I had an feeling
that week four would include more postings and homework and I was right.
I felt overwhelmed at first, but once I began to work and read through the
materials, all became clear. I read through the articles and chose a
favorite as I do each week. This week I preferred Jarek Krajka’s “Using the
Internet in ESL Writing Instruction”. The article caught my eye when I realized
it would include suggestions in order to enhance writing skills using practical
applications such as web pages, e-mail connection and creating class websites.
Karjka gives detailed instructions on how to teach writing and I find this
useful as writing is an integral part of my students’ matriculation exams at
the end of the twelfth grade where they would have to write an essay expressing
an opinion, write a letter or write a descriptive essay. Although Krajka might
seem in favor of using technology to enhance instruction, the conclusion
clearly states that it is preferable to use the technology to enrich the lesson
rather than including it just for the sake of using technology, a point that is
often stressed in our course. When teaching writing, I cannot agree more with
this point. I feel that there should be an introductory lesson to every type of
essay as sometimes the internet and technology cannot offer that one on one
support for every student. Using technology after the face to face instruction
as a means of practice is what I believe Krajka would consider as a good use of
technology.
Another required
task that was completed this week included writing a technology enhanced lesson
plan which I enjoyed as I integrated one of the online quiz tools into my
lesson. I've read through the other lesson plans as well and find
that the diversity of students in our course just provides us with a range
of great activities to think of and possibly adapt with our own classes. I must
honestly say that I would have preferred to interact with my classmates and
receive feedback from them and from our instructor. I have come to learn what a
great asset collaboration is and on this occasion, I have missed having
it available. We have also had to describe a problem which we would solve with
our students, and for this task I set my heart to work on a project in which
teachers are instructed on integrating ICT into the four domains of the English
Curriculum. I’m still going through the planning stage, but hopefully, the
picture will become clearer as the course progresses.
This week I felt
like we managed to complete the circle with the rich list of websites that
offer reading and writing activities after reading about listening and speaking
activities last week (This, of course, was my favorite of them all) . I was,
like many others of my peers, impressed by www.breakingnewsenglish.com as I felt
it includes everything a teacher could wish for when searching for complete
class activities. I will certainly be using it with my students. I have noticed
that most of the reading comprehension websites include vocabulary practice.
Indeed, vocabulary was always an important part of the English Curriculum in
Israel, but when the New English Curriculum was published, it clearly stated
the number of lexical items that each student is required to learn which totals
up to 5,400 for the foundation, intermediate and proficiency levels combined. I
have always stressed vocabulary with my students and find that practicing
vocabulary is very beneficial I tend to use Quizlet and Spelling City for that
purpose. Please allow me to expand on these two amazing web tools:
1) Quizlet
mainly includes flashcard and games, but what is amazing about it is that you
can create your own list, add your own definition and an explanatory image.
Sharing your vocabulary list will entitle your students to review each word
with its definition and then go on to play games such as scattered words, race,
speller and so on. The following image is an activity that I created for the
poem The Road Not Taken. You can easily access games by clicking on
"Choose a Study Mode" (note that you can embed any activity onto your
website):
2) Spelling
City is a website where you can create vocabulary lists. Once completed, you
share the link with your students and they can choose from a list of free games
(word unscramble, missing letter, quizzes and my favorite- ready to use criss
cross puzzles) to practice. Alternatively, you can print out worksheets if you
do not wish to spend the lesson explaining how to work around the website and
thus save time for reading. (Sample vocabulary list and activities)
 |
| http://bit.ly/1n28yCD |
At the end of my post for this week, I would like to say thank you to all those who take the time to comment and give feedback to myself and other participants. It is by supporting each other that we grow as a productive group of teachers. I cannot wait to see what next week will have in store for us, so good luck to everyone.
Nahla
Sources:
At the end of my post for this week, I would like to say thank you to all those who take the time to comment and give feedback to myself and other participants. It is by supporting each other that we grow as a productive group of teachers. I cannot wait to see what next week will have in store for us, so good luck to everyone.
