Webskills Week 3 Reflection : CALL in  Language Learning, Oral/Aural Skills Building, Creating a Delicious Page, Prior Project Review

This week we have discussed about two important topics in language teaching and learning :

-       CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) i.e. the crucial role the computer  plays or should play today in an effective language learning environment. Other technological tools like the internet, web-tools, podcasts, audio and video CDs, TV, radio are also to be taken into account.  They create motivation and autonomy among students inside and outside the classroom.

-       Aural/Oral Skills  cast a special focus on the role of listening/speaking activities in the learning process due to the fact that  “More than forty percent of our daily communication time is spent on listening, thirty-five percent on speaking, sixteen percent on reading, and only nine percent on writing” (Burely-Allen 1995). Again the application of CALL comes into play as Julia Gong emphasized in her article, insisting on appropriate pronunciation. According to Maria Busà, CALL has instilled new perspectives in teaching/learning pronunciation in Foreign Languages.  As a result of the discussion, I have harvested the following links on listenting, pronunciation and speaking :  

  http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/sounds

  http://www.real-english.com

  http://www.naturalreaders.com/download.php

  http://www.esl-lab.com/

  http://www.esl-lab.com/jobhunting/jobhuntingrd1.htm

  http://www.onestopenglish.com/skills/speaking/teaching-ideas/

  http://www.ted.com/ 

  http://learningenglish.voanews.com/media/all/learning-english-tv/latest.html?z=3613

  http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2008/03/17/the-best-sites-to-practice-speaking-english/.     http://www.eslgold.com/speaking/conversation_starters.html  

  http://www.ESL-galaxy.com/

  http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parke120/praatwebfiles/intro.htm

We have also carried out two tasks : 

-  Creating our Delicious page by following clear instructions. For me, it is the introduction to another new technological tool, useful for social bookmarking i.e. recording and keeping links at Delicious.com. My Delicious URL is https://delicious.com/mekfoli

-      -   Reading and commenting on sample project reports from past Webskills classes. I have read R.N. Reddy’s report. He didn’t have a physical classroom but a virtual one. His Project plan is a perfect replica of the AEI/UO E-teacher course at national level.  It is designed to follow, support, create interaction online among 22 teachers of English  working in 4 different provinces of South Africa. An impressive and ambitious project plan.

We are moving slowly but surely forward.

Foli.