TESOL 2000, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Internet Fair
Presenter: Michael Krauss
Institute for the Study of American Language and Culture, Lewis & Clark College
Email: krauss@lclark.edu; Phone: 503-768-7315; Web: http://www.lclark.edu/~krauss/

Though initially designed to be used by teachers enrolled in a 3 week on-line course, this website is not password protected and is open to anyone with Internet access. Teachers are encouraged to use the materials and activities from the site not only for their own education and training, but also with students in the classroom. The following is a summary of the course materials with links to important course components.

Week 1 - Teachers are more likely to use the Internet in their teaching if they have access to well organized collections of high quality Web resources. On Day 3, teachers take a look at education information centers, content-rich websites and sites designed specifically for ESL learners. Integrating on-line resources requires a different pedagogy and different strategies than does teaching with conventional materials. On Day 4, see how Web content has been categorized into seven distinct types of resources, making it easier for teachers to select appropriate materials for their curricular objectives. On Day 5, examine a variety of innovative web-based activity formats and look at strategies to integrate them into classroom teaching.

Week 2 - There is a transition from "learning about" to "doing" in the tasks for Day 1 and 2 . Utilize an interactive website to design an online activity using either the Hotlist,Treasure Hunt, Sampler, or Scrapbook format. The end product is a customized Web page posted to a server at no cost to the teacher. There is no limit to the number of pages teachers can make using this resource. To make efficient use of the Web, Internet searching skills are critical for both teachers and students. On Day 3, there are readings which concisely outline basic search techniques followed up by hands-on activities to hone these skills. An engaging online treasure hunt takes place on Day 4; a variety of search engines are used to ferret out the answers to some challenging questions. One of the biggest hurdles for teachers (and even more so for students) is the ability to distinguish the "treasure" from the "trash" on the Internet. Day 5 is devoted to this task, beginning with an excellent on-line article, followed by a hands-on try at evaluating a somewhat "peculiar" website. These materials and exercises for developing Internet searching and evaluation expertise are appropriate for use with intermediate or advanced level ESL students.

Week 3 - This week is devoted to surveying a variety of courses and materials designed using online resources. On Day 1, a Computer Applications course developed for intermediate level ESL students illustrates many of the concepts introduced previously. Day 2 deals with student-created projects, looking both at the conceptual underpinnings as well as the nuts & bolts "how to's." Day 3 features a content-based course on Civil Rights, which makes extensive use of desktop applications and Internet-based resources. On Day 4, participants see how everyday websites may be turned into highly interesting, motivating teaching tools. Finally, on Day 5, the focus turns to telecollaboration projects that can achieve curriculum related goals. Eighteen different "activity structures" are examined with links provided to ongoing projects, each exemplifying a different activity structure.

In addition to the basic readings and tasks mentioned above, there is a daily "Additional Resources" section which can be explored at the teacher's convenience. To further group discussion of many of the daily assignments, there is a web-based bulletin board component to the course. This is available for perusal by using "guest" for the "Name" and "Password" when logging in. Click on "Bulletin Board." Click on "Forums." Then choose a forum of interest to you. The forum, "Sites to Share" contains a collection of links submitted by prior course participants and contains some excellent sites. If you are not familiar with a WebCT based bulletin board, instructions are available to help you.

Activities and Resources for Students - As mentioned previously, many of the course resources are appropriate for direct use with intermediate or advanced ESL/EFL students. Here are a few more:

• KidsClick: Web Search for Kids by Librarians is a searchable directory divided into 15 categories. Every entry is rated for reading level and amount of illustration -a great starting place for students doing research.
• EnchantedLearning.com (sponsored by Disney) also has great resources for young kids such as a hyperlinked picture dictionary and online "Zoom School." Kids surf only within the umbrella site.
• Bernie Dodge's "Seven Steps Toward Better Searching" will help your students become better web sleuths because they will know the universal web searching truth that, "My Plump Starfish Quickly Lowered Lincoln's Tie!"
• Scavenger Hunt: Trying Out Internet Search Tools will give students practice composing multi-term searches using several of the most popular search engines.
• Alan November's "The Web--Teaching Zack to Think" is a story about a student who believes everything he reads on the Web.
• How Trustworthy Are Internet Resources? This lesson asks intermediate/advanced ESL students to look at a variety of websites and rate them (1-5) for trustworthiness, using explicit evaluation guidelines.
• Here is another Treasure Hunt which helps students learn to use a browser, practice scanning for information, copy/paste text, and save bookmarks and graphics files to disk, all while learning valuable information about their college.
• Joan Berger's scenarios format provides students with websites and guided questions, which they use to solve engaging problems. Natual follow-up would be short written and oral reports.

Created by: krauss@lclark.edu
Updated: 2/12/00