THE USE OF GOOGLE EARTH PLATFORM BY THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER DURING TEACHING GRAMMAR

Abstract

The article describes the possibilities of using Google Earth in teaching English grammar to education seekers. To achieve this goal, the following methods were used: theoretical – analysis, synthesis of personal and domestic scientists’ pedagogical experience regarding the Google Earth usage in teaching English; statistical – analysis of students’ survey results. The author highlightes the main online platforms of the Google Company for teaching English to students, among which Google Earth, a free platform for the satellite displaying planets Earth, Mars and the Moon virtually, is considered to be promising for it. A survey has been conducted (104 students of the Faculty of Ukrainian and Foreign Philology of Hryhorii Skovoroda University in Pereiaslav, Ukraine, aged 17 to 19, both sexes), containing 5 main questions ("Do you know the Google Earth platform?", "Do you know how to use Google Earth?", "Have you already used Google Earth?", "Do you know how to use Google Earth to teach English vocabulary to school students?", "Do you know how to use Google Earth to teach English grammar to school students?", "Are you interested in learning about the possibilities of using Google Earth to teach English to students?"). The results of the survey show that the Google Earth platform is well-known only to19% of future English teachers, but is interesting to all of them in terms of future usage in teaching English, including grammar; only 7% of respondents know how to use it in teaching English vocabulary and 4% know how to use it in teaching English grammar to school students. The article describes the advantages of the Google Earth platform over Google Maps, names the possibilities of using this platform by an English teacher to teach English grammar, which could allow students to improve skills in morphology and syntax, develop creativity and intercultural competence, providing intercultural dialogue. The prospect of further research is a detailed study of the platform advantages and disadvantages for the formation of the future English teacher’s foreign language competence.