If
there is something that is undeniable nowadays, is the fact that technology
surrounds us.
It seems as if teachers have this strong need to innovate in the classroom every day or students will get bored most of the time. Recently, we did our first practical work in groups and started developing our own materials with a little help of some websites.
We chose: http://esl-kids.com/ /(ESL-kids)
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en (British Council Learn English)
It seems as if teachers have this strong need to innovate in the classroom every day or students will get bored most of the time. Recently, we did our first practical work in groups and started developing our own materials with a little help of some websites.
We chose: http://esl-kids.com/ /(ESL-kids)
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en (British Council Learn English)
As teachers-to-be we need to become digitally literate, this refers to our ability to effectively make use of the technologies at our disposal. We are not just talking about a checklist of technical skills, but also about the social practices that surround the use of new media (Nicky Hockly, 2013).
There are many websites which provide teachers with interesting activities to take into the classroom and we need to know whether those sites are reliable or not. Some websites offer activities to do online and others give you the chance to create different activities in paper. In order to know if a website is reliable or not, we considered some points to analyze. We had to design two activities using those websites, but what we did first was to analyze them in order to check the domain, find out who the author is, check whether the website contains any bias or not, also taking into account the appropriateness and the relevance, the clarity and accessibility, etc.
In this website: "Kent State University" you can find some criteria for evaluating web resources and it also provides a form designed to be used together with those principles.
There are many websites which provide teachers with interesting activities to take into the classroom and we need to know whether those sites are reliable or not. Some websites offer activities to do online and others give you the chance to create different activities in paper. In order to know if a website is reliable or not, we considered some points to analyze. We had to design two activities using those websites, but what we did first was to analyze them in order to check the domain, find out who the author is, check whether the website contains any bias or not, also taking into account the appropriateness and the relevance, the clarity and accessibility, etc.
In this website: "Kent State University" you can find some criteria for evaluating web resources and it also provides a form designed to be used together with those principles.
Once we had all that clear for both websites, we started planning the activities. Both of them were connected within the same lesson plan. The first was a design of a set of flashcards in order to introduce the topic and practice some vocabulary, and then, we decided to play a game which was already designed in the British Council Website and coincide with the topic.
After doing the practical work, one of the things we realized was the fact that designing materials for teaching English takes time, but on the other hand, even if you are not so acquainted with technology, it is not impossible. On the contrary, if one learns how to use these tools and take advantage of already designed activities , or activities with related topics, it will not be that difficult.
So, if you are a teacher of English and really want to impress your students, invest some time in analyzing a website, and you will realize that is not impossible at all!
