Week 4 - Skill-building Websites for Reading/Writing Skills and Technology-enhanced Lesson Plans

Moving forward is never easy...

So moving on. Week 4 came and there were many things have I learnt along the way. New links and websites to see and browse through. Then one problem keeps popping up, my students do not like to read English material. I guess they lack the luster to read English materials. I would give them a short text, they just can not understand the text. So we go over the text, one word or phrase at a time, which could take up 20 to 30 minutes (refer to dictionary or thesaurus). At times it can be frustrating. Then I found out that the main problem is that they may not understand 95% of the words in the passage. Laufer (1989) and Liu and Nation (1985) said that students need to understand at least 95% of words on a page. So I have to be selective with the reading materials that I have prepared for the students. In addition I try to find materials that includes pictures or add them to make the reading materials more interesting. 

So then, I tried looking for topics that students love to read. Being at their teenage years, of course they would love reading about love, romance, action, mysteries so why not I get them to read with a purpose on a topic that they like. One website that I have found useful was http://www.eslyes.com/extra/extra/extras139.htm. Of course they really love anything to do with sports mainly football or soccer. Be it the girls or boys, they have a preference to this sports. Better not get them started on which football club is the best! 'Dangerous' subject if you get the drift. 

Since my students were low-intermediate level, the passage needed to be short by contain related vocabulary. Not every material found on the internet can be used directly, I still need to edit it to suite the students level. I could change the layout of the passage to make it more interesting by adding pictures like adding a picture of a famous football player to attract their attention. I can then go through the word list from the passage, include vocabulary exercises or a short quiz to check if they have understood what the passage was about. It is great to find websites that have materials that are free and downloadable for me to modify to suite the levels of the students. Who does not love free stuff that you can download off the internet right. What I love about this particular website is that the passage also comes with audio so students can learn pronunciation too. 

 Using Technology Enhanced Lesson Plan was different from my usual lesson plan as it was quite simple and straight-forward. Like any lesson plan, I had to decide the objective of the lesson. This lesson was to get students to identify 3 effects and 3 causes of flash floods. So I used a video from Youtube as one of my material in my lesson plan (We were doing a topic on Environmental Disasters: Flash Floods).  Students got to see the destruction that happened during a flash flood. They would then discuss the effects of the flash flood to people, the environment and economy. Later they then discuss what causes flash floods in the first place. 

 

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80td_9QGkyM)

Another website that I really like is http://busyteacher.org/. Its a great place where we can get free printable worksheets that we can use for our class. They have sorted it out according to topics so its easy to search around for worksheets. Such websites are great when we run out of ideas on materials. It is wonderful that I could use multiple websites as resources and helps me to get ideas to help my students learn better. Having different learners can sometimes be difficult because we need to meet the needs of each individual learner. There is no one 'mold' lesson plan that everybody fits. So as teachers we need to find one that can match to most learner. Everyday is a lesson to be learnt. If there is an obstacle blocking our way for improvement, we can climb over it, go around it or go through it. Or we can adapt and adjust to solve the problem with an answer.

Wishing everybody a wonderful week ahead! :) Enjoy exploring these websites.

Technology & Learning

This is now in the third week. What I learnt from all the browsing, searching and reading online got me thinking. We are now in the 21th century. Teachers need to adapt to the learning skills of the 21st century. Letting kids explore for themselves and develop, teachers are just guides. Using the right tools to help us present information in an interesting and fun way.

One particular website that I like is http://www.esl-lab.com/. I could modify the materials here to suite the students level. What is great it is already sorted according to the levels. http://www.esl-lab.com/jobhunting/jobhuntingrd1.htm. This is one link that I could use for my future lesson about job hunting (Planning ahead hehe). It would be interesting to see them conduct a job interview with their friends in class as one of their oral presentation. Its great that there are activities for pre-listening, listening and post-listening for the students to do on their own and test themselves. Here students could learn and explore on their own. They could even listen at home when they have internet access. Practice makes perfect.

We need to keep up with them. Having the internet keeps ourselves updated with the latest news, searching for materials, downloading videos and doing research. But still we need to find the appropriate materials suitable for our students.

Here is one video I downloaded from Youtube used in one of my lesson about careers. This one was about the world's most dangerous jobs in the world. Then the students sits in groups and discuss which job would they choose to do. It was quite an heated and interesting discussion as the boys would do the jobs rather then the girls.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OqyQJ-Sj-rY

Videos can use be used as our set induction for the lesson to grab the students' attention. Who would not want to watch something interesting and fun right? Try describing how dangerous a particular job, for example a crab fisherman, to students who never seen one before. Showing pictures may not be enough. Some students need visual stimulus to help them understand.

This week I had to setup a Delicious account. I did not understand the use of such a website. But after crating one, ten I found out how useful it was. Having a Delicious account helps me keep track of websites I can use for my lessons. Letting me write personal comments about each websites helps me to distinguish which sites are suitable for particular materials. It is fun to learn something new everyday.

Now even though technology is easily accessed but sometimes or some places its not available or what is worse is there is no electricity! So I had to make do with what available things are around. There is no internet access in my school, so download videos or materials is the best option. Print out the materials or use LCD projectors in class in another way. Sometimes I revert to the traditional chalk and talk if all else does not work. We have to make use of what is available on hand. Always have an alternative or backup plan handy. What is most important is that students get to learn English in a fun and interesting way. You might be surprise an outdoor excursion can be very very interesting way of learning.

Here are some of the places I went around Limbang and Sabah. Enjoy!

The scary Canopy Walk! Well it was very windy that day. Who would not feel scared. Perhaps one day I will be able to pluck the courage to venture up again... It was fun!

If only the clouds were not in the way... I could have seen Mount Kinabalu!

Felling very relax after a dip in the sea and island hopping at Tunku Abdul Rahman's Island Parks

Beautiful place to visit. The Tip of Borneo. The actual 'ears' of the island. Remember to bring along sunscreen!

Went on a road-trip with friends in my trusty car. It was an adventure to remember. Went twice to this beautiful mountain. Visited so Penan villages along the way.  Was scared at first as it was my first time driving on such steep and unsurfaced road. They have a different law of way there. Must remember to keep left! Stunning view! 

Reflections for Week 2: Using Search Engines and Setting Objectives

Joining the Webskills Online Course has been a great leap of faith for me. Getting the confidence to join it and even participate in it has been a great joy and pleasure. It felt wonderful to learn for others and exchanging ideas and comments with great educators from around the world. Having weak and most of the time no internet connection creates some difficulty for me to have excess to online materials. Having to drive 45 to 60 minutes to the nearest town to have strong internet connection does have its perks like time to reflect, getting to buy rations for the week and once in a while have long conversations with people who join in the car ride together.

This week I got the chance to examine so many different search engines that I did not know exists. What I normally use for my web browsing are just Google and Youtube. One new search engine that I particularly like is http://education.iseek.com/iseek/home.page where I could search on one topic and so many results. And the best part is that it helps you to sort out and narrow the different results based on the different topics such as topics, sources, subjects and etc. It helps so much when you are rushing for time and need to filter and search more information.


Nowadays students are very tech-savvy and teachers need to keep up with them. Without technology in the classroom teaching we can not bring the world into the classroom. Students are very much visual learners. They able to see thing helps them to understand concepts and ideas better. Teachers need to utilize technology into teaching. Combining both worlds helps us to create an interactive and interesting learning experience for our students. I myself am a visual learner. I love reading but  I still need pictures and videos to help me understand concepts. Having students who are weak in English, this ability helps me to understand how my students learn and able myself to get pictures or videos that are suitable for them to learn.

This week in the Webskill Course we got to use the ACBD Behavioural Objectives. Using this method it helped me set clear objectives for my teaching. Getting to identify the audience (A) for my lesson and what they would be able to do at the end of the lesson (B) How they would learn (C) and finally the degree of accuracy (D). I have found that using this method, I do not have to waste my time going around my head trying to figure out what went wrong with the lesson (why the students could not understand the lesson). But rather I could set the final outcome or result that I wish the students to achieve. Setting clear objectives helps me to reach the goal.

Some websites on the ABCD Behavioural Learning Objectives I went through:-

1. http://www.beyondblue.org.au/docs/default-source/senseability/a-b-c-d-model-essential-example.pdf?sfvrsn=2
2. http://teacherworld.com/abcdobjectives.html
3. http://www.joe.org/joe/2005october/tt3.php
4. www.mdfaconline.org/presentations/ABCDmodel.doc

Looking for peace and quite or adventure?

I am from Sarawak, Malaysia. Currently working in SMK Medamit, Limbang. I have been teaching English for 11 years in the same school. The nearest town from the school is Limbang, about 45 minutes drive. 

Limbang is a district in the northern part of Sarawak. It is actually between the two halves on Brunei. Its a small town, you can feel quite relaxed. If your looking for adventure and love jungle trekking, I recommend you to go jungle trekking to Mulu National Park.

Mulu National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  You can travel to Mulu National Park from Limbang via the Headhunter's trail (about 4 days and 3 nights - Boat ride and jungle trekking)

This was fun and interesting!

At first I was a little nervous on what I should put on this blog, but then once I started writing I could not stop.

Then I had an eureka moment, I had and idea to use this Blog in the classroom.

I could use this is my classroom teaching and get students to write out their ideas and even comment on their friends' blog. Well if there is no internet connection this could be done on paper and the students could leave their comments when they move around in the classroom using a simple post-it.

Just saying hello and welcome!