Final Project

Our final project has been finished. However, since there is a memory quota, one of our powerpoints and two video clips can't be uploaded.

Here is the website:
https://eportal.cityu.edu.hk/bbcswebdav/courses/02EN6482/Group%207/Final%20version/Index.html

Reflection (Week 12)

Although computer-based testing can reduce some of the marking workload of teachers, I quite agree with the article that it has its own drawbacks. First, it needs the students possess contain level of computer literacy or it may affect their actual performance. They need to know how to use the mouse, keyboard and even how to move to and fro through screens. For a primary students, all these tasks may not be so easy as for an adult. Besides, there are altogether four main learning areas of English. They are listening, reading, speaking and writing Although there are lots of computer-based test designed for the former two areas, the latter two cannot be easily tested by using computer systems.

Since our technology improves quickly, I think one day all these tests, including all those four areas, can be designed better and be welcomed by all the teachers.

Reflection (Week 11)

After reading the article, I just think about the real situation of my daily teaching. In fact, there is an e-class system in my school. It has lots of functions. For example, teachers can put the teaching resources on the web and let the students or parents to download at home. It can show our school announcement. Teachers can share teaching aids, resources and test questions with each other. Teachers can give on-line exercises to the students. Students can share their work on the web. There is also an e-mail system and online voting system.

Although the intranet system seems to have lots of functions, we seldom use this system. The only function we use is to upload those worksheet and exercises and let the students' parents download at home. However, why don't we use this system? It is because both the teachers and the students lack enough IT knowledge to use this system. Teachers do not want to learn since they can solve all the above problems by giving hard copies, such as test papers and exercises to their students. And since not all of our students have computers at home, giving online exercises may also cause another problem which is they can not do their homework at home.

My Reflection (Week 9)

Nowadays, teacher likes to bring some IT elements in the classroom. For the publishers, in order to release some of teachers' burden for preparing the teaching aids, they always publish some teaching box sets. In these sets, there are some useful e-books. I love to use them in my class. They can be used to arouse the students' learning interest. Since they contain cute animations and songs, they can draw my students' attenion easily. This kind of e-books usually also go along with the students' textbooks. Students can use them to listen to the texts and songs at home. They can also play some educational games as consolidation. I think as a teacher today, we can just stick to the textbooks. What we have to do is to upgrade our IT knowledge and to help our students learn in a happier atmosphere.

My Reflection (Week 8) Copyright Ordinance

Every teacher needs to prepare materials and exercises for his / her students. Many of them may use those published workbooks or textbooks as references. However, when they use these references, how many of them know the details of the Copyright Ordinance? As a teacher, this is also the first time for me to read through this Ordinance.

After reading through this Ordinance, I found that there is still some unclear areas, especially about the term “fair dealing’. For instance, students are permitted to copy a “small portion’ of a copyright work. However, to what extent does this “small portion” mean? Teachers can include a “short” clip of a film for illustration in his teaching presentation. But, the word “short” seems to be quite abstract. I think a concrete proportion is necessary. Or when teachers or students use some copyright works in their teaching or learning, they may be worry about the matter of copyright.

My Reflection (Week 6) - Theory-Driven Call & The Development Process

In this article, it talks about the development processes of the CALL materials. Different CALL materials have different points of departure. Some CALL materials are built on a specific language problem while many of them are driven directly by a particular theory.

From my point of view, CALL materials should not only use a particular theory as the point of departure. The authors of the CALL materials, however, should consider more about the needs of the learners, especially in Hong Kong. It is because the educational system is totally different between Hong Kong and the western countries. Therefore, the needs between the learners are also different. I always find that many CALL materials are in fact not suitable for the students in Hong Kong. They may be developed based on particular theories which does not really fit the examination oriented educational system of Hong Kong. Therefore, when I am choosing the CALL materials, I rather pick those materials which focus on drilling and practising ones which at least I think they can help my students tackle those important public examinations.

My reflection (Week 5) - Language Learner Behaviour in a Virtual Environment

This article claims that people normally act differently in a virtual environment comparing with face-to face situation. A virtual learning environment may help the students, who are shy and passive in class, to learn under a more relaxing atmosphere. I agree with this view point. In fact, in my class, there are also some shy and quiet students. They seldom express their opinions and answer the questions even they are asked. When they discuss with their group members (in English), they rarely voice out their own ideas. However, some of these students are very talkative when they speaks in Cantonese. I think why they react in this way simply because they feel frightened when using English which is not their mothertongue. They are afraid that they would make grammatical mistakes and will be laughed at by their classmates. Therefore, they may feel under a great pressure when they need to speak English in class.

In my opinion, learning in a virtual environment may help this kind of students. They don't need to give instant responses to the questions and the illusion of anonymity may also help them release part of the pressure. When they get a positive response, they can also build up their confidence. It may help them adapt their learning in class eventually.