Integrating Technology in ESL Writing

Our world has slowly been taken over by technology; through the use of technology, everything would seem to turn out better and more interesting. Same goes for teaching, teachers who integrate technology in their teaching will definitely make their lesson much more interesting and effective.

Integrating technology in ESL writing brings many benefits to both students and teachers. Technology, or the Internet to be exact, increases the access to the many resources of teaching. By using different online tools to teach writing, teachers are able to attract the attention of students as technology offers a wide range of ways to teach. Teachers are able to choose from the ample online teaching tools to teach their students. This not only attracts the attention of students; it also allows the teacher to increase their skills in technology. In addition, students are able to understand better when the teachers use suitable tools. For instance, when students are asked to write a narrative essay, videos or pictures can be shown to allow the students to have more understanding on what they have to write about. Visual aids also help to enhance one’s creativity.

An example of integrating technology in ESL writing is by using an electronic portfolio, also known as an e-portfolio. An e-portfolio is a collection of work where one uses the Internet to help him or her organise, archive and display his or her work. This is a great tool as students are able to have their own “space” to express themselves creatively. Teachers are also able to assess the students’ e-portfolio easily. Students will also be able to view their peers’ e-portfolio to exchange ideas and give opinions. Through this, students are able to encourage one another and this is able to increase one’s confidence in writing.

I have to say, having been shown the slides presented by my course mates, I was very fascinated and impressed with all the online tools one’s able to use to teach writing. My group presented on online and offline teaching writing tools; and as we were preparing our presentation, we found many of online tools that we can use to teach. It was then when I realised I did not know as much as I needed to about using technology to teach. There are so many other tools besides Blogger, Facebook and Tumblr, and this has motivated me to search for more useful tools to be used in the future. Integrating technology in ESL writing is definitely a good idea.

Inside the Haiti Earthquake

We were introduced to this online game called “Inside the Haiti Earthquake” by Miss Yoon and I must say, this is one interesting game. It was a heart wrenching game too. I have to admit, I never really followed the news when the Haiti earthquake occurred, all I knew was they experienced a major natural disaster and many people were affected. I didn’t really know how Haiti looked like after the disaster, how it felt like being one of the survivors, how everything was like, until I played this game.

They offered three characters to choose from, a journalist, a survivor and an aid worker. I played the game three times as I wanted to know how it felt like being each of them. The footages shown were so surreal and difficult for me to comprehend as I felt the pain of seeing so many people being affected by the disaster. It really allowed you to picture yourself in their position, to see what they see, to hear what they hear, and to feel what they feel. I liked that I was allowed to make my own choices in the game. Also, I liked how they also included footages of people singing and praising God despite what happened. This game is definitely something I would recommend people to play. By committing to the various strategies, we experience the consequences from our choices.

I would definitely use this game to conduct a writing lesson. There are two ways in which I would use, the first would be writing a narrative essay. Students will be asked to play the game and note down whatever they have experienced in the game. Then, I would ask the students to write a narrative essay out of the points they have noted. Students are required to write the essay in 200 words, with titles, "As A Survivor During the Haiti Earthquake", "As A Journalist During the Haiti Earthquake" and "As An Aid Worker During the Haiti Earthquake".

Another activity would be: Students will be asked to play the game and later, write down their thoughts on the game. Students are required to write a passage in not less than 100 words.

One thing I recommend while playing this game? A good Internet connection.

A Scary Experience?

The essay given by Miss Yoon to be marked was quite a challenge. After reading it a couple of times, I finally understood the whole essay written. I realised the errors that the student made was mainly failure to express himself/herself in proper English and grammatical errors. I felt that the student wasn't able to express himself/herself well in proper English as most of the sentences were directly translated from Mandarin to English. The student’s grammar errors were mainly on past and present tenses. I give credits for a good story where you can actually see the plot of the story that consisted of introduction, rising action, climax, falling action and conclusion.

The method I'd use would be written comments. This is because not only does his/her essay follow the format of a common story writing plot, it is also not hard to understand. By circling the grammar errors and underlining the unclear sentences, the student would be able to understand where he/she made a mistake. I would also try using the method on talking to the writer about the errors he/she made as it might be easier for me to explain what to do and what not to do in the future. But this may take up a lot of time as there are other student’s essays to tend to.

Peer editing would definitely be a good way for students to improve on his/her writing. I would encourage students to come together in a group to help edit one another’s essay. Through this, students are not only able to identify mistakes and errors, they will be able to improve themselves while helping edit others' essay.

As for the follow-up activity, I would provide some activities on forming simple sentences in a specific structure so that he/she will be able to produce better sentences in the future rather than a sentence translated from Mandarin to English. Besides that, I would also provide activities like changing sentences from present tense to past tense to improve his/her grammar.

I Give You... A TEN!

We were asked to assess the essay written by Miss Yoon's China student in this activity. Our group decided on giving him/her 10 marks-which is halved of the full mark- as he/she came out with quite a good essay. The essay written was appropriate and its language and context were modest. However, there are some inaccuracies, for instance the usage of vocabulary. Though the student's vocabulary is fairly well, the student was unable to use the right vocabulary in expressing himself.

Although this essay has many mistakes, but it is a good essay in general. It has a clear flow in the story line and has a modest command of the language. We give it a 10! :)

Are you HOTS enough? :)

I’ve come out with an activity that integrates the level of evaluating.

One day, you and your friends decided to hike up Mount Brinchang. Unfortunately, you all lost your way and it was getting dark. Your friends decided to rest at an open area for a night because it is no use to walk in the dark. All of you were hungry and tired but had no food supply or a tent to rest in. What would you do? Would you continue the journey in finding the right way back, or would you decide to stay at the open area and wait for it to be bright again? Decide on what would you do and later write a short narrative essay on your adventure in finding your way back. Your essay should be in not less than 200 words.

Global Warming?

Good video for teaching about global warming?

Dumb Ways To Die

This is cute.. :)