DIGITAL VIDEO TECHNOLOGY IN THE ENGLISH FOR TELECOMMUNICATION ENGINEERING CLASSROOM

One of our challenges as teachers of English for Specific Purposes is to be able to involve post-graduate students in the use of English as a tool to share their projects and interact in our case with other engineers, without losing sight of the use of foreign language for everyday life. If motivation and authenticity are two key words in teaching ESP, internet and its many possibilities is presented as a valuable source to finding authentic, engaging and motivating materials to be used in the ESP classroom. The aim of this article is to share a practical experience in the use of digital video technology to teach English for Telecommunications Engineers, conducted with post-graduate students from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria during the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years. This course was designed in response to the students' communicative needs within their own specialty, taking into account the particular requirements of each student, without neglecting the teaching of grammar and vocabulary and other language tools. We carried out a preliminary study of the needs of these students. In this article, we will explain the reasons that led us to create our own materials, the selection process and results.