Using technology in class or having a "back up plan"

I have composed a lesson https://docs.google.com/document/d/13IccjtoVd0u39cwPk6x6S03vpA56bnkHUBvv0Nfv6Sc/edit?hl=en&forcehl=1

A year ago I took a seminar in the local college for teacher's education and we were given quite a lot of ideas of teaching English online, literature in particular. Those who are interested in Israeli national program for 4 and 5 points of Matriculation, can visit this page http://tlc.cet.ac.il/
The idea of teaching literature online is brilliant, but sometimes it is a bit difficult to make it real since our school still lacks video projectors and we have only one computer room. I have taught only one piece of literature with the help of my own laptop and the school projector - it was "The Road Not Taken", see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCkjisxk9Z4. I told about this experience about 2 weeks ago.

We have almost finished "The Road" and I am planning to teach "Thank You, M'am" by Langston Hughes. I really hope to use the projector but I am afraid it might be unavailable because all the teachers use it. So I might have to have a "back up plan" and read the text myself, due to poor reading abilities of my students and lack of concentration.

Tastes differ. So do accents.

The third week of our course is going to be over. We have been exploring aural/oral methods and reading different articles about training pronunciation and teaching our kids that there are a lot of dialects and accents in English. Sometimes British and Americans misunderstand each other not to mention non-native speakers of English.

Thus I sometimes make my pupils listen to different tapescripts recorded by Australians, Scottish, Canadians, etc, and they complain that the accents of the speakers "are not very good". Besides, in Israel American English is much more popular although this land used to be a part of the British Empire. The State of Israel was established in 1948 and the British English has been forgotten for 65 years - that is incredible! Most Israelis try to speak Englih with the American pronunciation and use such words as "elevator" instead of "lift", "railroad" instead of "railway", etc. And they often pronounce "r" in such words as "car", "far", "Denver", etc.

All the students know that I am not a native speaker. Moreover, I immigrated from the former Soviet Union many years ago and my native language is Russian. Unlike Japanese kids described in one of the article by Jonathan Snell, some young Israelis lack political correctness and say they wish I was American. Moreover, some hyperactive and hot-tempered kids say: "No Russian accents! Only American". Mainly new students say so, but step-by-step they get used to my accent and way of teaching and become very interested in my lessons.

In contrast to Japanese students, their Israeli peers are very talkative and almost never  afraid of making mistakes. Moreover, sometimes they talk too much and it is difficult to catch their attention. Of course, they make a lot of grammar mistakes and mispronounce words which cause some misunderstanding, but they like group activities. In this perspective I think that training pronunciation via the range of sites will work well, so that they will be provided "the right accent" and "the necessary English" since they consider all other "Englishes" non-correct except North American.

Week 3

Time flies. We have been studying for the third week and it seems to be more and more complicated. But don't give up! I address it not only to my students but to my colleagues and mainly to myself also.

This week I had to surf the Internet a lot and look for some new oral\aural materials. I have registrated in the "Delicious" and published some links there. Although I have already planned what I will teach my kids during the week, I think I should change the weekly plan a little and give them a lesson using one of those sites. I decided to give them listening comprehension from this site http://www.talkenglish.com/Listening/LessonListen.aspx?ALID=300 because some of them are planning to study in the USA or Canada after finishing school and military services. I am sure such materials will motivate them study better. Moreover, using authentic materials in the class has many advantages. Listening to real-life things will be helpful in real life. But I should give them all the necessary vocabulary because the language in this dialogue is a bit difficult for them. I have also found some useful materials in this site: www.real-english.com

Yesterday I read an articly by Jonathan Snell who taught English in Japan and had a problem of interaction between students and teacher. Sometimes such things reflect the culture of the students. Since Japanese are very quiet and shy, never ask any questions to the teacher, it was very difficult for him to make them speak English, even answer his questions. Nevertheless, step-by-step he broke an ice and made them speak, at least short phrases.

In my opinion, this problem could be solved with the help of web technology and online games. Since the Japanese are perfectionists and are eager to get excellent grades, the teacher could make them repeat sounds and words after the recordings and a bit later - to listen to the radio and answer the questions. First give the short answers and then more and more detailed ones. Such success-oriented activities help people speak a foreign language and motivete them get good grades. The Japanese probably would get excellent grades, of course.

Progress in Week 2

I have been working so hard! It takes a lot of time to search the sites that were offered by my colleagues and look for the materials that are neessary for my project. I have finally chosen the topic of my future paper which will deal with the overcoming dyslexia at the high school and using web technology to tackle this problem.

The most difficult aspect was making ABCD objectives. I didn't have any problems with the points A and B, but I had to correct C and D. So the point A (audience) is the 11-A class, which is relatively strong in spoken English. As for B (behavior), the class is highly motivated to complete 4 and 5 points. Despite their hyperactivity and sometimes low concentration on the lessons, they try to work hard and help each other. They enjoy jigsaw activities, such as pair work and team work when I divide the class into two groups. Since there are 8 pupils in the class, there are usually 4 kids in each group. So I have to keep them busy all the time and give them success-oriented materials in order to prevent discipline problems.

As for the point C, I realized that I should use the web technology in order to involve them in doing homework and projects online. I am sure that it will help them make a better progress in Matriculation exams. The main problems of my students are spelling, grammar, vocalulary and writing. So my main goal is to help them overcome these obstacles that disturb them get better grades. I think lack of grammar and writing tehniques fail them. Thus they can get 90-100 in the oral test and 65-70 for the writing passage.

And finally the point D. I expect them to accomplish 90% of all the necessary skills: reading, writing, speaking and especially writing. Probably I am a perfectionist, but I am sure that I am motivating them in this way.

Today I told them about my plans. On the one hand they were excited because they are eager to use their laptops and ipods. On the other hand, they are a bit shocked since they will have to work much harder than they do. Let's hope for the best.

Week 2. Background.

Who are the learners?

I am going to research a class of 8 students with learning disabilities (LD). It is the 11th grade, so they are 16-17 years old and enrolled in the TEFL (teaching English as a Foreign Language) program of the Ministry of Education of Israel. There are three girls and five boys in the class. One boy is a new immigrant from Russia, so his native language is Russian, two other kids were born in Israel but their parents immigrated from the former Soviet Union, so they are bilingual and speak Russian as fluently as Hebrew. There is also a boy whose parents come from the USA, so English is his mother tongue, and the rest of the kids have the Israeli background.

Most of them started studying in regular schools but due to LD they were sent to the school for kids with special needs. It is a regional school which is situated in the rural area where the kids come by school buses from towns and cities in the central part of Israel. They are happy to study here thanks to beautiful surroundings - the windows of the school face the Mediterranean Sea.

The class seems to get along quite well. In spite of a slight difference in the level of their knowledge there is harmony and collaboration between them. They enjoy pair work and those kids who study better are eager to help those who are not very successful in studies. Some pupils do 5 points of Matriculation (the highest level) and the rest of the class do 4 points. (In our country the lowest level of Matriculation is 1 point). In terms of language, they have good oral skills, while many of them make a lot of spelling mistakes, misunderstand texts for reading and listening comprehension and hate grammar because it seem to them very difficult. So I have to work a lot on their writing skills and give them a lot of grammar exercises.

jigsaw activities

Sunday is a difficult day!

Like most people of the world hate Mondays, we Israeli hate Sundays. In our country Sunday is the first day of the week, so it is a bit dificult to come to work or to school after the weekend, which is Friday and Saturday.

Today I came to work and found out that it was a power outage in our school. I had planned to conduct the lessons in the computer room, but it was impossible because all the computers were cut off. That is why I had to teach in the regular classrooms and to write everything on the board. Of course, I didn't have any workpages with me, so kids had to copy from the board to their notebooks. Some of them were not concentrated and misbehaved but they realized perfectly well that we didn't have a choice: no electricity - no computers. Thus we had a regular lesson that I hadn't been prepared at all for.

In order to keep hyperactive kids busy, I gave them a pair work. They asked each other the questions about Robert Frost's life and played a role game: one of them was Robert Frost and another was an interviewer. So the interviewer asked what Robert Frost meant when he wrote a poem "The Road Not Taken". Generally it sounded very interesting, so I realized that "every cloud has a silver lining", as the English say. On the one hand kids were disappointed that they didn't have an opportunity to work in the computer room. On the other hand, they had quite an interesting lesson. Despite some noise, I enjoyed these activities.

P.S.
Well, it's 3:30 p.m. and I have finished work. I hope it is still not too late to post this message since it is an early morning in Oregon. Have a nice week everybody.

New tools in teaching: advantages and disadvantages.

I agree with Christine Bostoni who thinks that using websites and other computer devices make a real revolution in teaching. Our colleagues continue to discover new tools and methods of teaching through them. So virtual process of education might be a reality in some years. 

I have heard a lot that in a decade or two kids won't have to come to school because they will be able to study at home online using webcameras and other softwear. I have found a link that might be interesting for us: www.e-lecta.com/default.asp . It may be used both by individuals and groups while studying online. Playing computer games while studying makes fun and motivates learners of different ages to make progress.

On the other hand, I am not sure it is suitable for all people, especially for young kids. Firstly, they might ignore the online studies and do something different, for exapmle play computer games or chat. Secondly, they can addict to the sites and spend too much time online which is not so good for their health. Moreover, I think that computer cannot replace social interaction and real communication with peers and not only.

And what do you think?