1. Why do you think evaluation of CALL courseware, websites, materials etc important?
In my own opinion when anything at all is or are being evaluated, it is for crucial reasons. Some of them being: making sure the contents are relevant, suitable and effective to the target group intented. Logically we need to know if the students profficiency match the task at hand. Too easy or too hard activities will not help make the lesson effective. Moreover we need to evaluate if the exercises would meet your objectives of what you want to teach to students. It would be pointless asking them to do any CALL activities which at the end of the day students do not aquire anything out of it or any justice to the syllabus they have to follow.
2. How do you think Hot Potatoes JCloze may help your students learn English?
Honestly i have mixed feelings when using Hot Potatoes JCloze or perhaps most of the CALL materials. Apart of me thinks it is a new fresh way of teaching as now we have moved into a technological era. Thus i have learned through experience during my practicum, students appreciate it when teachers teach using materials other than textbooks and white boards.
However when looking at the Hot Potatoes JCloze software, i cannot help but to think it may make students more lazier or less profficient in terms of writing. When we write in exercise books, we take account the grammar, spelling and structure of the sentence which when copying them down, will help improve or further strengthen students' english. They even have to copy down instructions. However when doing the cloze passage, everything is ready for you. You only need to fill in the blanks. Therefore writing is absolutely minimized. Reading is more utilized here.
Another thing to point out is, the answers for each questions is already programmed. Should students who just keep randomly type answers from A-D, it could lead to students becoming lazy. They do not have think hard for the most suitable aswer. They only have to guess the answer and if it is wrong, they just type the next alphabet until they get it right.
Nonetheless, the graphic and colours of the materials are very attractive if you decorate it approapriately. It would attract the students' attention and can enhance a better participation in class. Students would definitely like using the keyboard and typing the answers instead of copying the whole exercise down in their exercise books.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
TASK 1
1) Please introduce yourself.
Well hello there 2010!!.. :) Im Intan Darlila but you can call me Ella in short. I am going to be 26 this year but i'll always be 16 years old at heart. Gombak is my hometown where the shoe factory is 'kasut gombak' as they say (although i can almost swear i've never seen it). My hopes and dreams for this year is to complete part 8 with flying colours, get married and have lots of babies. AMIN!!
2)How would you rate yourself in terms of your computer skills and why? (e.g. expert, novice, savvy, geek, illiterate etc)
How would i rate myself? I would say I am no geek or tech savvy when it comes to computer skills however i do have sufficient enough knowledge to create a presentable computer based tasks. I always believe if it looks presentable, it would be good enough for me. :)
3)What computer software and hardware knowledge do you have?
I am profficient with everything that is in microsoft office : words, excel, powerpoint,publisher and outlook :) hehe
4)Have you experienced learning via the computer (online, etc)?
I have actually learned quite a few things via the computer/online. I am amazed on how easy you can learn anything just by a click of a button especially on you-tube. I think You -tube is a good platform for any means of learning because it is visual. I personally like to search for troubleshooting regarding my computer or just simply looking for food recipees and methods of preparing them. You can find and learn just about anything on you-tube :). Other than that, during my practicum, I realized have used alot of interesting ideas from tasks sheets on language teaching taken from the internet. I found the ideas were very interactive and fun for students to do.
5) Did you try to incorporate technology in some of your lessons during your practicum? Was it a success or a failure? If you did not what was/were the reason(s)?
I did incorporate alot of technology during my practicum session. I was lucky enough to have always been able to occupy the 'Lingua centre' where any language teachers are allowed to use for classes. The room was fully equipped with a computer, an LCD projector, audio system and a printer. Most of the time I used this room since other teachers do not need to use its facilities. I must say it was a great success. I played alot of interactive games with them such as snakes and ladders using the LCD projector.
6) What is your opinion on the use of computer/technology in language teaching?
Considering we are now living in an era filled with technology, I do think it is very relevent to use it. Tasks and activities can become more interactive and fun rather than having students learning with books, pen and paper. I have witness during my practicum that any materials I used which had visuals on the projector screen, audio, colours and interactiveness were an attention grabber to the students. For an example, in relation to the snakes and ladders I created as an aid to teach grammar to my students, I found the response and participation was overwhelming. I witnessed even the weaker students who were usually passive got up and was not shy to participate. Sometimes even the task of pressing any key on the keyboard would be exciting enough for students.
7) What are your expectations from this course?
My personal expectation is to learn much more and broaden my skills especially to incorporate technology with my language learning and future teachings. I also hope that I will learn many tasks that I used to do manually will in future would only take a click of a button :)
Well hello there 2010!!.. :) Im Intan Darlila but you can call me Ella in short. I am going to be 26 this year but i'll always be 16 years old at heart. Gombak is my hometown where the shoe factory is 'kasut gombak' as they say (although i can almost swear i've never seen it). My hopes and dreams for this year is to complete part 8 with flying colours, get married and have lots of babies. AMIN!!
2)How would you rate yourself in terms of your computer skills and why? (e.g. expert, novice, savvy, geek, illiterate etc)
How would i rate myself? I would say I am no geek or tech savvy when it comes to computer skills however i do have sufficient enough knowledge to create a presentable computer based tasks. I always believe if it looks presentable, it would be good enough for me. :)
3)What computer software and hardware knowledge do you have?
I am profficient with everything that is in microsoft office : words, excel, powerpoint,publisher and outlook :) hehe
4)Have you experienced learning via the computer (online, etc)?
I have actually learned quite a few things via the computer/online. I am amazed on how easy you can learn anything just by a click of a button especially on you-tube. I think You -tube is a good platform for any means of learning because it is visual. I personally like to search for troubleshooting regarding my computer or just simply looking for food recipees and methods of preparing them. You can find and learn just about anything on you-tube :). Other than that, during my practicum, I realized have used alot of interesting ideas from tasks sheets on language teaching taken from the internet. I found the ideas were very interactive and fun for students to do.
5) Did you try to incorporate technology in some of your lessons during your practicum? Was it a success or a failure? If you did not what was/were the reason(s)?
I did incorporate alot of technology during my practicum session. I was lucky enough to have always been able to occupy the 'Lingua centre' where any language teachers are allowed to use for classes. The room was fully equipped with a computer, an LCD projector, audio system and a printer. Most of the time I used this room since other teachers do not need to use its facilities. I must say it was a great success. I played alot of interactive games with them such as snakes and ladders using the LCD projector.
6) What is your opinion on the use of computer/technology in language teaching?
Considering we are now living in an era filled with technology, I do think it is very relevent to use it. Tasks and activities can become more interactive and fun rather than having students learning with books, pen and paper. I have witness during my practicum that any materials I used which had visuals on the projector screen, audio, colours and interactiveness were an attention grabber to the students. For an example, in relation to the snakes and ladders I created as an aid to teach grammar to my students, I found the response and participation was overwhelming. I witnessed even the weaker students who were usually passive got up and was not shy to participate. Sometimes even the task of pressing any key on the keyboard would be exciting enough for students.
7) What are your expectations from this course?
My personal expectation is to learn much more and broaden my skills especially to incorporate technology with my language learning and future teachings. I also hope that I will learn many tasks that I used to do manually will in future would only take a click of a button :)
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