Friday, September 11, 2009

lesson plan worksheet

TASK 3 - WWW LESSON PLAN

LEVEL : Form 4

TIME : 80 minutes

AIM(S) : To upload videos and persuade friends to watch them using persuasive

speech (listening and speaking skill)

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENT :

  • One computer for each student with an Internet connection and a Web Browser.
  • Speaker

Websites : www.facebook.com

PREPARATION :

  1. Locate sites that can offer uploading videos within the networking. Eg, facebook.com
  2. Prepare a worksheet for the lesson.

PROCEDURE :

  1. Ask the students to sign up for an account if they do not have any yet.
  2. Search for an interesting video first on “how to make cupcakes” from

YouTube.com

  1. Then, locate the video tab in facebook homepage and upload the video based on the instruction given.
  2. Teacher shows a demo on how to upload the video to the students.
  3. Teacher distributes the worksheet on persuasive speech outline to the students.
  4. The students brainstorm on the points to persuade others to add him and watch the video that they have uploaded.
  5. Teacher calls one by one to present their speech based on the written outline.
  6. One student is supposed to persuade his classmates to add him and watch the video as well as relay comments whenever appropriate.

FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY :

  1. Students try to find out any other interesting video so that it can be shared with the added friends.
  2. Browse through the friends’ page and send comments or suggestions on their uploaded video.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

CALL in READING - Hypertext




NELSON MANDELA


Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born in Transkei, South Africa on July 18, 1918. His father was Chief Henry Mandela of the Tembu Tribe. Mandela himself was educated at University College of Fort Hare and the University of Witwatersrand and qualified in law in 1942. He joined the African National Congress in 1944 and was engaged in resistance against the ruling National Party's apartheid policies after 1948. He went on trial for treason in 1956-1961 and was acquitted in 1961.

After the banning of the ANC in 1960, Nelson Mandela argued for the setting up of a military wing within the ANC. In June 1961, the ANC executive considered his proposal on the use of violent tactics and agreed that those members who wished to involve themselves in Mandela's campaign would not be stopped from doing so by the ANC. This led to the formation of Umkhonto we Sizwe. Mandela was arrested in 1962 and sentenced to five years' imprisonment with hard labour. In 1963, when many fellow leaders of the ANC and the Umkhonto we Sizwe were arrested, Mandela was brought to stand trial with them for plotting to overthrow the government by violence. His statement from the dock received considerable international publicity. On June 12, 1964, eight of the accused, including Mandela, were sentenced to life imprisonment. From 1964 to 1982, he was incarcerated at Robben Island Prison, off Cape Town; thereafter, he was at Pollsmoor Prison, nearby on the mainland.

During his years in prison, Nelson Mandela's reputation grew steadily. He was widely accepted as the most significant black leader in South Africa and became a potent symbol of resistance as the anti-apartheid movement gathered strength. He consistently refused to compromise his political position to obtain his freedom.


Nelson Mandela was released on February 11, 1990. After his release, he plunged himself wholeheartedly into his life's work, striving to attain the goals he and others had set out almost four decades earlier. In 1991, at the first national conference of the ANC held inside South Africa after the organization had been banned in 1960, Mandela was elected President of the ANC while his lifelong friend and colleague, Oliver Tambo, became the organisation's National Chairperson.

Friday, August 28, 2009

TASK 2 - ARTICLE REVIEW

Citation : Sun,Yu-Chih. (2009). VOICE BLOG: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF LANGUAGE LEARNING. Language Learning & Technology, 13(2), 88-103. Retrieved July 21,2009. from Language Learning & Technology – a refereed journal for second and foreign language educators:http://llt.msu.edu/vol13num2/sun.pdf

Title : VOICE BLOG: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF LANGUAGE LEARNING

Journal-Volume : June 2009, Volume 13, Number 2, pp. 88-103

Author’s name, designation, background, etc:

Yu-Chih Sun is an associate professor at the Institute of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages at National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan. Her research interests include computer-assisted language learning, academic writing, and speech instruction.

There are two specific aims in this study which are firstly, to provide a theoretical and a pedagogical foundation for the hypothesis that extensive practice on blogs can constitute an integral part of instruction, and that blogs enable students to structure their views and to make them publicly available in a way that is rarely possible in other media. It can be investigated with the guide of two research questions which are; What are the learners’ learning processes and learning strategies in voice-blog activities? and What emerging themes characterize perceptions of participants' blogging experiences?

Besides that, the methodology of this study is that the teacher-researcher used two data collection procedures: (a) a survey of student attitudes towards the use of voice blogs and (b) retrospective interviews with students. For (a), the researcher developed a voice-blog survey that consisted of a 45-item, five-point Likert scale. It included three subcategories which is firstly, learners’ perceived gains in speaking skills (7 items), secondly, self-reported learning processes and learning strategies (18 items), and lastly, the learners’ attitudes toward the class blog (20 items). Participants were asked to rate their agreement on the scale (1 = disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = undecided, 4 = agree, 5 = strongly agree) whereas for (b), the teacher-researcher interviewed a variety of participants. She used stratified sampling to “ensure the representative presence of particular subgroups of the population under study” (Mackey & Gass, 2005, p. 120). Hence, a number of 12 students were selected. Out of the 12, only 6 students were chosen to be interviewed. All of the interviews were audiotaped and later transcribed verbatim in Chinese for further analysis.

Next, the samples of this study were 46 college students in Taiwan in two oral communication classes taught by the teacher-researcher. Each class consists of 24 and 22 students respectively. Of the 46 students, 15 were female and 31 were male. The students’ average age was 20 to 67 years old.

Overall, the findings of the research showed that 46 participants uploaded a total of 1,239 voice-blog entries and 646 comments on their classmates’ blog entries. On average, each participant posted 27 voice blogs and 14 comments on the class blog over the course of one semester. To answer the first research question that has been mentioned earlier, it is documented through the survey that there are five learning processes and strategies that has been used by them. It includes conceptualizing, brainstorming, articulating, monitoring, and evaluating. Conceptualizing involved planning what to say and how to say it. The results of the survey show that over 71% of the participants found it difficult to come up with an appropriate voice-blog topic due to topic-related language limitations. However, 49% of the participants reported that topic selection became easier with continual practice. About 47% of them brainstorm the script before recording it while 55% of the students rehearsed several times before recording. 56% usually or always listened (monitor) to the recorded file before uploading it to the blog. Finally, participants used evaluating strategies to either redo or edit part of the entries. The other findings also showed that students perceived blogging as a means of learning, self-presentation, information exchange, and social networking.

Honestly, my reaction towards this research is extremely positive. I am interested with the issue that the teacher-researcher is trying to look on. It is because within the globalization, modernization as well as the paradigm shift that we are facing today, voice blogging is no more alien for us. People nowadays are able to be connected with one another without any boundary but just with a click on a computer. Thus, blogging and to be specific voice blogging allow us to get instant feedback from the others and making our lives easier. Besides that, this research also interests me because I am fascinated to use this technology in learning language. From my point of view, the research is very well conducted as the teacher-researcher used survey as well as retrospective interview to collect the data. Those procedures will give a reliable feedback as it involve spoken and written responses. Besides that, this research is also systematically organized and that makes the research well performed. The implication of the research in the teaching and learning process is that it enables a self-directed learning unlike the old education system which apply teacher-centered learning. Besides that, it will definitely boost up students’ motivation level because using the computer itself may lead to the engrossment in learning and what more using the internet technology such as voice blogging. In the Malaysian contexts, I think that voice blogging may give much significance for the students. For example, during my practicum in SMK Seksyen 7 Shah Alam, I had the opportunity to bring my students to the computer lab and teach them to use blog. They were so excited to the extend they request to learn English in the computer lab and use the technology. I am so impress by them knowing that the technology helps the teacher though. Moreover, the students used blogs to exchange ideas with one another and of course communicate with me during non-school hours. All in all, I really think that voice blog is appropriate to be implemented to the Malaysian education system as we are moving towards the paradigm shift and I believe we can do it!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

In-Class Task 1

Hello to u..
First thing first, since this is the first time we meet, let me say a lil bit about myself... ;)

My name is Nurul Zaimah Binti Noor Zamry and I'm from Ampang, Selangor. I'm just an ordinary student who is now in part 8 in UiTM..just can't believe it!! haha... I really look forward to this class as it sounds interesting and practical for me.

Well, when we talk about skills and knowledge of computers, i must say that i'm still novice in this area... =p There are a few software that i know on how to utilize it like microsoft word, power point, excel and publisher. Those are the very basic software that I can handle...

Unfortunately, I must say that I don't have any hardware skills and knowledge in computers. Therefore, I really hope I will get the exposure in this class. =)

During my leisure hours, I love to do some activities from the net. For instance, updates with my colleague in Facebook, google information, look up for pictures, play the internet games, download songs but I rarely download videos from the net..huhu...

i can still remember, during my pre-degree level, i did a website about myself using HTML in one of the courses offered at that time. It's kind of challenging for me because like i said earlier don't have much knowledge about designing a website and so i have to start from scratch....but Alhamdulillah i manage to complete the task and hoping that it will help me for this course too.
Back when i was a trainee teacher doing my practicum in SMK Seksyen 7 Shah Alam, I am thankful becauase the school is very well IT-equipped. I can always use the computer lab as well as the language lab that can provide me with various courseware for the lesson. In fact, I did my teaching and learning using the courseware and it works!!! the students really like it and of course they enjoyed the lesson. Besides that, I always keep in touch with my supervisor's site in i-learn and from there i can link to many English Language site to show to the students. In my point of view, teaching using the technology nowadays can really capture students attention and makes the class more interesting. It's beacuse the students are able to do hands-on learning apart from the colourful layout, pictures and sounds. Hence, when Dr. Izaham mentioned about evalauting courseware, i'm relief because it doesn't sound alien for me at all unlike some of my friends who never had a chance to use it in school...

Last but not least, as for now I'm excited to embark the new semester with new courses which are more challenging and definitely one of those is CALL.. ;)
I hope that everything will go smoothly and we shall enjoy the semester with colourful layout of blogs and updates from friends...yeahhh!! ;)

till then....c ya...