Recollections from Week 4

Hello dear All!

Week Four of the program is almost done, and we are almost done half. This week experience Eid days. And I wish all my friends and colleagues and concerned "Happiest Eid". I drove my home village, some 600 kilometers away from the city of my working. I travel there almost twice a year. Though it is very hot here these days, but mixing with my people and moreover, it is dates season (date fruit, I am talking please) here. The hundreds and thousands of date trees holding the yellow garlands of date fruit, make an exceptional scene. Eating one ripe date fills your mouth with fresh honey-sweet juice.

Enthralled as I am, among relatives and dates, I forget almost all the assignments. Oooooops!! How annoying it is to separate from the friends and sit with the laptop!

Anyway, fourth week was the most testing, for me especially, despite the fact that it provided with much reading material and ideas. Let's start with the article, "weaving the web into an EAP Reading Program makes an insightful reading. 

The words that resound in my memory include: "As we enter the new millennium, there are two realities that few people would contest. The first is that English is an essential world language today. The second is that the Internet is here to stay. "Thus the moral lesson of the story is: internet and ELT are interrelated and interdependent in this digital age. Internet competence is the prerequisite for ELT practitioner, as much important as communicative competence. Moreover, Internet is a treasure house of many wonderful and useful language activities to be employed for motivated and entertaining language learning.

 The other article "Process Writing and the Internet: Blogs and Ning Networks in the Classroom." emphasizes the importance and effectiveness of tech tools like, blog, Ning, http://wordpress.com  for effective pedagogy, particularly for teaching writing argumentative essays, opens the doors for essay teaching , using tech tools .

 The article, "Tips and Advice from the Web skills Team: writing a Technology Enhanced Lesson Plan" is more about warning to select tech tools in pedagogy than using them.

The fourth week apart from reading articles provided an opportunity to browse some useful webs like,

 http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/GRAMMAR/intros.htm
 http://homeworktips.about.com/od/paperassignments/a/introsentence.htm

http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/cill/eap/essayintrotype.htm
www.writingcentre.ubc.ca/workshop/tools/intro_p.htm

The most useful and practical teaching tools for immediate use was the Template for Technology Enhanced Lesson Plan. It provides with highly workable lesson plan format, with clear instruction and user-friendly format. 
Ali
Pakistan