Week 7

"Knowledge should be based on observation and only then the world can restore a truer relationship between observing mind and the observed nature and scientific progress becomes possible. Knowledge should be for the benefit and application to man. The sequence of knowledge should be from observation to understand the practical application of it." - Francis Bacon

Mostly, we in Nepal have one computer for one class or we take students to language lab for practice of foreign language. The computers used here are multimedia computers. Multimedia is the use of more than one unique medium at a time. A medium is the way of communicating information such as speech or text. In contrast to a traditional classroom, at a more advanced level people use movies and television to combine multiple types of media (sound, video, animation, still graphics, and text) to create different types of message that inform or entertain in unique or meaningful way. Multimedia programs are described as interactive if they accept input from the user and enable the user to direct the flow of information or action in the programs.

Prize distribution at school 

We use multimedia programs in a wide variety of ways. Commonly we use CD-ROM based reference materials and tutorial and use the Internet to collaborate with students in other location. Students may receive hours of listening input at the computer with appropriate comprehension questions, easily controlled repetition and immediate playback. Speaking recognition technology allows students to control computer actions with speech input. Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary and Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary provide CD-ROM with accurate pronunciation of the words by native speaker. Reading can be enhanced by timing student’s reading, by creating jigsaw paragraph or jumbled texts. Students can go through the timed passage and answer the comprehension question in the space available. An important use of computer is as the means of creating ‘key-pal’ or ‘mouse-pal’, the e-mail equivalent of pen-pal. Getting students to write e-mails in English to other around the world can be extremely motivating. Similarly, beyond naked drills and exercise, teachers find that grammar and vocabulary games can be very motivating for learners in twos or three around one computer screen. For example, online Puzzle maker allows users to construct puzzles online based on their own word lists. Online version of games and sports are valuable for introducing or reviewing structures such as the imperative, conditionals and the passive voice. Web quest and Rubrics are helpful for teachers to take project works in a more organized manner.

This week, I learned about creating a useful wall for students. Here teacher can put any image, link, video etc. for students according to the subject matter learned. Students can go through it and even share their own links, videos, images etc useful to the class.

At last my project work is going on. I am enjoying the change in my class room.   

Feeling the Change.....

I am Aparna, teach English in a public school, run by the government of Nepal. Our schools are not so much resourceful but it is one of the model school in Nepal. For Nepal it is the school full of all infrastructure needed. Here, students do not know much about modern technologies and uses of computers. We have a computer lab with ten computers and we have to take every class turn by turn there for practice. I teach English from class six to class ten. For my project work I have chosen students of class eight. Their age group is of 13 to 15 years. This is the group who has learned English for eight years and can read and write English properly but has difficulties in listening and speaking. They can only do short conversations in English. In my class there are 45 students and they are of mixed gender, means we make girls and boys sit together,work together and co-operate each other. We have traditional system of class room management means teacher in front with a black board. We take students outside of the class room for group works,here we have good space and we can sit down on green grass for discussions, group and pair works.Similarly, we take them to computer lab to practice listening and speaking. We do not have any Wi-fi or intranet in our schools. We use internet with a modem. Very few students have internet access at their home, they go to cyber or use at school. Facebook is very much popular here with my students. Most of them have their account there. Very few do Google search or any other for project works, mostly use library. But yes my students are very curious to learn new technologies and they are creative learners.

Week 6

“Each lesson plan should have its roots in the previous lesson and its branches and leaves in the next one..”

Learning is individual process. It is related to the behavioral changes of an individual. Each person learns according to his or her ability of learning. But human beings are also a social animal. Their all activities are correlated to the group in which they live. Group process such as competition, conflict, cooperation, exchange, assimilation, accommodation etc. has positive effects on learning.

Week 5

 Seeing is worth a thousand times hearing.....

“One of the most important student-centered techniques in modern language teaching scenario is the project work. The project work is an activity which centers around the completion of a task, and usually requires an extended amount of independent work either by an individual student or by a group of students. Much of this work takes place outside classroom”. (Richards et al, 1985)

A picture taken during discussion on PBL at American Corner, Dhangadhi

PBL is student centered rather than teacher centered, the teacher may need to develop a more flexible attitude towards the students’ work. The project is not necessarily designed to suit a syllabus, and the language derives not necessarily from the text book but from the nature of the project itself. PBL also provides one solution to the problem of the learner autonomy of making the learner responsible for his/her own learning. By its very nature it also places responsibility on the students, both as individual and as member of a co-operative learning group. Autonomy becomes a fact of life.

Week 4

With the growing use of English in the world community, English is no longer the language of English people. It has gained the status of an international language not only because it is used as a lingua franca but because people in different parts of the world use as their ‘other tongue’.

Here, I remember a joke:

A mouse, hiding in a hole in the wall, was scared of venturing out where a huge tomcat was poison to catch it.

After an hour, the pouring sounds stopped, and the mouse could only hear the sound of a rooster crowing. I can go out now, the mouse thought. The danger is gone.

Unfortunately, the cat was still patiently waiting for its prey. He pounced on the mouse, gobbled it up and turned to a kitten, saying, “You see, being a bilingual has its advantage.”

This week, we practiced Reading and Writing skills. Reading obviously is a receptive skill because we receive message by reading something. Reading without understanding is just barking at prints and therefore reading involves understanding and comprehension. Similarly, writing is the act of putting down something, which has been spoken, in conventional graphic form.

“ It is only by listening English that you learn to listen English; it is only by speaking English that you learn to speak English; it is only by reading English that you learn to read English;  and it is only by writing English that you learn to write English.”

Next, I made a lesson plan, I can say an electronic lesson plan. It was a new experience for me. I did this task at last because it at first confused me. I did not know what to do. I waited for my friends to post at first. I read them then only could to any thing. I read  many reports and liked the report of Jarek Krajka jkrajka [at] batory.plo.lublin.pl Stefan Batory Pallottine Secondary School (Lublin, Poland) Adam Mickiewicz University (Poznan, Poland). The report was about Using the internet in ESL Writing Instruction.

The last task was of the third step of our project work. This week we had to find out problems. I analyzed my students and could say that my students are very poor at speaking of the second language. They are not confident while speaking and always tried to escape.

“Knowledge should be based on observation and only then the world can restore a truer relationship between observing mind and the observed nature and scientific progress becomes possible. Knowledge should be for the benefit and application to man. The sequence of knowledge should be from observation to understanding the practical application of it.”  -Francis Bacon

As a whole the week was fantastic… I enjoyed a lot and learned a lot….

Aparna