Ebaby's ESL Teacher
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United States
January 23, 2008
Today, computer skills are essential. So how do we build computer skills into our ESL/EFL classroom?
Each week this month, I will address new ways of integrating computers into ESL/EFL classrooms. This week, I will take a closer look at wikis. Wikis are collaborative, quickly created websites. Using a wiki makes each student an author, an editor and a web designer. Here is my classes wiki: www.inspireenglish.pbwiki.com This page was completely created by the students and they are still adding to it.
To create your own wiki, pick a site to host your wiki. There are a lot of options. Look at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki_farm I chose pbwiki. It is simple to use and the language is easy. For example, the font size is “x-small”, “small”, “medium”, and “large.” It is a nice match for my students' language ability. Students will quickly get excited to decorate the page. So once you have the page, keep your input simple and allow the students to make it more interesting. Each class, teach them a new skill, like changing the font, creating a link or uploading youtube videos. My students have a great sense of humor. In the test section, they made it so that if you get a question wrong it brings up a page with this picture:
I have really encouraged them to have fun with the site. When we started, there were only three links on the homepage: story section link, a grammar section link and a test section link. Each day, students got to pick what they wanted to add to the page. If they didn’t want to add anything, they could edit what other students had put on the site. Editing the pages was a great learning experience for them.
If you looked at my site now, www.inspireenglish.pbwiki.com , you will see that the content and the organization of the site has changed drastically from what the students saw on the first day. One of my favorite parts right now is the action mazes section: http://inspireenglish.pbwiki.com/Action+Mazes We are still working on these, but to begin students created an outline on paper of what people could do if they had no money. Like this:
• You have no money.
• You could get a job.
• You could look in the newspaper for jobs.
• You could walk around town and look for "Help Wanted" signs.
• You could ask people for money.
• You could ask your friends for help.
• You could ask your parents for help.
On the site, we are putting the information onto a bunch of pages. The first page has: “You have no money.” And links to three possible things to do to get money, like "You could get a job." The links lead to more pages with what to do next.
All in all, this is a fun student-centered project. If you have any questions, leave them as comments. And if you create a wiki or have ideas of how to use them, PLEASE share.
More entries: Writing with Structure in the ESL Classroom (60), TOEFL, my life!, Emotions in the ESL classroom (1), ESL Classroom Atmosphere and Friendships (10), Interlanguage and Teacher Frustration (16), Fun Online ESL Writing and Reading Lessons (1), Wikis in the ESL/EFL classroom! (7), Students as Teachers...hmm (12)
View all entries from Ebaby's ESL Teacher >
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