U.S.A. and G.B. - two English language variations

Credits:

A warm appreciation to the creators of the Web Pages that have been referred to throughout the two-hour course session and all the others that can be found on the same topic. They are extremely useful, manage to maintain readers’ attention, and are entertaining.

 

Focus:
The focus of this WebQuest is on learners’ concentration on language variations and expressing opinions about them from the data offered on the Internet serving the purpose of expanding the fluency of learners’ English. This is done via short discussions and regular feedback.

 

Objectives/Goals:

The major goal of this two-hour course session is to expand on different skills; namely,

 

• communication skills while concentrating on grammatical mistakes,
• discussion skills,
• searching for data on the Internet using the provided URLs,
• finding other URLs of the similar content,
• using different Microsoft tools,  
• referring to real life situations during the short communiqués.

 

Prerequisites:

No preparation is required; however, basic skills for using the Internet and chatting are necessary.

 

Technology:
PCs and Internet connection.

 

A special note for tasks 2 and 3:

Task 2: The task can be done synchronously or asynchronously; however, it should not take more than one hour to complete including the feedback. Comments can be emailed for the asynchronous version where the learners would have, well in advance, set the time frame for their emailing to take place. The key factor is to maintain the motivational aspect of learning for the peers to continue to participate and expand on the fluency of the language. At the same time, the skills needed to gain new data and to collaborate in a real life situation are accomplished without specific emphasis on them. They become natural.

 

To make the feedback easier for the learners, the facilitators could offer questions that will lead them in the right direction for completing the task. Namely, the learners could be asked to comment on:

 

1. How long it took peers to find the words that were discussed;
2. Which URLs seemed to be preferred;
3. Did the peers find their own additional URLs that could be useful?
4. Did it occur to them that they could search for their own URLs?

 

Via the conclusive paragraphs about the asked questions and their findings in general, the learners will be expanding their collaborative skills, their social skills (different language points are covered during discussions – offering opinions, agreeing, disagreeing, et cetera – and they will be expanding their fluency including the ability to correct peer grammatical mistakes).

 

Once having written the short paragraphs, it is time for the learners to have a little fun. They need to complete the drag-and-drop activity produced by the British Council. It is not only fun, it serves as a quick revision of the material covered. Once again there is not a single emphasis on the fact that this is a revision as would have been the case in traditional learning surroundings – the emphasis is on having fun. The revision is completed as a natural step of occurrences not related to learning but rather to relaxation and daily enjoyment.

 

Task 3: For further individual practice there is the English media Web site where the learners can get their scores as soon as they submit their replies. Once again, the traditional methods of learning get to be avoided; namely, it is not the teacher who corrects the mistakes and who remembers them by noting a poor grade in the grade book – it is the computer that knows how to keep a secret. To open the English media URL click here please.  The other choice is Use Your English Web site and the offered link called, You say tomato. To open the page click here please.