The role of WeQuests in learning a foreign/second language?

We can define Webquest as “an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all of the information that learners work with comes from the Web”. Webquest is an interesting and very beneficial way of learning. It is learning by doing! The old way of teacher only speaking and students have no choice but to listen has many disadvantages. But with webquest students can experience something new and fun!

The advantages of using Webquest are integrating technology into the curriculum, an interesting way of learning, and making students more autonomous. The teachers should design attractive Webquest that is suitable to the students and to their level or choice of an an already-made webquest for the students. The students, on other hand are suppose to do most of their works on webquest by their own such as accomplish various activities and tasks and they will work in groups to accomplish their works on Webquest. The class will be informal because the students will work on their computers to do their work. Moreover, the critical thinking aspect of Webquests that is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information.
In addition, Webquests are inquiry-oriented, group-work centered and promote collaboration when students learn how to collaborate with their classmates, with students in other classrooms, or with students halfway around the world. They can also contact area experts by using e-mail, the Internet, and video conferencing.
Furthermore project-based learning is one of educational approach which recommend the use of Webquests, because It allows students to choose, it also involve higher order thinking skills and selected Internet sources. It makes students responsible for their own learning and the teacher considers as a facilitator.

Finally, As a future EFL teacher I will use the webquest as a tool in language learning activities because it help the students to explore issues, solve problems and collaborate with their peers. Also, it considered as the best way to improve students' critical thinking in collaborative learning environment.

Evaluating Lanternfish website.

One of the websites dedicated to ESL and TEFL is LANTERNFISH, http://bogglesworldesl.com/. The website was created by Chris Gunn; who’s a web and materials designer currently teaching at a university in Korea, Stephen Gordon; an editor and a content creator specialized in business English resource materials and currently teaching at a university in Korea, Cam Lirette; an editor and content creator currently teaching at a university in Korea, and Thomas Lavelle; a writer and content director currently teaching at a university in the United States. The website and its content is maintained and created by a group of ESL teachers in Asia and North America. They do offer contact information for users to email them and ask questions and content contact and the content is owned by the website and it prohibits anyone from redistributing them electronically or otherwise.

LANTERNFISH’s aim is to bring free printable ESL material resources to teachers and parents for educational usage. The website offers advertisement that is very distracting and annoying. The website’s content does not expand the imagination or the experience of the user, but it does not promote any bias to gender, race, religion, etc.

The website’s design and information is very confusing and it’s difficult to find specific materials, you need to choose an activity to access the glossary from it which is a hassle and there is no search bar to quickly access material. The text’s font differs and not spaced appropriately, the graphics are not distracting but the whole website feels outdated. The topics and links have the same color which is very confusing and not appealing to young people or children, but the website does load very quickly without any problems and does not require any plug-ins and users do not have to pay any type of fee or offer any personal information.

The website’s title is not appropriate to its purpose, and its content is not easy to read because it’s all blue and feels like it’s melting together. The website includes a good amount of materials that makes visiting it worthwhile, but the content is not presented in an attractive way and there is no search tool to help users find topics easily. Some aspects of the website are updated and some aren’t but the spelling and grammar are correct. Links to more information are not provided and the graphics are related but outdated. The websites is dedicated to ESL but there are Spanish and French exercises which aren't relevant to the intended audience, the skills required to use the site’s features and structure aren't easy and a bit challenging, but the viewpoint presented is comprehensible. The content is educational and appropriate for all ages.

The website offers a huge diverse content material for all ages and levels and their needs, but it isn't interactive or engaging and there isn't one book that can include all the content on the website to be compared to.

Do teachers need to create web-based language activities for EFL students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia? Why and why not?

Teachers should create their own interactive language learning activities on the web because it allows them to tailor the activities to suit their own courses and students and a whole lot of other advantages, like:
1-Accessibility to the material on the web 24/7 and updates can be done at any time and the students will be notified immediately.
2-The material can be renewed and updated easily and often.
3-Web-based activities can easily be modified to support students at different proficiency levels or with special needs.
4-The teacher will catch the students interest by the web activities since most of the students are digital natives.
5-The teachers know best what will benefit the students and help their development.

Virtual classrooms in EFL teaching

Last week, my classmates and I took a virtual classroom by ms. Peggy Tharpe, the session was called: "How does Arabic influence the pronunciation of English."

The session involved us watching, listening and responding to ms. Peggy's session. The session lasted for almost an hour, it involved two classrooms in my college approximately 15 to 20 students, two teachers and ms. Peggy. In the session ms. Peggy explains why it isn't easy for Arabs to reach the naive-like accent of English speakers, the difference in the phonetic system between Arabic and English, the common pronunciation mistakes and how to fix some of those pronunciation issues.

What I loved about the session was the aids ms. Peggy had, it was very easy to keep up with what she was saying because it was aided by pictures and examples.

Regardless of me liking or disliking virtual classrooms, they have clear advantages and disadvantages. Some of the advantages are: Students develop their language and critical thinking skills, the teacher is available when assistance is needed like in a real classroom, the virtual class is accessible via internet 24/7 for the students, any teacher any where can create a virtual classroom and students every where can access it.

The disadvantages are: The institution does not have enough economy resources in order to implement a virtual classroom, the lack of motivation from students and teachers in the use of technology for the teaching and learning process, some students do not have access to personal computer at home and some teachers do not have the knowledge in how to manage technology resources

After stating all of that, if you'd ask me would I use virtual classrooms in the future. my answer is definitely! Nothing is perfect, and I think that virtual classrooms are the way of the future, technology nowadays is cheap and available worldwide and the resources online are wide.

Wordle in EDU401

Normalization of Baxs in the Saudi Kingdom

Stephen Baxs has suggested changes and means to achieving normalization of CALL in schools, first he stated that computers (of every shape and size) should be used everyday by teachers and language learners as a part of every lesson. Second, learners and teachers should use computers without fear or exaggerated respect. Third, they should not be the center of any lesson but rather a part in almost all. Forth, they should be integrated in all other aspects of a classroom life, alongside coursebooks, notepads, etc, till they almost go unnoticed. And most importantly, CALL will be normalized when computers are treated as always secondary to learning itself, to serve the needs of learning.
Now, to achieve that normalization, Baxs suggested 3 steps:
1- Identify the criteria factors which normalization requires.
2- Audit the practice of each teaching context in the light if these criteria.
3- Adjusting our current practice in each aspect so as to encourage normalization.

The question now is, how can these changes and means be applies to our Saudi context?
Achieving what Baxs has suggested is still far fetched in Saudi Arabia, but I truly believe it's possible because the learners use computers of all shapes and sizes in their everyday life, and that is a huge step to reaching that normalization, the ministry of education only have to integrate it into the context they are teaching at schools, and teachers should be knowledgeable about computers and how they can be integrated into teaching. Hopefully one day computers would be unnoticeable in Saudi classrooms.

Challenges of creating web-based activities in Sally Morrison "Interactive language Learning on the Web".

The major obstacles and difficulties that Sally Morrison first stated that the teachers do not have the technical skill and knowledge to create web-based language learning activities. Second, teachers do not have any time to devote to gaining these new skills. Third, it's difficult to create online activities that involve the variability of students' access to computes because the computers, browsers differ and speed of their internet connection are different. Last, web pages should support students with special needs and making sure they aren't left out.

To me, the major obstacles and difficulties will be the lack of internet connection in Saudi Arabia classrooms. Second, not all schools allow students to use computers or even bring their own.Third, the currents context doesn't allow a lot of web-based activities because it wants the teachers to stick to the syllabus. Forth, most of the current teachers don't like to learn new technical skills, they like to stay in the past. And last, learners might be resistant at first but they will get used to it.