“How would you use Real English website with 1st grade students-intermediate school in Yanbu”

Hello.

I will talk about how I would use Real English website with my 1^st grade students.

I put many steps for my students and I will ask them to follow.

First, I will create a group in yahoo for them and ask them to participate after creating an email in yahoo.

Second, I will give them the link for the website and ask them to go to the lessons orderly from the first lesson to the last one and do the exercises.

Third, I will ask them if they benefited from the website or not.

Fourth, I will ask them to go to the yahoo group and write what they benefited and share the informations with each other .

Fifth, I will teach them the wordle and let them write the new words that they have learned from the website.

Sixthly, I will create a quiz for them to know if they really learned or I should give them another link.

I will ask them to follow the steps and see the results.

Hhhhhhhh, you maybe feel like this fly’s feeling at the beginning,but do not worry you will be a good student after practicing and they will clap at you actually.

WORDLE

” The role of WeQuests in learning a foreign/second language”

Really, I feel like I live in another world after each class for this course(EDU 401). Every week I learn a new thing and a smart thing. I really enjoy in this class.

I learned this class a new technology that I can use it with my student when I become a teacher. It is Web Quest. The term Web Quest has been defined as “Inquiry-oriented activities in which most or all of the information used by learners is drawn from the Web”(Mosaic 1993). The use of Web Quest in language teaching is better than using the traditional ways of language learning and teaching.

 It has several advantages. One of these advantages could be that the use of Web Quest improves the students’ critical thinking. They will be encountered with lots of issues that they have to analyze and solve. They have to gather information, analyze, decide the suitable one, ask questions and summarize what they find.

Using Web Quest as a teaching tool in with language learners will make the students the main focus of the learning process and make their learning needs the first priority. Though, it is considered as a student-oriented activity in which the tasks are designed to suit their needs.

The knowledge required in Web Quest activities is based on enquiry-oriented language use. Producing autonomous learners can be achieved by using Web Quest where involvement of students in achieving the required task and giving them the whole responsibility of their learning are main characteristics that can be noticed.

Web Quests promote collaboration when students learn how to collaborate with their classmates, with students in other classrooms, or with students halfway around the world. They can also contact area experts by using e-mail, the Internet, and video conferencing.

Project-based learning (PBL), one of the enduring approaches to education that supports the use of web quests, is focused on the learner constructing meaning and knowledge from an assigned activity. PBL gives a variety of learning styles and multiple forms of intelligence have a real world authentic orientation. It allows students to choice, encourages higher-order thinking, and uses hand-on experiences and various modes of communication. It makes Students responsible for their own learning and the teacher's role is that of a facilitator.

Finally, I will use web quest with my students to let them feel what I am feeling now. To let them depend on their selves. To let them collaborate with each other. To let them more improvement. To explore the hobbies that they may have. To let them know how they search about anything that they really need. To let them know how they can choose the right informations from the web.

website evaluation

I chose this website http://learn-english-online.org .you can learn English online.  It has English lessons that are aimed at the beginner although people with a little experience of English may find some parts useful. It is like a teacher. You can learn English without a teacher. I found it very good. I give it 4 out of 5. The content of the website is very good, it is complete but the design of the website is not good. I think if they add some pictures, it will be nice. It is very organized. They gave instructions to benefit from it. Its features are good. They show the objectives of it. But I think if they put a long introduction and some pictures and vocabularies, it will be a good definition for the website purpose.

The second website is http://learnrealenglish.com . It improves your speaking skill. It is an academy that have three teachers who help you to improve your speaking.  You can register by your email and then they send you emails for a week. Then, if you want to continue, you should pay money to them. You can talk with the other members. You can buy lessons from it. I found it very excellent. I gave it 5 out of 5. The content is very clear. They benefit everything. Also, the design is very nice. It is complete. Its features enhanced the main purpose of the website. Anyone who open the link, he will know the purpose of it from its features. They used pictures like headphones to indicate that it is for speaking and listening. They put the teachers pictures. They put some videos, some instructions. They wrote some vocabularies that indicate the main purpose.  

Digital natives, Digital immegrants

I consider my self as a digital native student. According to Mark Prensky digital native students are those students who grown up in a digital world, who are using technology and can not live without it. They use technology as away to communicate with thier friends.They have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, videogames, digital music players, video cams, cell phones, and all the other toys and tools of the digital age. I n contrast, digital Immegrants are those who were not born into the digital world but have, at some later point in our lives, become fascinated by and adopted many or most aspects of the new technology are, and always will be compared to them.
According to Mark, there are many differences between them:
Digital Natives are used to receiving information really fast. They like to parallel process and multi-task. They prefer their graphics before their text rather than the opposite. They prefer random access (like hypertext). They function best when networked. They thrive on instant gratification and frequent rewards. They prefer games to “serious” work.
But Digital Immigrants typically have very little appreciation for these new skills that the Natives have acquired and perfected through years of interaction and practice. These skills are almost totally foreign to the Immigrants, who themselves learned – and so choose to teach – slowly, step-by-step, one thing at a time, individually, and above all, seriously.
He talked about "digital immegrants accent":
The “digital immigrant accent” can be seen in such things as turning to the Internet for information second rather than first, or in reading the manual for a program rather than assuming that the program itself will teach us to use it. Today‟s older folk were "socialized" differently from their kids, and are now in the process of learning a new language. And a language learned later in life, scientists tell us, goes into a different part of the brain.

Prensky’s point of view about the biggest serious problem facing education today is that the digital immigrant teachers are struggling to teach the students who speak an entirely new language.
Should the Digital Native students learn the old ways, or should their Digital Immigrant educators learn the new? According to Prensky, he gave two suggestions:
1-The methodology should change,teachers have to learn to communicate in the language and style of their students. This
doesn’t mean changing the meaning of what is important,
or of good thinking skills. But it does mean going faster, less step-by step, more in parallel, with more random access, among other things.
2-The content,there are now
two kinds of content: “Legacy” content
and “Future” content.
“Legacy” content includes reading, writing, arithmetic, logical thinking, understanding
the writings and ideas of the past, etc .
“Future” content is to a large extent, not surprisingly, digital and technological. But while it includes software, hardware, robotics, nanotechnology, genomics, etc.

As educators, we need to be thinking about how to teach both Legacy and Future content in the language of the Digital Natives. The first involves a major translation and change of methodology; the second involves all that PLUS new content and thinking.

We need to invent Digital Native methodologies for all subjects, at all levels, using our students to guide us. The process has already begun – I know college professors inventing games for teaching subjects ranging from math to engineering to the Spanish Inquisition. We need to find ways of publicizing and spreading their successes.

“How would I use blogs, wikis and delicious with my EFL students?”

Using technology in the class is very important these days. Blog, wiki and delicious are from the most important sites using to help students to improve their skills in reading, writing, listening and speaking. I will use them with my students because I think they will help them a lot, to improve themselves.

Blogs,,,

Blog is a website that allows people to write their ideas, thoughts, reflections and share with others. It is an useful website that I will use with my EFL students. It helps students to improve their skills in reading, writing and increase their vocabularies. For example giving students topics and asking them to write about or uploading articles to write their reflections about it. In addition, it helps shy students to participate and be active in the course. It encourages students to collaborate with each other through asking them to write their comments about colleagues' post.


Wikis,,,

 

wikis: To use wiki with my students, I would divide the class into groups; each group will have their wiki. I’ll post some topics related to our course, each group will select a topic and collect information about it, post it in their group wiki and discuss it with their classmates. .

      I will ask them to add adjectives and adverbs to a given story.

      I may give them a video and ask each group to write a summary about what they understand from this clip.

Delicious,,,

Delicious is a website that allows people to save, share and discover hyperlinks. If I were teacher, I will use this website with my EFL students through giving my students links or asking them to put links related to their lessons such as activities, extra reading or games , or putting links that contain eBooks to develop my students knowledge in learning English language.


In conclusion,using of websites such as blogs, wiki and Delicious in teaching can be a powerful and effective technology tool for students and teachers alike.

"Application of Bax Normilasation in Saudi Arabia: The how!"

Stephan Bax argues that, "Our aim should be to attain a state of `normalisation' in which the technology is invisible and truly integrated"

In the article, CALL—past, present and future, which written by Stephen Bax ,he argues 3 categories. His aim is to attain a state of normalization which the technology is invisible and truly integrated. This leads to use technology in learning and use it as new way for teaching in classrooms and dealing with it as anything practicing daily. He suggested changes to achieving normalization. CALL will be normalized if it becomes invisible and respond to the all requirements of the students. It needs changes in technology and attitude and also changes in the syllabus. Students have to learn more about technology and dealing with it daily as any essential and usual thing like pen or shoes and they also need to know how to use diverse technological tools every time, not just using computers in labs weekly.

In Saudi Arabia, I think we can achieve normalization .But first we should follow many steps:

1-The teacher should explain to the students what is technology?. What are the goals from using technological devices?. How we can use them in the right way?.

2-Prepare the schools and universities with the technological devices to apply what we have learned. Like projectors, computers, laptops and smart boards.

3- After these steps they can apply what they have learner easily. They will have fun by using these devices. Also, the teacher may interact with his/her students by using communication networks. Such as, twitter ,facebook, you tube, blogger and wikis and many other examples as we have learned in(EDU401).

It can be a way to involve the education by interesting ways, like tecnology.Some modern educational systems have used tecnology as an intertainament education way.

I think if they applied all these steps and began to use the technology at the schools and universities, they will improve teaching process.

I know it will take time, but we will success if we are motivated enough.