by Elaine Hoter
Talpiot Teachers college
Israel
This course can be found by clicking
here .
C ontents
The Internet has tremendous potential as a tool for teaching EFL. How can we best utilize this new phenomena so as to enable our students to be part of the global village? By this I mean to prepare them to carry on real correspondence with other learners and native speakers of English throughout the world, to use the internet as a source of knowledge, to incorporate the internet as an integral part of their teaching, and - in the case of this course - to study in a virtual classroom via the internet.
Many people learn how to use the internet as a tool in itself. However, I feel that the internet can be better mastered as a means through which a content area can be taught. By experiencing the Virtual Classroom first hand in a learning experience, the participants will have utilated the tools of the Internet in a meaningful context.
The rationale for this course is based on a pilot course written by a team of three EFL teacher trainers; Jean Vermel, Nili Mor and Elaine Hoter and given in 1996 to student teachers at three separate colleges in Israel via the internet. This course can be found by clicking here. The students - all student teachers - studied an area of EFL collaboratively through the internet in small groups. Each group was led by an on-line instructor and the students worked with their "invisible" group via the internet. This course consisted of 5 modules each dealing with a different area of the internet. The students all learnt the same tools and then applied them to their content area and shared their findings with their groups. The writers of the course hoped that the participants, having actually experienced a virtual classroom first hand, would themselves like to join a virtual classroom with their students after they graduate. This we will only know in the future. However, the students are already using the internet to help prepare their lessons and complete college assignments
The results of this pilot course have proven the value of this type of course. This led me to consider adapting this course to form a Virtual Classroom where learners of English would work with student teachers (training to be EFL teachers) Both groups had one learning aim in common: to learn how to use the Internet. However the learners wanted to use this experience to improve their reading and writing skills in English , whereas the student teachers wnated to know how they could use the Internet for teaching academic reading and writing.
My group of EFL students at the Mofet Institute, Tel Aviv, consists of. teacher trainers and content area teachers from various teaching colleges throughout Israel who want to learn how to use the internet and improve their English simultaneously. Although more and more material is becoming available on the internet in other languages, most of the material on the internet is in English. this can be a frustrating experience and a deterrent to someone whose native language is not English. In addition many members of the college faculties had little cause to write in English, but now, with email and contacts with colleagues throughout the world , they feel that they now need to improve their written proficiency.
There was also a hidden agenda for the EFL student group. I hoped that the teachers and professors, having taken part in the course, would incorporate elements of the internet into their own classrooms.
Of course, the EFL/ESL population for this course could be any upper intermediate or advance student anywhere in the world, but from the pilot study we have seen the advantage to having both a classroom internet teacher to model and facilitate the use of the internet as well as an on-line instructor to deal with the content area. Therefore the EFL students for this project will consist of classes of EFL students from different parts of the globe with their teachers and on-line instructors. All the EFL participants will be nonnative speakers of English on the upper intermediate level who wish to learn about the internet and improve their writing and reading.
The second group consists of students training to be EFL/ESL teachers. For this first study this group will be a group of students from Snow College, Utah, USA. They will study in class with their teacher Dr. Mary Ann Christison and Jeb Branin where they will learn the same Internet tools as the other group, but they will then use these tools to teach and give support to the on-line EFL students.
The duration of the combined course will be one semester. Some students will meet with their teacher for 2 hours a week, others will meet every other week for 4 hours.
The participants will be divided into small groups consisiting of both student teachers, EFL students and an online instructor. These groups will be used for discussion purposes. A program called Netforum will be used where all the correspondance from all the group can be seen immediately on the web. In addition each EFL student has an on-line student teacher partner. They work together on various assignments, sometimes as equals and other times the student teacher acts as mentor or teacher in the reading and writing process.
An important feature of this course is the on-line lesson plans available for the teachers to use. These include the rationale for each module, problems that might arise and handouts for the students.
The home page for this course also include links to "back
to school" pages which will offer information and advice on peer
evaluation, process writing, grammar on line etc. a few tutorials
on the Internet
as additional material, assignments
and the list of
participants.
Below are the outlines for each learning module. No specific time has been laid down for each module, the teachers will decide o nthis as the course progresses taking into account technical difficulties, student access to computers outside of class time etc. However, deadlines will be given to the students on when to hand in the various assignments.
Each module has two teaching aims; one is in the realm of reading and writing skills (the content aim), whereas the other teaches using the internet as a tool (the instrumental aim). The content aim will differ for the two groups of students; EFL students and student teachers.
part 1
Content Aim: basic writing assignment introducing
and describing oneself. Reading for details.
The student teachers will then use this information to create a scanning
exercise for their on-line partner.
Instrumental Aim: become familiar with the basic functions of netscape : "back" "forward" filling in a form, setting preferences etc.
This will be similar to lesson
one of the pilot project
However the writing assignment will be broader.
The introductions will automatically appear on the internet using Netforum.
Content aim: for EFL students - fluency in writing.Adding
sentences to a story around the class through email.
-for student teachers - discussing how and when to correct EFL students
on line and give feedback
Instrumental Aim: learning email (cc. inserting attatchment etc)
This part of the module can be taught within the class and is very suitable
for situations when the other group is not yet on-line or not studying
at the same time!
Content aim: for the EFL students -beginnings of
creative writing, reading different genres,writing in an on-line discussion
- for the student teachers giving feedback, beginning exercises on how
to use information on the web for teaching EFL
Instrumental aim: guided surfing on the internet.
The students will choose a pair within their group according to their interests and complete the written assignment of the surfing lesson. The lesson will be an adaptation of the pilot.
This assignment will include a fun writing exercise similar to the ideas here.
The compositions will be sent to the groups and basic peer evaluation will begin. (c.c. to the on-line instructor who will supply necessary assistance)
The final corrected compositions will be "published" on the
web.
Content aim: reading comprehension: scanning, skimming - writing, summarizing and peer correction
Instrumental aim: searching on the net and "mail document" function
The students will begin to surf on the Intertnet to find newspapers
on line. Their task will be to scan and skim the newspaper to find articles
that will interest their partner and send it to their partner who will
read and summarize the article. This unit also includes a treasure hunt
- for surfing the Net reinforcement!
Content area: extensive reading, writing in the style of...
Instrumental aim: learn how to use various search engines based on lesson 3 of the pilot course. They will then use the search engines to practice searching on the net
Task: In class work on the different search engines and complete the exercise, with your partner, search for a short story on the internet you and your partner would like to read. Agree on a writer or a topic before your search. Read the story and then choose one of the following:
a. role play the story with your partner
b. change the ending of the story - send to partner and comment/correct
c. student teacher suggests a different assignment
Set each other search for assignments.
Content: reading editorials, writing agreeing and disagreeing
Instrumental: listserv
Task: join a listserv for EFL students or teacher trainers and become an active member . Join another listserv on a topic that interests you.
Go to an editorial and write an article agreeing or disagreeing. Send
it to your partner who will write the opposite. You will then do the same
for your partners chosen article. Exchange, peer correct and combine into
one article using sentence connectors. Each student is responsible for
the article he/she chose.
Content: formal and informal reading and writing
Instrumental: IRC and MOOS
Write a very informal "slangy" letter to another member of
your group who will return it to you in as formal a style as possible.
Try joining an IRC group discussion and also schmooze university and then
discuss the language and style of on line writing with your group.
Extra Material
Content: areas of difficulty and self improvement
Instrumental: Down loading files and programs
Students will try out some of the EFL games on the internet for example
The Virtual English Language Center
They will down load programs form the Simtel
Software Repository .
Assessment:
The on-line teachers will assess the writing and reading assignments
in the group and pair work. Each module includes a reading and writing
assignment
Frizler, K. [a.k.a. Frizzy] (1995, December 6). The Internet as an Educational Tool in ESOL Writing Instruction. Unpublished Master's thesis, San Francisco State University [WWW document ].
Anderson A et al. (1996). Teaching On-line: Internet Research, Conversation and Composition, HarperCollins. New York.
Warschauer, M. (1995). _E-mail for English teaching._ Alexandria, Virginia:
TESOL Publications, Inc.
