Week 7: Real Purpose of Blending Technology/Syllabus

Read articles:

ü  Using Internet ­Based Children's Literature to Teach EFL (Larry J. Mikulecky Mikuleck)

ü  Using the Internet in ESL Writing Instruction (Jarek Krajka)

Rate: ***** 5

Karla Diaz

What I did not know about this article it was that using internet in a writing class; it allows enhancing other skills such as peaking, reading and vocabulary. We have a great advantage as English’s teacher because if we look for information or programs, we will discover that almost everything is written in English. This advantage allows us to expand our resources and to blend our syllabus with the use of certain web pages. I really enjoyed reading this article because it makes me aware of the great effort some teachers have shown when they taught me English in a different way. For example, once I wondered myself what was the importance to create a web page? Fortunately now I know. I had been asked to create a web page to write about the importance of using technology in education and post links and information related to the topic. This experience has been useful to me, because in the future I will ask my students to do the same. Why? Because it will help them to practice their writing skills, they will think critically and they will read real information that is in the internet.

I learned that before implementing technology in a writing class, it is recommendable to teach vocabulary and the steps that students will need in order to accomplish a task. When they are ready, they will have that task to search, read, write and analyze any topic. What about literature? It is something we have forgotten, but we can rescue. Most of the students only practice the target language inside the classroom; however, we can deliver a task where they need to read a piece of a story or an online book. But before asking to read, we have to learn how to create our own story. For example in the web page www.storyjumper.com I had fun creating my own story where my future students will be asked to read and share their opinions in class.