TechSolu

For some class-problems I described last week, I think the employment of CALL and some other tools for assessment like rubrics, project-based learning (PBL) and WebQuests will definitely help them increase their interest in gaining knowledge for language acquisition in a quite systematic and modern way.

Showing the importance of PBL, I will engage with some new ideas.

PBL can also minimize the problems caused by absence of students. They can make up the left lessons and also learn the importance of being an important part of the project in a group.

Since the students of basic level lose their interest after a few weeks of learning language, I will expose them to the following links:

1. For Vocabulary: http://www.vocabulary.co.il/

2. For Conversational sentences: http://www.englishdaily626.com/cs.php

3. For Grammar Quizzes; Vocabulary Quizzes; Crossword Quizzes: http://a4esl.org/

4. For Practice: www.pearsonlongman.com/ae/marketing/sfesl/practicereading.html

5. For Video: http://www.real-english.com/reo/1/unit1.html

6. For Listening: http://www.esl-lab.com/learn/learnrd1.htm

7. For Web Learning Projects: http://susangaer.com/studentprojects/

8. For Pronunciation: http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/#

I hope with the employment of CALL and other WebTools, many problems can be sorted out in a couple of days.

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Last week I explained a problem:


I have my own private language institute where I teach English as a Foreign Language (EFL). I've chosen a basic level class where I teach 25 students in a class who are very weak.

Most of the time, I find the students of Basic Level with zero knowledge in English, willing to learn written English fast without doing much hard labour as if I have a magic wand to do so for them. The problem is that they are absent, do not give enough time at home, do not do assignments regularly, and after some time, they start losing their interest. They don't want to spend on extra materials for learning English.

Problem:
Since all the students do not have computers and those who have it, don't have internet connection, it's difficult to make them familiar with new technology. It's also difficult to make them computer literate in a short period (2 months) of time for Basic Level Course. That's why, when I take them to show some video clips, I generally have to explain everything in details with no cross-questions from them, as I expect, which sometimes makes me feel as if I teach to the objects which cannot interact. It also sometimes makes the situation frustrating.