Lesson/Review 5: Evaluating Authoring Programs, Learning Objects and Educational Software

Lesson for students: Ordering food at a restaurant - word search exercise

1). Listen to the story.
2). Read the story on your own.
3). Find the words from the list below and circle them on the word find exercise.
The words are from the text you just read.

Words:
restaurant, fork, order, napkin, plate, spicy, mild, meal, menu, waiter



Students: Adult students who are Hispanic and Asian in an Intermediate English as a Second Language class.
Lesson: This is an activity which they will have 30 minutes to spend on doing.
Classroom environment: This activity which I created on the computer for them will be part of their lesson on ordering food and it will follow a short text and comprehension questions. It should not require longer than 30 minutes to complete.

A short story has been given to the students to read in the first part of the class along with a few comprehension questions to check their understanding of the text.
As a part of their exercises is this word find which I created by using toolsforeducators.com
website and will hand out to my students to complete.

How will you use this resource to meet the needs of your instructional purposes?
The instructional purpose of this activity is to help students enhance their English, improve their spelling, vocabulary, and reading; word finds accomplish that because they promote all these skills to ESL students. This activity is also a bridge to the next part of the class which is a discussion of what is your favorite restaurant and what kind of food it serves.

Why is this topic, information or content appropriate for the lesson you plan to create (e.g., level of authenticity, relevance to target language, register, accuracy, interest level, and motivation)?
This activity I created is one of a few that my students will do for this lesson on ordering food at a restaurant. All my adult students will be in a situation in which they have to order at a restaurant and since survival English is what I need to teach them now, this is a good activity. The words are from the text they will have read at the beginning of the class. They will be able to practice spelling and reading by completing this word find with words all relevant to the text and to ordering food at a restaurant.

Are the format, organization, design and language level of this resource approriate for your instructional needs?
I think this activity is appropriate for the lesson I am teaching because it uses the words they just learned in the text and will need to know and use when they find themselves in a situation like this. The format is easy to understand and challenging to complete.

What handouts or directions will you provide students to focus learning and adapt this resource for your instructional recources?
I will provide students with a handout that includes the word find and the words they need to use along with the directions on how to find the words (e.g. Look horizontally, vertically, and diagonally).
I will have to demonstrate this on the handout so they know how to look for the words. The handout will have the directions they will have to take to find the words. A good idea is to provide them with a ruler to use in order to keep searching in straight lines.

Lesson/Review 4: Creating Online Exercises - Hot Potatoes, Puzzlemaker and other exercise makers

Lesson for students: Countable and uncountable nouns

You recently learned that countable nouns are individual objects, people, places, etc. which can be counted.
Examples: books, tables, pictures, men, stations, etc.
A countable noun can be both singular - a friend, a house, etc., or plural - a few apples, lots of trees, etc.
Uncountable nouns are concepts, material, or information which are not objects and cannot be counted.
Examples: information, water, understanding, wood, cheese, etc.
Uncountable nouns are always singular. Use the singular form of the verb with uncountable nouns.
Examples: There is some water in the pitcher
That is the equipment we use for the project.
This is an activity where you will need to work online and determine the proper noun countable or uncountable and choose the best answer from the choices provided.
Click on the link below and press 'start' to begin the exercise. Note that you will have the option of sound:
http://a4esl.org/q/f/x/xz37mpk.htm



If you have new words you need to look up, press the link below to find a dictionary. Type the word and it will give you the defnition:


http://www.merriam-webster.com/






Students: Adult students who are Hispanic and Asian in intermediate English level class.

Lesson: 30 minutes in the computer lab

Classroom environment: This activity will be done in our computer lab as an exercise in order to practice our lesson on countable and uncountable nouns.



How will I use this resource to meet the needs of my instuctional purposes?

This activity is an excellent practice on what they already learned in the previous lesson about countable and uncountable nouns. This online activity is directly related to the inroduced lesson which can demonstrate their understanding of the newly introduced concepts.



Why is this topic, information or concept appropriate for the leson you plan to create (e.g. level of authenticity, relevance to target language, register, interest level, and motiation)?

I believe that this activity is directly related to the new concept of counable and uncountable nouns. It is an alternative approach of practice compared to the traditional worksheets handed to the students in the classroom. In addition, this online exercise will provide my student with the results of their choices immediately and it definetely require less preparation for me except for the hand outs I will provide to them.



What handouts or directions will you provide students to focus learning and adapt this resource for you instructional purposes?

I will provide them with some handouts that will include the steps to start and navigate within this online activity. I will also provide them with a handout of the exercise questions to take home as well as a list of some potential unkown words.



What are the potential problems, either language based or technical, that you may need to troubleshoot or prepare for?

I always want to anticipate the potential problems, so as far as the technical aspect of the exercise I will provide them with a handout to navigate through the activity and I will demonstrate how to do so.

I also think they might have difficulty with some of the words in the exercise so the handout will have some of the possible uknown words and their definitions. In addition, I will create a link to the blog of a dictionary which they can go to in order to find any new words they might have.

Lesson/Review 3: Evaluating, podcasts, videocasts, and digital stories

Lesson for students: How to make a fruit salad videocast

During the last lesson you learned a lot about fruit, the names of different fruit, and where to find it in the supermarket or the produce store.
As a part of the lesson, we will now watch a video of how to make a fruit salad. We will learn how to make a shopping list in order to buy the ingredients for the fruit salad.
We will also learn how to spell the words and recognize them at the store.

Follow these steps to complete this assignment:

Use the Internet browser to go to this website to view the video:
http://www.howcast.com/videos/87636-How-To-Make-Fruit-Salad

1). View the entire video before you make any notes in your worksheets.
2). View the video once again and mark the ingredients you see or hear in you worksheet. You will use these ingredients to make a grocery shopping list.
3). Notice that the steps of how to make the fruit salad are also listed below the video for your review.
4). At the end of the video, you can discuss the items you chose to write down for the shopping list with your small groups, as assigned in your handout.
5). Within your small groups, choose one person to share the list you decide upon, with the rest of the class.
6). You are welcome to bring your own recipe using fruit to share with the class the next time we meet.



Students: Adult students who are Hispanic and Asian in low intermediate level who are learning English as a second language.
Lesson: 45 minutes in a computer lab
Classroom environment: This activity will take place in a computer lab and it is a part of a three part lesson on learning the words for fruit, learning spell and recognize an to use these words for making a salad, as well as how to make a shopping list for the supermarket or produce store.



How will I use this to meet my instructional purpose?
This activity is an extension of the lesson on fruit, how to use the information from the video to create a shopping list and learn to spell the words and recognize them at the store. It is also a bridge to our next lesson on nutritional value of fruit, and how good it is for our health.

Why is this topic, information or content appropriate for the lesson you plan to create (e.g. level of authenticity, relevance to target language, register, accuracy, interest level, and motivation)?
I think this is a great extension on the new vocabulary the students just learned in the previous lesson, the content is relevant to our lesson with the objective of creating a shopping list by viewing the how to.. video as well as learning to spell and recognize the items in the store. It is motivating because it can be something they can try at home and something they are welcome to share with others. In addition, I give them the opportunity to share their own recipe with fruit next time we meet in class and usually they like to share their own cultural things withthe class.

What handouts or directions you will provide students to focus learning and adapt this resource for your instructional goals?
I will provide a handout in which I will have the steps and the ingredients so that they can actually take home and perhaps make it at home. I will provide them with a worksheet in which they will be asked to write the words of fruit they will hear and see in the video so they can compile the shopping list of ingredients. They will be asked to discuss it within their assigned small groups and a designated person will present the list to the class.

What are the format, organization, design and language level of this resource appropriate for your instructional goals?
I believe that the design of this videocast is great because it allows viewers to actually see the steps of how to make the salad, it is done in very clear steps which are easier understood by all viewers, it also includes written text but the visual effect of seeing someone actually making the salad will be better remembered than just listening or just reading the steps alone.
The language and the speed of the video is clear and slow enough and the content is relevant with our lessons as it is something the students may use outside of the classroom.

Lesson/Review 2: Web2.0 Evaluation and Integration

Lesson for students: Process writing/Write a short essay about your favorite city.

Follow these directions to complete this assignment:

1). Your assignment is to describe your favorite city. (2 paragraphs).
2). You may use our last lesson notes or this link as reference on how to write a paragraph:http://www.ehow.com/how_2250242_write-ehow-paragraph.html or this link:http://www.paragraphorganizer.com/inner/how_to_write_paragraph.htm
3). You may use this website as a resource for new words. Enter the new vocabulary word and press "search" to see the meaning of it: http://www.merriam-webster.com/
4). Use the graphic organizer to record your initial thoughts, you may use the printed hand out of the graphic organizer or the one at this link: http://www.teachervision.fen.com/tv/printables/TCR/0743932080_007.pdf
5). Sign in to blogger.com to complete this activity.
6). List of adjectives you can use to describe your city: interesting, boring, large, small noisy, quiet, old, new etc. (as learned in our previous lessons).
7). Prompts to help you start your essay: "If I could live in my favorite city, this city would be....", or "My favorite city is....because....", or "I like.... because....". Of course you are welcome to start your short essay in your own way.
8). Be sure you follow all the steps of writing a paragraph as directed in our lesson and the above link.

Students: Adult students who are attending a writing course. Students are Hispanic and Asian.
English language level: Intermediate Adult ESL classroom
Lesson: 1 hour and thirty minutes lesson
Class location environment: The class will take place in a computer lab where students have access to a computer to make their entries. This lesson will follow a writing course lesson where we learn how to write sentences to create a paragraph and what the topic of the paragraph could be. In this writing course and lesson we focus on the process of writing rather than the end result.

How will I use this to meet my instructional purpose?
This activity meets the objective of this lesson which is to learn the process of writing by following all the steps: brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. This is an intermediate writing activity where students are asked to follow a process in order to write simple sentences to describe a something that is familiar to them. The main focus of this lesson is the steps of creating a paragraph.

Why is this application and format appropriate for the lesson you plan to create (e.g., level of authenticity, relevance to target language, register, accuracy, interest level, and motivation)?
This is an activity in which students know the topic (their favorite city) and they are willing to share their information and ideas with the class. They are interested to hear and get to know their classmates and share their ideas with them. So I think this activity will motivate them to do so and share their script with their classmates.

What handouts or directions will you provide students to focus learning and adapt this resource for your instructional resources?
I will provide students with a handout which lisst all the adjective we learned in a previous class which they can use to describe their city, instructions on how to form a paragraph (this is already taught in a prior class extensively), and a graphic organizer such as this one: http://www.teachervision.fen.com/tv/printables/TCR/0743932080_007.pdf which they can use to brainstorm as their first step of the process.

What are the potential problems, either language based or technical that you may need to troubleshoot or prepare for?
The process of writing requires gathering, organizing and clarifying thoughts. Some students may have difficulty starting and this is why I will provide them with some prompts to choose. I will also provide them with the steps to follow as well as access to a dictionary (see links above). Some students may need direct instruction on the mechanics of writing and I will be there to assist them. As far as the technical problems they might have, I will demonstrate how to access the links and how to sign in to the blog in order to begin this activity.

Lesson/Review 1: Intergrating websites

Lesson for students: Reading Lesson: HolidayTraffic

Follow these directions to complete this assignment:
1) Read the article on Holiday Traffic.
2) Click "Listen" and listen to the text.
3) Click "Next" and the click on "New word" until all the new vocabulary words words are presented. 4) Then click on "Next" and spell each word.
5) Then click on "Next" and complete the 'Pick an answer' section (10 sentences).
6) Click on "see my score" to see how you did.
7) Click "Next" and complete the 'What did you learn' section (5 questions).
8) Click "Next" and write 2-3 sentences on what you learned about the story.

Click here to get to the site:
http://www.cdlponline.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=activity1&topicID=10&storyID=58

Students: Adult learners in Adult Basic Education (ABE) program in our local Community Education. The students are from Moldova, Laos, Mexico, and Bulgaria.
English Language Level: Intermediate ESL
Lesson: 1 hour in the computer lab
Class Location Environment: This class will take place in the computer lab of the Community Education Center. Each student will have access to his/her own computer to complete the assignment. The students will have to follow the instructions on how to access the blog and they will follow the directions in it to complete the assignment.

What is the instructional purpose?
This is a reading, comprehension, and writing lesson followed by some activities to build their comprehension and writing skills.
This lesson will be used as a follow up activity to a lesson regarding vacations and what means of transportation are available to use for vacation.

How will you use this website to meet your instructional goals?
I will introduce the new vocabulary words before they read the text and provide them on a hand out. We will review them before they all proceed to the website.
I like the option of listening to the text so thay can pay attention to their pronunciation.

What handouts will I create?
I will provide handouts with the website URL, the directions which are on this blog so they remember to stay on task, and lastly I will ask them to hand in the 2-3 sentences they wrote of the story to me which is the last part of their online activity.

What are the potential problems students might encounter in using the website?
Even though they are all familiar with computers, they might find it difficult to navigate between pages. Therefore, I will demonstrate how to switch from one page to another and what steps they need to take, as well as include this information in the handout provided for the lesson.

Introduction

Hi everyone,
My name is Rallou and I taught adult ESL in Community Education in our local school district for 5 years. This last year I taught ESL in one of the local elementary schools. The students were in 3rd, 4th and 5th grades. I helped them with homework, reading and math.