My absolute essential for “real life” teaching is a whiteboard. Obviously, this is tricky to use via Skype. Thankfully, I discovered Twiddla! It’s an online whiteboard tool that you and anyone who you share the link with can see and edit at the same time. Perfect for awkward explanations you just can’t do with words and emoticons!

The pairing of language students with counterparts abroad is the next logical step. Working effectively online with native speakers is a challenging and alluring proposition.

How to use VoiceThread 25 Interesting Ways* to use VoiceThread in the Classroom (*and tips) is a VoiceThread offering ideas for lessons on problem solving, collaboration on artwork, video discussions, revision/review, playwriting, poetry, and more.

Used wrongly, computers could even damage learning. "Technology can be a distraction," says Warschauer. "I remember observing a beginners' French class a number of years ago, the teacher bragged about how engaged the learners were in creating multimedia in French. However, the students were spending most of their time and energy talking with each other in English about how to make PowerPoints, when, as beginning learners, they really needed to be spending time hearing as much French as possible."