Web Based Lesson Plan

Let's Shop at Groupon!

The following lesson plan is on identifying specific information. The students are given the opportunity to browse through exciting deals featured in Groupon and learn some tips on being a wise consumer. A handout for the students to fill is also attached at the end of this post :)

Level  : Form 5 (High Intermediate to Advance)

Time  : 8.30 -9.45 am ( 1 Hour 15 Minutes)

Aims :
By the end of this lesson, students should be able to

1. State the importance of being a wise consumer

2. List down specific information found in a Website

3. Present their findings.

Language focus :

Reading and writing

Background Knowledge : 
Students have basic understanding of online shopping.

Technical requirements :

1 computer per group of 2 – 3 students, with an internet connection, a Web browser, an email address, handouts

Website :
Groupon Malaysia

Preparation

1. Locate a website with content that suits the aims and theme of the lesson.

2. Prepare a handout, 3-4 choices of Groupon deal.

3. Check the website before the lesson begins.

Procedure

1. Teacher greets the students

2. Teacher stimulates students’ schemata by showing them discount vouchers. Teacher asks whether the students have experienced buying items on discount. Teacher elicits students’ knowledge on online shopping by giving examples of online shopping sites like Zalora.com and then explains that people can also get discount when they shop online.

3. Teacher introduces the topic.

4. Teacher explains briefly about being a wise consumer and relates it to discounted items.

5. Teacher explains that the students will be working in pairs or groups of 3 for the next activity. Teacher then introduces the Groupon website and writes down an email address for the log in process.

5. Teacher divides the students into groups of 2-3 people and then distributes a handout to each group.

6. Teacher asks the students to search and log into Groupon.my

7. Teacher asks the groups to choose a deal and fill in the information in the handouts.

8. Teacher checks on students’ progress.

9. Once finish, the teacher will choose at least 2 groups to present their chosen deal.

  

Follow-up activity

1. Make several choices of Groupon deal for a family trip that varies in term of the location, price, accommodations and etc. Paste the deals on the board and asks the students to pick the most worthy deal. Prompt the students to give reasons for their choice.

2. After the students have picked the best deal, ask them to write the reasons on strips of manila card and paste it along with the deal on the English board at the back of the class.


You can get the handout here

Hypertext & Hypermedia

DOLPHINS

Dolphins are regarded as the friendliest creatures in the sea and stories of them helping drowning sailors have been common since Roman times. The more we learn about dolphins, the more we realize that their society is more complex than people previously imagined. They look after other dolphins when they are ill, care for pregnant mothers and protect the weakest in the community, as we do. Dusky dolphins, for example, use teamwork to herd schools of fish together for easy eating. Watch how these dolphins cooperate to earn a fishy here!

Some scientists have suggested that dolphins have a language but it is much more probable that they communicate with each other without needing words. Could any of these mammals be more intelligent than man? Certainly the most common argument in favor of man's superiority over them that we can kill them more easily than they can kill us is the least satisfactory. On the contrary, the more we discover about these remarkable creatures, the less we appear superior when we destroy them.

Article Review - English Learners’ Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition in the Video-Based CALL Program.

English Learners’ Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition in the Video-Based CALL Program.

Asian EFL Journal , Volume 12, Issue 4 (2010)

Lu-Fang Lin 

She is currently working as an assistant professor in the Institute of Applied Linguistics, National Taiwan Ocean University, Taiwan. Having over 20 years of experience in the teaching of English language, her works revolve around English remedial instruction, English reading comprehension instruction and also multimedia English teaching and learning.

Summary

This research aims to investigate the effects of the video-based computer assisted language learning (VBCALL) program on English learners’ incidental vocabulary acquisition especially on those with different level of listening and reading proficiency. The study employed a mixed design in which a qualitative data was collected in order to further explore the findings gained from the quantitative analysis. 82 first year students of National Taiwan Ocean University take part in this research as the sample of the study. Based on an English proficiency test, the samples are divided into three groups of proficiency: (1) 44 students with high reading and high listening English proficiency (RHLH group), (2) 20 participants with high reading and low listening English proficiency (RHLL group) and (3) 18 participants with low reading and high listening English proficiency (RLLH group). All groups went through five practice sessions, five vocabulary follow-up tests and vocabulary pre- and post-tests. The performance of the groups was analyzed using descriptive statistics. It is found that all three groups performed better in the post-test as compared to the result of the pre-test. For the vocabulary follow-up test, the total scores reveal that there are significant differences between result of the RHLH and RLLH groups. To further explore the differences in learning vocabulary via video-based CALL program, a qualitative study of one-on-one interview with selected participants was conducted. The responses provide explanation in terms of affective aspects of the learners as to why some participants are successful in the vocabulary follow-up test and some don’t.

Reaction

In my opinion, the research is very interesting and easy to understand. In order to achieve the objectives of the research the methods employed were specific and clearly stated. There are five videos used in the research and five vocabulary follow-up tests for each video lesson. To determine the participants’ level of proficiency, they are required to sit for a GEPT-Intermediate simulated test and later be divided into three groups according to their result. That is not all; the research includes a qualitative design (one-on-one interviews with selected participants were conducted) in order to further explore the positive results of the vocabulary follow-up tests.

It is also interesting that the researcher considered the learners’ reading and listening proficiency as one of the main variables in order to investigate the effect of video-based program. Other researches on the use of videos as a tool to acquire vocabulary did not put on emphasize on this variable. For example, Sayed (2009) conducted a similar research on incidental vocabulary learning via CALL program. The study put heavy emphasize on 3 multimedia elements of CALL program namely the textual, pictorial and textual pictorial glosses. Sydorenko (2010) investigated the modality of input of videos and its effect on the vocabulary acquisition. These studies focus solely on the multimedia aspects of CALL programs but not the learners’ proficiency. Lu, on the other hand looked at this variable and proves that there is a correlation between the learners’ reading and listening proficiency and incidental vocabulary learning.

If there is something that can be improved in this research is that it might be better if the researcher conducted the interviews with the selected participants earlier instead of doing it a month after the Video-based CALL (VBCALL) lessons. The participants might have forgotten what they had done during the lesson. Even if they remember, it might be in bits and pieces. Some important points and experiences might be left out. Therefore, earlier interview sessions may help the researcher to explore more issues pertaining to incidental vocabulary learning via video-based CALL program.  

The study revealed positive results of using Video-based CALL programs on learners with varying level of reading and listening proficiency. This fact is important for the future of the teaching and learning of ESL in Malaysia. Teachers should realize that inclusion of videos has been proven to be positively facilitative in improving students’ understanding of the lesson. According to Ratnawati and Ismail (2003) who conducted a study on Guided Extensive Reading, many Malaysian students, especially those from rural school have difficulty understanding English, and few are able to converse in the language. For most ESL learners, one of the most difficult tests that they have to overcome is learning new lexical items. As vocabulary is the first priority in communicating, the size of vocabulary is an important criterion to evaluate learner’s proficiency (Mohebbi, 2013). Lu addressed this issue where she mentioned that L2 learners who have limited vocabulary are less likely to progress in other skills of the language. The interactive environment in CALL programs provides the suitable exposure or input that the learners need in order to be familiar with the language which later on will contribute significantly in the process of language acquisition. Using video-based CALL programs might be one of the effective solutions to the problem of lack of vocabulary knowledge of our Malaysian students. Lu’s research also highlighted the importance of selecting suitable teaching materials that suits the learners’ level of proficiency in order to achieve a favorable result. Generally speaking, this is one of the important aspects that teachers need to consider if they were to utilize videos as teaching aid. Other than that, authentic videos provide the suitable platform for the students to experience the language in its context. Context is essential to ensure that communication and comprehension take place. Only when the learners can function in the correct context that we can say that they have had meaningful learning. It is definitely better than memorizing the dictionary definitions of words bluntly but missing the most important point of learning the meaning of the words – how to use it.

All in all, this is an excellent research on the acquisition of vocabulary via Video-based CALL (VBCALL) program. The mixed method approach used contributes greatly to the findings of this research. The qualitative design provides an in-depth explanation on what really happen during the VBCALL lesson that leads to the positive outcomes of the vocabulary follow-up tests. This serves as a crucial support to understand the results of the quantitative data obtained from the tests. This research also serves as an important reference for the teaching and learning of English as Second Language as it provide evidences that multimedia materials can be used as teaching aids to facilitate vocabulary acquisition.

Reference

Lu, F.L (2010). English Learners’ Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition in the Video-based CALL program. Asian EFL Journal, 12(4), 51-66.

Link to the article https://www.dropbox.com/s/beb49cd3v97arhc/Volume-12-Issue-4-Lin.pdf

Crossword using JCross

A crossword dedicated to the Hiddlestoners out there!

p/s : For those who have no idea how to solve this puzzle the hint is imdb XP

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bxxvf77mns7s0x1/Tomhiddleston.htm

Microsoft Excel : Multiple Choice Questions

This is a set of Multiple-Choice Questions prepared using Microsoft Excel. Click on the link below to view the file :)

View the file here https://www.dropbox.com/s/pzz5te9jh0yg3sr/MCQ.xlsx

ESL Website Evaluation

Salam and my utmost greetings to all. For this task, the ESL website that I am going to evaluate is Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab. You can find the site by hitting the following address - http://www.esl-lab.com/index.htm

Question 1

"What does the website attempt to "teach"? Are exercises included in the website? What are the types of exercises included? Are there immediate feedback? Are there different levels of difficulty for different proficiency levels?"

First of all, the website attempts to "teach" listening skills. There are thousands of audio clips provided by the site as part of the listening materials. The site provide a simple lesson plan; complete with the pre-listening, while listening, vocabulary as well as post-listening activities. There are, of course, exercises provided with each lesson. The exercises included multiple-choice and short-answer questions, mixed-up sentence,sentence and vocabulary question matching and also text completion quiz. The user can acquire their results straight away after they have completed the exercises and they can restart the quiz any time they want. The site has 6 different categories of lessons or quizzes in general. The categories are the General Listening Quizzes, Basic Listening Quizzes, Listening Quizzes for Academic Purposes, 20-Minute ESL Vocabulary Lessons, Language Learning and Life Tips, and last but not least, Long Conversations with Real Video. For each category, the lessons are divided into three levels of difficulties at most to cater to the different proficiency levels of the learners. Some of the quizzes have the Easy, Medium and Difficult level of difficulties while some have the Easy and Medium level only. The 20-Minute ESL Vocabulary Lessons and Language Learning and Life Tips section only have the Medium difficulty level. Meanwhile, the Listening Quizzes for Academic Purposes section has the Medium, Difficult and Very Difficult level of difficulty 

Question 2 

"What are the learners/visitors required to do with regards to learning the content of the website?"

The site is quite simple to use. It is free and no registration is needed to view the content, so it saves the visitors from the tedious process of accessing a protected site. There are only 3 small steps needed before we can start the listening lesson.

First - Choose a category. There are 6 categories of quizzes altogether, pick any one that suits your learning objectives and also looks appealing to you.

Second - Choose the level of difficulty. You can start of with Easy for some warm up lesson or you can just straight away jump to the Medium or Difficult level to suit your level of proficiency. The decision is all yours. 

Third - Choose a topic. Each category is divided into columns of level of difficulties. In each of the column, there is a list of topics for the listening lesson. Choose topics that you find interesting to be challenged.

After you have chosen a topic, you will be directed to the lesson page. There, you can gain access to the full listening lessons; starting with the pre-listening activity and exercises, the audio clip followed by multiple-choice questions for the while-listening activity, vocabulary as well as post-listening activities. The visitors can choose to do all the suggested activities or just complete the exercises provided. One thing for sure, you have to listen to the audio clip first before you can try any of the exercises. That is the main lesson of the site; to get you to improve your listening skills. If you are visiting the site as part of your self-study, you can listen to the audio as many times as you want. This site is very beneficial for English teachers who are struggling to find fresh ideas and materials for a listening class because it covers all the three stages of listening task.

Question 3 

"While you are going through the website, does it remind you of anything you do in a classroom, or with a teacher, or with a fellow classmate, or in self-study?"

I do remember the listening class I conducted with my students during practicum. The site has provided teachers with all the information required to conduct the lesson. The things left are the adaptation and execution. I realized that if I were to use the audio clips and adapt the activities suggested by the website to be conducted in my class, I need to ensure that I have full preparation in terms of the procedure of the lesson and also equipped with fully functioning devices. I remember one of the listening classes did not go well because the audio quality was so poor, using speakers (a mini speaker) to the max did not have any effect at all. At that time, I was trying to let the students listen to one of the audio clips found in the Ministry's CD-ROM that comes with the text book. The audio track might have worked well with a better and bigger-sized speaker. One thing that I noticed is that the exercises provided by the website were quite similar to the ones I used in the classroom even though I rediscovered this site a bit later after the lesson. For listening class, one of the most familiar exercises is the Text Completion Quiz where the students have to listen to the clips in order to fill in the blanks in the transcription of the audio. Other than that, matching questions are also suitable as a while-listening exercises. I'm also reminded of the days when I was studying Korean as a third language where I learned new vocabulary via podcast. I find that learning a new language through a variety of sources is very beneficial. There are a lot of things that I have learnt from the podcast that was unable to be covered due to time restrain in the class. In other words, learning through podcast enhances my understanding on the language. It also enables me to be more prepared in class as I have done my homework beforehand. I personally think that learning through podcast that can be accessed from sites similar to esl-lab helps a learner to understand the lesson better. 

Question 4 

"Does the website present learners with something that cannot be done in a textbook/workbook? If yes, how so?"

Esl-lab definitely presents learners with something that cannot be done in a textbook/workbook because the main teaching aid used is the audio clip. The textbook cannot possibly play an audio track. This is the trump card of the website - multimedia elements. Other than that, learners can straight away check their performance with only a simple click. Though learners can also check their works straight away after they have finished answering the exercises in the workbook, they still need to flip the pages for answers or ask the teachers to mark their score. Here, we can clearly see that technology has made life simpler and jobs easier.

Question 5

"Can you pinpoint some theories of language learning and/or teaching underlying the application?"

If we are talking about listening skills, we cannot ignore its relation with Gardner's Multiple Intelligence theory. According to the theory, an individual has at least 8 distinctive intelligence namely linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalistic; all of which may vary in strengths and preferences(Gardner, 2006). Basing on the theory, language learning can be facilitated by addressing the different intelligence and then suit it with a broader scope of learners. Another theory in education that can be related to this site is the sensory-based learning style. There are 3 main methods of processing information which are through visual, auditory and tactile. Let us focus on the second modality; auditory. From the previous findings, Silverman (2006) derived three basic learning styles; of which one of it is the Auditory-sequential learning. Learners with this kind of learning style think in words and perceived information auditorily and basically learn in a sequential, step by step process (Cruse, no date).     

Question 6 

"An important criterion for evaluating a CALL program, task or activity is the potential for language learning. Does the website fulfill this criterion? If yes, how so?"

In terms of whether the website fulfill the criterion of having the potential for language learning, I would say yes. The site primary aim is to enhance learners' listening skill. As all four of main skills in language; reading, writing, listening and speaking; are interrelated to each other, improving listening skill would help the learners in other skills as well. For example, while they are listening carefully to the audio clip to fill in the gaps in the quiz script, they have to read the transcription one by one which encourages reading. Listening to correct pronunciation also helps improving their speaking skills. A bit trivia on this blog : the owner of the website state that the lessons and materials in this site are specifically designed for language learners. That is why I find that this site has a high language learning potential.Other than that, this site also acknowledges the importance of building learners' vocabulary. We can see that a vocabulary exercise is a must in each lesson. The website even included idioms that are related to the topic chosen on the left side of the page. There are links to Self-Study Guide and other ESL blogs for the users so that they can fully utilize the site. However, the site seems to be lacking something. The main page straight away shows the visitor the lists of topics for the listening lesson without introducing the page (what it is all about)and there is no instruction as to guide the users on what to do. Other than that, the site would be better if some notes on listening is included.

Question 7 

"Would you like to use the application yourself in your future work?" 

Yes? Give reasons : 

No? Give reasons: 

I would really love to use this website as part of my teaching resources in the future. One reason is that the site provided teacher-directed instruction which makes lesson planning an easier task. The listening quizzes are arranged according to the level as well as the topic, lexicon and syntax and also rate of speech. The additional pre-, while and post-listening activities provide support for the listening quizzes so that the lesson would be well-rounded. These facts would be a great help for teachers who are planning a lesson while trying to find materials that suits the students' proficiency levels. The use of audio clips would also makes learning an interesting experience. I also like the fact that the website focus solely on listening skills because it makes one know exactly what they are going to achieve by the end of each lesson while they gain other skills in incognito.

In-Class Task : E-Worksheet

Salam and good day! For the electronic worksheet task, I decided to make a simple CUT and PASTE activity.

Here is the link to the worksheet.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ny1bcgkqt6akvw3/E%20Worksheet.docx