Week 3 Learning by doing

Week 3 started with lot of reading but ended with lot of interesting tasks by which I feel I’m ‘learning by doing’ (just like Joanna whose project report I read).

This week three interesting articles were given as reading materials. The first “Developing Listening Skills with Authentic Materials” by Lindsay Miller points out the importance of using authentic materials for language learners and delineate pre-listening, while-listening and post-listening tasks from various authentic sources like radio, TV/video and internet. A strategy to show theory in practice. The second article “New Perspectives in Teaching Pronunciation” by Maria Grazia Busa focused on the use of CALL applications to teach pronunciation in a stress-free environment with instant feedback. With the change of time to attain intelligible pronunciation became more important than to adopt a native-like accent. New tools are available to teach pronunciation and prosody, like a program ‘Praat’ for speech analysis, which help to visualize and compare speech utterances. The third article “The Employment of CALL in Teaching Second/Foreign Language Speaking Skills” by Julia Gong introduces software like SLIM, CU-SeeMe where learners are comfortable to talk in a computerized simulated environment. Assessment is objective. Learners can work at their pace. Nonetheless, CALL materials are costly and it provides a virtual environment, and should not replace actual human contact in learning a language.

Based on the reading materials I browsed several sites which chalked out classroom activity plan for listening, speaking and pronunciation practice. Then to some more sites from which I picked specific activity and described how to implement that in a class. The Nicenet discussion threads were rich with links and suggestions from my e-colleagues and guest moderator Deborah. Moreover, I joined in Delicious and added links that I need for my professional use. This is an easily accessible storage of all the useful links. Something I didn't know before! As the second step towards the project task I analyzed Joanna Zubel’s project report.

I learnt new theory and about new tools in practice in teaching English. In my context implementing all is not possible but a few may easily be adapted (using radio, TV/movie and internet sources with proper support). My students in Bangladesh might do great just being introduced to certain sites where they can learn and grow on their own. Analyzing the project report gave me an understanding of what kind of work I might have to do and familiarized me with the steps.

What I particularly feel about the course now – I do not have to force myself for doing the tasks rather I feel interested in undertaking them. Do the others feel this way too? I think this is not happening just because I’m an adult responsible learner but also because of the precise way the whole course is designed taking us step by step onto the final destination by instilling confidence in us. Thank you Courtney! Thank you UO AEI!