ESL Website - Plan B

Salam to all... This is my backup plan for ESL Website... You may go to my 2nd ESL website by clicking at this link Literature - Rumpelstiltskin

Nway, I prefer my first website because to me, building that website was more challenging than this website. I really hope Dr. Izaham and all friends could spend your time to access both websites and leave a comment of which one do you prefer the most (coz I think I am going to build one specific ESL website for my future students.) TQ

ESL Website

Assalamualaikum, Sir, I used Web Studio 5.0 without knowing that I have to purchase the software if I wanna upload the website online. So sorry but I need to inform this to you. This website is on the trial host which it can only be accessed within 24hours from now. (meaning 1 day only) - after 1 day I need to re-upload the website again...So, I hope you can access my website now. TQ sir!  
this is the link to my website...

WORLD OF LITERATURE

(p/s: Sorry for the inconvenience. I'm trying to build one more website using other software which can be uploaded freely on the net. Hope I can get it done before 11.59pm =p)

TASK 3: WEB BASED LESSON PLAN

Salam and greetings to all. This is my third task for CALL subject and for this task, I need to come out with a Web Based Lesson Plan. Below is my LP.

WEB BASED LESSON PLAN


Topic : BE GRATEFUL AND NEVER GIVE UP HOPE - LIVE LIFE WITH A BIG SPIRIT.

Level : Form 2 (Intermediate)

Time  : 70 minutes

Aims  : 

• At the end of the lesson, students should be able to  express their gratitude to whatever they have, find information in a specific website, and write a short passage that describes a well-known person with disabilities who succeed in life because of his or her never-surrender courage and spirit.

Technical requirements:

• One computer / pair
• Internet connection
• LCD projector
• Web browser
• Speaker
• Email accounts
• Class's blog
• School's Yearly Book

Websites :

• http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/about-nick
• http://2gamma2012.blogspot.com/ 
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002379/
• http://www.aceshowbiz.com/celebrity/tom_cruise/
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002518/
• http://www.aceshowbiz.com/celebrity/jim_carrey/biography_5.html
• http://www.celebrities-with-diseases.com/celebrities/jim-carreys-life-with-adhd-1886.html

Preparation:

1. Prepare some pictures and make it as a desktop wallpaper. 
2. Download a video of Nick Vujicic from Youtube.
3. Try to play the video and check the quality of sound system
4. Locate site which provides info on Nick Vujicic.  ( http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/about-nick/)
5. Prepare worksheet based on the info about Nick Vujicic
6. Check site before lesson starts
7. Make sure at least one member in every pair has email account.

Procedures:

• Set induction (5-10 minutes)

1. Teacher informs students to look at the pictures on their computer desktop and asks them to describe the pictures. (Appendix 1)
2. Teacher asks students to compare with what they have with what the people in those pictures have.
3. Teacher relates the discussion to today's lesson which is 'Be grateful and never give up hopes'.

• Task 1(20 minutes)

1. Teacher asks students some questions regarding what they hope their physical looks like.
2. Teacher shows a video of Nick Vujicic to her students.
3. Teacher sends students to the chosen website which provides info on Nick Vujicic. (http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/about-nick/)
4. Teacher asks students to read about Nick Vujicic in the website.
5. Teacher distributes a worksheet on 'True and False' statements about Nick Vujicic and asks them to complete within 3 minutes. (Appendix 2)
6. Teacher discusses the answer with the class.

• Task 2 (15 minutes)

1. Teacher asks students to list down Wh-Questions (Who, what, why, when, where, how) and describes the function of each Wh-question.
2. Teacher asks students to go to class's blog http://2gamma2012.blogspot.com/.
3.  Teacher sends students to a site to answer Wh-questions on nick Vujicic.
4. Teacher expects students to read the instruction before they answer the questions.
5. Teacher asks students to check their answer by clicking on the word 'CHECK' under the Wh-questions in that particular website. 

• Post stage/Task 3 (20 minutes)

1. Teacher asks students to choose a well-known person with disability from the class's blog and uses that person as their role model who motivates and inspires them to be grateful and to keep fighting to achieve their dream.
2. Teacher gives time for students to identify their role model and asks them to write a short passage of 80 to 120 words using Wh-questions as their guideline.
3. Teacher asks students to describe the person that inspires them and what they hope to  be and to achieve in future based on the task description on the class's blog. 
4. Teacher reminds students to use adjectives in describing the role model, and future tense in writing their hope for future, besides other parts of speech in their writing. 
5. Teacher asks students to email their short passage to her.
6. Teacher informs students that three best passages will be posted in the class's blog and the first best passage will also be displayed in the School's Yearly Book.

• Conclusion (5 minutes)
• Teacher recaps the lesson of the day.
• Teacher asks 2/3 students about the moral values that they have gained during the class.

• Follow-up activity/ies
• Teacher asks students to complete their task at home and they are expected to email their short passage within 2 days.
• All passages will be discussed next week to show to the class the strengths and weaknesses of each passage in order to let them know the marking system.

Appendix;

• Desktop wallpaper

JQUIZ

http://www.mediafire.com/file/zo5ngwul8yp8gi0/JQUIZ....htm

JCROSS - people in motivational theory

http://www.mediafire.com/file/455t5wp31gaty5g/motivation.htm

TASK 2 : ARTICLE REVIEW

A.      The Chosen Article.

Title                     : ‘Using Online EFL Interaction to Increase 

                               Confidence, Motivation, and Ability’.

Journal                 : Educational Technology & Society Journal, Volume 14, 

                              No. 3, page 118-129

Authors’ name designation and background:

                       1) Wen-chi Vivian Wu 

                           (from Providence University, Taichung, Taiwan)

     2) Ling Ling Yen 

         (from National Central University, Taoyuan County, 

         Taiwan)

     3) Michael Marek 

         (from Wayne State College, Wayne, Nebraska, USA)

Retrieved on         : March 23, 2012

Retrieved from     : http://www.ifets.info/journals/14_3/10.pdf.

B.      Summary of the Chosen Article.

The aim of this research was to find out which elements of learning via videoconferencing most beneficially affect students’ motivation, confidence and ability in learning EFL (English as the Foreign Language).

The subjects of this research were 227 non-major EFL learners from the business school of a technical university in central Taiwan with roughly equal numbers of male and female students. The classes lasted for the entire academic year and they had participated in five videoconferences with the American researcher, an American native English speaker and during that timeline, the Taiwanese teacher scaffold and supported them until they became more independent in the interaction process. After each presentation, the subjects were required to talk with the American native English speaker or present on the topic discussed. 

The methodology used in this research was the questionnaire about students’ perception which it consisted four major sections based on Gardner and Lambert’s questionnaire (1972) with some questions added from six different topics which were (i) Intercultural learning (Yashima, Zenuk-Nishide, Shimizu, 2004), (ii) Learning English through different channels (Campell, 2004; Miyazoe & Anderson, 2009), (iii) Confidence in making foreign contacts (Cheung, 2001), (iv) Learning western culture (Muller-Hartmann, 2000), (v) Speaking English accurately, (vi) Understanding English conversation (Shamsudin & Nesi, 2006). The numbers of item asked in the questionnaire were altogether 34 items. The researchers used Likert-scale in their questionnaire which each question used a five-point scale – [1.00=“significantly reduced”], [2.00=”reduced”], [3.00=“no change”], [4.00=”increase”], and [5.00=”significantly increased”]. The survey questions were in bilingual (Chinese and English) in order to preserve similar meaning in both languages.

From this research, the researchers found out that videoconferencing gives positive result to the subjects’ motivation, confidence and ability. I is evident that more videoconferencing sessions improved the subject’s perceptions of their own motivation and confidence at a significant level. The students felt that their interaction with the American professor helped them to learn vocabulary and sentence structure which indirectly increase their English ability in a short time besides their enjoyment in the interactive classroom session which give impact on their motivation in learning and indirectly it succeed in increasing their perceived confidence and ability. In a nut shell, this research article has showed that the use of technology in EFL classes should integrate teacher scaffolding, interaction and active communication between the students and the native speaker of the target language, besides prepare a comfort environment for them to engage in the learning process because these elements of learning via videoconferencing do contribute in affecting students’ motivation, confidence and ability positively.

C.      My Feedback/Opinion/Reaction towards the Chosen Article.

This research really interests me because it shows the connection between the elements in learning EFL with students’ motivation, confidence and ability. In my opinion, this article can be very beneficial for the ESL and EFL scholars because it gives different view in making the ESL/EFL teaching and learning process a success.

This research can also be applied in Malaysia high institution and I think this strategy will surely attract university students’ interest in learning since they are going to be exposed to the native speaker of the foreign language and its culture using the technology. Using the actual native speaker of the foreign language can be both, meaningful and authentic learning to the students in which it will directly affect their motivation to learn and arouse their confidence in communicate or interact with the native speaker of the foreign language. Nevertheless, the most important thing is the effective interaction and teaching process between the native speaker, the local teacher and learners since it will lead to successful teaching and learning process. Therefore, we should not give prior attention to the technology but to the process of teaching and learning. This is supported by Miller (1992 in Doug Cronk and Sunah Cho, n.d) as he proposed ‘the importance of interaction between learners and the instructor because distance education is best defined not by the technology used for delivery but by the nature of interaction involved in the educational process’.

Therefore, I also agree with the idea of using the local teacher to give scaffolding to the students until they become more confident to take part in the communication process because through this way, they would not feel alien to the target language at first and hinder them from get to know the language and the culture. However, to implement it in Malaysian schools could be quite difficult since most Malaysian schools are not been equipped with this videoconferencing technology – poor internet line, inadequate teaching tools and infrastructures.

To conclude, this research is very useful for educational purpose but it will be more solid if the methodology includes interview session besides the questionnaire. It could not be denied that we still need human power to teach even when we use technology.

Work Cited

Doug Cronk and Sunah Cho. (n.d.). Developing Effective Interactive Learning Experiences for Online Distance Education Courses. Retrieved April 14, 2012, from https://www.google.com.my/#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=Miller%2C+G.+(1992).+-+interactive+learning&oq=Miller%2C+G.+(1992).+-+interactive+learning&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_nf=1&gs_l=hp.3...5245.13003.3.13327.26.25.1.0.0.0.158.2384.17j8.27.0.dDgNScGWCR8&pbx=1&bav=on.2,

(820 WORDS – exclude title for each subtopic and the reference)

JCLOZE - THE RED MOON

Frankly speaking... I do hope someone come to me and inform me that there is such an awesome software for us to use before we went to our practicum school! Ahhhhh.. I feel so happy knowing that there is a genius man in our world creating this software for us - teachers!!! I could not forget the time when I had to crack my mind to prepare all the exercises for my students. Well, in this task, I use the same text as I've used during my practicum days which the text is entitled 'The Red Moon' and I feel so excited to do this task because the software is so fantastic. Will I use this software again in future - well, my answer is ABSOLUTELY YESSSS!!!' 


Kindly click on the link below to view the exercise that I have prepared. TQ!

close passage exercise - THE RED MOON