Technological devices have become the staple and forefront tool in creating, sharing, disseminating information. Naturally, the use of technology in classrooms is reflective of the trend of our society outside of the classroom. Incorporating technology use in our classrooms not only help prepare students for their future careers, which will inevitably include the use of technology, it can also increase students’ engagement and is a great way to reach students’ diverse learning styles.

An application that has been recently adopted by the Delta school district along with a a few other school districts in BC is the Google Apps for Education (GAFE). GAFE are a suite of productivity tools to be used for classroom collaboration. Its’ purpose is to facilitate better lesson delivery and student engagement in the classroom and increase digital skills for students. One of the resources that will be particularly beneficial for English language learners is the Google Read&Write app. Students will be able to access this resource when using a school MacBook or when signed into their Google account via Google chrome on any computer. Google Read&Write features the following functions:

• Hear words, passages, or whole documents read aloud with easy-to-follow dual color highlighting
• See the meaning of words explained with text and picture dictionaries • Hear text translated into other languages
• Get suggestions for the current or next word as you type
• Turn words into text as you speak
• Highlight text in documents or the web and collect for use in other documents
• Create and listen to voice notes directly inside of Google Docs
• Simplify and summarize text on web pages