Wednesday, 13 March 2013

Academic Writing - Problem & Solution of Teaching and Learning


Introduction

While learning language the students of Gujarati medium have to face many problems it is because they do not get that much opportunities to explain their problems. As they feel shy to say its. Even for teachers it is very important to focus on the medium of instruction of students during their education. Almost all vernacular learners face such type of problems So the problem arises is how to teach the students of vernacular medium English has become essential in every field of life so It is very necessary to give the students  enough knowledge of English language.

Problem : Less opportunities

Criteria for the solution

To solve the problems teacher can organize some lesson plans for example speaking activities, crossword puzzles, weekly exams etc. So that he/she can decrease the problems. It means the solution would be such which enable learners to speak grammatically error free language and which can suit in both situations, teaching and learning.
Proposed Solution
West gives solution to related reading. It means the theory of West proposed the idea of reading the story first and then practice the words  with drill. According to West a selection of the Reading Vocabulary may be taught as a separate speech course in which structural elements are introduced and each reader are drilled and the vocabulary is filled up by grouping the words. So he introduces The New Method Structural Drill Books  and each chapter ends in a description or conversation or other end-exercise. And here variety of drills practicing the various new elements required for the end-exercise. So this type of course supplies a vocabulary better adapted to conversational needs. In short, these proposed solutions throws light on different ways of reading and listening that leads learning and acquiring language.
Evaluation

The criteria of the problem that I have written do not meet the theory of West. According to West the students have to read the vocabulary and memorize such words of novels and stories. But it does not provide those opportunities in which they are comfortable and learn language effectively. They may not like to read. Some students are able to effectively evaluation their own progress although the teacher usually needs to model this for students several times before they are able to effectively and tactfully use their opportunities.

Judgment

To teach reading is not or useless. It can beneficial for students even in this way it will be helpful to teachers to teach reading skill in an interesting way. And it will also be helpful to the students to learn reading skill with the help of set of the self-teaching books. But there should be such opportunities which can them in learning second language. So the above mentioned things might work if it is modified in some way and it is okay because through reading learners can have chance to improve their pronunciation, tone of language, stress, intonation- which makes speech effective.













Final Task - Nicenet

Introduction

Nice net’s primary offering, the Internet Classroom Assistant (ICA) is designed to address the pedagogical needs and limited resources of teachers and their students.” According to the creators of Nice net, the aim of the Web site was not to replace the traditional classroom, but rather to foster opportunities for learning and communication among students and between students and the teacher outside of the classroom.
Nice net is a web-based tool for running an educational program at any level: a college course, a second-grade class, or a medical school course. It has capabilities for two-way communication between members; for announcing schedules and schedule changes; for reminding you of tasks; for sharing useful web links with other members; and for submitting text information electronically. It is accessible from any computer with an internet connection and web browser, so no matter where you are, you can always get to it. It is free, has no advertising, and does not share your personal information or e-mail address with any commercial entities.

(A)   Nicenet, one of many web based learning management systems (LMS), provides teachers with the opportunity of working with students, whether in distance mode or in addition to face to face teaching. It works entirely via the internet browser without making any further software demands on teachers or students.
 I use Nice net (Internet Classroom Assistant) ICA is designed for post-secondary and secondary    classrooms, distance learning and collaborative academic projects, though anyone who finds it useful is at liberty to use it.
 I am thinking about creating the nice net classroom because 15 out of 17 students have regular access to the Internet at their homes. These two students, who do not have the Internet, will go to their classmates and they will jointly participate during the discussions. So, the students will be able to participate actively.
Inspired by our Nice net classroom, I think that my students will be so motivated and they will be eager to learn more. Some of them think that they are not able to pronounce and write any word correctly. By creating this classroom, my students will also have an opportunity to interact with each other because it happens that they are sometimes shy to do it during the class. They will also be able to boost their skills of reading and writing which can lead them to achieve better goals in the future. My goal is to help them to understand grammar as much as possible so the students will be able to demonstrate their knowledge of grammar outside the class. When I create the class, I will give, e.g. five tenses with examples, where students will have the deadline to complete their tasks. I will also post some of rewarding web pages where my students can practice more. Students will also post comments about the web pages, e.g. what do they think about the web pages; is it a rewarding tool for them to improve their skills of reading, writing, speaking; is it suitable for them and so on.
The day has just come for creating my Nice net classroom. Honestly, I felt very excited because this has been the first time for me to create such a classroom.. I worried whether I will be able to implement my project. Therefore, I created my classroom and I posted the topics for this week. Then, I decided to keep in touch with my students. So, I did it. I have to say that Facebook is also a good tool. As I have very diligent students in this class, I sent them the instructions how to log in on Nice net. Luckily, they all managed to sign in the classroom at the first attempt. I was the happiest person in the world when I have seen them all on-line.
(b) the kind of course that I would like to run in my classroom
My goal is to help them to understand grammar as much as possible so the students will be able to demonstrate their knowledge of grammar outside the class. When I create the class, I will give, e.g. five tenses with examples, where students will have the deadline to complete their tasks. I will also post some of rewarding web pages where my students can practice more. Students will also post comments about the web pages, e.g. what do they think about the web pages; is it a rewarding tool for them to improve their skills of reading, writing, speaking; is it suitable for them and so on.it is useful for them to learn a language.
 c) I will you use this platform to make maximum use of e-learning possibilities
Nice net is very useful tools for language learning.. I will use for maximum e-learning possibilities.
-First, I can create conferencing sessions with students under Conferences. Here, teachers can post discussion questions and students can respond to the questions while communicating with other students.
-Nice net allows for Link Sharing, where the teacher can post a list of useful links for the students. For example, Hyland (2003) provides a list of useful links that could be included in an ICA for students in an academic English writing class. These links provide students with additional support outside of the classroom. Just as teachers can choose to allow students to post their own conference topics,
-I can also  post homework assignments by clicking on Assignments. They can choose to send an automatic e-mail reminder to students and can choose the number of days before the due date to send this reminder. Students can then submit their homework by clicking on the Assignments prompt.
-Nice net has   another features is teacher  can post additional notes or readings by clicking on the prompt Documents. By clicking on the prompt Class Schedule, students can see the class calendar and upcoming events. By clicking on Class Members, participants can access a list of names and contact e-mails for the member in their ICA.
- I use nice net for Language learners: for grammar, spoken English and who wants to
learn communication skill.
-Teachers can share important links to their students and lead them
to a new world of learning
- I used Nice net  to have students post homework assignments, first draft writing assignments, final draft writing assignments, and class work writing.
-Students can learn to help each other by clicking on “reply” and asking questions if what they read is confusing or missing something. Students can reply by pointing out specifically what they like about a piece of writing. Many students enjoy using Nice net. In my experience it is motivating for them do their best work.
- Teachers and college professors to update their knowledge
and get new methods to teach for new materials for teaching.
-A place where assignments can be posted by the teacher and then students post their writing
-A place to post pre-selected links
-A place where a teacher can read student work samples and any member of the class can also read other students’ writing.
-A place where any member of the class, teacher or students, can reply to a posted piece of writing
–Anyways NICENET is really a perfect educational platform for us. We can easily communicate and it is creative way to learn new things without paying anything and much effort.so nice net is very useful tools for language teaching and learning,

Monday, 11 March 2013

Summary of Podcasting

Podcast

Podcating is a combining words of ‘broadcasting’ and ‘ipod’. We can record, share the audio and the video files and upload the files in podcasting. And we can share things with Facebook, Gmail etc from here.

The purpose of podcast is to reach to the large audience, same feature as radio. Pod casting has become popular as an alternative way of providing ‘radio’ type content that can be listened to whenever, wherever and as many times as the listener wants.

Type of ELT Podcast

In ELT, the appeal is not only in providing listening input for students but that students themselves can become involved in recording and producing the podcast.

Four types of ELT Pod casts

  • Authentic Pod cast
  • Teacher Podcast
  • Student Podcast
  • Educator Podcast

1. Authentic Podcast : It is not actually for all students but suitable for use with higher level students.

2. Teacher Podcast : It is produced by teacher to use it for their own class. ‘The Daily Idiom’ and ‘Madrid Young Learner’ podcast are two very different types of teacher produced pod casts. The teacher make the students to listen the files and can ask for some assignments.

3. Student Podcast : It is produced by students with the help of teachers. Here they can make conscious practice of listening skill. Few student pod casting ‘English Conversation’ and ‘Fudan High school University’.

4. Educator Podcast : It is basically meant for teachers of ELT. Even it covers methodological matters. Educator’s pod casting, ‘ comprehensible input’ and ‘bit by bit’.

       To conclude, it is very useful web tool for ESL, EFL and ELT learners and very easy to download by simply clicking on the link to the audio file from a webpage. You can produce your own podcast.