Merav’s Final Project

Computer Applications in the EFL Classroom

 

Project 2:

1. An Introduction  - the class:

 

Grade: 6th.

 

Level: Elementary school pupils.

 

There are 26 students in the class; 18 girls and 8 boys.

I teach at the “Gilo Gimmel” school.

Most of the students come from low socio economic condition, some of the children don’t have computers at home and some of them are not motivated to learn English.

There used to be disciplines problems, but now, the students are familiar with the behavior rules in class.

I use “a behavior modification” program: each student has a “smiley card” and when he succeeds in an assignment, he gets a sticker to put on this card, when he earns 10 stickers he gets a small prize from me – it works! 

 

2. Goals and topics:

Improve pronunciation, reading, writing, listening and Comprehension skills according to the curriculum:

Domains: Standards, Levels of Progression, Benchmarks and Criteria

Standards for Each Domain

Domain

S t a n d a r d

Social
Interaction

Pupils interact effectively in English, orally and in writing, in varied social contexts with people from varied linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

Access to
Information

Pupils access information in English, from oral and written texts, from a variety of sources and media, making use of that information for a variety of purposes.

Presentation

Pupils present information and ideas in an organized and planned manner in a variety of formats, in both spoken and written English, on a wide range of topics.

Appreciation of
Literature and
Culture, and Language

Pupils appreciate literature that is written in English and through it develop sensitivity to a variety of cultures.
Pupils appreciate the nature of language and the differences between English and other languages

 

3. Benchmarks:

 

In this class, I worked intensively on reading comprehension skills, improving vocabulary and understanding the sentence structure and the parts of speech in English (domain: Appreciation of Literature and Culture, and Language). Now it is much easier to deal with the other domains: Social Interaction, Access to Information and Presentation. I feel that the students are ready and have self-confidence and basic knowledge in this language!

 

·        By the end of the year students will increase their vocabulary.

·        They will be familiar with variety of instructions and useful sentences.

·        The Students will improve their reading abilities as well being able to deal with reading comprehension skills and developing reading strategies.

·        They will be exposed to literature in English.

·        They will be aware to the English tenses such as:

·        Present simple, present progressive, past simple and future and the sentence structures and the properties of each tense.

·        Students will be able to prepare dialogs and interact in English, improve conversation skills and, hopefully, will be able to present information and ideas in an organized and planned manner in several formats, in both spoken and written English, on a wide range of topics.

 

The projects!

                                  

PROJECT`S

NAME

SHORT

EXPLANATION

WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS PROJECT?

 

DOMAIN

 

TARGETED BENCHMARKS

 

Road Safety

 

Address:

 

http://www.amit.org.il
/learning/english/RoadSafety/index.htm

In the following link you will read stories about car accidents in which the drivers tell how their accident happens.

A main topic from every day life can deal with reading and understanding skills.

Easy reading, authentic and close to the child's world

Access to
Information

Students will improve their vocabulary and reading comprehension skills

Word order - a game

 

Address:

 

http://www.etni.org.il/elementary
/sites/wordorder.htm

Kids will love this noisy monkey game. They have to correctly arrange words into sentences to help the monkey build bridges and reach the rain Forest. The monkey collects bananas and performs tricks.

This is a fun way to understand the sentences structure. Students are likely to compare English to Hebrew. This project helps avoid language comparison problems

Appreciation of
Literature,
Culture, and Language

Sentences structure

reading skills

 

Address:

 

http://www.kimskorner4teachertalk.com/
readingliterature/readingstrategies/menu.htm
   

This project exposes us to some useful reading strategies.

This is a great tool that helps to improve reading.

Appreciation of
Literature and
Culture, and Language

Reading strategies, increasing vocabulary.

Speaking and listening

 

Address:

 

http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Dialogs/

 

Students can listen to a wide range of situations, and then, they can act and try to speak properly.

This is a creative and an authentic way to improve speaking and conversation skills.


Social
Interaction,

Presentation

Dialogs and interaction in English, Improving conversation skills.

Increasing vocabulary

Grammar

 

Address:

 

http://www.englishpage.com
/verbpage/verbs1.htm

Verb Tenses Tutorial

Simple Present / Present Continuous

In this site you can practice tense structures through exercises and self checking (much nicer than an ordinary worksheet!)

Appreciation of
Literature and
Culture, and Language

Present simple, present progressive, sentence structure and the properties of each tense.

 

Stories in English

 

Address:

 

http://www.englishclub.com/young-learners/index.htm

Read cute stories and answer questions.

Suitable for the variety of levels among the students:

Beginner,

lower intermediate and

intermediate.

Build self-confidence using English.

Access to
Information

Reading comprehensions skills and achieving reading strategies.

Students will be exposed to literature in English.

Increasing vocabulary.

Parts of Speech

 

Address:

 

http://www.englishclub.com
/grammar/parts-of-speech.htm

English Parts of Speech are very critical for ESL learners.

This project takes the students, step by step, towards the understanding of English sentences structure.

 

 

I have found that English Parts of Speech are very critical for ESL learners because they are not fluent with the Hebrew parts of speech.

This project takes the students, step by step, towards the understanding of English sentences structures.

Appreciation of Literature
Culture, and Language.

Sentences structure


Grammar awareness

vocabulary-adjectives

 

Address:

 

http://iteslj.org/v/ei/adjectives1.html

Adjectives-look at the picture and match the correct adjective!

Adjectives are great words for upgrading your abilities in writing.

After dealing with basic  sentence structures, the students can improve their vocabulary.

Presentation

Increasing vocabulary

discussions

 

Address:

 

http://www.eslpartyland.com
/students/inter.htm

 

Discussion forums for students on a variety of topics.

Dating and Relationships, Extreme Sports, Learning Languages, Movies Music

Are some of the topics that are available. 

This project is authentic and close to the children’s world.

Social
Interaction

Dialogs and interactions in English, Improve reading and conversation skills. 

reading and writing skills with humor!

 

Address:

 

http://www.aitech.ac.jp
/~iteslj/c/jokes.html

 

 

A variety of jokes on a wide range of topics. Students can read jokes or add their own jokes.

Teachers often use jokes in the ESL/EFL classroom to teach culture, grammar and vocabulary.

Adding humor is a creative way to receive students’ attention!!!

Appreciation of
Literature and
Culture, and Language

Increasing vocabulary.

Dialogs and interactions in English, Improving reading conversation skills.