TASK 4: WEBSITE DESIGN

http://noreenamira.wix.com/literaturemagic
 

Hello there!! Above is the link to my website. I had a lot of fun doing this website and I hope you can enjoy it too. Thank you!! :)

Task 3: WEB BASED LESSON PLAN

Noreen Amira Zakaria

2010436166

Topic: Meaningful #Selfie

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0r9jfgw10h73tsg/call%20lesson%20plan.docx

https://www.dropbox.com/s/boh9a3d6x79saff/idiom.htm

https://www.dropbox.com/s/e7q4rj47y5opvd8/idi.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7nJ7APp8iM 

Above are links for my lesson plan as well as worksheets to use in class and as homework. Hope you find it interesting. Thank you!

DOLPHINS

Dolphins are regarded as the friendliest creatures in the sea and stories of them helping drowning sailors have been common since Roman times. The more we learn about dolphins, the more we realize that their society is more complex than people previously imagined. They look after other dolphins when they are ill, care for pregnant mothers and protect the weakest in the community, as we do. Some scientists have suggested that dolphins have a language but it is much more probable that they communicate with each other without needing words. Could any of these mammals be more intelligent than man? Certainly the most common argument in favor of man's superiority over them that we can kill them more easily than they can kill us is the least satisfactory. On the contrary, the more we discover about these remarkable creatures, the less we appear superior when we destroy them.

ASSIGNMENT: ARTICLE REVIEW

https://www.dropbox.com/s/929xr63hi7ntu8d/wangsmith.pdf

https://www.dropbox.com/s/064xc6k01g8x6lv/call%20article%20review.docx

Above are links to my article review along with the article itself. The article I have reviewed is 'Reading and Grammar Learning through Mobile Phones' by Shudong Wang, and Simon Smith [Shimane University]. Thank you!!

JCROSS PRACTICE: SONGS LYRICS AND THEIR SINGERS

https://www.dropbox.com/s/h75x9z438wowsii/songs.htm

Task 2

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zleo2mglzjc7ye8/noreen%20excel%203.0.xlsx

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4i365osfhg719z7/bones%20articles.htm

Hi there!

After using both microsoft excel and hot potatoes to create an ESL worksheet, I have concluded that I much prefer using hot potatoes than excel. This is because hot potatoes is much easier and there are no formulas to be used when creating the worksheet. For someone who is not good at computers like me, I believe Hot Potatoes is more user friendly than excel. However, given the freedom of choice and honestly speaking, I would probably use neither and just download worksheets from existing ESL websites.

That is all for now, thank you for reading!

ESL WEBSITE EVALUATION

The website chosen for evaluation is: http://www.eslpartyland.com/#sthash.Jm2VbeRx.dpbs

ESLPartyland is a website for students and teachers that focusses to teach English to second language learner. The website offers not only lessons for students but also lesson plans for teachers. Thus, it is safe to say that this website caters to both the need of teachers and students. ESL Partyland teaches the four language skills through thorough explanation and fun exercises. The exercises are categorised according to the language skills and themes. Most of the question in the exercises are based on real life examples, thus making the students feel engaged with the lesson. There are also different levels of difficulty for different proficiency levels students. The levels are labelled as easy, medium and difficult.

            

            When visiting the website, visitor will first need to decide the purpose of visiting the websites that is to learn English or to teach English. So now, if the visitor is a student, you will then need to decide what part of the language skills that you wish to learn. Next, you will have to decide which level of proficiency are you at. It is as simple as that. The same goes to the teachers who wish to look at the lesson plans provided on the website.

            

              This website definitely reminds me of some of my friends’ micro teaching especially when going through some of the lesson plans idea. Besides that, I have also use this website as an inspiration for my lesson plan during my practicum.

           

                ESL Partyland present learners with something that cannot be done in textbook or workbook as there are games and quizzes that can only be done on line. Besides that, there are also link to practise your speaking skills for free. Moreover, considering that the current generation are technology savvy, the learners I believe will enjoy learning on line even more.

           

             The whole idea of using an on line website to learn and improve one’s ability in the English language relate closely to the affective factors in second language acquisition. High school students are mostly at a stage of their life where they feel vulnerable and self-cautious about themselves. Therefore, when learning in class, some students might feel embarrassed and low confidence to use the language. Thus, by using this website, students will not have to feel judged and can freely practise and study the language. Bernard Weiner is a psychologist who had worked on the attribution theory which focusses on how people explain the causes of their own successes and failures. The four explanations for the attribution theory are ability, effort, perceived difficulty of a task and luck. Learners who uses this website have the freedom to choose their lesson, the amount of work they are willing to put in and the difficulty level of the task. Therefore, the learner’s success or failure in the language is solely known by the learner. There are no pressure or embarrassment in which the learner will have to face if he or she were to learn in a classroom. Other than that, the learner is given ‘full attention’ by the website as the learner are the one who decide the difficulty level, unlike in the classroom where the teacher could not possibly attend to the specific needs of an individual but rather the need of the class as a whole. This will later on attribute to the self-efficacy of the learner because as the learner determine his/her lesson, he/she will eventually feel capable of completing the task at hand and later on leading to the mastery of the English language.

          

               As mentioned earlier, this website certainly fulfilled the potential for language learning. This can be seen through the lesson given and the exercises provided. Thus, it can be said that this website is a good CALL program.

            

             I am planning to pursue teaching as my career, therefore I would definitely be using this application in the future. In fact, I have already used the application when I was undergoing my practicum. This website caters to students as well as teachers. What I love about this website is that whenever I am stumped on a creative lesson plan as I am planning to keep my classes interesting and fun all the time, I can simply look at some of the lesson plan and just tweak it here and there. Sometimes, just by looking through the worksheets, it already inspires me for a lesson.

          

              In a nutshell, ESL Partyland is a good example of a CALL program whereby both the students and teachers can log on for free and without any tedious registration. The lesson provided there is wholesome and there are even lesson plans for teachers to look at. The usage of this website is not limited to on line only but it is even carried out in classroom which is a huge plus. I will use this website in my future career as an English teacher because of the benefits it provides.