Integrating Web Resources into the Curriculum: Developing Students' Reading and Writing Skills.

By Rick Rosenberg & Vera (C. Queiroz) de Mello
Presented at the BrazTesol Conference at Mackenzie University
July 18, 2000

Purpose

The purpose of this talk is twofold:

to identify sources of materials from the web for student use;
to demonstrate how to harvest the web for materials and activities to help to meet class objectives.

General Checklist

Vocabulary Knowledge
Which of the following items are you familiar with?
___ Browser;
___ Search engine;
___ Portal & specialized sites;
___ Mailing lists;
___ Collaborative email and/or web projects;
___ Smileys;
___ MOOs;
___ Palaces.

Ethical and Legal Awareness
___ Netiquette;
___ Net copyright;
___ Net citation.

Test your Knowledge

Take this quiz to check your knowledge of Internet-related items.

Overview

What is available for English language learners and teachers on the WWW?
Web resources are bountiful; however, careful selection of materials requires the consideration of:

the course and unit objectives;
the students' needs and interests;
the age, ability and computer skills of the students.

Among the materials found on the web there are sites with writing projects for the students, ELT content for skills, sites with up-dated, contextualized raw materials, and pedagogical materials written with the aim of providing students with self-access studies.

Materials drawn and adapted from the web can be motivating and involve the students to a greater degree in the development of reading and writing skills.

Harvesting the Web

There are thousands of good sites to surf!
To search the web for reading and writing materials, start at TESL/TEFL/TESOL/ESL/EFL/ESOL Links. Then narrow your search down to your specific queries.
Selecting a site like New York Times Online, you can find raw and developed materials for your perusal. The first step is to think about some content or grammar area that needs to be reinforced, developed or exploited with your students. Then think of ways to use the news articles to achieve your objectives.
If you are looking for developed material for your students, such as interactive exercises that can help your students have fun while learning grammar or expanding vocabulary, take a look at:

The Internet TESL-Journal - where you will find a great collection of quizzes written by teachers from all over the world.
Who's Who & What's What Quiz - quizzes related to articles published on the New York Times on the web.

When using or adapting materials from the web, make sure to cite the source. For further info on copyright use, check Copyright Resources on the WWW.

Tasks

Exercises that require skimming, scanning, find words to complete a cloze test, or vocabulary development activities can help to hone students' reading skills.

To improve your students' writing skills, consider mailing lists, email projects, MOOs or Palaces.

Developing Reading & Writing Tasks

Click here for a mini lesson plan sample.

Sources of Materials

If you plan to introduce your students to collaborative projects, Ruth Vilmi's IWE is a good starting point.
For discussion lists and email projects -- great means of giving students the opportunity to exchange correspondence with other students from all over the world -- we suggest the:
- International E-mail Student Discussion Lists

The Student Lists are a forum for cross-cultural discussion and writing practice for college, university and adult students in English language programs around the world. There are nine lists to choose from. It is suggested that teachers subscribe with the students to get the feel for the list and to perhaps introduce possible topics for discussion.

To register, send a message to trobb@cc.kyotto-su.ac.jp with the following information:
1.Your name and institution
2. Number of students
3. Duration of class term
4. Name of the node the students will use (the part following the ‘@’mark).
Any student can sign up for one or more of the lists simply by sending a message
To: listserv@latrobe.edu.au
Subject: subscribe (desired list)
All new subscribers will be sent a welcome message providing more info about how to participate.

- IECC Lists.
IECC is the Intercultural E-Mail Classroom Connections list.
It is intended for teachers seeking partner classrooms with institutions for international and cross-cultural electronic mail exchanges. This list is *not* for discussion or for requesting individual penpals.
To subscribe: To: iecc-request@stolaf.edu
Subject: (leave this field blank)
In the body of the message type: subscribe

To introduce the students to an interactive real time 'textual chat' with native speakers, consider connecting them to SchMOOze (an EFL/ESL MOO).

Rick Rosenberg's Link Page
Vera Mello’s Home Page