#1:UsingEnglishforAcademicPurposeshttp://www.uefap.co.uk/ InmysearchforESLwebsitesthatwouldbeusefulforateacherteachingahighschoolpopulationatvaryinglevels,oneofthefirstonesthatseemedworthtakingalookatwastheUsingEnglishforAcademicPurposeswebsite.Thoughthesiteseemedtobedirectedtowardthestudent,asateacher,Iwouldnotdirectlymendittomystudentsasaresource. Idohoweverthinkthatinthehandsoftheteacher,thissitecouldpotentiallybeapowerfultool.Thisisbecauseitspecificallyaddressesthereading,writing,listening,andspeakingstudyskillsIntermediateandAdvancedstudentswillhavetouseintheirESLclassesandeventuallyinmainstreamclasses.Thewebsitehasonelink(“Materials”)thatcontainslistsofreadingsonallfouroftheseareas,aswellasseparatelinksdedicatedespeciallydelineatingwhateffectivereading,writing,listening,andspeakingisandwhyit’snecessary. Inadditiontoexplainingthereasonswhythestudentneedseffectivereading,writing,listening,andspeakingskills,eachofthereading,writing,listening,andspeakinglinksontheUEFAPsiteincludestrategiesforachievingessintheseacademicareas.Anotherpositivehighlightofthiswebsiteisprehensivechecklistthatpromptsstudentstoassessthemselvesinallfourproficiencyareas1.Thishelpsstudentstoeawareoftheiracademicneeds,strengths,andweaknesses. OneproblemwiththesitethatIimmediatelynoticedwasthe“Exercises”linksonthecorresponding“Reading”,“Speaking”,and“Vocabulary”links.Whenclicked,theydidnotbringupanytypeofexercises.Insteadofbeingundertheadvertisedlinks,theexerciseswereactuallyfoundattheendofeachlesson.Also,asIpreviouslymentioned,althoughthesitewasprobablyintendedforhighlymotivatedstudentswhowouldreadthroughallthematerialandlookupthereferencesbythemselves,thequantityofreadingexpectedofthestudentdidnotseempracticalorlikelytome,especiallysinceoneoftheareasthesiteaddressedwasthebetteringofreadingskills.Thesiteseemedbettersuitedasatoolinthehandsofateacherwhocouldimplementtheteachingoftheseskillsintolessonsandguideandpromptthestudentsalonginlearningtheskills. Howdoesthesiteapplytolearners?
ThematerialonthissitewouldbemostappropriateformiddleorhighschoollearnerswhoareatanIntermediatetoAdvancedlevelofEnglishproficiency.However,thesiteitselfisalittleintimidatingintermsoflayoutandtext,soitdoesn’tseemtoowellsuitedforastudenttogothroughwithoutfirsthavingtheconceptsintroducedintheclassroom. Intermsoflearningstylesormultipleintelligences,thewebsiteleavesaddressingthesedifferencesuptotheteacher’sinstructionandpresentationofthematerial,butifthematerialwerepresentedas-is,itwouldprobablyappealtotheIntrapersonalandLogicalintelligencesandtheSensory/sequentialandOrientation-to-closurelearningstyles.Isthesitecontent-based?
AlthoughtheUEFAPsitedoesnotaddressthefouressentialproficiencyskillsinspecificcontentareas,ageneralteachingoftheskillspresentedonthesitecouldbeimplementedintoanycontent-areaclassroom,withgoodresults,sincegoodacademicskillsarenecessaryforperformingwellincontentareas.MethodsrepresentedSincethissiteisprovidingstudentswithlearningstrategiestobeusedinthecontent-basedclassanditsintentistodevelopacademiclanguageskillinELL’s,theapproachusedonthiswebsitewouldbetheCALLAApproach(Haley&.Austin,p.44).AssessmentpossibilitiesTheexcersizes2providedforeachlessoncouldbeusedtodeterminewhetherornotthestudentunderstandsandcaneffectivelyusetheconceptsoutlinedontheUEFAPwebsite,sincetheywereformulatedspecificallyforthatpurpose.Samplepages1(clickon“Needs”)
2 Website#2:LearnEnglishCentral/learnenglish/central UnliketheUEFAPwebsite,whichwasprettydryandclear-cut,LearnEnglishCentralismuchmorevisuallyappealingandisarichsourceofideasfortheteachermodatingalltypesoflearningstylesandmultipleintelligences,whiletryingtomakelearninginteresting.Thereadingssuggestedforstudentlearningareextremelyengagingandinteresting,andtheformatofthewebsiteisself-explanatoryandhighlyinteractive.Thesiteofferspoems,shortstories,andcartoonswithjokesthatareplaysonEnglishwords.Theseareallfunanecdotesbestsuitedforhigherlevelproficiencystudents,asthereadingtextsseemedtoochallengingforabeginningclass. ThereisalsoapagedevotedtopopularsongsthatstudentshearonmainstreamEnglish-languageradio1.ThispageprovideslistsofvocabularyfoundinthesongsthatmightbedifficultfororevenunknowntoELL’s.Italsoincludesthelyricsandpost-listeningquestions.Teacherscanbrowsethelistof25songsandpickonethatmaybeappropriateforcertainterminologyorconceptsabouttobelearned.Thispageprovidestheframeworkforsomereallyneatlistening/readingactivities. Inadditiontoawiderangeoflanguageartspossibilities,LearnEnglishCentralalsoofferslinkstoitshistorypages,whichincludearchiveswithhistoricaleventsfromaroundtheglobeandlinks(providedbytheNewYorkTimes)tohistoricalhighlightsoftheday.Therearealsosciencepages,trivialinks,andgrammarpagesaswell.AllofLearnEnglishCentral’spages,nomatterwhatcontent-areatheyarededicatedto,featurereadingwithanemphasisonvocabulary. Asidefrombeingagreatresourceforteacherideas,thissiteseemedverystudentfriendly.Mostinformationwaspresentedinsmallerchunks,soreadingdidnotlookasoverwhelming,graphicsweremuchmoreattractive,andoneofthereallygreatthingsaboutthelayoutofthesiteitselfwasthatIcoulddouble-clickonanywordofanypieceoftext,andCambridgeDictionaryOnlinewouldgeneratesomekindofdefinition.Becauseoftheselearner-friendlyfeatures,Iwouldhavenotroublemendingthissitetostudentsaswell. Isawoneproblemthat,althoughitwouldnotbemajortonativespeakers,itwouldbeaconcernforELL’s.SincethewebsiteisBritish,thespellingofsomeofthewordswasdifferentthanthatoftheAmericanspelling.Thiswouldnotbeaproblem,exceptforthefactthatstudentsmaypickupontheBritishorthography,whichmaycausethemproblemslaterinamainstreamclasswhoseteacherpreferstheAmericanwayofspelling.AnotherrelatedissuetowatchoutforisthepossibilityofunfamiliarBritishcolloquialismsfeaturedinthecartoonjokes. Howdoesthesiteapplytolearners?
OneofthethingsIlovedabouttheLearnEnglishCentralsitewasitscosmopolitanfeel.IlikedthatmanyofthearticleschosenforstudentstudywerenewsthatmightnototherwisehavemadeitacrosstheAtlantic;butthroughthewebsite,studentsintheU.S.nowhaveachancetoreadaboutwhat’sgoingoninotherEnglish-speakingcultures. Thissite’stextsweredefinitelygearedtowardthehighschoolcrowd,andintheiroriginalform,requiredattheveryleast,highIntermediatetoAdvancedproficiency.However,apartfromthepoetry,thetextsandshortstoriescouldbeadaptedtofitlowerproficiencylevelstudents.Manyactivitieshowever,suchastheoneshowninthesecondsample2wouldworkfineforlowerproficiencylevelstudents. Asfarasmultipleintelligencesorlearningstyles,thiswebsitewouldappealtotheVisual,Verbal,Musical,Logical,andIntrapersonalintelligencesandwouldworkwellforthosewhoareAnalytical,Sensory,andIntuitive/randomlearners.Isthesitecontent-based?
Thissitewasverycontent-based,asiticsrangingfromlanguagearts,toscience,tohistory.TheonlyareasIdidnotexplicitlyseecoveredweresocialstudiesandmath.MethodsrepresentedBoththeCognitive-CodeMethodandCognitiveAnti-MethodareemployedontheLearnEnglishCentralwebsite,sincethetextmaterialsandsubsequentactivitiespresentedonthewebsiteweremadeto“promotecreativeuseoflanguage”(Haley&Austin,p.42)andthewidevarietylanguageuseonthewebsiteincreasesexposuretothetargetlanguageandpromotesacquiringthelanguageglobally(Haley&Austin,p.40).Assessmentpossibilities Activitiesprovidedonthewebpagecouldbeusedasformsofassessment.Alsoretellingthestory,article,orsonginquestionoransweringpost-readingquestionscouldalsobepossiblewaysofassessingthemateriallearnedfromthiswebpage.Samplepages12(click“animalkingdom”) Website#3:Karin’sESLPartyland Karin’sESLPartylandisateacher/studentwebsitethattakestheUsingEnglishforAcademicPurposeswebpageastepfurther.WhereastheUEFAPwebpagewasmoreofanexplanationoftheacademicskillsnecessaryforscholasticsurvivalandwhyandhowtheyneededtobelearned,Karin’sESLPartylandhassomegreatideasonhowtheteachercanactuallyapplytheseacademicskillsinanengagingmanner. Ontheteacher’sversionofthesite,thereareavarietyofideasforintroductionofvocabulary1andpreandpost-readingactivitiesthatintegratewritingskillsaswellascriticalreading.Theteacherpagesalsoprovideactivityideasforlisteningandspeaking,grammar,conversation,andideasabouthowtointegratevideo,music,andintoESLlessonsforamoreinteractiveclassroomexperience. Inadditiontotheseactivityideas,manyofthepagesontheteacher’sversionofKarin’sESLPartylandareinterspersedwithextrassuchastheNewsweekLessonClassroomHandout(areadinganddiscussionhandoutadaptabletoanyNewsweekmagazine),linkstoclassroomconversationstarters,ideasforusingauthentictextwithlower-levelELL’s2,andworksheetsthatgohand-in-handwithwebsiteslikeDave’sESLCaféandtheDiscoveryChannelOnlinesothatstudentslearntonavigateandusehelpfulonlineresources. Thestudentversionofthesiteoffersseven“lessons”withthemesrangingfromdatingandrelationships,tofood,travel,andmusic.Eachoftheselessonscontainsactivities,games,andquizzesbasedonthethemes,opportunitiesforstudentstopostmessagesfordiscussion,andalistofotherexternallinksrelatedtotheic.However,justastheLearnEnglishCentralwebsitewascreatedforbothstudentsandteachers,thestudentpageonKarin’sESLPartylandisasourceofsomegoodactivitiesthatcanbeusedbyteachersaswell. BoththeteacherandthestudentversionofKarin’sESLPartylandhavea“Links”pagewhichofferslistsofexternallinksforbothstudentsandteacheralike.Forthestudents,therearelinkstopagesicssuchasgrammar,idioms,vocabulary,interactivelistening,readingonline,andpreparingfortheTOEFL.Fortheteachers,therearelinkstopagesdedicatedicssuchaseducationalresources, jokes,movies,music,magazines,reference,andlessons.AllofKarin’slinksofferthestudentorteachermultiplepossibilitiesundereachcategory,mostofwhichareworthtakingasecondlookat. Thedownsidetothisgreatcollectionofresourcesandmaterialsisthatitismoreofpilationoflinkstootherwebsites,asopposedtoeverythingbeinglocatedononecentralizedsite.Asaresult,theuserhastokeepswitchingbetweenKarin’sESLPartylandandtheotherURL’sinordertogobackandforth. Howdoesthesiteapplytolearners?
Thegeneralfeelofthewebsiteisthatthelessonsareforstudentsatamiddleschoolorhighschoollevel.Manyoftheteacher’sactivitiesonKarin’sESLPartylandarealsoappropriateforlowerlevels2ofproficiency,andmostoftheactivitiescanbemodifiedtofitallproficiencylevels.However,theactivitiesandlessonsonthestudentversionofthepagewouldprobablybemoreappropriateforhigherlevelsofproficiencyandwouldprobablyworkbestforthestudentinconjunctionwiththeguidanceofateacher’sinstruction,asopposedtothestudentgoingthroughthesitealone. ActivitiesfeaturedonthissitewouldappealtotheKinesthetic,Interpersonal,Musical,Logical,andVerbalintelligencesbest.TheywouldalsogobestwiththeAnalytical,Sensory,Sensory/sequential,Orientationto-closure,orCompetition-cooperationlearningstyles.Isthesitecontent-based?
Asmentionedbefore,thestudentpagesanizedordingtoculturalcontent;butthesiteisnotcontentbased,intermsofscholasticcontent(i.e.:socialstudies,science,math,languagearts).Theteacherpagesoffergeneralideasforteachingthefouracademicskills,andthisleavesituptotheteachertoadapttheseideastothecontenttheyareteaching.MethodsrepresentedTheexercisesandactivitiessuggestedonKarin’sESLPartylandwerebinationoftheNaturalApproachandCALLAApproachesandtheCognitiveCodeMethod,sincemanyoftheactivitieswerecreatedtomunicationandinvolvedmuchprehension(Haley&Austin,p.51),whileatthesametime,servingthedualpurposeofencouragingcreativeuseoflanguageandhoningacademiclanguageskillsofstudents(Haley&Austin,p.42,44).AssessmentpossibilitiesMostoftheactivitiesmentionedonthiswebsitecouldbeusedasinformalassessmentsinandof themselves.Otherpossibilitiesforassessmentcouldincludeclozeactivitiesandretellingoftext(forthetextbasedactivities),aswellashands-onprojects.Samplepages12 Website#4:EDSITEmentMarcopolohttp://edsitement.neh.fed.us/ ThiswebsiteisnotexplicitlyanESLwebsite;however,itisacontent-basedwebsiteandhasgreatmaterialthatteacherscanintegrateintotheircontent-basedESOLclassrooms.Thewebsiteisdividedintofourmainpages:artandculture,literatureandlanguagearts,foreignlanguage,andhistoryandsocialstudies,andincludeslessonsplansicsineacharea1.Theselessonplansaretruelessonplansandnotjustlessonideas,unliketheothersitescritiquedinthisproject.ThelessonplansfromEDSITEmentincludeobjectives,activityideas,assessmentideas,lessonextensionideas,andadditionalwebsitesrelatedtoic. EDSITEmentisawebsiteexclusivelyforteachers.Itisnotadirectstudentresource.Eachlessonisclearlymarkedforthegradelevelit’sintendedfor,sothereisnoambiguityastowhichlessonsshouldbetaughtatthehighschoollevel.Exampleoflessonsatthehighschoollevelinclude:“AnalyzingPoeticDevices”,“African-AmericanSoldiersinWorldWarI”,“Chaucer'sWifeofBath”,and“InOldPompeii”.AndsincetheEDSITEmentwebsiteissponsoredbytheNationalEndowmentfortheHumanities,thecontentandlessonplansfoundonthesiteareaplementtonationalstandardsoflearning. Howdoesthesiteapplytolearners?
AlthoughEDSITEmenthasconvenientlylabeledlessonsforgrade-appropriateness,intheESOLclassroom,someofwhatismarkedashighschoolmaterialmaynotmatchtheproficiencylevelofESOLstudents.Forexample,IwouldnotintroduceBeowulf(readbymainstreamstudentsinElizabethanEnglish),eventotheAdvancedELL’s.Conversely,someofwhatismarkedasjuniorhighorevenelementarylevellessonsmaybeappropriateforELL’s.Lessonssuchas“CanYouHaiku?
”(Grades3-5)maybejustthethingforELL’sstilldevelopingtheirwritingskills.AndsincemanyESOLstudentsentertheclassroomwithlittleornobackgroundknowledgeofthiscountry’shistoryandgovernment,lessonslike“IDoSolemnlySwear”and“JamestownChanges”(Grades3-5)helpfillintheknowledgegapsbetweenhighschoolELL’sandtheirmainstreampeers. Onapositivenote,manyofthelessons,especiallythoseontheartandcultureandforeignlanguagepages,includelessonsthatarebothinstructiveandrelevant,whilealsopromotingculturaldiversity.Thesetypesoflessonsaregoodtointegrateintothecontent-areaclassroomfromtimetotime,because notonlywillthestudentsseethingsinabroaderperspective,theyhavethechancetohavetheirowncultureorcountryvalidatedintheclassroom. ThematerialandactivitiesonthissitewouldappealmosttotheKinesthetic,Interpersonal,Intrapersonal,Musical,Verbal,andVisualintelligences,aswellasthosewhoareCompetition/cooperative,Sensory,Analytical,Intuitive/random,Sensory/sequential,andOrientation-to-closurelearners.Isthesitecontent-based?
Asmentionedpreviously,thewebsiteiscontent-basedintheareasofartandculture,literatureandlanguagearts,foreignlanguage,andhistoryandsocialstudies.MethodsrepresentedEDSITEment’slessonsandactivitieswerebinationoftheCognitiveCodeandCognitiveAntiMethods,sinceallthelessonspresentedonthewebsitewerecontent-area,whichprovidesmoreexposuretothetargetlanguage,inavarietyofuses,whiletheoutputdemandedbythelessonsprovidedtheopportunityforthecreativeuseoflanguage(Haley&Austin,p.41-42).AssessmentpossibilitiesFortunatelyfortheteachers,thereareassessmentactivitiesalreadyincludedinalmostallthelessonplans,buttheteacherwillprobablyhavetomodifysomeofthesuggestedassessmentstofitstudents’proficiencylevelssincethissitewasnotmadespecificallyfortheESOLclassroom.Thesecondsamplepage2showsanexampleofanassessmentprovidedbythesitethatwouldneedsomemodification.Also,dependingonthepreferencesoftheteacher,anynumberofotherassessmentsapartfromtheonessuggestedonthesitecanbeimplementedintothelessons.Samplepages1http://edsitement.neh.fed.us/subject_categories_all.asp2http://edsitement.neh.fed.us/view_lesson_plan.asp?
id=250 Website#5:/ isanotherwonderful,freeonlineresourceforESOLteachers,althoughnotprehensiveasLearnEnglishCentralorEDSITEmentasfarascontentmaterial.Itisprimarilyagrammarandvocabulary-focusedwebsitethatoffersworksheetsandactivitiesatthreedifferentproficiencylevels:Beginner1,Intermediate,andAdvanced.Inadditiontotheseactivities,thewebsitefeaturesacollectionofmini-explanationsruleusageforEnglishgrammar.Theseareusefulinconjunctionwithmanyoftheworksheetsincludedontheteacher’spage. Anotherteacher-friendlyfeatureofthewebsiteisthe“AnalyzeaText”tool.Thisbonusfeatureclaimstobeabletotakeanytextandgivestatisticsaboutwordcount,uniquewords,numberofsentences,averagewordspersentence,lexicaldensity,andthetext’sGunningFogreadabilityindex.Onawhim,Itookasnippetfromahandout(/articles/dangling_modifier.html)andpasteditinthe“AnalyzeaText”tool.Theresultscanbeseenonthesecondsamplepage2. alsooffersprehensivealphabeticallistofEnglishidiomsandtheirdefinitions,manyofwhicharenotencounteredinnormalday-to-dayinteractions;heless,thisseemedtobeanadvantageoustoolforexplainingmonidiomsthateupinAdvancedleveltexts. Althoughisawonderfulsourceoffreeworksheets,itdidseemtoemphasizemultiplechoiceactivitiestoomuch.Itwouldhavebeennicetoseealittlevarietyintheactivitiespresented,sinceothertypesofworksheetscanoftenbeusedasinformalassessmentswithoutseeminglikeassessments,whilemultiplechoiceseemsmorelikeaquiz,thananactivity. Howdoesthesiteapplytolearners?
isanotheroneofthosesitesthat,liketheUEFAPwebsiteandKarin’sESLPartyland,offersstudentresourcesthat,inreality,wouldbemorebeneficialtothestudentsifthesewerepaniedbytheteacher’sinstructionandnotjustgiventothestudentstostudyontheirown. Mostlikely,thematerialpresentedonthissitewouldappealtotheLogicalandVerbalintelligencesandtoAnalytical,Sensory/sequential,andOrientation-to-closurelearners.Isthesitecontent-based?
No.Thefocusseemstobeongrammaticalinstruction,notoncontent-instruction.MethodologyrepresentedKnowledgeofgrammaticalrulesiswhatthissiteisallabout.Listening,speaking,orwritingskillsarenotemphasizedatall;sotheGrammarTranslationMethodistheclosestapproximationofthewebsite’smethodology.AssessmentpossibilitiesThereareallkindsofassessmentpossibilitiesofferedonthiswebsite.Althoughdoesnothaveapagethatisexplicitlyforassessment,thereisapageforquizzesonnumerousgrammaticalconcepts.Becauseallofthequizzesaremultiplechoice,Iwouldsteerawayfromgivingthemasassessmentstoofrequently.Anotheralternativetoassessingstudents’prehensioncouldbethefreeworksheetsprovidedbythesiteoraskingstudentstodosometypeofwritingsamplethatincludesuseoftherulesjustlearned.Samplepages1/handouts/beginner/prepositions-of-time.pdf2/resources/text-statistics.php#stats