EDITOR'S MESSAGE
by Jarek Krajka
Maria Curie-Sklodowska University,
Lublin, Poland
jarek.krajka@wp.pl

The spring issue of Teaching English with Technology provides the teachers interested in educational applications of technology with a new set of ideas for classroom practice. This highly practical approach has become the landmark of the Journal – contrary to academic publications, characterized by experimentation, data, longitudinal studies, Teaching English with Technology has always been a forum for practitioners to exchange ideas. Thus, ready-made lesson plans, website reviews or tutorials are a regular feature of our publication and are always welcome for publication.

Similarly, even though the Journal originates in Poland and is published by IATEFL (International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language) Poland Computer Special Interest Group, it has never been dominated by any localized view – on the contrary, the publications of Polish researchers and teachers were balanced with contributions from all over the globe, providing a truly representative mix of problems and solutions.

These two tendencies are reflected in the current issue – thus, Thor May, a lecturer from Chungju National University, South Korea, in his article "Brief Thoughts about IT in Language Education", provides a truly impressive overview of the existing trends and opportunities offered by technology, dealing with even such obscure topics as the cyborg teacher or talk bots.

In the Internet Lesson Plans section, Ewa Krzywicka-Dzioch, a practising secondary school teacher from Ostrow Lubelski, Poland, gives the ready-made lesson outline in which the structure of a role-play and architecture-oriented websites are used to develop both Web searching skills and language proficiency of students.

On a different note, though also ESP-related, the website review of "Law for Kids" website, written by Maria Victoria Fernandez from Universidade de Vigo (Spain), shows how appealing language materials can be used to introduce even beginning students to the topic of law.

"Writing with Technology", the final contribution in the issue, is written by Lindsay Clandfield, an ELT materials writer. Using his current experience of writing a coursebook, the author shows a few tricks of the trade that prove immensely useful in the process of creating classroom materials.

It is hoped that this mix of ideas and views will stimulate the readers to their own endeavours.

I wish you good reading.