TASK 3: WWW LESSON PLAN

Level : Form 3 (Intermediate and above)
Time : 2 periods (1 hour 10 minutes)
Topic : The Quest to Protect the Earth
Theme: Social Issues
Language Content: Adjectives & Simple Future Tense
Educational Emphasis: ICT Skills, Multiple Intelligences

Aims :
By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
1) locate important information from the website
2) practice their writing skills by using the Simple Future Tense and complete sentences

Technical Requirements:
1) One computer per 2 or 3 students
2) Internet access
3) Web browser

Preparation :
1) Locate the quiz for "Which Transformers Character are You".
2) Browse through the quiz to make sure that it is appropriate for the students.3) Prepare worksheet based on the information available on the website.

Website:http://quizfarm.com/quizzes/Erm+not+sure/mattattack/which-transformers-character-are-you/index.php

Procedure:

Set Induction: (5 minutes)

1. T asks Ss whether they loved the movie Transformers or not.
2. T asks Ss on which Transformers that they adore the most.
3. T recaps the previous lesson on the use of Simple Future Tense.
4. T introduces the topic for the day.

Task 1: (15 minutes)

1. T asks Ss to get into groups of 2 or 3 in which each group will work on a single computer.
2. T instructs Ss to browse the specified website. (http://quizfarm.com/quizzes/Erm+not+sure/mattattack/which-transformers-character-are-you/index.php).
3. T explains to Ss on how to go about the quiz.
4. T instructs Ss to complete the quiz within 10 minutes.
5. T asks Ss to jot down information in which the answered resembles them the most.
   
6. T offers assistant to Ss when needed.

Task 2: (25 minutes)

1. T distributes worksheets to Ss.
2. T asks Ss to transfer the information that they have jot down acquired from the quiz to the task sheets. (Worksheet 1)
3. T asks Ss to write a short paragraph on "What Will I Do to Protect the Earth from Decepticons" by using the future tense that they have learned from the previous class. (Worksheet 2)
   
4. T tell Ss that they could also use the information from the first question to make their paragraph more interesting.
5. T allocates 20 minutes for Ss to complete their work.
   
6. T guides Ss in their work.

Task 3: (20 minutes)

1. T asks the groups to present their work to the class.
2. T asks Ss to identify the use of future tense in their short paragraph which describes their actions to protect the Earth.
3. T corrects Ss mistakes if necessary.

Conclusion: (5 minutes)

1. T recaps today's lesson.
2. T inculcates moral values from the lesson.

Follow-up activity:
Ss have to do the task 2 individually at home and e-mail it to T before the next class.

Example:

Task 1: Completing the quiz

Worksheet: 1

Worksheet:2

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HYPERTEXT & HYPERMEDIA

EMPEROR PENGUIN

The Emperor penguin, Aptenodytes forsteri is one of only two species of penguin that inhabit the Antarctic continent: Adelie penguins breed there in summer, while Emperors breed in winter.


Emperors are the largest of all penguins, easily recognised by their black cap, blue-grey neck, orange ear-patches and bills and yellow breasts. There is a thick layer of blubber under the Emperor's skin. In their chicks, it is covered by a dense layer of woolly down. An overlapping coat of feathers grows over this layer. The outer feathers are covered in a greasy waterproof coating. It's mainly the layers of feathers that keep the water off the penguins' skin and help retain heat. The feathers are highly specialised and modified compared to the feathers of flying birds. For example, they are smaller, stiff, and lanceolate. There are far more feathers on a penguin than on a flying bird of comparative size. The feathers of an adult have tufts of downy underfeathers attached to the bottom of the rachis (feather shaft). So down and main feather are all part of the same structure. Feathers are very complex structures made of keratin (same as our hair and finger nails) that is naturally water-repellent. What birds - and particularly penguins - need to do is keep their feathers in good condition so they remain supple and properly aligned . Only when feathers are aligned properly will they keep out the water. Birds have a gland, the preen gland, at the base of their tails that produces a very complex and chemically complicated preen oil. It is more like a conditioner for feathers than grease.


The Emperor penguin grows to around 115 cm. It weighs 25-40 kilograms, but male weight can vary by up to half that amount depending on the stage of the breeding cycle and how much body reserves he has laid down before the breeding season started.

More Emperor Penguin Facts: click here

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TASK 2: ARTICLE REVIEW

THE EFFECTS OF COMPUTER ASSISTED PRONUNCIATION READINGS ON ESL LEARNERS' USE OF PAUSING, STRESS, INTONATION, AND OVERALL COMPREHENSIBILITY.

Language Learning and Technology (October 2009, Volume 13, No. 3, pp. 51-62)

Mark W. Tanner & Melissa M. Landon, Brigham Young University.

Melissa Landon holds an MA in TESOL from Brigham Young University. She is currently a full-time mother and part-time researcher. Her research interests include assessment and pronunciation instruction.
E-mail: melisma37@yahoo.com

Mark Tanner is an Assistant Professor in the Linguistics and English Language Department at Brigham Young University. His research interests include pronunciation pedagogy and comprehensibility research, self-directed learning, and second language teacher education.
E-mail: mark_tanner@byu.edu

Link: http://llt.msu.edu/vol13num3/tannerlandon.pdf


Summary of the Article

The aim of this research is to find out the effect of computer-assisted pronunciation reading on ESL learner's use of pausing, stress, intonation, and overall comprehensibility. Over time, teachers had experimented different strategies to help ESL students to achieve at least nearly-native like pronunciation. Computer-aided pronunciation had offer many opportunity for students to measure their own progress in pronunciation as it is self-directed and provides immediate feedback on the correctness of their response to the task. The researcher wants to find out the the learners' perception on the use of pausing, stress, sentence-final intonation. Apart from that, the researcher also wants to find out to what extend do cued pronunciation reading practiced affect the use of pausing, stress and sentence-final intonation in controlled production, besides on to what extend it affect the learners' overall comprehensibility of the spontaneous speech tasks.

Tanner and Landon (2009) had conducted a 13-week experimental study in which 75 sample of ESL learners were used. They were divided into two groups, namely the control group and the treatment group. The treatment group were all of intermediate-level proficiency with the range of age from 17 to 54. All of the participants had at least studied English for two months to 17 years with the min of four months. The participants were categorized into three categories, namely Asian language speakers, Romance language speakers and others. The treatment group was exposed to 11-week of self-directed computer-assisted practice by using Cued Pronunciation Readings (CPRs). Speech production and production samples were collected at Time 1(the first week of the study and Time 2 (week 13). A group of ten Native Speaking (NS) Informants were also been invited to help with the study. They were 5 males and 5 females enrolled in a graduate TESOL programs. All of them were from western United States and had sufficient knowledge in linguistics and able to speak the Standard American English fluently and accurately. They had to do the same task as the treatment group.

The participants had to sit for seven computerized tasks; five spontaneous elicitation tasks, one perception task, and one controlled production task, in that order. In the spontaneous task, they had to tell story based on sequence pictures, suggested solutions to the problems, discussed the advantages and disadvantages of an issue, expressed their opinion on some topics and explained changes made in a schedule events. for the perception task, participants had to mark pauses, stressed words and sentence-final intonation based on the recorded passage that they hear. the controlled production task required participants to read a passage aloud. They were given only one minute to read the passage silently before reading it aloud. The data were collected in two time interval namely Time 1 and Time 2. Both of the tests are of the similar type with the different pictures, topics and etc.

Results from the study shows that the treatment, that is by using computer-aided pronunciation, had significant effects on the learners' perception of pausing and words stress. Even with the limited time spent using CPRs in a self-directed environment, learners had shows improvements in their supra-segmental features of their pronunciation. After the treatment, participants had showed that the missing pause marks had decreased indicating that their awareness of appropriate pausing had increased. The same results for the stress marks showing that their level of awareness on stress marks had increased. Overall, it had been found out that participants showed improvements after undergoes self-directed computer-aided pronunciation treatments.

Reaction

This research interest me as the supra-segmental features of language are among the things that second language learners often overlook. It is an eye-opening for me as before this, I thought that English is spoken just simply by uttering the English words. Me, myself often pay less attention to the stress and intonation in my speech. This study shows that with some aids and exposure to the language, learners will pick up the features even for limited time only. English is considered as a stressed language unlike other languages that considered as syllabic language. In English, we gives stress to certain words, while other words are quickly spoken. Unlike the syllabic language, English spends more time on the stressed words while quickly gliding other unimportant words. Over time ESL learners could understand better and communicate more once he or she mastered the stress and intonation pattern of English as stressed language. Therefore, with the aid from computer-aided pronunciation, ESL learners would pick up the stress and intonation pattern easily. Besides that, it also need to be noted that the participants in the treatment group did not received any aid from the teachers or facilitator or even the researchers themselves. It is solely based on their own effort.

Apart from that, the other implication is, this research is important for teachers who are not comfortable teaching pronunciation or for those who cannot fit the curriculum. Computer-aided pronunciation is the answer to the dilemma faced these teachers or instructors. Besides that the learners themselves will become interested in exploring the language when they were given the chance to explore it themselves. They can monitor their own progress and would eventually improves themselves over times. However, learners might refuse to do the computer-aided pronunciation practice alone as their limitations in computers might demotivate them if they happen to encounter problems in handling the software or programs. Therefore, the aid from computer assistant is always very much in need.

In my opinion, this research is well conducted as it covers the supra-segmental features of language namely pause, stress and intonation. The tasks prepared for participants manage to covers all of the features tested. However, as mentioned by the researchers themselves, perhaps longer length of studies would produced better results and findings.

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Self Response

1. Why do you think evaluation of CALL course ware, websites, materials etc important?

In my opinion, the evaluation of CALL course ware, websites and materials are important for the teacher to know whether the the materials are suitable for the students or not. Teacher ought to know the level of proficiency of the students in choosing the right material for them. Once the teacher knows their students proficiency level they have to find out which material is suitable for the students. This is when the evaluation of the materials come into handy. From the evaluation of the materials, the teachers will know whether the materials suitable for the students. The material chosen shouldn't be too easy or too hard for the students. Students will find the material boring if it is too easy for them. However, if the material is too hard for them to handle it will demotivate the students as they would thought that they are not good enough to complete the task. Therefore, the evaluation of the course ware, websites or materials used are very important in catering the students needs.


2. How do you think Hot Potatoes JCloze may help your students learn English?

Hot Potatoes is indeed what I really need for my practicum. I wish I were introduced to the software before doing the practicum. It's easy to use and user friendly. It is indeed a great help in preparing exercise for the students. As for the students, it is more interesting than answering the cloze passage on a piece of paper. They were also provided with the clues that could help them guess the answer to the questions. Besides, they could also try and error until they got the correct answer. In one way it would motivate the students to learn and enjoy themselves at the same time.

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In-Class Task: 2

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Introduction

Salam w.b.t [-o<
I'm Nurul Hazianti Muda. From Terengganu. I'm the 3rd child in the family. My favourite past time is chatting. ahaks! Alright stop that crap Gee, this is an academic blog. huhu ~_~ Other than that, I do know how to format a laptop if that could be call a computer skill. :D However, I could say that I'm a semi-pro in using the microsoft office software. Well, most probably because that's the basic in computer skills I guess. I'm still improving myself in those field, however.

In answering about experience in learning via the computer, I could say that I'm not that lucky person. I did not know anything about computer only after my father bought me a computer when I'm in form 1. At that time, I only know how to use the Print Artist software because that's the easiest software that my father had tought me. I did not have any chance in learning about the computer while in the primary school. My school did not even have any computer lab at that time. *poor Gee* In in lower secondary school, I did have a chance in learning about the computer and I did learn a lot during those years. Only in the upper secondary level, I'd created my first e-mail account (WHAT?) Yes. Only in form 4 I'd created my first e-mail account. *again, poor Gee*

During my practicum last semester, I did use technology in my lesson. I noticed that my students will be more interested in my teaching if I show them something animated like videos and power point slideshows. I also incorporated the lesson with songs in which they could enjoy the songs while actually learning new things. Students are more cooperative whenever I utilize the technology in my lesson.

In my opinion, the use of computer or technology in language teaching is indeed is a must. Students will be more interested to learn and plus, they could also absorbed better when all their senses are stimulated. I am lucky because my practicum school is equipped with the LCD projector in each class. Thus giving me the opportunity to use this technology as my teaching aids.

My expectation form this course would be to gain more computer knowledge and skills in which i use in the future. Especially in blogging world as well as web designing and html. I'm looking forward for this course and hope that I would pass this course with flying colours.

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