Technology Enhanced :Reading & Writing

Starting week (4) : Lots of reading  

The articles provided on reading writing and vocabulary are great. I found a very comprehensive detailed presentation of the steps of writing lesson plans in Krajka’s article. It took me quite some time to explore all the links that were provided. Using the web to select authentic materials to suit certain genre is what attracted my attention most . Thinking of the technology tools available at our schools, I believe that downloading some of the material to be used off-line is feasible in my case.


Exploring “Ohio Department of Linguistics” at:

http://www.ohio.edu/linguistics/esl/grammar/index.html
I found a web portal on grammar called “Writing World .com “ on Grammar resources.

http://www.writing-world.com/links/grammar.html

The page I liked is the “Guide to Grammar and Writing “at: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/ It is suitable for intermediate students. The learners can choose from a variety of levels and get to self learning materials and assessment. This site could be given to students who have access to the net at their homes or used as enrichment activity during the lessons.

If I were teaching this summer, the site I would prefer to use for reading activities is “Breaking News “ at http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/ which offers variety of reading topics suitable to intermediate and advanced learners. I tried one which is” Chocolate is so good for your heart “ at http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1004/100402-chocolate.html

The page is very useful for teachers as it offers detailed activities and takes into consideration the integrated skill development with focus on vocabulary activities.

If we are working off line, it would be difficult listening to the text , so it should be downloaded in addition to the nice description available as PDF form at

http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1004/100402-chocolate1.pdf.

I recommend this site for teachers who have difficulty working on line most of the time.

At the same portal, a link called ESL resources and worksheets opens at

“teachitworld.com.” I looked for activities for young learners having spelling in mind. To make use of the activities you need to register first, and it could be free. I found interesting worksheets with teachers’ note at http://www.teachitworld.com/index.asp?gclid=CMml8u2h6qICFY4_3god-wx79A

And a special one for pre-intermediate students at

http://www.teachitworld.com/attachments/13522.pdf

The ABCD objectives I would suggest for this page are :

1. Students of the sixth grade (A) will classify the hard and the soft “c” ,”g” ( B) according to a given example after listening to the teacher’s pronunciation( C) correctly( D) .
2. Students of the sixth grade (A) will discover the spelling rule for the hard and the soft "c" ,"g" ( B) by studying the examples in each envelope ( C) giving the right description of the rule in the allotted place ( D) .


It was a wonderful experience for me. Sure it will be wonderful to our students.

What about you?

Yours truly,

Hanan