Saturday, September 27, 2008

Worksheet

Mohd Hilmi Bin Mohammad Isa
2004327236
U8A

WORKSHEET

Please use the 5W1H concept to assist you in analyzing the news that you have read. Construct questions based on each item of the 5WIH concept. Example for the first item is given


Question Answer
What
1.What is the news all about?

2.___________________________________
1.The news talks about child abuse.

2._________________________________
Where
1.___________________________________

2.___________________________________
1._________________________________

2._________________________________
When
1.___________________________________

2.___________________________________
1._________________________________

2._________________________________
Why
1.___________________________________

2.___________________________________
1._________________________________

2._________________________________
Who
1.___________________________________

2.___________________________________
1._________________________________

2._________________________________
How
1.___________________________________

2.___________________________________
1._________________________________

2._________________________________

TASK 2

ANALYZING E-NEWS

LEVEL :Form 1

TIME :1 hour

AIMS : At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
1. To write an analysis of important points in a news based on 5W1H concept.
2. To write personal reflection on the news that they have read.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
One computer per group of 2-3 students with an internet connection and a Web Browser.
Websites: http://thestaronline.com, www.nst.com.my

PREPARATION
1. Locate sites of local online newspapers
2. Check sites before lesson.

PROCEDURES
Pre
1. Teacher asks students to list down the name of all local English newspapers.
2. Teacher questions students whether they prefer one newspaper from the others, and what are their reasons.

While
Activity 1
1. Teacher asks students to open an online newspaper website.
2. Teacher asks students to choose any news (except sensitive issues such as politics).
3. Teacher explains to students what is 5W1H concept is. The concept is used by reporters to write their news.
4. Teacher asks students to list down details of the news based on 5W1H concept. Students are given a worksheet based on the concept to be completed.
5. Teacher collects all of the worksheets after the students have finished filling it.

Activity 2
1. Teacher asks students to write a personal reflection on the news in not less than 100 words.
2. Teacher picks 3 students randomly to write their reflection on the whiteboard.
3. Teacher discusses grammatical aspects of the students’ writing with the class.

Post
1. Teacher recaps the lesson by asking the students what they understand about 5W1H concept.
2. Teacher stresses once again that the concept is very useful in writing a composition especially to generate ideas.

Follow up
1. Teacher asks students to write an interesting event in their life in news form.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Gandhi was born in Porbandar, India, on October 2nd 1869. His father died when he was still a teenager. At the age of 13 he married Kasturba Gandhi who was three years younger and the marriage lasts for 62 years until her death in 1944.As a young man Gandhi left India to study law in London. Then he spent two decades working in South Africa securing rights for Indian expatriates. It was during this time that his political reform through non-violence which he called Satyagraha was born. This movement meant resistance of tyranny through mass civil disobedience, firmly founded upon ahimsa, total non violence, which led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. This way, when he returned to India, Mohandas Gandhi emerged as a political and religious leader in the fight for independence from Great Britain and was accorded the country's Father of the Nation. India freed itself from Britain on August 15th, 1947. Five months later, on January 25th, 1948 Gandhi was shot by a conservative Hindu.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Second Assignment

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/


1. Who are the users of the website/websites is/are targeting?
This website is focusing on advanced learners, especially adult learners. So when we talk about the level of proficiency, it does not much about the age of the learners. What I mean is if a ten year old is proficient enough in this language, then he can be categorized as advanced learner. But basically this website is targeting on adult learners since there are no funky stuffs, colorful decorations etc. Furthermore, business English, one of the learning section here proves that this website focusing mainly on adult learners. Besides, the website caters to both second language learners and native speakers.

2- What sorts of things are the application users expected to do with regards to learning and using (or even manipulating) the content?
Since there are various parts of the website, this website is somehow multifunctional. For business people, they can use the Business English section to improve their business communication. For teachers, there are teaching stuffs and guides to use the stuffs. For those who are keen on grammar, they can improve their grammar through grammar and vocabulary section. Many of the stuffs here are downloadable. Learners who want to improve their pronunciation can do so at pronunciation section. This also can be done generally since stories and news here is mostly attached with audio.

3- What sorts of computers skills are the application users expected to have in order to operate/access/use the application?
Users are expected to pose just basic skills in accessing the learning stuffs. Even though the website looked a little bit complicated, only basic skills that merely everyone can do such as clicking and exploring are required. Users only need to understand the instruction, click on it, and then the website will perform the required action. Apart from that, I don't think skills and complex computer skills are needed. In short, just basic computer skills are needed.

4- While you are “playing”/”accessing”/”assessing” the website, does it remind you of anything you do (or have done) in a classroom, or with a teacher, or with a fellow classmate, or in self-study?
Definitely YES. I learned much about grammatical aspects. The argumentations here are quite authentic. Learners from different parts of the world throw the question based on problem they face in using the right English structure. I can observe what kind of grammatical aspect that the learners concern most. Some of the aspects are also have triggered in my mind for a long a time. Aspects that have been discussed with my fellow friends but they cannot give good reason, can be found here.

5- What setting will the website best used in: independent study lab with no teacher available, lab associated with a class, a teacher-led class with one or few computers?
The website suits best with lab associated with a class. I do not deny that since this website is targeting on advanced learners, independent study lab is seen as the most suitable choice. I admit that this website can be used and accessed without hassle without teachers’ assistance. But with the supervision of a teacher, the learning progress can be monitored. For each session, teacher can determine which part of the website contents should be focused by students. For example, for a listening and speaking class, teacher may ask students to focus on radio News English section.

6- Can you pinpoint some theories of language learning and/or teaching underlying the application?
Learning theory which is relevant here is the use of authentic materials. Authentic materials are proven to be very effective by researchers around the world, and website is one of it. The authentic entities in this website are discussions, especially regarding grammatical aspects. A learner throws an argument to be commented by other learners and experts. Besides, in the vocabulary section, after every lesson, learners can construct sentence using the new words or idioms, and post their sentences to the website to be viewed and commented by other learners. Here we can observe common error patterns of the learners.

7- How well are the Vygotsky's constructivist theory of learning and Gardner's Multiple Intelligence theory applied to the chosen website?
Since this website is filled with a lot of activities/games for individual usage, Vygotsky's constructivist theory is not much applied. Self-initiated learning is required. For Gardner's Multiple Intelligence theory, Interpersonal, Audio-Linguistic and Verbal-Linguistic are significant here. Interpersonal is significant because teacher has to deliver the contents of the website in the form of teaching material. Audio-linguistic takes place because there are many listening activities in this website. While verbal linguistic happens because learners have to pronounce words in the vocabulary and pronunciation section.

8- In 1980s and early 1990s, there was a major debate on 'whether the computer was “master” of or “slave” to the learning process (Higgins and Johns, 1984). In relation to your evaluation- is the computer a replacement for teachers, or merely an obedient servants to students?
I think the computer is a replacement for teachers since all of the learning stuffs can easily be read by learners. All of the arguments, especially regarding grammar are in the website. Learners can read comments of the experts, and they can also post their own question to be answered by the experts. Besides the expert, learners could also be assisted by other learners from different parts of the world. Yes I admit that there are role to be played by teacher, but what I want to emphasize here is without teachers’ assistance the learning process can still take place very well.

9- Would you like to use the website yourself in your future work?
YES. It is a very useful resource for educators. Besides using learning stuffs in this website as my teaching material, I can also use the stuffs to improve myself. Education is a lifelong process, right? It is true that I am an educator, but it does not mean that being an educator my knowledge is perfect. There are always rooms for improvement for me. The website also provides authentic learning materials such as news broadcast, Teaching techniques and materials used here are up to date and I believe that it can be very effective if implemented in the classroom.

10- Suggestions/recommendation.
I cannot detect any weakness of this website. Since BBC is a long-established organization, they organize this website very well. All you have to do is just click and explore each links in order to find the activities/games that you require. This website can cater to the needs of teachers, teachers-to-be, and as well as trainee teachers. Section for teacher is very useful since it is provided by educators and they provide the guide on how to operate the materials in teaching session. The teaching materials are awful!

Wednesday, July 30, 2008