Technology Based Activities to Develop 21st Century Skills in the Foreign Language Classroom

In this paper, I explore the ways to develop 4 C's skills: communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity. They are regarded as the core 21st century skills. However, they are still understated and implicitly present as educational strategies in the syllabi for foreign language courses in the Republic of Belarus. Therefore the instruments for their development need to be explored. This requirement could affect the efficiency of the development of communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity skills. Bearing it in mind, the present study proposes oral and written speech activities that help to achieve this goal in the foreign language classroom. The activities are designed for per-intermediate, intermediate and advanced levels of English and are technology based. In the era of Web 2.0, both teachers and students are immersed in various web tools. That is why it is illustrated how to carry out the application of technology: YouTube, Google Forms / Slides / Docs, Meeting Words, Coogle, Kahoot, Padlet, Video Notes, Vizia and Edmodo. Pilot study results revealed that the suggested exercises are effective for the development of 4 C's skills.