An iPod Generation

About a year or so after hearing about iPods for the first time, I purchased my very own black 8GB second generation iPod nano. Until I began my first methods course, I had never really explored the educational benefits of such a device. As the course has progressed, I have learned about different ways that students can use iPods in the English classroom (e.g. podcasts). This week's article, however, discussed how iPods can help students who are not native English speakers. The article, published by The New York Times, discussed how hearing popular American songs in English can help students learn English in less time than the traditional English education would take. Some schools have moved so far as buying enough iPods so that every student who is trying to learn English will have the opportunity to interact and learn with one.

Although I see the benefit in iPods for students who are not native English speakers, I do not feel that pop music (e.g. The Black Eyed Peas) contains the right phrases and words for new English speakers to learn. Not to mention, do we expose our English-speaking students to today's pop music or promote it? No. In fact, for the most part, the very things that today's pop music encourages are ideas and behaviors that we as teachers either avoid discussing or discourage. I do like the idea of music as a tool for education, but I believe teachers must be very careful in their selections of music as it is very influential in the lives of young people.

One final thought: my theory on what I call "iPod isolation." iPod isolation is very common among young people today. It occurs when individuals cannot seem to go anywhere or do anything without their iPods. It distances the listener from the world outside, and, as a result, their social skills and relationships may suffer. If students are not native English speakers, teachers who utilize iPods in their classes should be careful to educate them on when it is appropriate to use iPods, for students will see the average American doing most anything with those white earplugs lodged in their ears, insulated in their own worlds and separated from the world outside.