Readings week 5

From CREATING STANDARDS-BASED ACTIVITIES INTEGRATING AUTHENTIC MATERIALS FROM THE WWW

I am not pursuing the license for ESL but I know a bit about the 5 cs and I think they bring a sense of compliteness to the classroom. I have lesson planned with the 5 cs in mind and I agree with this article about the great tie between the Comparisons and the Culture goals. The Communities goal is the most difficult to achieve, after the Connections because they ask for going out of the classroom. Not all schools are lucky enough to go on a field trip, or to choose the best match to go on a field trip; some classroom teachers still don't see the benefits of joining efforts and work together with other colleagues. 

Finally most classrooms are getting better at Communication, so the worry relies on having teachers bear in mind the 5 cs when lesson planning, besides addressing the three modes of the Communication standars: interpretative, interpersonal and presentational. It is just a fact of getting into the habit of this new lesson planning, the rest will come.

Next I will list key ideas I found in this chapter as well as in INTEGRATING INTERNET-BASED READING MATERIALS INTO THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE CURRICULUM.

- Safe sources of authentic materials are government pages and non governmental organizations, educational institutions, and museums web pages.

- Kinds of authentic materials may be online driving test preparation, maps, automobile travel planning, air or train schedules, etc.

- Online media such as newspapers, magazies, radio and television are also of great help. 

- Reading and writing are the best suited skills to the web. 

- Some limitations of working with internet are problems on interactivity and bandwidth, plus the confusion feature of using hyper links.

- Always include a presentation of an end product.

- If a print out of an Internet-based resource can be made and used in classroom, sending students only may not be the best instructional practice.

Interesting quotes:

- "The materials found on the internet should not determine the content or goals of the course".

- "The strategy is to have students write about what they read".

- "The learners need to have a minimal functional proficiency that allows them to explore an open-ended environment as the internet without the intervention of an instructor". 

- "The objective of foreign language learning should be to teach students how to read critically on their own, especially with the Internet".

- "The pre-screening and selection process of the Internet sites may constitute the most time-consuming part".