Saturday, October 30, 2010

Week 4: Catching Fish in the Ocean

What most teachers find problematic is actually the lack of listening tapes/CDs for their classes; whereas, reading, writing and vocabulary resources are more than enough. However, when teaching vocabulary teachers mostly translate or define in order to clarify the meaning of words. They rarely use flashcards and other visual aids to foster input. The main reason for doing that is they simply don't know where to get such illustrations and fashcards. What is more, many don't know that going online learners can read texts, do the follow-up interactive tasks and learn words from flashcards. The Internet offers tons of resources for ESL learners and teachers. They just need to 'go fishing' and get some resources from the 'ocean'!
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5 comments:

  1. EugenieOctober 31, 2010 at 8:52 AM

    Hey there Shahnoza

    I liked the usage of metaphor in your post, and how the graphics go with it.It is very creative. However, I find what you said about the different skills satisfying to a certain extent,because some teachers are not even aware that computers 'are friendly' and the soul of a pc is the internet. therefore they are missing a lot to apply any kind of input.

    Regards,
    Eugenie

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  2. Charbel TadrosOctober 31, 2010 at 11:21 AM

    Hey Shahnoza,
    i definitely agree with that. I used to work in a kind of technologically backward school before and that's what used to happen with most teachers. They had no idea what the internet was so they ended up wither translating or teaching just what they knew, which, on many occasions, proved to be below the students' current level. the students, who are technologically aware, knew more than the teachers and learned nothing from school...
    Go fish (a game some kids taught me how to play when I was in India last summer XD),
    Charbel

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  3. HassanOctober 31, 2010 at 12:57 PM

    Hello Shahnoza,
    Whether fishing for resources or fishing for techniques, the internet is there and will have its way sooner to every home and every classroom. You are very true to point to the fact that some teachers don't know that Internet resources can flood their instruction with innovative techniques and tasks. Actually, the problem lies in those teachers who believe that what they know is enough, or those who have a humble respect for their profession. In all these situations, students are the victims. It's also an urgent call for the educational directors and administrators to provide teachers with the fishing rods, and to make sure that they move with them the fishing vessel not far away from the safe harbor.
    Best,
    Hassan

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  4. NozaOctober 31, 2010 at 3:22 PM

    Dear Charbel, from your story, I see that you're familiar with the situation I tried to describe in my post.

    Dear Eugenie, you are right. Some teachers are not even aware of the benefits that the Internet can have in their teaching; therefore, it's our task to make workshops for other teachers. Also, as Hassan says, the administrators should also support us by providing all necessary facilities. This way most teachers will be technologically aware.

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  5. DhikaOctober 31, 2010 at 8:59 PM

    Dear Shahnoza..

    I agree with you..we do this activity during this course..don't we?
    I think Hassan made the other reason for ignoring to find something new for the students.. "the problem lies in those teachers who believe that what they know is enough". I always respect teachers have been teaching for many years but still have the spirit to take the challenge for moving forward..


    Let's go "fishing" Shahnoza!

    Cheers

    Dhika

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