Advantages and disadvantages of paperbased/online dictionaries

Paperback dictionary

Advantages

• students use it in classrooms where computers are not available
• can be used in assessments and examinations where computers are not allowed
•  essential for students who don’t have internet at home

Online dictionary

Advantages

•  can give you pronunciation
•  can be easily used when working online     
• can give useful translations for short chunks of language
• can be regularly updated

Who is this?

Definition 1

a person whose job is to design new buildings and make certain that they are built correctly

Definition 2

One who drafts a plan of your house and plans a draft of your money

http://www.alcyone.com/max/lit/devils/a.html

My job

I have worked at Stevenson College Edinburgh, a large FE college in the west of Edinburgh for about 20 years.  For most of that time, I have combined teaching ESOL with working as the college's Equality and Diversity Adviser.  Our ESOL provision is the largest in Scotland: we have around 30 FT and PT ELT staff in college teaching a wide range of courses including teacher training, Business English, EAP, as well as a community based ESOL provision where teachers teach ESOL in community centres in Edinburgh and the Lothians. 
Over the past few years, the College has invested in ICT resources; IWB for the majority of classrooms, a large learning centre and e-learning staff who are there to support the teaching staff.  Below is a short, clear description of the basics of using an Interactive Whiteboard in ELT.

My family

Lana and Shivan - the tall kids on the right- with their cousins in Kurdistan this summer.

I have 3 children; my daughter Ashti is studying psychology at Glasgow and lives in a student flat there with 3 close friends.  Glasgow is far enough away for her to be independent and yet near enough to come home when she feels like. My twins, Lana and Shivan are 15 and go to the local high school 5 minutes walk away from the house.  Shivan has been playing chess since the age of 9, spending a lot of time practising and playing in competitions.  My partner Azad is Kurdish originally and came to the UK in the early 80's.  After working in industry for over 10 years, he now has a few businesses, including the Braveheart Guest House which is next to our house, and a travel website which is:   http://www.budgetscot.com/

A bit about myself

I live in the city centre of Edinburgh; Edinburgh's quite a small city with the advantage of being able to walk everywhere and also to get into the countryside very easily.  Many of my students have lived in London and other big cities and they always tell me that Edinburgh is "good for study"- which probably means it's pretty quiet without their communities around.  I work on the west side of the city and over the past couple of years have cycled to work.  I don't count myself one of the lycra "serious" cyclists but I cycle summer and winter.  My journey to work is along the tow path of the Edinburgh Glasgow canal and it feels like cycling in the countryside although you are in the city.
Below - the tow path which I cycle along every day.