Another week of intensive reading included articles
about using CALL in writing and reading activities, then, we had to prepare a
technology enhanced lesson plan, write about some issues or problems, the
teaching class is experiencing and, sure, a discussion in the nicenet.
I really enjoyed reading the articles “Using the
Internet in ESL Writing Instruction” by Jarek Krajka and “Three Extensive
Reading Activities for ESL/EFL students Using E-Books” by Mei-Ya-Liang. They
give good, practical ideas which are possible to incorporate into the teaching
process. I especially liked the ideas on different writing genres by Jarek
Krajka and I will definitely include some of the genres into teaching writing.
The teachers suggested a lot of useful websites that offer free lessons,
exercises, worksheets etc. I was familiar with some of them and bookmarked the
ones which were new and I found them useful. I especially loved Lauri’s ESL
website http://fog.ccsf.edu/~lfried/
and http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/
which offer wonderful grammar, vocabulary, listening exercises with
pre/while/post activities. I wonder if we shall have access to https://sites.google.com/site/webskillsuo/home
when the course is over. That would be great!
Preparing a technology enhanced lesson plan was a
kind of challenge for me but following the instructions I guess I managed to
create the one correctly. It was, actually, my lesson in Grade 10.
We are moving forward to the next step in the Final
Project and this week’s assignment was to identify the class problem in order
to find ways to solve it. Having read the posts by the teachers in the nicenet,
I realize I work in more comfortable conditions as our classes are much smaller
and they are divided into groups for language study. We have the internet
access which many schools don’t, but the main advantage is, sure, the small
size of the class.
I want to concentrate on the improving my students’
listening skills in my Final project. Developing listening skills helps to
build vocabulary and improves speaking skills as well.
My aim is to use the internet as a useful teaching
aid and, thus, give variety and authenticity to learning English.
Dear Irada,
ReplyDeleteI can see that you enjoyed from the 4th week as me. But frankly, it was very difficult week for me. Because of some problems in my work place and lack of time.
I also read “Using the Internet in ESL Writing Instruction” by Jarek Krajka. Sure, they are giving really unique methods to use in teaching English.
By the way, very nice blog :)
I too love Lauri’s ESL website. I may have mentioned this already, but I knew her when I lived and worked back in San Francisco. She is really one of the first people I knew doing really useful and cool things on the internet for language learning. -Robert
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