What an interesting week! Among the busy schedule of teaching, the joy of the festivals this week, there was ample learning as well.
What did I learn?
Like the previous weeks, the fourth week was also full of a lot of learnings. The focus of this week were- Reading skills
- Writing skills
- Vocabulary building.
These are some of the most challenging skills to develop in our country. Due to exposure to films and television, students do pick up some English, but the problem with our students is that they are not exposed to good reading materials. Asking them to pick up classics in order to develop reading skills is like putting the cart before the horse.
In the same way, asking the students to pick up a standard English newspaper and underline the unfamiliar words and look up their meaning in the dictionary is also something that does not work with the students these days.
In such a grim situation, the introduction to various standard websites as well as the corpora was a boon. Not only did I mark most of the websites on delicious.com but also shared some of them with my colleagues at the university and some of the students who were curious to build vocabulary.
The resources made available by Deborah Healey (http://www.deborahhealey.com/) were also very useful. Her links on youtube to movies (http://www.deborahhealey.com/youtube_to_the_movies.html) was also very interesting.
I continued to explore the delicious accounts of Courtney and my other colleagues and added their interesting links to my account.
Resources available this week and their impact on learning:
This week there were a lot of resources that were made available to us by Courtney as well as other participants. Some of them are as follows:
1. Online Books Page (http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/)
2. Breaking News English (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com) which has about 1500 free lessons.
3. ESL Independent Study Lab (http://legacy.lclark.edu/~krauss/toppicks/toppicks.html) which is a storehouse of language games, reading activities, listening activities, grammar and vocabulary.
4. Activities for ESL Students (http://a4esl.org/) which have vocabulary activities for different languages of English as a second language. It has grammar, crosswords and links to youtube videos.
5. English Vocabulary quizzes using images (http://iteslj.org/v/ei/)
6. Many things (http://www.manythings.org/lulu/) was introduced by Jasmina; very good for vocabulary.
7. Reading for ESL Students (http://fog.ccsf.edu/~lfried/stories/stories.html), a very good resource for giving reading exercises to students.
8. 7 Myths about BYOD Busted (http://thejournal.com/articles/2011/11/09/7-byod-myths.aspx) shared by Cherry was very informative and changed the way we think about mobile phones.
9.Using the Internet in ESL Writing Instruction (http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Krajka-WritingUsingNet.html) by Jarek Krajka.
10. Reading Activities for ESL/EFL Students Using E-books by Mei-Ya Liang (http://iteslj.org/Lessons/Liang-ExtensiveReading.html)
11. Using Technology to Assist in Vocabulary Acquisition and Reading Comprehension by Andreea I. Constantinescu (http://iteslj.org/Articles/Constantinescu-Vocabulary.html)
12. The Michigan Corpus of American Spoken English (http://micase.elicorpora.info/) introduced by Courtney.
13. Corpus of Contemporary American English (http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/) also introduced by Courtney.
14. The Use of Corpora in the Vocabulary Classroom (http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Chen-Corpora.html) by Yu Hua Chen
15. Introduction to Corpora (http://www.onestopenglish.com/skills/vocabulary/corpora/introduction-to-corpora/155104.article) introduced by Cherry.
16. British National Corpus (http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/)
17. Reading Rockets (http://www.readingrockets.org/audience/teachers/)
18. Teaching Plot Structure through Short Stories (http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/teaching-plot-structure-through-401.html?tab=4#tabs)
19. 10 Tools for Digital Storytelling in Class (http://www.whiteboardblog.co.uk/2011/06/10-tools-for-digital-storytelling-in-class/) introduced by Deborah.
20. Cristian introduced the idea of using The Guardian newspaper (http://www.guardian.co.uk/)
21. Lauri's ESL Website (http://fog.ccsf.edu/~lfried/) explored by Vinita.
4. Activities for ESL Students (http://a4esl.org/) which have vocabulary activities for different languages of English as a second language. It has grammar, crosswords and links to youtube videos.
5. English Vocabulary quizzes using images (http://iteslj.org/v/ei/)
6. Many things (http://www.manythings.org/lulu/) was introduced by Jasmina; very good for vocabulary.
7. Reading for ESL Students (http://fog.ccsf.edu/~lfried/stories/stories.html), a very good resource for giving reading exercises to students.
8. 7 Myths about BYOD Busted (http://thejournal.com/articles/2011/11/09/7-byod-myths.aspx) shared by Cherry was very informative and changed the way we think about mobile phones.
9.Using the Internet in ESL Writing Instruction (http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Krajka-WritingUsingNet.html) by Jarek Krajka.
10. Reading Activities for ESL/EFL Students Using E-books by Mei-Ya Liang (http://iteslj.org/Lessons/Liang-ExtensiveReading.html)
11. Using Technology to Assist in Vocabulary Acquisition and Reading Comprehension by Andreea I. Constantinescu (http://iteslj.org/Articles/Constantinescu-Vocabulary.html)
12. The Michigan Corpus of American Spoken English (http://micase.elicorpora.info/) introduced by Courtney.
13. Corpus of Contemporary American English (http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/) also introduced by Courtney.
14. The Use of Corpora in the Vocabulary Classroom (http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Chen-Corpora.html) by Yu Hua Chen
15. Introduction to Corpora (http://www.onestopenglish.com/skills/vocabulary/corpora/introduction-to-corpora/155104.article) introduced by Cherry.
16. British National Corpus (http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/)
17. Reading Rockets (http://www.readingrockets.org/audience/teachers/)
18. Teaching Plot Structure through Short Stories (http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/teaching-plot-structure-through-401.html?tab=4#tabs)
19. 10 Tools for Digital Storytelling in Class (http://www.whiteboardblog.co.uk/2011/06/10-tools-for-digital-storytelling-in-class/) introduced by Deborah.
20. Cristian introduced the idea of using The Guardian newspaper (http://www.guardian.co.uk/)
21. Lauri's ESL Website (http://fog.ccsf.edu/~lfried/) explored by Vinita.
What did I do?
Besides the reading exercises that were given, I did not do much. Commented a bit on the posts of some of my colleagues and posted a couple of my own.
An important thing that I did only because of compulsion but which turned out to be far better than expected was the Technology enhanced lesson plan for teaching a poem of Keats, "Ode to a Nightingale". I had been taught poetry by my teachers using the book as a medium. It did not occur to me that technology can be used to teach poems as well. Using youtube to give the background listening to set the mood, then use a power point presentation to develop a student centred learning activity was something I had never imagined would occur.
I never knew that Google docs can be used for sharing lesson plans and other information. The only use of Google docs to my knowledge was to open office 2007 files on a computer with Office 2003 available.
I also managed to inspire more students to post on the exercises on my blog. I am glad that both BA Semester-I as well as BA Semester V have participated in online discussions despite the festival season here in India.
The icing on the cake was the idea for homework where the students have to upload a video of their recitation of the poem on youtube. It is one of the most creative homework(s) that I have ever thought of.
A new idea
I read Chao-chih Liao's article E-mailing to Improve EFL Learners' Reading and Writing Abilities: Taiwan Experience which was been mentioned in the additional resources. Chao has mentioned the experiences in Feng Chia University where she used the method of "key pals" to educate/train the students. She had handled the programme for two and the half years successfully. She had nine students; each one of them had two key pals across the globe. She corrected the hard copies of the email-conversation with key pals and also improved inter-cultural understanding.
I proposed to my colleagues that we as teachers of English of this batch also come up with a programme like this for our students. I also suggested that we could create a community on Facebook where we could all be in touch even after this course and co-ordinate this programme in future batch after batch. How far this idea would go is yet to be seen.
Overall a very productive week I must say.
Looking forward eagerly towards week 5.
Ashish Pande
Hi Ashish,
ReplyDeleteI like the method of describing the steps of your weekly work. Everything seems simple, but I know how much work there is behind this clear post.
I liked Chao-chih Liao's article as well. I think our course can be developed in an international collaboration after it finishes. We shouldn't lose the contacts, and introduce our students to each other, so that they can become pen pals. The cultural difficulties and misunderstandings are described in the Chao-chih Liao's article E-mailing to Improve EFL Learners' Reading and Writing Abilities: Taiwan Experience.
I also would like to point out that I liked the fact you involve your students in writing on your blog. I have always thought that I need to create a separate class blog for my groups. What do you think about it?
Ina
Hi Ina,
DeleteAt the outset let me thank you for taking out time to read the long entry of my blog and posting your valuable comments.
I like the way you put it, it sounds good..."International Collaboration". Really! it is a great feeling. I am glad to learn that you liked the idea.
About your question....Creating a separate blog for your groups: I had a discussion with Courtney about it initially when the students were not participating. Courtney suggested that a separate blog should be created for the students. I thought of doing so but have noticed of late that students are participating slowly. You could involve your students either ways, on your present blog or create a separate one if all the "pep talk" and motivation does not work. Jasmina has also created a separate site for her students but she uses it only as a dashboard. Ultimately it is up to the teacher concerned.
Looking forward to working with you,
Ashish Pande
Hi Ashish,
ReplyDeleteYou have created a wonderful summary of the previous week. I like the idea of sharing the links here, especially considering the fact that your students are also involved. Like Ina, I've been thinking of creating a separate blog for that purpose but judging from your reflections it seems to be working well this way.
I support your initiative about creating a community and encouraging our students to take advantage of having key pals. That would be beneficial for everyone.
Nino
Hi Nino,
DeleteThank you so much for reviewing my blog.
I am glad that you liked the idea of sharing links on the blog and creating key pals.
Let us take it to the next step.
Deborah has suggested three links to create the project we wish to embark upon:
1. iEARN: www.iearn.org - you can create class-to-class projects
2. ThinkQuest: www.thinkquest.org/en/projects. There are also interesting forums.
3. Taking IT Global: www.tigweb.org
I would be glad if you could tell me about which of the above three would be most suitable for your students.
Regards,
Ashish Pande.
Sir,now this piece of work sounds interesting.Genuinely,when i first heard about the assignment I was awestruck as this is an exotic blending of technology and literature.Glad to be a part of it and want some more information on it.About the poems we did in the class:
ReplyDelete'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard' by Thomas Gray talks about the ultimate truth of life that is 'the mortality of humans'.Albeit it was an impressive piece of work,it was too long in a single go which at times made it quite boring.But overall it was a nice rhyme to read and the part which intrigued me the most was the choice of 'the theme',which is a 'cannot be omitted' reality for real.
'Ode To A Nightingale' BY Keats is one of my 'most liked' poem.In the poem,the poet shows negative capability,unending pursuit to beauty and also appeals the senses of the reader.Hellenism,a main characteristic of Keat's persona could be seen.The poem,takes the listener to the world of illusion but at the end pulls back to reality.
Hello Neha,
DeleteI am glad that you liked the poem. I would be glad if you could further motivate your classmates to write about the poem as well.
Please note that while writing about the poem the following things should be noted:
1. Theme of the poem
2. Imagery
3. Rhyme and Rhythm
4. Metre
5. Other poetic devices
6. Diction
7. Any other comments.
Hoping to see all of you more...
Ashish Pande