Week 8: Virtual Language Classroom

We are introduced to ANVILL this week.  The article, "Transforming Language Education Across the Internet" showed us a good example of international cooperative learning.  Many of us tried class online discussions using Nicenet and other tools, and this definitely offers students opportunities to use English for the sake of communication.  Unlike traditional writing practice, the existence of audience makes the act of writing authentic.  Now I would like to compare the class online discussion with the international online discussion.  The big differences are, firstly, the need to use English is authentic in international online discussions, and, secondly, it can be a lot of fun to hear from the other side of the world.  

When I tried a class online discussion for the first time, I was quite impressed by active participation by many of my students and decided to try an international asynchronous discussion with Taiwanese students in April.  However, it did not go as well as I had expected, and there are several reasons for it.  For one thing, I didn't set the clear time frame, and as a result there weren't much interaction in a timely manner.  For another, the number of participating students were too big and unbalanced; 180 Japanese and 30 Taiwanese students.  Another problem was students' limited familiarity to the topic.  Colomba mentioned in her draft of the project report that the success of discussions depends on how much input they get before actually holding a discussion.  I think that is very true, and the input can be as basic as familiarizing themselves with key vocabulary, and gaining some background knowledge is crucial, too.

I still believe there is some value in international online discussions.  When I try it next time, I will control the number of my students and duration of the discussion.  WebQuest along with other web tools might be a good way to familiarize students to the topic.  I think this Webskills group has been becoming a great community of teachers.  I wish we could work together even after the end of this course, of course at a much less strenuous pace.  I am writing off the top of my head, but maybe we can set up an international discussion week once or a few times a year.  We can set a couple of topics, and depending on students' needs and level, teachers can help them prepare for the discussion.  I know each of us teach in a very different environment, so a good project which is suitable for all is impossible to make, but I just wanted to explore this possibility.  I might want to write a proposal, but for the time being any ideas and comments would be appreciated.

Week 7: Implementation 2

This is the second lesson of the WebQuest on the Internet.  I had 45 students in a class, and repeated the same lesson 4 times with different groups in a day.  That makes 180 students in total.

1. Review and Post-reading (5 min.)

Reviewed the arguments for and against the Internet. Students discussed other possible arguments, evaluated all the arguments in pairs and voted online.

2. Logic Quiz (10 min.)

Did the Logic Quiz of Educaplay quizzes.  Students worked in pairs to find the right answer, followed by explanations by the teacher.

3. Other Quizzes (10 min.)

Students did other Educaplay Quizzes individually.

4. Video and New WebQuest (5 min.) 

Showed only the beginning of the optional Video, "The Internet in Society", and moved to the next WebQuest.

5. Vocabulary (10 min.) 

Went over 10 flash cards of Quizlet; then each student tried different study modes at his own pace for 10 minutes.

6. Pre-listening (5 min.) 

Students discussed the questions in pairs, and voted their initial thought to the issue online.

7. Writing exercise (5 min.) 

Introduced Japanese-English translation exercise site with the automated assessment function.  This is primarily for their independent study at home.

Internet connection problem

Educaplay quizzes are Flash based programs, and it took as long as 7 minutes for everyone to open the page because 45 students try to access the heavy page all at once.  Educaplay offers very sophisticated design, but the downside is that it takes time to load.  After the first lesson, I decided to display one quiz on teacher's computer, so that students try it together in class while waiting for the page to show in individual computer.  

One very positive response 

Novelty of some tasks is partially disappeared for some students, and I had to nudge some students to focus more, but overall students did a good job.  One student visited me after school to seek some advice on how to improve practical skills of English. He said he wants to be a doctor, and he would like to work in a foreign country where a doctor is really needed.  He has started to listen to CNN and also started to keep a diary in English.  It was great to witness a student who has grown up to be an autonomous learner.  He also said he really liked the WebQuest, and he said he would like to do my WebQuests even after he graduates from the school.  At least one student appreciated what I have been doing, and that means a lot to me.

I will finish this WebQuest on Saturday.

Week 6: Implementation 1

I tried my WebQuest, with my students.


1. Introduction (8 min.)

Introduced students to WebQuest, and explained the final goal and steps towards it.

2. Vocabulary (12 min.)

Went over 10 flash cards of Quizlet; then each student tried different study modes at his own pace for 10 minutes.

3. Pre-reading (5 min.)

Students voted online to show their initial reaction, and discussed the reasons in pairs.

4. Reading [introduction] (10 min.)

After a brief explanation, students read the article and answered questions on their own for 7 minutes. Then they discussed the answers in pairs before the teacher showed the correct answers with brief explanations.

5. Reading [Arguments] (10 min.)

Did the same as the previous reading activity.

Individualization by automated assessment

When I presented how Quizlet works, the class clapped and cheered. That shows how they love the interactivity of the web device. As I observed I found some students always find an easy way out, such as they cut and past when they have to re-type the word they failed to spell out. Other than that, they were very much engaged throughout the time. Voting online and seeing the results was another device that helped students have engaging discussion.

Collaborative learning

Instead of completely individualizing the process (which I did with an LMS), I set the time limit for each activity so that they could have time to help each other later. The advanced learners had a chance to explain their thoughts, and the struggling students understood the content better for the explanation. This made the lesson more dynamic. Online Stopwatch, I used to set the time limit, was also helpful.

I will finish this WebQuest next week and hope to have time to do the newly created WebQuest#2 which focuses more on listening.

Week 5: PBL and WebQuest

Half way through and I have never learned as much as I did in the past five weeks!

Though I learned how to make a website twelve years ago, I had never used the skill or never thought of using computer in my EFL lessons until about a year ago when I first learned about Moodle, an open source learning management system. My experience with this wonderful learning management system gave me this strong conviction that technology can change the way we teach completely, if used properly. This week I feel PBL and WebQuest gave me the backbone as to how to make good use of technology. I loved the key elements of PBL, such as student-based inquiry, critical thinking, a final product, as Janine rightfully explained. I also loved the format and its flexibility of WebQuest.

When I first learned about WebQuest through the project by a past participant, I thought I couldn't wait to make one myself. Actually, I didn't wait and decided to explore a bit by myself towards the end of last week. I still believe that Moodle works best in my situation because it gives me a strong control, but I decided to try new things. I found that google sites provide several WebQuest templates, so I started to build one there. As soon as I started, I was hooked with the excitement of this creative task. I had fun putting together great ideas I learned in the first half of this course.

I would like to conclude with the constructivist principle cited in one of the articles: "We learn by doing -- but we learn even better by talking about what we did." This is exactly what we are doing! Keep trying and keep sharing. I truly believe the latter half of the course will be as fruitful as the first one.

Best,
Sam