What is Web 2.0?

Hello friends,

Teachers spend a lot of time in class working on reading, writing, listening and speaking with their students. These skills are essential for effective communication and are the areas tested in many well-known English language examinations.

We may work on a number of these skills within a single lesson, however, we often teach students to do them in isolation. If we want our learners to become successful communicators, we need to make the situations as authentic as possible inside the classroom.

To do this we need to use an integrated approach to language learning.

This blog indicates that the major benefits of using Web 2.0 technologies in teaching include ..

(1) interaction, communication and collaboration, 

(2) knowledge creation, 

(3) ease of use and flexibility, and 

(4) writing and technology skills. 

The major barriers university instructors encounter in teaching with Web 2.0 technologies include 

(1) uneasiness with openness, 

(2) technical problems, and 

(3) time.

Web 2.0 allows groups of people to work on a document or spreadsheet simultaneously, while in the background a computer keeps track of who made what changes where and when. In general, the key characteristics of Web 2.0 are: Web-based applications can be accessed from anywhere.

 

An integrated approach to language learning

This is when we ask the students to use a combination of these skills within a single activity to create a situation which is much more similar to one they might come across in the real world.

If you take, for example, a simple telephone conversation. We listen to what the other person is saying and then reply. We may also need to make a note of something they’ve said, read it back to make sure it makes sense and then explain it to someone else.

Integrating skills can help students transfer skills, e.g. if students have to read a blog post before writing their own they’ll become familiar with the structure and content which will help them write it.

It also allows you to vary your activities in class, creating a more engaging and motivating experience for students.

 

 

FLUBAROO

(auto-generated evaluation)

 

Flubaroo is a free tool that helps you quickly grade multiple-choice or fill-in-blank assignments.

Hot Potatoes 

Hot Potatoes is a robust set of classroom activity tools that teachers can use to construct quizzes, cloze or matching activities, and crossword puzzles. Hot Potatoes, like any technology used for the first time, can seem overwhelming. However, it only takes a little practice to get comfortable with the basics. Once these basics are discovered, begin to try the more advanced features shown at the end of this week’s Teacher’s Corner. Not everything needs to be learned at once so don’t rush and don’t panic!

The basic layout of Hot Potatoes is enough to work in many classroom situations; however the software can be extended far beyond its initial capabilities with audio, images, and video.

Any new technology takes time and should not be learned through reading alone. As with any skill, technology fits well with a learn-by-doing approach. This week’s Teacher’s Corner should be read step-by-step at the same time activities are made in Hot Potatoes. Using this approach will show how simple these steps can be. Just remember: approach learning new technology with a playful attitude, save often, and if everything fails it is always okay to begin again!

The Hot Potatoes suite is a set of six authoring tools that allows you to create different types of interactive quizzes. The quizzes are viewed using a web browser. Each program can produce a different type of quiz:

 • JCloze – is used to make gap-fill or cloze exercises. 

• JCross – is used to make crossword exercises. 

• JMatch – is used to create matching exercises. 

• JMix – is used to make jumble exercises. 

• JQuiz – is a tool for making question-based exercises. Each quiz can consist of an unlimited number of questions.

Thank you.