lunes, 2 de abril de 2012

reflections on week 7

The ability to publish freely to the Web means the possibility to broaden the choices to practice the English language with their classmates in and outside the classroom setting. It also brings an opportunity to be creative in terms of what the students may publish and how to publish (e.g. the design of a blog, layout, etc.). Another relevant feature is that they feel free to express their opinions on different subjects without any limit. Indeed, this is a powerful tool that allows thinking in the English language. In the interaction between the author of the blog/teacher and the students a chance is given to improve the use of English in different contexts so that writing is demanded to be employed regarding the topics depicted. In addition to that, the blog can provide pictures and photographs that help to make a relationship between image and text, and videos work as tools that foster listening and speaking skills. Anyway, teachers should be able to manage students’ footprints by working as a manager of the blogs and being able to access information of users so that  teachers know what information is displayed and what relevant information is necessary to have at hand in case students forget them.  As a result of this, the lesson could be carried out without any important problem that could affect the achievement of the aims proposed. In the end, the teacher has to make students responsible on how they work and what information they publish to the Web. In the end, publishing to the Web enables the students and teachers to the use of language through the skills (speaking, writing, listening and reading) , so as learners are exposed to different kind of material that brings about new content, vocabulary and different grammar structures in actual contexts.