PODCAST

News on the investigation of murder cases.

To get the file, click HERE.

TASK 3: WWW.LESSONPLAN.COM

Level : Form 2 (beginner to intermediate)

Time : 70 minutes (double-period class)

Theme/Topic : Important people

General Objective: Integrating ICT in English lesson

Specific Objectives (Educational aims):

1. Students should be able to obtain information from video clips that they watch and fill in the task sheet provided.

2. Students should be able to browse for public figure and obtain details about them.

3. Students should be able to write a short paragraph/summary about public figures using correct past tense.

Skills integrated: Listening and reading to obtain information. Writing for academic purposes.

Previous knowledge:

1. Students already learned on how to attach and download files in e-mail.

2. Students already learned about grammar rules of present and past tense.

Technical Requirements:

1. One computer for 3-4 students with an Internet connections and web browser.

2. A computer with projector and Microsoft Excel for teacher.

3. Microsoft office word installed in each computer.

Preparations:

1. Check for videos availability in youtube.

2. Sent the task sheet to students' e-mail.

Procedure:

(Set induction)

1. Teacher shows a slideshow of famous people in the world.

2. Teacher asks several lead questions about those people to the students.

3. Teacher instructs one member in each group to log into his/her e-mail account.

(Development)
Activity 1

1. Teacher asks students to enter youtube.com

2. Teacher briefly explains about the website.

3. Teacher gives the url of an uploader to students.

4. Students enter the page and are asked to search for any famous people that they know.

5. Students watch the short documentary. (video clips)

6. Teacher instructs students to download the electronic task sheet from their e-mail.

7. Students are required to fill the details about person that they just watched in the video clips.

8. Students also need to download the image of the person to be put into the task sheet.

9. After completing the activity, students need to save the task sheet and attach the file into the email.
10. Students send the e-mail to teacher.

Activity 2
1. Teacher asks students to think about former Malaysian public figures.
2. Students verbally tell teacher about their selected figures. (one figure per group)
3. Teacher approve students' choices.
4. Teacher asks students to enter a website.
5. Students make a research about the public figures that they had chosen.

6. Teacher encourages students to use wikipedia as source of information.

7. Students opened the second task sheet.

8. They are required to write a summary (around 70-100 words) of the public figure.

9. Teacher emphasize on the importance of using past tense in writing the summary.

10. Students save and submit the summary to the teacher via email.

(Conclusion)

1. Teacher sums up the lesson of the day.

(Follow up)

- Individually, students need to create a youtube account and subscribe to a channel of their own choices.

Karim Benzema Biography

An immensely-talented striker, Benzema (due mainly to his Algerian heritage) was tipped to fill the boots of Zinedine Zidane for France and comparisons only gained pace when he signed for Real Madrid.

Born in Lyon to Algerian parents, the North African nation did approach him about making himself available to them, but he declined saying: "Algeria is in my heart but sporting-wise I'm 100% French."

With his international future sorted, his first four seasons as a professional at Lyon were nothing less than sensational, scoring goal upon goal in both Ligue 1 and Champions League. However, after sealing a £30 million deal to Real Madrid in July 2009, he was demoted to the bench by the excellent form up front of the Argentine Gonzalo Higuain and was overlooked for the 2010 France World Cup squad.

TASK 2: Article Review

Click HERE for the research.

Title: Computer-Assisted Language Use: An Internet Survey

Author: Richard Watson Todd (King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Thailand)

Journal: CALL – EJ Vol. 9, No. 1, July 2007

Summary

Second language English learners often used computers to enhance their English level. It is stated in the article that Computer-Assisted Language Use (CALU) are the terms used to describe the applications/softwares used by learners in improving their English. It is also noted that learners who are non-native speakers of English used CALU without necessarily trying to learn the language (English) first while many current CALU applications are not designed for these users and do not promote incidental learning. This research examined how non-native speakers who are not engaged in formal learning of English use computers to enhance their use of English. Therefore, this internet survey is conducted to investigate how frequently such CALU applications are used.

As for the methods of data collection for the research, a questionaire-based Internet survey was used. It is due to the low amount of cost spent in preparing questionaires and they also allow wide sampling to be conducted relatively easy since the in-depth data is not required for the research. Links for the questionnaire were placed on popular websites and anyone who wished to could follow these links and complete it by themselves. The survey aimed to collect two types of data. The first one is to determine whether the respondent was currently studying or working while the second one is to determine how often the respondent used computer applications in English based on the seven categories listed in the survey.

There were 95 participants who answered the questionaires and since this is an internet survey, there is no definite number of surveys being distributed. The survey aims to obtain results from a broad population. However, most of the respondent are the ones who frequently used computers and the internet as the medium to learn English.

The survey concluded that CALL applications are used so infrequently that they are of little importance. However, there are four considerations provided in the research. Firstly, while the 95 respondents in the survey generally use CALU applications more frequently than CALL applications, the generalisability of this finding to other computer users is unclear since the survey was self-selected. Secondly, the target population of the survey was computer users not engaged in formal study of English. Next, frequency of use of applications may not reflect their importance. Lastly, the distinction between CALL and CALU applications is an unreal dichotomy. Therefore, the results of the survey do suggest that computer applications that primarily concern CALU are used frequently and thus are likely to be of importance to computer users.

Review

Personally, I think this research capture my interest only in the aspect of differentiating CALL and CALU. I strongly believe that these two things are related to each other. For learners who are not seeking to learn English first before trying with the CALL applications, they absolutely need to know how to use CALU application. In a way, CALU applications can become learners’ language improvement tools. In my opinion, both applications are important for learner as they served to the purpose of improving the English level.

I think this research is well conducted as it follows all methodology needed when gathering information and data. However, due to the questionnaire-based internet survey where respondents determined themselves whether to answer or not, it somehow lacks in terms of reliability. It is hard to determine specifically which particular groups are answering the question even though it is assumed in the research methodology that respondents are sub-groups, such as students who are not studying English or workers at a specific company. The research even stated that a broader perspective is needed. Even more, the potential errors listed (coverage errors, low response errors etc.) could somehow affect the result of the survey answered. In my opinion, selecting particular target groups by distributing questionnaires and interviews are more appropriate compare to the internet survey as it is more reliable. This is because internet survey requires volunteers and researcher won’t be able to know specifically about the background details of the respondents where the problem of over generalization might occurs.

This research is helpful in helping educators identifying their students' needs in learning English through technology. CALU applications might be suitably recommended first as this will help students to adapt to English-based application. When students are able to master the use of CALU application, they will find it easy to use the CALL application as the language helping tools in CALU has already provided them the basic knowledge they needed in navigating/ using the CALL applications or websites. Other than that, I see this research only intended to explore the usage frequency of CALU applications. So maybe we can increase the frequency if we feel that is not enough. That is how I see the implication of this research into the teaching and learning of ESL.

My Hotpot story so far...

In the first few CALL classes, I had no idea about the term Hot Potatoes repeatedly mentioned by Dr Izaham. I thought it was some kind of ESL websites where teacher and students need to browse for materials (just like the dave's cafe site). Later I found out that this is a free software designed for teachers to design a web based tasks for students. It includes five applications that enable us to create a test which are JCloze, JMatch, JMix, JCross and JQuiz. The exercises created from this software are viewed in Html format. It is noted that users are able to customize the design and the format of the exercises created. There are variety of tools provided in creating and customizing any exercise. Honestly, I felt some kind of strange when started to learn about this software. I mean why hot potato? The word potato itself doesn't reflect anything on test construction. Quite funny! :)

In my opinion, this software is such an interesting tool in helping teachers to prepare exercises for the students. For those who are looking to integrate the ICT in the classroom, this might well be the medium. I believe that this software is also user friendly. For a slow learners in terms of computers (like me) , they don't have to understand all those codings for the html to create exercises. It is all about generating ideas on what to test the students on and fill the questions on the column provided. It is not difficult to learn as users are able to try again and again. I was amazed when I tried the JCloze feature for the first time as I never expected a normal paragraph containing words can be changed into a fill-in-the-blank exercise with variety of answers. In a way, it helps greatly in terms of time consumption in preparing materials for the students. Rather than typing to prepare the multiple choice answers, we can just use the tools provided to make it happen. More, the design and layouts of the exercises created may become a motivational factor for students as it is interactive and less formal compare to the paper handouts.

However, I saw one obvious weakness in this application so far. This software is unable to record the marks of the students. It only publish the total marks of a task after the students finish answering it. So for teachers who are looking to fully utilize it in a lesson, they need to monitor and keep track of their students' performance every time they completed an exercise. Students are also able to change the wrong answers into the correct ones as there is no mechanism to punish or deduct the marks if the same question is being answered twice. For this matter, I strongly suggest that this software is used as a supplementary tools in giving exercise to students. Teachers might not be able to know the progress of every single students in the classroom (whether they really understand the topic or not) especially in the classroom with so many students... Well I had 47 boys when I did my practicum last semester. If I were using this software as a medium of testing and evaluating their English performance, I'm sure all of them would score 100% for every test given.

In conclusion, I can say that Hot Potatoes is a really interesting and interactive tool for teachers to prepare exercises for their students. Even though I still have several difficulties in using it (the picture didn't appear, selecting suitable authentic materials, etc), it saves a lot of time and energy required compared to preparing paper handouts. However, as the weakness being pointed out before, I strongly suggest that the software is used as a supplement rather than main sources in preparing exercises for the students.

Thank you.

JMatch Exercise

I've put a background picture and tried to upload it several times but it never appears.

To download the exercise, click HERE.

TASK 1: ESL Website Evaluation

URL: http://a4esl.org/

1. What does the application attempt to “teach”?

Well generally and for sure, this application is developed to teach English to learners. This site uses simple design and is very easy to navigate as well. For the beginners in using electronic educational tools, this site might well become a helpful tool for them. It is stated that this site is the project of The Internet TESL Journal (iteslj.org) and it contains thousands of contribution from many teachers around the world.

This website provides a wide range of activities organised in three ways according to category. Those categories are grammar, vocabulary and crosswords. Another fantastic feature that can be found in this website is the bilingual section. Speakers of languages other than English can use it to do a lot of activities if they are just started to learn English. There are around 50 languages provided in the bilingual section and they’ll provide you with so many activities. Another thing that I like about this website is that it categorized the activities according to the level (easy, medium, difficult etc.) so that we can choose the level that suited us. Types of activities includes matching answer to pictures, fill in the blank, objectives questions, choosing suitability of a situation/picture given and many more. They are simple but really attractive.

Apart from that, it is noted that some activities are not grammatical in nature, and cover interest areas such as science, celebrations, cultures and job skills. Activities provide a score and show the correct answer after each attempt at a question. However, there are certain activities that requires user to guess without really answering the answer. In other words, some activities are not being provided with answer section or colunm. Maybe learner should write their answer elsewhere and later on check with the answer provided by the exercise.

In conclusion, I would say that this website is very user-friendly since it is so easy to navigate and it will really helps learners to try out all activities provided.

2. What sorts of things is the application user expected to do with regards to learning the content?

I must say that this application user will feel very comfortable doing activities since it is prepared and presented in a simplest manner. As stated in the answer for previous question, it allows user to choose level of exercise and materials. This shows that there will be a freedom in terms learning English as the second language. More, even if the user is still having difficulties in understanding the instruction, he or she can always use the bilingual section. Identify the mother tongue, choose the language (let’s say Swahili) then click on the Swahili-English link, choose the activities/exercises and check your performance based on the feedback from those activities. Then if you’re ready you can start doing the full English exercises.

The page in the website loads quickly and does not seem to require any state-of-the-art computer equipment so there comes another advantage of this website. From user point of view, this website is a powerful helping tools in learning English as a second language.

3. What sorts of computer skills is the application users expected to have in order to operate/access/use the application?

Basic. That is the definite answer when talking about skills required to use this website. Honestly, you just need to click and do. Choose the correct answer and that’s it. No need for right click or copy and paste. Just click, choose and check. It is as simple as that. Even if some activities requires user to download the materials needed (audio, video etc), the links provided are very clear and easy to see. All you have to do is click on it. That is how I see about the computer skills needed.

4. While you are “playing”/”accessing”/”assessing” the application, does it remind you of anything you do in a classroom, or with a teacher, or with a fellow classmate, or in self-study?

Of course YES. And I said this to myself, “Why on earth school students are still doing exercises in a form of pen and papers, talk and jot, listen and write?” When I was in primary school, my dad used to buy the educational games that can be played online. I couldn't remember the name of the game but it was about an adventure of a boy to find a secret book. Along the way, there'll be a lot of maths question being asked upon him. But that’s it. After in entered boarding school, I've left those things. It’s all about writing and answering questions on papers. It was boring, tiring and consumes a lot of time and energy. Never interactive at all and that’s why I wonder how good it could have been if learning via websites is introduced and integrated early in my school days. Teachers doesn't have to waste their times preparing handouts of activities and students can learn interactively via technology.

5. Can you pinpoint some theories of language learning and/or teaching underlying the application?

The first theory that comes to mind is The Natural Approach proposed by Stephen Krashen. He suggests that learners would benefit from delaying production until speech “emerges”, that learners should be as relaxed as possible in the classroom, and that a great deal of communication and acquisition should take place, as opposed to analysis. In a more simpler words, learner learns from the teacher by listening to him/her. Then the knowledge will be transmitted to the learner. After that, the learner needs to be in the “silent period” in comprehending the knowledge. Basically, the teacher is the source of the learner’s input and the creator of the interesting activities. In relation to this website, user will have some basic knowledge gained from the teacher before using it. It would be weird if a user simply doing exercises without prior knowledge. One should comprehend the knowledge gained from teacher then use it when navigating though this website. For example, teacher teaches the basic concept of articles and determiners then students go home and do activities regarding it from the website.

Another theory that can be seen related to this application is the Experiential Learning from Carl Rogers. He stated that self-initiated learning is the most lasting and pervasive. It means that knowledge that is seek by students’ own initiative will be the best knowledge of all. Learning proceeds faster when the threat to the self is low. In relation to this website, it is really proven that if a user has the initiative to seek for extra knowledge, he will do the activities provided. Learner won’t depend hundred percent on teacher. Besides, he will seek for extra knowledge by trying to complete the tasks and activities in the website. After receiving feedback, he can improve on it by selecting a more difficult tasks and activities. Using the knowledge provided by teachers, learner can work on his own without pressure in improving his level of English by using this website.

6. How well is the constructivist theory of learning applied to the chosen website(s)?

Constructivist theory argues that humans generate knowledge and meaning from their experiences. In simpler words, we learn from what we do and we improvise on things that we’ve done before. It’s about ‘try and error’ concept. We observe, learn and do. Piaget suggested that through processes of accommodation and assimilation, individuals construct new knowledge from their experiences. When individuals assimilate, they incorporate the new experience into an already existing framework without changing that framework. This explains about the learning by experience aspect.

In this website, user will have the chance to do the activities by using the bilingual section first. It means that user will be able to exercise the knowledge that he has into practice using his mother tongue language first. After that, he can change it to the all English section. Doing activities on this section is where the constructivism applies. Let’s say a user do a ‘mix and match’ exercise using the bilingual tool, he’ll accomodate the basis of what he’s going to do next. So, when he is doing a mix and match exercise using fully English as the language, the exercise using bilingual before will be the framework to guide him to complete the task. The framework won’t change, but the mother tongue language will assimilate into English. That’s how I see constructivism applied in the application.

7. In 1980s and early 1990s, there was a major debate on ‘whether the computer was “master” of or “slave” tothe learning process (Higgins and Johns, 1984). In relation to your evaluation - was the computer a replacement for teachers, or merely an obedient servant to students?

I am not going to deny the fact that computer has become a more than helpful medium in education. We can get things done easily as well as obtaining millions of information through it. However, it seems illogical for me if we are replacing teachers with computers. It is because I believe that the best guidance comes from a man not a machine. Man creates machine. As simple as that. There are certain things that a computer couldn’t do. It can’t speak so it lacks in terms of stressing what’s important what’s not. It can’t give expression so it shows a lack of tact between learners and the machine. As I said before, it’s a helping tool, not the main sources in education. Learners still need teachers to teach, guide and motivates them at the first place. These are the important things that a computer can’t do. To provide extra souces of information and materials is the main purpose, on the other side it is still teachers who started to teach the abc. In conclusion, computers help our life a lot but at the same time it still needs a man to supervise the usage it. It’s neither master nor slave. It’s a helping tool for us to accommodate in our life.

8. Would you like to use the application yourself in your future work?

Yes definitely. As a future teacher, here are my reasons of wanting to use this application. Firstly, it’s user friendly. Everything is presented in a simplest manner. User just needs to read things that appears in it. Secondly, it does not requires any extra computer skills to use the application. Basic skills will do, extra skills will be better. Next, this site would be extremely useful as supplementary material in the form of grammar exercises. It will reduce the time, energy and financial cost for the teacher in order to prepare for the material needed which leads to the next reason which is high in value, less in spending. Lastly, I would use this application because of its high value in education. My students will be able to test themselves according to the difficulty level provided.

Suggestions/Recommendations.

i. This site focuses too much on grammar. It would be better if it touches more on other aspects of English. (listening, speaking etc.)

ii. It does not include authentic materials or suggestions on how to apply the grammatical rules in real life.

iii. This site provides limited appropriacy of this form of (add-on) study, the lack of multimedia, and the lack of images that could render the site more visually pleasing. Less interactive in terms of design maybe?