Planning Lessons Using the Internet

8/3/2019 Planning Lessons Using the Internet

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Usingwebsites

It may well be that the accuracyand currency criteria, both essentially actual, are notof interest to you if you are working on a purely linguistic level, that is planning a classthat exploits the languageof the site, rather than the content itself. On ihe other hand.accvtacyandcurrencymight be the most important criteria if learnersare aking notesandinterpreting information in preparation for producing a project.Another thing to bear in mind as a language eacherwill be the linguistic accuracyof the web page. f this is important to you, you will need to add this to your evaluationcriteria.This againwill dependon the purposeof the site n your lessonplan. This is anareaof contentionamong eachers, nd a subject hat almostalways.roprrrp n technorogytraining sessions.Only you can really decideon the linguistic content of a particular site.Spending lots of time on a site devoted to mobile ph-one exting languagewith a classpreparing to do an examination is probably not in the best interestsof the learners, orexample.As far as content is concerned,note that criteria such as ease-of-use nd interest aretaken nto account,but you may alsowant to consideradding a further set of criteria herealong the lines of appropriateness.n this subcategoryyou would note which groups orlevels he sitewould be suitable or and any problemsyou foreseewith the site tsef. ^Functionality will be a categorywith consequencesor all teachers.Not only can it bevery frustrating to follow through the content of a site to be met with broken links andmissing information, but it can be equally frustrating to wait twenty minutes for a shortvideo to download due to the speedof your connection.Again,carefulpreparationandinvestigation n the lessonplanning stagecan go a long way towards maklng the learners'experienceenjoyableand trouble-free.Howeveryou evaluate he usefulness f the websites ou find, makesure hat you keepa record of the content and address othat you begin to build up a argestockof evaluatedsites.

Planning essonsusing he InternetBy this stage ou will have ound, evaluatedand decidedon a collectionof web pageswhichyou want to useaspart of your teaching.The next area o consider s how a technology-based esson lanwill look in comparisonwith the sort of plansyou usuallyproduce.Whatwill the differencesbe?what might go wrong, and how will you dealwith it?The first thing, of course, s to plan your sessionwell: visit the websitesyou intend touseand makesureyou knowyour way around them properly.Tiyto usesiteswhich appearto havea'potentially long 'shelf life' - onesmade by large nstitutions and commeicialorganisations,ather than personalhomepages, hich havea tendency o come and gowith alarming frequency.Make a note of the particular pagesyou want your learners o work on - you can usethe Favoritesoption in Internet Explorer,or Bookmarks n Firefoxto log web addressesorlater use and make sureyou're familiar with the content.Your ability to answerquestionsas hey arisewill add to your confidenceand also nspire confidence n your learners.Planninga web-basedesson,ather han onewhere he web contentplaysan ancillaryrole, s not intrinsically different from planning a more traditional one. We like to divide atypicalweb-based essionnto threeparts (www):warmer,web,what next.

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The warmer part of the lesson s the kind of thing we all do as a matter of course,with introductory activities, nterest-generating deas,and so on. This part preparesyourlearners or what they are going to be doing in the web part of the lesson.Our view is thatthis part of the esson s bestdone n the familiar environmentof the normal classroom.In the web sectionof the lesson, t's important to spendonly asmuch time asyou needworking with the computers.We prefer to take learners o a computer room for this partrather than spend he entire classn there.This has he double advantageof allowing moregroups o use he room and of keeping earners ocusedduringtheir time there. t is alsoan opportunity for learners o stretch heir egsandprovidesa change f pace.On the otherhand, moving from the traditional classroom o a computer room doeshave he potentialto disrupt your class, o carefulplanning of the logistics may be necessary.If you have imited accesso computers, r perhapsonly one computer n the classroom,you can print off the web-basedmaterialsyou want to usewith your learners n advance, ndsimply useaprint version.This s, of course, ot asexcitingasusingcomputers hemselves,but can bring the Internet nto more resource-poor nvironments.Of course, here are certain teaching situations where teachersare obliged to taketheirlearners o a computer acility for one or more essons er week. f you do find yourself nthis position, you can adaptyour lessonplans o make greateruseof the Internet han weare suggesting ere.You may even choose o incorporate the use of websitesmore consistently nto thecurriculum of the courseyou are teaching - perhaps substituting a part of the coursematerialsyou are using for websites, or example he readingtexts or the listening material.Howeveryou decide o do this, t must be a transparentprocessor the learners, nd theymust be able o appreciatenot only the thought processeshat havegone nto this decision,but also the relevanceand value of the change.This can be achieved n part by helpinglearners o cast a critical eye over the materials they work with in class,and encouragingthem to talk about what they like doing and what they don't.It should also be born in mind that your learners will have favourite websitesoftheir own, and it is well worth investigatingwhether thesecan be incorporated into yourclassroom teaching,partly as a motivator, but also as a link to their lives, interestsandexperiences utside he class. his againwill help them to see he valueof the technologyapplied n class.It's worth remembering hat onceyou put peoplebehind computer monitors, t's easyfor them to forget that you are there,and - more importantly - why they are there.So thetwo vital words here are time and task.Make sureyour learnershavea clearly-defined askto achieVe nd a clearly-defined ime frame in which to achieve t.Once he group has got what you intended from the computers, t's time to move themback o the classroom or the what next stage f the esson.This part should dealwith thetasksset or the webpart and then proceedwith more familiar follow-up activities o roundoff the esson.Movie starsis sampleesson lanbased n this structure.Youcanuse his asa emplatefor your own planning. It is worth noting that there is nothing intrinsically different fromthe more traditional coursebookapproachhere- perhaps he major value of this materialis its intrinsic motivational element: real actors being interviewed for a real programme.This, plus the contemporary nature of most websitecontent, make the web an ideal sourceof material.


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UsingwebsitesA lesson lan- MoviestarsThis is an upper-intermediateo advancedessonconcentratingon famousmovie starsand their livesandwork. The anguage reas overed re:askingand answering uestions,reacting to information, and .rhor,iittg nterest. Learners ,Ill ulro explore interviewtechniques, nd waysofinteractingon a"socialevel.The class seshe BBCwebsite, nd tssectiondevoted o The Film progiammeon BBCRadio4, which you canseebelow

WormerIntroducethe subjectby-talkingabout learners'favouritemovie starsand their work. Athis level,a simpleclass iscussionwill work fine,-butbe prepared o prompt with variousubject are-as:avourite movies, recent visits to the cinema, ro.trr.o.rrlrrg films, best andorst films,and so on.

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Sampte armerTatko yourPartner.o Whatkindof f i lmsdo You ike?o Wh oareyour avourite ctors?o What'she best i[m you've ve rseen?o What's he worst i lm you've ve rseen?. When id you astgo o the cinema?

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Which movie starwould they like to interview, giventhe chance,and what would they askthat person?WebHaveyour learnersvisit the siteand find an actor they are nterested n - theseareall audiointerviews,with no transcripts.There splentyof choice note hat interviewsarearchivedbyyear.Let each earner choosean interview to listen to, and ask them to make notes onthe main themesdealt with, and to examinehow the interview is constructed

- how theinteractionswerestartedand developed see askbelow)'

- conclusionso Ho wdid th e intervieweeeact?- getting tarted- answerso questions- addit ionatnformation- conctuslonso Make noteof someof the useful

WhatnextGiveeach earnera chance o report back on what they listened o' who was nterviewedand what the main themesof the interview were.What did they find out and what wouldthey have iked to have ound out, but didn't?Developinga conversationwith someone s a difficult skill to acquire n anotherlanguage.li.it ,o-. of the waysthey heard the interviewerand intervieweeworkingtogether o construct he dialogue.Write someof the language nd techniques p on theboird and anal1'setructures, urpose,and so on'

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UsingwebsitesThere areplenty of follow_up activities o do here, ncluding:. speakingactivity: an interview.Giveeachpair a role.(famouspersonor interviewer) and have hem conduct aninterview. This courd alsobe recordedor videoed forlaterlanguagework.o writing activity: ,a day n the lifel

This is often seen n uK sunday nel^/.spaperupplemerrts,wherea famousperson;Jl;:rrt"-ed about a day n their life, o. u pu.1i.,rlarly interestingduil,rti. purt

o writing activity: an interview.As for the speakingactivity above,but styled for a magazine r newspaper.Thiscould be done,individually,or in pairs - wittr one writlng the questions, he otherthe answers.This could be presentedu, ur, ._uiil"r.rrri"*.o writing activity: a biography.A more formal written piece,exploring the life of a famousperson.This mightinvolvemore researchon the Iniernet.working with professionalsat higher levels,you might also ike to consider he differencesl h"qYu,gtand register etween"aocial nterview lke the one heylistened o and a moreormal job interview.

Workingwith lower evelsof languageproficiencyone of the most often askedquestions s if iris p*riut. to work with lower-levelclassesnd the Internet' The simple Jtr*", is that t is, tf course, .uriut. but that the choiceofebsiteswill be far more limited than for higher levels.Afamiliarworryforlowerlevelsishowmich of agiven extthestudentswill understand.ower-level earners oft..:.ft9I they have to understand everything and this will lead toroblems, f not dealtwith beforehand.."^.9_lo::t"g the right websitescan go some way towards raising their comfort levels,hough you may need o haveshorteil"r.on, than the rrigi.r r.*r one describedabove.ebsiteswhich are more suitable or lower levelswill i"dr.j;,^ --. websiteswith simple,clearlypresented ext.' websiteswith non-linguistic datawhich is easy o interpret (e.g.data n the formof a chart,suchasa weatherpage).' websiteswith visuals a taskcan be basedaround the visuarsonly.' ELT websites,wherethe content hasbeenwritten, editedand preparedwith thisudiencen mind.

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Planning Lessons Using the Internet