We can find a lot of interesting videos in the internet. Some of them are very useful in teaching. Edblog provides a convenience platform for teacher to integrate video and other multimedia resources into their teaching materials.
In the Internet, we can obtain many information and tools of different types. Many of them are free to use. With the help of these free tools, learning and teaching should not be confined to classrooms, can be mobile and dynamic.
Vocabulary building is a very important part in learning English, yet it is quite hard for student to memorize large amount of words. To encourage students’ self-learning of vocabulary, teachers may introduce different tools to their students. Yahoo! I-pen is a newly established tool, which can be downloaded and installed to the computer, providing meanings and pronunciation of words in website, Word and pdf documents. Dr. Eye is another tool which can help checking the meaning through the tool bar of the browsers. You can also get a vocabulary a day through email once you have made subscription to the websites, helping students to build their own vocabulary learning log book. Likes vocabularylist.com, students will receive e-mail with vocabulary together with the English meaning, examples, etc, regularly.
Student can also learn a lot of phrasal verbs on the Internet. There are online dictionaries for phrasal verbs such as EnglishPage and UsingEnglish.com. With these online dictionaries, student can easily look for the meaning of different collocations. Checking difficult words can be more flexible without carrying traditional, thick and heavy dictionary.
Furthermore, make use of the free online translation tools can help English learning too. Students can learn vocabulary mainly related to their daily life. Google Translator and WorldLingo Translator are two online translators which can translate words, passages and website. Teachers can also guide their students to plug-in a translator into their blog. For reference, you may find the procedures from this website: http://ait-shan.blogspot.com/2008/01/google-translate.html. Although the translated version is not perfect, it is not bad for learning vocabulary through their hobby.
There are many other tools on the Internet. Teachers can introduce and encourage students to make good use of the tools in order to motivate their learning incentive.
I seldom use blog but it is great to be in a group with other teachers of the same subjects by using Edblog. It is a good chance for us to share experience and exchange idea.
I find Teacher Net of HKEdCity a very effective tool for teachers’ professional support. I can get up-to-date educational information and various digital teaching resources there. I especially appreciate ‘Teacher TV’ which is an online TV programs on good practices in the classrooms of award-winning teachers.
English Campus has lots of using resources for teaching English. This teaching plan is made based on their Boundless English Campus - Food website. All fellow teachers are welcome to comment to make the plan better.
You can read the plan below or download the document here.
Time
Double lesson (80 minutes)
Objectives
Encourage students’ self-access online learning of English Inform students about food using English
Target language
Revision of names of food items Tastes of food (bitter, greasy, plain, raw, savoury)
2. Download and print copies of the composition topic
The Lesson (Double lesson - 80 minutes)
Time
Activities
Notes
15 mins
Brainstorm food items Write 5 descriptions of food on the board: bitter, greasy, plain, raw, savoury in columnsWrite some food items on the board.Give 5 students chalk.Ask them to write a food item in the correct column. They give the chalk to another student when they finish.Every student must write an item.Ask the students if all the items are in the correct column and that the spelling is okay.
You may need to explain the meanings of these words. Stronger classes will be able to guess as students put items in the columns.This is a good way to let students know the meaning of each word. Correct as necessary.
3 mins
Set up the projector and load the food website at English Campus. Put down the blinds, etc. Make sure the audio is working
20 mins
Show the class the ‘English Campus’ Food website. Click through every section. Go to ‘Did you know?’ Get the class to play the game to guess what the food items are.
You could let students choose which sections to visit.
22 mins
Restaurant reviews - preparation Go to ‘Links’.Ask if they know Jamie Oliver. Explain that he takes young people with no qualifications and trains them to be chefs in his restaurant.Click on the Jamie Oliver website. You will see a video of his restaurant. Watch for a few minutes.Watch the ‘Video review’ site in ‘Links’.Ask students what type of restaurants they have been to before. Elicit adjectives to describe them, the food and the staff.
Encourage conversation about him and his TV shows. The video will start straight away. e.g. expensive, fast, polite
15 mins
Restaurant reviews Hand out the ‘Restaurant review’ task. In pairs, ask students to think of one restaurant each to review. They should write notes beside each section of the review. Circulate and find students who have original choices. Ask them to share these with the class.
You may need to translate some food items of encourage students to find the English names online.
5 mins
Homework Students must complete the reviews for homework.
Ask the best reviewers to read their reviews to the class.
Restaurant Review Most people in Hong Kong eat in restaurant. Write a restaurant review about a recent meal you have had. It could be about a fast food shop or even a dim sum restaurant.
Most reviews mention:
1. Title: Name & Address of restaurant 2. The atmosphere (your feelings when you first enter, sit at your table, the noise, music) 3. The service (waiting staff, any problems or unusual events) 4. The food (usually in order from first to last dish) 5. The drinks 6. The price 7. Finally, tell readers whether they should eat there.
