webquest

Our Class 2007 Webquest

A WebQuest for Full Time 3-4

Introduction

After 4 weeks in the computer room, you have created a blog and you have used the class blog, Our Class 2007, to improve your English. They say the best way of learning something is to teach it. Would you be able to teach someone about blogs, podcasts and wikis to improve their English skills?

Task

Write a post in your blog that describes how to use blogs, podcasts and wikis to improve English in the 4 skills: reading, writing, listening & speaking.

You can use the structure of a report or information text. These are texts that describe facts. You can have a look here for the structure and linguistic (language) characteristics of a report or factual description before you start writing your final report. But first keep reading.

Process

Search Our Class 2007, especially the last 4 weeks. Find specific examples of how anyone can improve their grammar, vocabulary, reading, writing, listening and speaking by using the class blogs, student blogs, wikis, etc. You may have to do a google (or sensei, altavista, Ask, etc) search for a couple of questions. That is part of learning on the Internet.

To help you structure your explanation and get examples answer these questions:

1. What is a blog? Who writes blogs in our class?
   
2. What is a podcast? What is Patricia's surname? What does Patricia say is a good idea for ESL students? How many times was Andrew's house checked in Thailand before he could adopt? Who records the radio programs in Let's Talk? What is the latest radio program about in Let's Talk? What other titles can you see? Who interviews people for Sydney's People Podcast? What topics are there?
   
3. What is a wiki? How many colleges are involved in our class wiki? What can we do in the wiki?
   
4. What is a forum? How many topics have we discussed in our forum? How many people have participated in our forum?
   
5. What is Voicethread? What can you do with it? Where is the koala in a Sydney building? What is the name of the student who found the koala? Who has said this: Be careful when you see them (kookaburras), They're not scared of anything?
   
6. What is Walk, Run, Swim?
7. What is the meaning of damper, Adam's Ale, fag & fair go?
8. What topics cause disagreement between couples? What deadly disease is related to arguments between couples?
9. What is 348 metres high, 3.6 kilometres long and 1.9 kilometres wide?
10. Complete these sentences with the right article: cars use a lot of petrol. (General)
    people next door are very friendly. (Specific - people next door)
11. The monitor of the computer should be The monitor should be .
    a. at elbow level
    b. at eye level
    c. clean
12. What is the name of this in a computer screen?

Conclusion

Write a report that describes different ways of improving your English by using the Internet and different online tools. Give examples with links, pictures, podcasts, videos, etc.

Evaluation

Check this rubric that I will use to evaluate your blogging work. You can print it and take it home to try and achieve the highest level of performance by the end of this course.