7.8.10

I think that yesterday's topic is one that I felt like I didn't need until I heard it. If someone had asked me if I new how to use the internet as a learning tool, I would have said of course. The fact is though, that it is much more than just asking the students to find material within web pages. What I have to ask myself is "is this activity useful for language learning?" Is it If the answer to all of these is yes then I've at least made the first steps in making the WebQuest useful.
 * 1) specified
 * 2) targeted with specific tasks
 * 3) narrow, and "safe" with limited number of links
 * 4) flexible
 * 5) streamlined and designed with scaffolding in mind

The one idea that I never even thought possible is to do WebQuests without a computer. This of course goes back to having limited web page sources, and then printing out the pages from the web. This might be a great tool, because I will be in an inner-city school in the Memphis City School district and there will be a lot of students who might not have the same resources.

I feel really narrow minded sometimes, in that I never see any original applications to ideas I'm familiar with. The idea of scaffolding is so common to me yet I never thought to apply it to a task like WebQuests and Web projects. Maybe I could have, but I new in the deep, dark, caverns of my mind that it would take a little more effort and time on my part, and therefore I allowed it to remain hidden there. What suprises me is that is such a great way to apply tasks to a language class and make the tasks more effective as learning tools. Unfortunately, I know how useful it is now, so now I have to put in the __time__ to make it work in my classes.

The lecture on games was not what I had expected, but I'm happy it wasn't. To me, it was the most useful lecture we've had, for getting studnets into our classes and getting them motivated. It will also be great to use when talking to parents, who think that studying Japanese is just a phase their "manga/ game nerd" child is going through. I also loved the idea of using RPGs in the class, and I'm excited to go to the web page he told us about and try to create my own so that I can start using it with my kids.

One question/ observation though. I believe that the way we are learning to teach (task based, applying the "National Standards) is going to be the most effective! But...... I was very intrigued when I sat down and thought about this fact. As of yet, yesterday's speaker was one of the most skillfull non-native speakers I've ever heard. He has test scores and success as a student to prove his other abilities. Yet when he told us how he learned, it seemed completely opposite from the techniques we are learning and from the way I learned. Also, when listening to the few friends I have who have passed either level one or level two prof tests, they all say that one of the most useful tools was the prof test study guide, which is non-tasked based and purely grammatical. I know there are an infinite number of factors to account for, but...I just found this idea intriguing.