A Website in Ch 2 (CALL Essentials)
Ch2 ---Developing and Practicing Reading and Writing Skills
SchMOOze University(http://schmooze.hunter.cuny.edu/)
This is the website which I explore in Ch2.
*Goals: Provide ESL students a lively and an interactive environment to learn
English.
*Presentation: It has 20 links on the homepage. And each link bring learners to the section they want. It's an extremely simple-to-use and a clear homepage.
*Appropriateness: Because there are many links, students might need more instructions before entering those different websites. It would be great if there are some brief introductions.
*Outcomes: Learners have more opportunities and access to communicate with other ESL students or even native speakers.
*Evaluation: Evaluation is not the main part of the website.
*Notes: The link, "Dave's ESL Cafe on the Web" is really interesting! Dave has the experience of teaching English in Japan where he discover and cultivate his ability of teaching English. There is a short and funny video in the that website. Pay a visit to it! Here is the video
For ESL students, this is a really helpful website because it provides an "authentic" access to learning English. I've already created my own account, but I haven't tried to talk to anyone. I am really looking forward to "having my own room! Though I'm still not quite sure how to use this website efficiently, I do believe that I can benefit a lot from this amazing platform.
Last but not least, not until I played the game of “treasure hunting”(Oh, I named it by myself, I am not pretty sure the correct name of this game) did I know this website’s another“main attraction.” However, I did not have a good time in the game. Frankly speaking, I still cannot know why this game can make Schemooze much more famous. Haha, if you are interested in my experience in this game, you may see check it …it titled as Lab 2 (reflection) :)
2 comments:
From our experiences in Schmooze, we all know how inflexible it is. I think it is a good goal to offer us an "authentic" access to learning English, just you mentioned, but for getting with modern society, Schmooze may consider choosing 3D virtual reality to attract young learners today. And most important of all is avoiding intangible instructions to let its' users just meet certain key words or phrases.
Dear Abby,
You mentioned that “3 D” environment in this kind of treasure-hunting; you can see Julie’s blog because she introduced us to “Active World” which is what you are searching for. You might try to “put yourself in that 3D world, and then share your experiences with me. I will be glad to hear your process in that Active World.
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