Week 3: Weekly Reflection

Dear participants,

We are moving towards the end of week 3 assignments and I can presume that you would like to know what I did, what I learned and how I might apply it in my teaching.

Well, my classmates and I have had four assignments this week: a discussion, a task, a course task, reflective post on my blog and a comment on someone else’s blog.

Indeed, the discussion was about Aural/oral skill-building. Here, I was asked to read one of the articles about CALL listening, speaking, or pronunciation skills. I have read an article for CALL about listening. According to the article “The Employment of CALL in Teaching Second/Foreign Language Speaking Skills” by Julia Gong, available at https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:-kSVooOv0NAJ:www.education.unimelb.edu.au/research/resources/student_res/postscriptfiles/vol3/vol3_1_gong1.pdf+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESh-QvNnT5vZ1b9cdkoQ2rWRtv3tuWvzZ3qeI47E1gUV0xyhkUgI41u9uvniZxYtAxDRzdodoJpU21twXOSJFcDM3hyA-iIotA51yR8YEWqlciFzdIJeYBwgfNLXrWsFx5JcLkCg&sig=AHIEtbSQqVWu8JTplZ8ZCPTFXnQiz-LbuQ:

- The introduction of computers in language classrooms has opened a new door to both teachers and learners;

- Computers can be used in a number of ways to assist language learning;

- The computer environment is highly motivating;

- CALL offers an unrivalled range of possibilities to provide learning experiences that are impossible without a computer;

- The CALL environment creates situations that stimulate interest, allows dialogue and communication, enhances reactivity, fosters a sense of personal worth, facilitates collaboration among students working together, permits rich learning experiences for all students and strengthens communication skills;

- However, computers are unable to produce or understand natural language or have real verbal interaction with the users.

I liked the definition of CALL: “the search for and study of applications of the computer in language teaching and learning”.

Second, I have explored Randall’s Cyber Listening Lab available at www.esl.lab.com

The specific activity I was looking for is some materials that can help my students enhance their listening proficiency. To this end, I have selected “A Story to Remember” located at http://www.esl-lab.com/story1/story1.htm. As for me, students will use this on their own, at their own pace. However, I will provide beginners and intermediate students with appropriate guidance. My students are 20 years old and above, but their background in English language still needs continuous support.

A part from this article by Julia Gong, I have had an opportunity to view the other one by Lindsay Miler available at http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&ved=0CEcQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.portaportal.com%2Fdownloader.php%3Ff%3DZDFiM2IyOTZmM2M0NjVkM2VkMjI0NzdlZDg1MTlmODA%26i%3DMTE4NTY2MzU&ei=6GZrUbHSHYH-iwK9zICwCg&usg=AFQjCNElf6OTUZXY1kyGIo9C0EJSQT8GtA&sig2=yXgG3Y40mLCFtvDhIa6cCg

This one has offered suggestions to help learners develop their listening skills: Pre-, While-, and Post-listening.

Moreover, we were asked to create our own page on Delicious.com and save at least 3 bookmarks. At the beginning, I did not know what is Delicious.com, but after creating an account there (https://delicious.com/sosthene) and share the URL of my page with the group (Sosthene Ntibanyurwa, Delicious Pages), I learnt a lot of things there!! I realized that I can easily share links with others and I am going to do it with my learners. I recommend my students and those who are interested to visit my Delicious pages, there are links that will help, I hope!

In the same line, week 3 included reading and discussing a past sample project. I have read the project by Aleyda Linares from the National Pedagogical University, Honduras. She did a great job, and I have appreciated her work which will help me in the forthcoming days to write down my own report. I learnt how to set objectives; to show important details; to describe my students;…

Finally, I commented on Natalya’s blog where we find web sites that can help improve listening and speaking; reading and writing, grammar and vocabulary. I invited readers and learners to consult them independently.

Thank you!

Sosthene