I am an Indian and I would like to talk about Education or teaching in the Indian context or perspective.
In the past education was confined only to the two upper castes- Brahmins (The priest community) and kshatriyas (The ruling community). The guru would teach his disciples the Vedas, the puranas, the Upanishads and the epics.
When the English colonized India, they introduced English, maybe for their selfish utilitarian gains. Anyhow, it was the British who universalized Education in India.
After the Independence it was Dr. Bheema Rao Ambedhkar who liberated the Downtrodden after being educated in America and England. They became a part of the Indian educational main stream. In the present context, the importance of teaching English is inestimable. As I said in my blogs earlier, the Indian Education system at the primary and secondary stages was polarized into government corporate and private sectors. In the government sector in which I teach English, there is not much scope for using technology except computers in the class rooms. It is not possible to use the most sophisticated technology like Ipads, CD ROMS, apps and androids and other latest techniques like infographics as used by Ms Raquel.
The only thing I can use in my English class is the computer which has a limited download internet capacity. Nor are my students in a position to benefit from the latest techniques. Their knowledge of English is meagre, so I think I can use the phonemic chart downloaded from the British council’s online site Teaching English.
In the past I was not sure of pronouncing certain phonetic symbols especially vowels. Now the phonetic chart has come to my rescue since the sounds are uttered by an expert from a native English speaking community. Apart from these experiments, I confess that the method I follow is the chalk and talk. Most of the time I write on the black board and explain grammar, meanings etc to my students. Even in this most advanced age I feel the black board is the most important teaching learning tool at least in the government sector. The point is the technology can supplement teaching or teacher but it will never supplant him or it.