Showing posts with label Material adaptation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Material adaptation. Show all posts

[WK 8] ELLLO: Learners' Great Study Zone

Howdy everybody!

Do you still remember the suggested website for enhancing listening skill in my third blog entry? Luckily, we have a great discussion and deep exploration of that website! Fancy to start? Raise your virtual slingshot and lets kill the birds with one stone!
Click on the picture for the link!
What is it?
A collection of over 1000 audio activities that ESL, EFL, and English students and teachers can access freely via the net. Most audio comes with pictures of the speaker, the transcript, and downloadable audio in mp3 format. Among the resources in the site are: Views, Mixer, Games,Videos, Songs, News and Points. Want to know how 'ello' got started? Listen HERE!


How does it work?
Feel free to scroll down the notes below. I have uploaded the information using my account at slideshare. net:


View more documents from Farahinismail
To view it via online video: click HERE!

How can it be used in classroom context?
i) Note-taking in the listening activity: This activity can be done in the classroom in which teachers play the audio without the transcript. While listening to the audio, learners have to jot down the points. Then learners in pairs can have a short discussion, comparing each other notes. To reward their efforts, teachers give them the comprehension question to be answered. This can enhance learners' listening and writing skills at the same time. If there is no internet access in the classroom, teachers can download the audio at home before introducing the lesson.   

ii) Speaking activity: Teacher asks students to work in pairs and choose the topic that they like. They need to listen to the conversation from the audio and pay attention to the pronunciation and the tone of the speakers. Then teacher can ask students to practice speaking using the transcript given 

iii) Summary writing activity: Students listen to the audio and write a brief description or summary to conclude the main points of the audio.

iv) Self-study / do-it-yourself activity: Students are encouraged to do one or more the exercises at home and share their work in the next lesson.

Who are the learners?

1. Secondary school students in Malaysian context who have basic knowledge on how to use computers
2. 13-17 years old.
3. Suits to all levels (beginner, intermediate, advanced) as various activities based on different level of proficiency are provided

What I like about this site:

1. It is free for those who are interested in learning English and available on iTunes and iPhone application as well!

2. The materials ( videos / audios) provided are based on variety of accents and cultural backgrounds according to the geographical area. Therefore, learners are exposed to wider context of using authentic English across the world, at the same time develop their cultural understanding of other cultures because various topics are covered. 

3. This user-friendly website helps to foster autonomous learning as learners can do the exercises by themselves anywhere, anytime that they want at their own pace, giving that internet access is available.

4. It is divided into several sections and topics, so learners can choose the lesson according to their preferences, thus creates personalisation where learners are allowed to contextualize and personalise the information, thus assisting language learning as it is guided by their prior knowledge. (constructivist theory)

5. This website involves combination of multiple skills, which are listening (good for the auditory learners), reading and writing (the transcript), speaking (with the correct pronunciation) and the visual through videos (good for the visual learners)

6. This website also provides printed materials (exercises and vocabulary sections) and downloadable audios that can help teachers in designing the lesson and they could do material adaptation in order to suit the learners' context.

7. Several ads that are based on educational purpose at the sidebar of the website are quite helpful and useful for learners to extend their language learning.

8. All the lessons are based on different proficiency levels, therefore teachers could apply differentiation in which lower level learners can be given the topic that is less difficult compared to the advanced learners, thus motivate them to be responsible for their own learning. 

What are the limitations?

1. Even though the activities based on the proficiency levels, but there are no categories to be chosen. So teachers need to find them by themselves and this consume the time.

2. It is not really systematic because there are no specific themes / fields for the resources(eg: history, environment, sports etc)

3. Sometimes too many ads provided can make the website less attractive

4. We have tried to use this website in the class, but because of the problem with the internet connection, some parts of the website are missing and the setting and layout are mess up, making the lesson turned to be boring, thus can reduce the motivation to learn in an enjoyable way.

Further suggestions:
i) Fun Easy English: this website mainly focuses on the basic English knowledge and teaching tips, its courses include pronunciation, grammar, idioms, slang, writing, tests and much more. Most of those courses are launched in Video format, in addition with text scripts and pictures. There are two columns of educational link at the sidebar; one for students and the others for teachers.

ii) Learn English: With an over 11 years history, Learn English Free Online is an abundant website for EFL/ESL learners and teachers. You can learn vocabulary with the related pictures, you can get some English learning tips, you can do some dictation to enhance your spelling and listening skills, learn the British culture and take some funny test, and so on.

You just need a computer with internet access, then visit some English learning websites and try to design the lesson for your students without paying any money. It sounds cool, right?

~Because English is FUN! :) ~

[WK7] NFSA: World knowledge in your hand!

Hi everyone!

Its me again! Actually, we have done a lot of talking today! We have discussed and explored another website for teaching English! Lets check it out!



What is it?
A website that provides various educational resources that can be used for the teaching and learning purposes in terms of variety of topic, lesson plans, videos and audios that can be downloaded for free.

How does it work?
# Teachers can choose variety of sections presented in the website but they need to make sure that it is suitable and fit to the learners' context to allow personalisation to be happened.
# The screenshot below shows various sections from the website:


Example of an English lesson:
Section: Australian at Work
Topic: Family Life in Geelong (1966). Click HERE!

Notes: This topic is based on a video without any narration or people talk. There are several good suggestion for classroom activities. I choose this topic because it relates to Malaysian context in terms of on how gender roles are assigned, particularly in the family. Therefore, the students can contextualise the lesson, making the lesson to become more meaningful.

How can it be used in the classroom context?
Taking the above lesson as example, teachers can do several activities such as:
1. Pre-teach vocabulary: Those that relate to gender stereotyping / bias /roles (language in context)
2. Comprehension question: Teachers ask learners to pay attention to the different roles that have been played by the people in the video and answer several comprehension question 
3. Discussion activity: Based on the video, teachers asks learners to compare how the gender roles in their family are assigned (develop cultural understanding) 
4. Writing activity: Teachers ask learners to write about the changes in terms of the gender roles that happen in the family now and family then

Who are the learners?
Suitable for secondary school students based on the content provided
# Age range: 13 - 17 years old in Malaysia context which similar to learners in Grade 7-11 (based on the Australian education system)

What I like about this site:
1. Teachers can choose to design the lesson based on subjects (CLIL-ing the classroom) or by themes/topics. Once decided, they can just play the video/audio provided for listening activity in the classroom or if the internet access is limited, they can just simply download it (but we need free Flash player plug-in (version 6 or higher) installed in our browser in order to download the video).

2. There is also suggested discussion pointers and classroom activities that can help teachers to plan the lesson to be more active and engaging. They can also do the material adaptation or modification to suit their learners' context. 

3. The activities involve sharing ideas and discussion, therefore they will engage students into a cooperative and collaborative learning environment, thus develop their cognitive thinking and speaking skill as learning is memorable when it involves interaction between people.

4. Various topics that are based on Australian context somehow provide learners opportunity to be exposed to different social and cultural values and background, thus assist to develop their intercultural competence and cultural understanding of other cultures.

What are the limitations?
1. Context
The topics are designed for Australian context which is maybe meaningful for the Australian learners but for the learners from other countries learning English, sometimes they might find that it is very hard to contextualise the lesson as they do not have the schemata of particular topics.  

2. Listening text
The English words used in the audio or video are sometimes quite difficult to be understood as it might be because of influences from the context itself in terms of the accents, the tone and the speed of the speaker talking. This can make learners become confused to figure out what the speaker is trying to say, thus demotivating them to learn as the listening text is quite difficult  for them. In addition, there is no any audio or video transcription given as guidelines even for the teachers to assist the learning process

3. Navigation
There is no any go back button. Therefore, you just need to click the underlined link provided from a disclaimer saying that "This is an archived website that was produced by Screen Australia Digital Learning. See all Digital Learning websites." for each site that you have log on to return to the main menu

Further Suggestions:
i) Breaking News English: Free ready-to-use EFL / ESL lesson plans in Word and PDF. Graded news articles, listening, podcast, and communicative activities.
ii) EnglishRaven: Clear and precise information on teaching methodology and techniques plus a whole host of resources for teaching reading skills, vocabulary, phonics and more.
iii) BBC Learning English: Excellent site with lots of teaching and learning resources for both teachers and students including lesson based on animation production.
iv) its-teacher: This site includes an online magazine for teachers of English, 400+ interactive exercises, a free community site for subscribers' students and lots more.

~Because English is FUN :) ~