Teaching and Learning with the Web

Facing the Challenges of the Information Age:
New Philosophies
Principles
Practices

Information Age-Computer Age-Digital Age
Is an idea that the current age will be characterized by the ability of individuals to transfer information freely and to have instant access to information that would have been difficult or impossible to find previously.

Digital Revolution

Challenge -
Something that needs a lot of skill, energy and determination to deal with or achieve, especially something you have never done before and will enjoy doing.
Macmillan English Dictionary
for Advanced Learners,
International Student Edition, 2010

Teaching and Learning Resources:
Main:
Coursebook (student’s book)

Supplementary:
Skills practice books (language powerbooks, workbooks);
Language practice books (grammar, vocabulary);
Storybooks (“Readers”);
Teacher’s resource books;
Websites;
Videos;
Electronic materials (CD-ROMs, computer programs);
Games;
Reference books

Reasons to use supplementary materials and activities:
To replace unsuitable material in the coursebook;
To fill gaps in the coursebook;
To provide suitable material for learners’ particular needs and interests;
To give learners extra language or skills practice;
To add variety to our teaching;
To face challenges

Coursebooks are organized according to a syllabus

Supplementary materials and activities can provide variety in lessons and useful extra practice, but:
Fit into the learners’ program;
Be suitable for the learners: level of language skills and knowledge, age, interests;
Match the aims for particular lessons

Websites
Advantages:
variety of lesson plans, teaching materials, other resources.
Disadvantages:
sometimes difficult to find the right/appropriate material for the learners;
a teacher needs much extra time to search the Internet resources

Video
Advantages:
Provides visual context;
Source of cultural information;
Shows body language.
Disadvantages:
Equipment may not always be available;
Language may not be graded

Electronic materials
Advantages:
Motivation;
Familiar technology for learners
Disadvantages:
Difficult for teacher to control how learners are working;
Little or no human feedback.

How do we select and use teaching materials?
Is the material visually attractive? Is it visually clear: using different colours, fonts, headings, etc? Does the visual material help learners to understand context and meaning?
Is it well organized? Can you and your learners follow the ‘logic’ of the material and find your way around the page or the unit quickly and easily?

Is it culturally appropriate? Will the context (s) be familiar to learners?
Is it suitable for your learners’ age and their needs and interests?
Will the topics be motivating to suit the age, gender, experience and personal interests of your learners?
Is it the right level? Does it provide a clear enough context and/or explanations for learners to understand new language?
Does it give learners enough opportunities to use the language?

“Yes”

“No” – we have two choices:
To replace the coursebook material with materials with the same focus/aim from another resource: website, etc;
To adapt the coursebook material: change it in some way to make it suitable for our learners.

Computer:
Narrative building with a word processor;
Supplementary materials for coursebooks;
On-line language tests;
On-line dictionaries;
Using CD-ROMs;
E-mail exchanges;
On-line communication (chatting);
On-line newspapers and magazines
Project work using the Internet.

Dictionaries:
Bilingual dictionaries
Monolingual
Electronic

Useful organisations and websites
longman.com/methodology
Teachers’ associations:
IATEFL: www.iatefl.org. (in the UK);
International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language
TESOL: www.tesol.org (in the US)
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages

Teachers –
Teaching English (teachingenglish.com.uk) - is an invaluable site which is full of articles, teaching tips, advice on methodology, etc. It is run by the BBC and the British Council.
Macmillan Heinemann One stop English site (onestopenglish.com)

The Guardian newspaper: TEFL news section with a variety of archived articles and blogs at its Education TEFL site:
http://education.guardian.co.uk/tefl/
Dave’s ESL Café (eslcafe.com)

Learners-
a BBC site “Learning English”
(bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish)

On-line journals
Humanising Language Teaching
(hltmag.co.uk)
Modern English Teacher
(onlinemet.com)
English Teaching Professional
(etprofessional.com)
ELT Journal
( eltj.oxfordjournals.org)

Useful website addresses for listening:
News/current affairs-based:
www.bbc.co.uk
www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/audiointerviews
www.voanews.com/english/portal.cfm
www.cnn.com
www.cbsnews.com
www.euronews.net
www.britfm.com

For teachers to make recordings:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net

ELT/ ESL – based:
www.esl-lab.com free, easy, medium and difficult levels-very useful grading; pre-while and post-listening exercises; rather obviously scripted material, but a very good selection. AmE.

www.EnglishListening.com
a pay site, a guest area with 30 free recordings; authentic and fast, questions, answers, a transcript. AmE.

www.cdlponline.org
Free, very extensive range of subjects suitable for adults. It consists of people reading news stories, often at a very slow speed. Some videos. AmE.

www.esl.about.com/homework/
esl/cs/listeningresource/index.html
Good selection, but mainly quizzes. Scripted. Variety of accents.

www.eviews.net/
accentsinenglish.html
A pay site, with worksheets, comprehension questions and transcripts. Extended authentic listening for intermediate to advanced students. Many different accents.

www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/
learningenglish
“Watch and Listen” section: free, authentic, regularly updated, includes scripts and definitions of key vocabulary

Add …..from my memory card……

Search engines:
Google-the most popular web search engine. Google Tools service provides teachers with wide range of options including language tools to check and correct translations, Google docs, Google maps, Google Calendar, Deeperweb Google’s tool for metasearch, etc.

Yahoo- easy tool to change languages and countries. It helps to check recent news and events in different languages, useful for mass media discussions.
FAROO-a peer-to-peer distributed search engine. It enables both teachers and students having installed the it to create their own lists of sites on a topic and to visit those most frequently used by others.

Quintura-visual search engine. It’s useful when you are working with word clouds or doing research.
Metacrawler-metaresearch tool that blends web search results from Google, Yahoo and Bing. It’s possible to add its results to your web page which is helpful to provide students with additional or extra information on the subject.

Metacatalog-list of catalogs. It develops search opportunities and at the same time serves as an example for you and for your students in creating your own catalogs for various courses and projects.
Askvox-list of searching services. It might be effectively applied when preparing additional materials and tasks which can be integrated into traditional or blended studies since different tools and resources are classified here according to topics related.

Web Resources for Students:
Sites for EFL learners
American Culture
American Literature
Mass Media
E-libraries
Online Dictionaries
E-museums
Web Projects
Tools to Create Projects

Web Resources for Teachers interested in new technologies
Search Engines
Web Resources to Develop Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing and Grammar Skills
Platforms and Templates to Create your own Web Pages, Exercises and Tests
Web 2.0 Tools to Create Web Activities
Mobile Applications
Online Magazines for FL Teachers
3D Technologies in Education
Communicative Tools in FLT

General Web Resources:
Dave’s ESL café-virtual café for teachers and students from all over the world. It systemises resources on various categories, such as idioms, phrasal verbs, pronunciation, quizzes, slang, etc.

Rong Chang Li Site – a starting point for learners who want to study English through the Web, it has been established by the author of the first web resources guide book in the US. Resources are structured according to skills.
ESL Independent Study Lab – an independent virtual lab on AmE and culture resources. It’s an indispensible resource if you want to provide your students with culture bound materials aimed at language improvement.

ESL Study Hall – a catalogue by professor Melani from Washington University. It includes a variety of exercises on skill’s development, language and culture material. Student site reviews are provided.
English Club – Cambridge web resource on grammar, vocabulary and skills’ development for English learners. It possesses materials both for teachers and students.

Ohio University ESL – resources divided according to levels. You may find necessary materials classified by levels, topics and skills. It helps you to integrate them into your course. Moreover, there are some help sites here such as dictionaries, advice on pronunciation, activities template sites, etc.

Listening
Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab- the most popular resource for listening skills development. It offers structured podcasts with all necessary series of exercises and help tips.
Learning Oral English Online- a site for English learners of different levels, you will find special podcasts for ESL/EFL instructors.

Listen and Learn – real conversations with online tasks and transcripts, there are not only podcasts for main levels but also pronunciation tasks, business vocabulary pieces, so-called pie plus magazine with videos updated weekly and some extra materials for all categories as well.

British Council Podcasts –a reliable resource with online tasks, the main peculiarity important for teachers is that all podcasts are presented as series.
BBC Radio-podcasts and tasks aimed at listening skills improvement and enlarging your English vocabulary.
Breaking News English-recent news podcasts, this material is up-to-date and involving, current uploads are supplied with lesson plans.

The Teaching American History Podcast and Princeton University Podcasts – lectures to develop listening skills and cultural background.
English Grammar Help Podcast – podcasts on English Grammar, lessons on grammar topics are updated every day which motivates students to do tasks on time.

ESL Podcast – audio life podcast with transcripts, comprehension questions and cultural notes.
Luke’s English Podcast- funny British English podcasts where the author answers your questions and replies to your letters, these podcasts are easy to apply individually or they might serve as homework tasks.

English Teacher John – easy-to-understand English learning podcasts, most proper for elementary and intermediate levels.
Fun English Lessons- comedy style talks shows which might serve as a warmer or bonus for your students at the beginning or at the end of the lessons.