The use of the new information and communication technologies (ICTs) has speedily increased during the last 20 years. They have led us to a new global citizenship, a new way of thinking and even a new way of behaving, which have influenced all knowledge fields, including education. As a matter of fact, UNESCO’s ICT Competency Standards for Teachers (2008) recently pointed out that both students and teachers must utilize technology effectively in order to live, learn, and work successfully in an increasingly complex, information-rich and knowledge-based society. Students have new ways to access information and learn; they have naturally developed cognitive skills that make the use of digital technology much easier. Thus, they are called ‘the net generation’ or 'digital natives', people who have grown up with technology, mainly Internet (Prensky, 2001). Consequently, teachers have to develop digital competences to satisfy the demands of that new generation. Making the teaching-learning process more effective, interesting, dynamic, updated and adapted to the new learning times is a must for us. This presentation will offer an overview of digital literacy and a basic training on powerful Web 2.0 tools (blogs, wikis, podcasts, social networking, etc) to enhance the ELT teaching practice.

1. Powerful Web 2.0 tools for the ELT Classroom Best Affiliates’ Presentations TESOL Convention – New Orleans, March 16-19, 2011 Evelyn Izquierdo VenezuelaTESOL (VenTESOL) http://ventesol.ning.com

3. Digital literacy in the 21st century

4. Are teachers prepared for 21st century students?

9. Some audio tools and voice recorders

17. Virtual worlds Some popular virtual worlds are: Second Life , OpenSim , Sun Microsystems MPK20 , World of Warcraft , Eve Online , Club Penguin , WhyVille , Gaia , WebKinz , Neopets , HabboHotel , There , Kaneva , Stardoll , PixieHollow , and Virtual MTV , among others. The most famous of all is Second Life . Second Life is an online, totally free, 3D virtual world that offers its users opportunities to create, interact, having fun and learn through an avatar. It is a net of networks that allows users to organize in groups and communities of practice.