The ESL website discussion was a sort of revelation, disclosing so many valuable language resources available online. Although I didn’t participate in this discussion thread, I am very thankful to those who posted there and for the idea to compile all the useful websites into a wikipage.
I participated in another discussion which gave me an opportunity to reflect on the pros and cons of applying technology in learning/teaching English. Although pros are evident, when you start applying you can hit some constraints. Computer and web illiteracy of students/teachers can be a hinder. But, where’s the will, there’s the way.
Discovering delicious as a tool was also very helpful. You don’t have to be tied to your own pc to work effectively on the web. The layout of bookmarks and tagging are handy. I have noticed numerous times that many sites offer the option of bookmarking with delicious or other services, so I also added one bookmark to my delicious page in such a way. It’s very convenient.
Hi Yana
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree with your comment on Delicious. I did not know a word to use to express the usefulness of Delicious. The word as you say is "convenient". It is really convenient to use Delicious to keep track on our important and useful sites.
Best
Tharanga
I'm sure all teachers have students (and colleagues) who are not so computer literate. But as an English teacher, you can also teach your students how to use the computer. Sometimes that's more valuable to them than what your English lesson would have been.
ReplyDeleteAs teachers, we teach students lots of things, not only English. Surely, I give students help when they need either with tech or anything else. That I meant by saying where's the will, there's the way. That concerns not only students, but teachers as well, if not in the first place.
ReplyDeleteHi Yana,
ReplyDeleteWe all have students that are a bit scare to use computers. And in the university I teach, there are a lot of teachers with very little experience in the use of technology as a teaching resource, specially those who are older. We can build their confidence with patience.
Elsa
Hello Yana!
ReplyDeleteDelicious helped me a lot too. As the course is progressing and a bigger number of websites appear, I sometimes could not follow them all, or just forgot where what was, and when I learned how to bookmark the websites I use frequently it has become much easier to go on with the tasks.
Cheers,
Yuriy
You are absolutely right about the usefulness of Delicious. There is a lot to see inside tha tool. I have been exploring it. Plus, I have found there are others.
ReplyDeleteYou are right, that compillation is going to be a huge asset. I hope this is the beginning of a highly productive ESL/EFL teaching and learning community.