1. The web pages I explored were the ESL cafe and Englishbaby.com. As I could see is that these two resources are very useful for students to reflect on their writing and their difficulties with the grammar they are using in the lesson they have seen in class. But it is generally more useful in case students are more acquainted with writing in the classroom. They could find different phrases that American people and youngsters use in their normal day with their pals. They can also find blogs and chat rooms in which they can connect with other people around the world. I think it would be very fascinating to have one pen pal with whom they could communicate and learn more new words that young people say among their friends. It could be interesting to have students write, not an academic paper, but to write as they do in their native language.
Students love chatting and this activity would make them write in the target language in case the teacher wants them to develop their writing skills as it is a tough part to practice when learning a language.
2. Web 2.0
I think Web 2.0 as youtube.com is changing language in the way students are more acquainted with this kind of sources in the web. You tube is now visited by millions of people and it is a good way to keep students focused on the language they are learning. It could have some issues that are not relevant in the lesson, but it is something students will love and get interested in because it comes with new things every day and if the teacher knows how to manage it, will have a good complement for his/her class.
3. www.cnn.com
This web page is a broadcast in which students can find a lot of different and interesting issues to watch. If teachers know how to manage this broadcast, they will have a great success with their students. To start, this web page is full of videos, readings about many different topics related with the lesson they have just seen and they would be very willing to learn new language because even though it talks about news, it has new words which could be interesting for them. They also can find information about famous people they know, recent developments in technology, preserving the environment and so on.
Two activities that I might find useful for a high level future class from this web page is the use of videos with some interesting news that could be related to a topic taught in class and have students write a report. Also, the use of interesting news online would help students improve their reading skills, asking them to find useful vocabulary for their everyday lexicon. Write them in their notebook and try to use those new words with their friends and classmates, and people around them.
This is a very good resource to use when students want to practice all areas they are studying in the classroom. The teacher can ask them to practice in whichever they want to improve as it has many activities to do: grammar, vocabulary, reading, listening, writing and spelling. There are also games in which students can play using grammar, punctuation, and different issues just learned in the classroom. It is a good tool in case students also want to study autonomously. As for the use in the classroom, the teacher may use some listening activities to practice depending on the task students have to do. As technology is around us, students may want to continue practicing at home developing all skills.
Very good Ceshia. I am glad you were able to provide us with descriptions of the sites you visited. The objective is to explore the different digital tools and try to use the ones you find more suitable for your teaching context.
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