Institute for the Study
of American Language and Culture,(ISALC)
Lewis & Clark
College
ESL
Teaching Strategies:
A Role for Technology
Michael
Krauss
Institute for the Study
of American Language and Culture,(ISALC)
Lewis & Clark
College
http://www.lclark.edu/~krauss/eslstrategies.html
ESL Teaching Strategies, taught by Lorna Lockwood, is offered
through the Center for Professional Development at Lewis & Clark
College. This Web page was prepared to support a 3-hour session
within this course, and is intended to give teachers resources and
hands-on practice in using technology to assist in their instruction.
It is hoped that participants will share this information and these
skills with others in their school districts.
I. Basic information about participants and
students:
- Are you an ESL or mainstream teacher?
- Do you deal with ESL students on a pullout
basis or within the mainstream classroom?
- Do your students have access to computers in
the classroom? To a computer lab?
- Do you have access to a computer at home? Do
most of your students?
- Do you regularly use computers to prepare
instructional materials?
- Do you use computers to facilitate your
teaching? If so, do you use desktop software? Internet? Both?
- Do your students know the basics of operating
a computer? Do they know how to keyboard? Use a word processor? Do
they feel comfortable with computers?
- What age are your students? What level of
English do they have? (approx. TOEFL score?)
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II. Some assumptions about teaching and
learning (which you may or may not agree with)!
- ESL students learn English best when they use
English as a vehicle for studying content, not when English
instruction is presented without a meaningful context.
- Motivation is the single most important
ingredient for successful learning for both ESL and traditional
students.
- Both ESL students and native speaker students
will be motivated to learn when they study materials which are 1)
intellectually stimulating 2) have relevance to their lives and 3)
are within (or just beyond) their current level of linguistic
competence.
- ESL students and traditional students each
have unique knowledge and skills which can be shared to the
benefit of both groups.
- Most high quality learning activities which
are designed for native speakers will work with ESL students if
accommodations are made for linguistic complexity and lack of
background knowledge.
- Technology, when used appropriately, helps
teachers create effective learning environments for their
students.
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III. Objectives of this
workshop:
- Briefly discuss our teaching situations and
philosophies of teaching (we've done that already)!
- Provide teachers with basic resources to get
started using technology in their teaching.
- Look at and do CALL activities which work with
both ESL and native-speaker students.
- Broach the subject of how to best exploit the
vast resources of the Internet by incorporating materials into
existing curricula.
- Consider "next steps" so that the information
presented in the workshop is converted into classroom activities
with students.
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IV. Resources for teachers getting started
with technology:
- "How
to help people use computers," Phil
Agres, U.C.L.A.
- JITT
(Just in Time Training) = great to
develop basic Internet skills such as Email, Web browsing,
Searching, and Evaluating Resources. This is part of
OPEN
(Oregon Public Education Network), an excellent online source for
education information in Oregon.
- Technology
Tips by Deborah Healey, OSU -
Technology Tips of the Month by Deborah Healey - Basic Technology
Skills for Teachers - A treasure of highly relevant, easy to
follow mini-lessons (aimed at teachers) on using technology in the
classroom. Includes practical lesson ideas as well.
- Where
to find CALL software - Here you'll
find up-to-date lists of software, resources for choosing software
to meet your students' needs, as well as sites to download free
demo's of ESL/EFL software.
- Integrating
the Internet into the Classroom
(Michael Krauss) - A three week, intensive, online course teaching
teachers how to better utilize the Internet in their teaching.
Course materials are available to non-participants (some
are appropriate to use with students) and include: a collection of
premium websites for a variety of age groups and subject areas,
lessons on searching techniques and evaluation of Web sites for
teachers and students, resources for creating online lessons, and
ideas for telecollaboration projects.
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V. A sampling of
activities you can do with your ESL and native-speaker students:
(some use desktop software; others use Internet
resources)
Ideally, computer resources would be woven into a
course along with traditional paper-based materials. For example, see
a content-based
course on Diversity and Civil Rights in the
U.S., which I teach. For convenience, I've
broken them down by language skill, but many of these activities
will involve multiple skills:
- Writing
- Hollywood (animated shows)-Theatrix no
longer publishes this software :-(
- Email
& Keypals (articles, lesson
plans, places to get keypals, Student Lists and more!)
- Computer
Conferencing (can be real-time or on
student's own time)
- Tri-TESOL
Conference Presentation (Using
conferencing for pre-writing, problem solving or
comprehending reading passages)
- WebCT conference (Click here).
Then click "Log on to My WebCT" Then enter "esl" and "esl1"
respectively for your login and password
- Click on ESL 211 to see a lower level
ESL session.
- Click on ESL 412 to see a higher
level ESL session and
try a short
computer conference yourself!
- Want to try online conferencing with
your students?
- A free service is NiceNet
(http://www.nicenet.org/) and here is a Tech
Tip to get you started. (NOTE:
The link to NiceNet in the Tech Tip doesn't work (URL has
changed). Use the one on this page. Or try
CoolBoard,
a Web board which includes voice messaging capabilities
and the option of creating or joining a Web board
community.
- Another way to stimulate and organize
online discussion is through a listserv. Egroups
allows you to set up a group with a common Email address,
free of charge.
- Finally, for group Email plus many
other features (instructional, testing, recording and
chat), try blackboard.com
- Word Processing/Graphics
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- Listening/Speaking
- ESL
Independent Study Lab - "One stop
shopping" for Internet resources: Activities in all skill areas
for all levels, all ages, ESL and native speakers. I maintain
this resource. -Try it
yourself!
- Scenarios
(Joan Berger) Cooperative groups to research; then make oral
reports
- Web-based Activity Formats -
Hotlists,Treasure Hunts, Samplers, Scrapbooks, and WebQuests..
There are many click 'n build Web sites to help you create
these and other online learning activities. See
"Let's
Create Web-based Learning Activities!" (ORTESOL 2000) - Michael
Krauss
- Simulations
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VI. Project-based
learning (Incorporate all skill
areas)
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VII. Integrating
technology into the classroom
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VII. Next Steps:
Transition from this workshop to the classroom
- Homework
Assignment (if Lorna approves!) Within the
next week, Email
me (krauss@lclark.edu) and send a cc to
Lorna
(lornalockwood@hotmail.com) at least one idea from tonight's
workshop which you plan to use with students in the classroom.
Feel free to use me as a resource, and I will help you in any way
I can to implement your idea and make it work for you and your
students. Thanks for your
attendance and participation!
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ISALC, Lewis
& Clark College
Michael Krauss Home
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Created by: krauss@lclark.edu
Updated: 10/4/00