Using the Internet as a resource for taskbased learning

1
Using the Internet as a resource for task-based
learning

• Dr. Beata Schmid and Dr. Christopher McCormick
• www.ef.com/teacher

2
Welcome to the lecture

• Listen to the speaker and use the
• buttons to interact.
• saying yes and no
• raising your hand
• laughing and clapping
• text messages
• Questions will be answered during and
• after the talk.

3
Main topics

• What is task-based learning (TBL) and why is it
  useful in language teaching?
• Why should we use the Internet in language
  teaching and specifically for TBL?

4
Outline of presentation

• Warm-up activity
• Description of task-based learning for language
  teaching
• Examples of task-based activities
• The Internet as a resource tool advantages and
  disadvantages
• Sample websites and activities
• Conclusions and Q A

5
Warm-up activity

• Which activity do you think would be more
  motivating for students?
• Read about Sightseeing in London (this is a
  text in your course book) and describe the most
  interesting sites in a one-page summary.
• B. Read about Sightseeing in London (this is a
  text in your course book) and build an itinerary
  for a 2-day sightseeing tour on 50 per day.

6
Description of task-based learning for language
teaching

• Pre-task
• Introduction to task and topic
• Task cycle
• The task itself planning, doing, reporting (in
  writing or by presentation
• to the larger group or to another small group)
• Language Focus
• Analysis additional practice (and teaching if
  necessary)

7
Quotations

• A communicative task is a piece of classroom
  work which involves learners in comprehending,
  manipulating, producing or interacting in the
  target language while their attention is
  primarily focused on meaning rather than form.
  David Nunan
• A task is an activity where the target language
  is used by the learner for a communicative
  purpose (goal) in order to achieve an outcome.
  Jane Willis
• TBL is the use of content to build language
  skills. Unknown

8
The Internet as a resource tool advantages

• Its a motivator
• Its an activator
• Its fun
• Its informative and up to date
• Its convenient and cheap

9
The Internet as a resource tool disadvantages

• Its overwhelmingly vast and confusing
• Its a free-for-all. www.dhmo.org
• Its not always up to date and impartial
• Some parts of the site are often available in
  the students native language as well
• Its an invitation to cut and paste and present
  information as your own (plagiarism)

10
Designing task-based activities

• Are these typical course book activities
  task-based or not?
• ??Locating a list of places on a map of a city
  and pronouncing them
• ??Reading a newspaper article
• ??Reading a movie critique
• ??Listening to a song in class
• ??Doing a role play involving parents and
  teenagers arguing about rules
• ??Answering a questionnaire about which foods
  students like and dislike
• ??Looking at restaurant menus and asking students
  to role play a restaurant situation
• ??Asking students to describe pictures in a
  magazine

11
Designing task-based activities

• When designing task-based Internet activities,
  its important to look
• at real-life uses of the age groups that you
  teach and adapt activities
• in your materials to match the needs of your age
  groups.
• Lets look at these typical activities in terms
  of task-based teaching.

12
Sample activities and websites Budget travel

• Read about the places on the Internet.
• Select 5 places to visit in a day.
• Find a public transportation map. Make sure that
  you can reach the places by public
  transportation.
• Make an itinerary, based on locations.
• Research entry times and prices to the sites you
  have selected.
• Limit the budget for the day.
• Websites
• for the London Underground www.tfl.gov.uk/tube/
• for the Boston T www.mbta.com, etc.

13
Sample activities and websites Current events

• Find articles on topics also found in coursebook
  to develop tasks
• Sample topic Gender differences
• If your course book has a unit on differences
  between males and females, find recent research
  on this topic. In 2005, this was a hot topic in
  the USA for example, when the president of a
  famous university publicly stated that there were
  certain things women could not do as well as men.
  This sparked a debate and lots of articles on how
  women/girls do in the sciences. Hold debates
  based on the research in your own class.
• Sample topic The environment and global warming
• Find materials on the Kyoto Accord, hurricane
  Katrina, or local implications of climate change.
  Have students read the article, and instead of
  just writing a summary, have them write a 3-fold
  pamphlet on the topic, advising people in their
  community (school, town, etc.) what global
  warming is and how it can be prevented and
  concretely in their own community.
• All major newspapers have websites. Just type the
  title of the paper into your search engine.

14
Sample activities and websites Movie critique

• Have students
• Read different current movie critiques from these
  or similar websites
• www.rogerebert.com
• www.mrqe.com/lookup (Movie Review Query Engine)
• www.rottentomatoes.com
• Choose which film they want to see, based on the
  critiques
• Watch the film from the perspective of a film
  critic (optional)
• Discuss the films in groups and compare their
  opinions to the judges of the Academy Awards (the
  Oscars)

15
Sample activities and websites Listening to a
song

• Have students
• Use the content to act out the events or emotions
  
• Rewrite the song from the other persons point of
  view or write a Dear Abby (agony aunt) letter
  from either persons point of view.
• Have students write another ending or come up
  with the history that led to story told in the
  song
• Perform the songs in groups
• Sites
• www.eslpartyland.com/teachers/nov/music.htm
• www.lyrics.com
• www.kissthisguy.com
• Or, type a line from the song into your search
  engine (in quotation marks) and it will find the
  lyrics of the song.

16
Sample activities and websites Role play
(parents, children)

• Role plays are not necessarily task-based. There
  should be an outcome that models the real world.
• Prepare a role play between parents and teens
  where an agreement, such as for new rules, has to
  be reached
• Write a letter to an advice column (My parents
  dont understand me!)
• Sites where teens can request advice or research
  what others are asking
• http//teenadvice.about.com
• www.coolnurse.com
• www.toptenlinks.com/cat.php/FamilyTeensAdvice
• Note Its always a good idea to preview any
  sites you plan use in your classes!

17
Sample activities and websites Market research

• Involve students in researching tastes and
  interests. With data, they can argue for change.
  Find a relevant topic, such as campaigning for
  better food choices at school, and have students
  devise a questionnaire to interview others.
• Formulate the questionnaire with the goal that
  students will petition their cafeteria for
  healthier choices.
• Sites
• The site www.coolnurse.com/dieting_ff.htm has
  information on which foods are best and worst at
  popular fast food restaurants.
• www.coolnurse.com/fab_foods.htm has a list of
  foods that are good for you and why.

18
Sample activities and websites Restaurant role
play

• Many newspapers post restaurant reviews. Have
  students research a location and choose a
  restaurant, based on participants specific food
  requirements (vegetarian, etc.)
• Have students then imagine their visit there and
  act out the relevant scenes of ordering, eating,
  and paying.
• Convince the waiter/manager that you dont want
  to pay for your food because it is bad.
• Sites
• www.fodors.com/reviews
• www.toptable.co.uk

19
Sample activities and websites Advertising
campaigns

• Show students magazine images and have them guess
  which product is being advertised (delete the
  information on the picture).
• Have students formulate which types of ads are
  effective for which types of products and for
  which groups of consumers.
• For advanced students, you can combine with a
  newspaper article on how difficult it is for
  advertisers to figure out what teens like and how
  to reach them. Have students advise an
  advertising company on what would be an effective
  ad for their age group.
• Site www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20050928
  /TZWorksheet.asp links to a synopsis of a TV
  program on advertising for teenagers

20
Conclusions and Q A

• Weve defined and discussed task-based learning
• Weve reviewed and assessed typical coursebook
  activities
• We have also looked at advantages and
  disadvantages of using the web
• Weve adapted traditional activities to make them
  task-based, using the web as a resource for
  authentic information to make them more
  interesting, up-to-date and relevant to our
  learners.
• Q A

21
www.ef.com/teacher