TOOLS: WEBQUEST

WHAT IS A WEBQUEST?


"A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the internet" (Dodge, 1995)


Typically webquests have 7 steps:

1. Introduction: to orient the student on what the task will be about and motivate him/her. 
2. Task: explain explicitly what the student is going to be required to do. 
3. Process: steps that the students will follow. Include online webpages.
4. Evaluation: how this activity is going to be evaluated.
5. Conclusion: sum up the process and the achievements. 
6. Didactic Orientations: the level and subject for what the webquest is adressed.
7. Contact: the creator's contact details.

HERE YOU HAVE THE STEPS TO CREATE A WEBQUEST:

http://www.edutic.ua.es/crea-tu-wq/

In her webpage Isabel Pérez explains and gives some examples of webquests: http://www.isabelperez.com/webquest/

Here you have my own example of webquest, I hope you enjoy it!


https://sites.google.com/site/webquestdesaragarciabielsa/

INTERESTING BLOG TO IMPROVE ENGLISH

Today I found this blog that could be interesting not only for teachers, but also for students in Bachiller, since it is a blog to improve the mistakes that are usually made in English.


The name of the blog is called: habla mejor inglés.com 

http://www.hablamejoringles.com/

For example, this entry would be very useful for speaking or writing skills, since sometimes we don't know whether we should use the verb "make" or "do": 

http://www.hablamejoringles.com/the-mistakes-you-make-with-make-and-do/

OTHER WEBPAGES: Games and exercices

The webpage that I am going to introduce today is awesome. There you can find games, grammar activities for all levels, grammar explanations and links to other blogs and interesting websites. 


The webpage I am talking about is BON'S TIPS: http://mbonillo.xavierre.com/index.html

I hope you find this webpage interesting!! 

USING LITERATURE TO TEACH ENGLISH: OSCAR WILDE

A nice piece of literature to teach in the English class is Oscar Wilde's masterpiece THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, since we can find many adaptations. 
http://www.snazal.com/the-picture-of-dorian-gray-level-4-penguin-readers-simplifie--9781405882293.html?source=webgains&siteid=47684&adnetwork=wg


I even found that there is a comic version, which would be very appropriate and attractive to teenage students: 
http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2009/the-picture-of-dorian-gray/ 
http://forbiddenplanet.com/39864-the/




There are also online versions of the novel to work with Bachillerato students: http://www.planetpdf.com/planetpdf/pdfs/free_ebooks/The_Picture_of_Dorian_Gray_NT.pdf
http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/oscar-wilde/Dorian-Gray.pdf
http://www.quedelibros.com/libro/74342/The-Picture-of-Dorian-Gray-pdf-ingles.html


Particularly, and knowing the low English level in public schools, I would choose an adapted version of the novel for a class of 1st of Bachiller. 


As a pre-treatment activity, and since the film was released some years ago, I would use its trailer: 

Or even this video, which before playing the trailer explains briefly the plot of the film:

As a treatment activity, I would ask my students to write down a small student diary, that is, to write down the dates and thoughts they experience while reading the novel, as well as the vocabulary that they couldn't guess from the context. 


I would ask them to start writing about what they expect the novel to be, how they think it will continue and whether they are liking the novel or they feel it's too boring. Just a few lines each day they have read something. If students don't feel like writing, they can use vocaroo and record the experiences and unknown vocabulary. 


As a post-treatment activity, the students will be asked to work in groups, choose a chapter of the novel and create a photo novel. They will have to take pictures of the different scenes and describe them briefly and creating small dialogues. Also they will have to record them so that at the end we have a picture and recoded version of the novel. 

USING LITERATURE TO TEACH ENGLISH

Teaching a foreign language through literature is sometimes considered to be old-fashioned, since this is related to the grammar-translation method. However, if the story is interesting for students, and it is combined with the right and motivating activities, it can be a great source for learning grammar, vocabulary and even writing and speaking depending on the activities. 


In this webpage there are great short stories such as the parable of the pencil, which can be used to discuss in several different topics: http://www.indianchild.com/short_stories.htm


These stories are quite short, and can be read in five minutes, allowing a long period of discussion,interpretation, activities...


Here we can find a great source of short stories from well-known authors such as Viriginia Woolf, Saki, George Orwell, Roald Dahl... http://www.classicshorts.com/author.html




Another webpage which provides a great quantity of American short stories from authors such as Melville, Poe, or Kate Chopin: http://www.americanliterature.com/ss/ssindx.html

Learning through games (2)

TICS are very useful for learning languages. However, they are not common in schools, especially in public schools. That is why games are a nice alternative. 


There are common games such as hangman, pictionary, mimics, or the forbidden word which can be used as post-treatment activities in any text to reinforce the vocabulary. 


HANGMAN:

The students can play this game by using the new words of a text, so to learn their spelling. 


This game has a virtual option: http://www.hangman.no/. In this webpage, the teacher can even make a list of words and  give the code to the students so that they practice. 




PICTIONARY:


This well-known game consists on guessing words from a drawing. If the class is divided into teams, the students get really competitive and involved in the game.  The blackboard is divided into as many parts as teams are, there is a person drawing for each team. The teacher has a set of words written in small pieces of paper that the person who is going to draw chooses.The person who is drawing changes so that everybody participates.


This game can be used as post-treatment activity to review the vocabulary, or as a pre-treatment activity so that the students learn new vocabulary and/or to introduce and guesswhat the story that is going to be read is about by using key words. 




MIMICS:


Using mimics to guess words or sentences can be very funny and motivating for students. This game is very similar to the pictionary, but instead of playing all at the same time, they will have to play in turns. It can also be used to guess a scene from a piece of literature that has been read, so that they review what the text is about.




THE FORBIDDEN WORD:
Students will have to guess a concept or a scene from a description that one of their peers does. However, the student describing the word or scene cannot say one or several words, so to make it more difficult. 

AUCTION GAME, TIC-TAC-TOE, ACTING OUT: Learning through games

Games are a nice way to learn English. They can be used to review vocabulary and even literature. 


- ACUTION GAME (used for literature). Post-treatment. activity.
In this game, in groups, students are given sentences from the literature piece they have read. They have a pre-set quantity of "money" and they have to say whether their sentence is true or false or if it has mistakes or it's correct, and bet according to it. 


The team that has more money by the end of the game is the winning team. 




- TIC-TAC-TOE: (used for literature/vocabulary). Post-treatment.

This game is very popular and it can be used with words taken from the text. The class must be divided in two teams. The teacher has to prepare a card with words from the text, definitions, phonetics, etc. and the students will have to guess the word of the definition, a synonym, etc. If they guess it they get the point. The aim is that they get three points in a row. In the blackboard the points are shown like this: 

- ACTING OUT: Post-treatment


This can be very funny. The students in pairs or groups have to invent a dialogue from the piece of literature given or memorise it and act it out. This activity may not be suitable for all the students since shy students may feel reluctant about it.