn a new language used to have Mr.and Mrs Brown books,casettess,language labs or the lucky ones would have to have a trip to the countries providing language courses which promised them to teach English in a month or so . But now the case is getting more different .With the improvement of technology ,we have come to an age that the kids born after 2000s, can not make a life without using these technological developments. The kids who are in their 15s ,don’t know a life without cell phones ,videocalls ,online shopping .Although there has been no definite dictionary meaning of ‘generation z ‘ yet , these kids are learning better ,consuming information faster , growing up earlier than the previous generation .In this article I would like to discuss how digital era is effecting the path of learning or teaching English to Generation Z. Whilst among academicians and parents there have been arguments over which one is superior to one another , schooling or digital learning ;when a teenager is asked ,he would probably go for the digital learning undoubtedly.But why ? Of course there have been some good reasons for that whether we accept it or not. Yet, this sounds a little bit scary in terms of classical teaching methods which make a teacher ‘a teacher’,and lessen the real teaching environmental effects on students .As the very first reason ,the students are feeling safer and more free in the house environment. They don’t have to wake up early ,no one is forcing them to speak in front of public ,they can do learning in everywhere even in the bathroom! They can download tonnes of informations, tests,books and do online reputable courses,or even complete master-degrees.And this World is given to them sometimes for free or a small amount of money. The opportunity of reaching the information easily and in a quick way makes learning acitivity more enjoyable .They can choose the teacher they want ,they can pick the courses whenever they want ,they can drop or take them back .And they can all do that simply by downloading some apps on their phones or pads. Once , I asked one of my students how she could improve her English that much as I was dazzled when I noticed that although she was not studying regularly and getting good scores from my Exams ,she simply answered that it was thanks to the online gaming . As one of the member of generation Y ,I could not figure it out at first and it was so scary and felt unsafe to me , I have started to think about if that was really helpful for English acquisition faster as a second language .This has been taking my attention so much that I have started to play some games online .Having constant communication by messaging each other ,or making a video call with a native speaker friend gives you a lot .You have one choice to win the game! Communicate ! For certain , there must be some discussions over online teaching and learning , but digital learning is a definitely shortcut for most of the students now . The problem is the English you are getting from others on online platforms not gentle or formal all the time , so the students should be aware of the words or structures in the process. I have met many ads or clickbaits of many teachers recently, who are tutoring English lessons to the students overseas. ‘’learn English from American native teacher ‘ Would you like to talk British Accent ‘ etc. These ads mean that the teachers who are from generation Y ,have started to believe more in the uses of English and teaching it globally and there should be no borders ! Plus ,the students don’t need to have a visa to have courses from a native english teacher.Video teaching ,youtuber teachers ,online worksheets ,the tests which allow a student to watch and follow the learning phase makes Generation Z understand they do not have to attend a real ,face to face classes to learn English .Well , is this a problem ? How can we protect our kids or students to learn bad grammar or structures ?How can we as teachers make our classes more integrated with digital elements to prevent them getting bored of a normal classroom actitivity.As I have found out that whatever I am planning to talk before the lesson,they have more ideas .They have seen it before ,they have watched it before ,they have done it before .Considering the hours students are spending online ,Elt World need to take big steps to deal with before internet usage or digital learning conquer our classes. Does not it feel like teachers will be replaced by AI soon ? As a conclusion , I believe we should integrate more digital elements in our classes as the students are finding teacher centred ,books aided ,push-ups ,forced group activities dull and not fun any more day by day .As generation Y teachers ,instead of resisting of old English teaching methods ,we should adopt ourselves to things of new generation.They need to hear and see or touch the screen .We can turn this to the advantage by making them online friends with each other ,by improving more digital softwares which let them grow their skills in English .With a good lesson plan ,we can even organize an online game and help them to communicate.So they can attend and follow the class or the teacher whenever they want until the deadline .By giving enjoyable video assignments ,video lessons ,sharing real class experiences ,activating a social media account for our English classes more students will be active and volunteer to join to the activities .The rest ,they will be managing somehow! So the question is now: more is less? OR less is more?
