Basic ICT Course for Teachers of English
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Week 3: Making Use of Websites (1)

This week and next we will look more carefully at different web sites and will think about how they could be exploited in our own teaching context. This week will be a time for self-contemplation and reflection at our Nicenet classroom. You'll have to honestly think about your students' Internet capabilities and, given their limitations, how you can use the web in class. You will have to choose an existing website or websites that you think you could use in class. Choose a site which has relevant content to supplement your syllabus. Something that could be used with your students. So, I'd like you to think specifically about a course or courses you are teaching now. Think about the textbook you use and think it over where it could/should be supplemented. Develop your activities specifically for that text.

Next week we'll work more specifically on lesson plans using the sites (and "insight") you find this week.

First of all, you don’t have to invent all your activities. Many already exist on the Internet. It’s just a matter of deciding how to use them in class. You can have thousands of links, but you have to have an idea on how to use them in your specific situation.

Activity

Begin by analyzing how you can use the Internet in your classes. This obviously depends on the access your students have to the Internet. Do they have computers at home? Will you be doing the activity as homework (students could go to libraries) or live in a computer lab? Are you thinking of a long project or a simple homework assignment?

Once you have the general plan, you can start looking for existing materials or activities.

There are many different kinds of sites available: There are those made for the general public, those made for a general school environment, those made specifically for ESL/EFL classes. Obviously, the sites for the general public will require you to develop the activity for the students to use. It doesn't have to be put on-line. It can be a printed worksheet. Many of the activities for a general school situation will require adjustments for a ESL/EFL conditions—vocabulary, structures, etc. Even the sites developed for our kind of teaching circumstances might require pre-teaching and some sort of adaptation before they can be used. All of this will have to be planned before you use the lesson in class.

Task

Visit one (or all) of these three sites to choose a relevant website to use this week and next.

Materials for Teaching Languages—Eva Easton's Materials for Teaching Languages is an excellent source for materials for all sorts for teachers of English and other langauges

Blue Web'n – A site that has lots of activities developed by classroom teachers. Start browsing by content, subject level or grade level. (Sorry, some of the links might not work.)

The Tower of English-I mentioned this site last week. Most of its sites were developed for the general public.

Choose a site or sites you could use in one of your classes. Note: choose something you will be doing in a few weeks so you can develop the activity completely.

Once you have decided on a site, POST a message. Share your ideas with us. Include the following information:

What kind of internet interaction can your students do? Do they have computers at home, are there any cyber cafes where you live or can you have access to the Internet at school in a computer lab?

What kind of activity are you thinking of developing? A long project, a homework assignment, an in-class experience or something else?

Briefly describe the website(s) you have chosen and explain (in a few words) how you see yourself using it. (Don't worry about details---that's next week.)

Copyright ©2003 by Janos Blasszauer