Blog #3 Learning Vocabulary Fun

The Learning Vocabulary Fun is an OK website for smaller children. I think it would be fun for them, which is always beneficial when working with small children. Plus, there are many game options on the same page, so it would keep their interest for awhile. Small children are in class because their parents put them there, so if the work isn’t entertaining, it is likely it will loose their interest. So, in that respect, this website is good. On the other hand, it doesn’t give a lot of opportunity for production, and some of the games are not even related to vocabulary, but matching pictures. Many of the games are about guessing or fill-in the blank. Also, it is not conducive for collaborative work. The students would be interacting with the computer, but not with each other. It might be a good reward exercise, but I wouldn’t use it as a major source.

Blog #2 Reading Matrix

The Reading Matrix has many great resources for students ranging from young beginners to advanced adult learners. All of the readings are interactive and some of the beginner stories are animated, which is fun for younger readers. For the purpose of this assignment, I am going to focus on the section labeled Reading Comprehension Advanced. In this section, there is a CNN web page. It has multiple articles from many different themes and there are three versions of every article: an outline, a short version, and the whole article. The teacher could use the outline as schema activation and get the class discussing what the article is going to be about. Then the students could read the short version and think of questions they are left with. Finally, they could read the whole article. Each article is also accompanied with activities including multiple choice quizzes to check for comprehension and vocabulary work. These could be used as post reading activities. All in all, I think it's a great online reading resource!

Blog #1 Introduction to CALL

I have only taken one course that utilized CALL. We did weekly online exercises, which included listening activities and short assessments. I thought it was a nice way to get additional practice outside of the classroom and to hear authentic pronunciations. I think an important aspect of CALL, which was mentioned in the reading, is that it's not a teaching approach in and of itself, but rather can accommodate many different teaching theories and styles. It just depends how it is used. A negative side to CALL is that some teachers may use computers to do their work for them. This brings me to wonder... Is is possible that CALL will become so effective that language teachers will become obsolete? Has this begun happening already?