The Internet and Multimedia
Multimedia and the Internet
A short course full of practical ideas, useful information and ready to use activities for English language teachers.
By Paul Hullock & Sharon Whittaker
© All materials are copyright and may only be used with the permission of the authors
Contents
Chapter 1- Microsoft Word Page 4
Part 1
An introduction
The advantages and disadvantages of using the word processor
Evaluating word processing activities
Part 2
Some lesson ideas and plans
1. Personal information - A biography
2. A Running Dictation
3. One story from three - A journey
4. A boring story
5. The beginning of a story
6. Punctuation
7. Arranging paragraphs and working with linking words
8. Changing the protagonist in a story
9. The Londoner – Repetition and text development
10. Story expansion – Billy’s Cat
Part 3
A. Other features of Word
1. Spellchecker and grammar check
2. Track changes
3. Comments
4. Text effects
5. Using bookmarks and hyperlinks
B. Working with images in Word
1. ClipArt and ClipArt Online
2. WordArt
3. Drawing tools
4. Copying into Word from the Internet & CD-ROMS
Chapter 2 – PowerPoint Page 37
1. PowerPoint - the basics
2. Talking books
PowerPoint tutorials and tips
Chapter 3 - The Internet - An Overview Page 49
Searching
Search engine quiz
Methodology
Chapter 4 - The Internet - Creating content Page 65
An introduction
Creating a website in Word - Tutorial
Creating a website in FrontPage Express – Tutorial
Chapter 5 - The Internet - The Internet as a means of communication Page 83
Communicating on the Internet
Chapter 6 - The Internet - The web as a tool for instruction Page 90
Lesson ideas and plans
Free language resources on the net
Vocabulary on the net
Dictionaries and concordancing
Teacher development on the net
Webquests
Games, relaxation and intriguing sites on the net
Chapter 7 - The Internet - The Internet and web authoring as an online learning tool Page 132
Authorable software
Hot Potatoes Tutorials
Chapter 8 Software - A guide to commercially available software Page 148
Chapter 9 Page 153
Booklist
Chapter 10 Page 157
Sites to use with young learners
Chapter 1- Microsoft Word
Part 1
The advantages and disadvantages of using the word processor
Evaluating word processing activities
The advantages and disadvantages of using a Word Processor in the English language classroom
Advantages
Authenticity. Word Processing is a tool from the real world
Word Processing is a transferable skill. The student is learning a skill, not just English.
Students can simultaneously practise and improve their WP skills as well as their English.
Students who have a problem with English script are not disadvantaged or embarrassed by their written work.
Enjoyment.
Variety.
Cross-curricular activities.
It’s easier to spot mistakes on the screen.
Spellcheckers and grammar correction tools are available.
Presentation and pride. Students can easily produce a very professional looking document.
Most teachers and students are familiar with the WP.
Can help to improve writing and reading skills as well as spelling.
Word’s extra tools (Track changes and so on.)
Disadvantages
How much does the teacher need to know about the WP software?
WP activities are always limited by the fact that they are text based.
Technophobia. Some people do not like computers.
The instructions may not be in English.
Cost
PCs are static. You can’t move them.
Time. How long will it take you to set up the activity How long will it take the students to complete it?
Training. Will you get any? Will you be expected to train your colleagues?
Why not just get the students to use a pen and paper?
Crashing and other technological problems. What do you do if the machine / programme crashes?
Technical questions, e.g. networking and accessing the same file on different PCs.
The student to computer ratio.
Evaluating word processing activities
In any word processing activity it is worth remembering the following in order to decide if the activity/exercise is really worth doing. The points are listed in no particular order at all. Try and put them in order of importance.
What WP skills are needed to perform the task and will your students know them or need to be taught beforehand?
Does the task benefit from being done using the WP or could it just as easily be done using pen and paper?
What is the aim of the activity and how does it fit in with your overall aims?
What will the students learn that they didn’t know before?
Are there any problems you can anticipate?
What instructions are you going to give? How will you give them?
Is the activity going to be too easy or too difficult for your students?
At what point in a lesson or a series of lessons might a word processing activity be most useful?
Think of the time involved, for both the teacher and the student.
Think of the preparation involved in setting up the task.
Does the return in terms of language learning/practice make it worthwhile?
What kind of task is it? Is it purely text based or does it involve other skills or sub-skills?
Part 2
Some lesson ideas and plans
1. Personal information - A biography
2. A Running Dictation
3. One story from three - A journey
4. A boring story
5. The beginning of a story
6. Punctuation
7. Arranging paragraphs and working with linking words
8. Changing the protagonist in a story
9. The Londoner – Repetition and text development
10. Story expansion – Billy’s Cat
Activity 1
Personal information - A biography
In this activity the student is required to change the text so that it is about them.
A biography
My full name’s Paul Hullock and I am a teacher. I am 41 years old and I was born in Northern Ireland, but brought up mostly in England. I have two sisters who are both older than me. One is a solicitor and the other a gardener. My father spent most of his working life as a fireman and my mother is a retired civil servant. Unfortunately, my father died a few a years ago. Both my parents originally came from the North East of England (Geordies).
I live in Norwich with my darling wife, my beautiful daughter Katie and my equally beautiful baby son Will, and a rather fat twenty-year-old cat called Lucy. I’m a teacher and have been working here at the Bell School for about thirteen years now. Before that I worked for a school in London and before that I worked in Greece. Before I became a teacher I did a number of jobs such as a guide in an art gallery, a civil servant and a postman!
In my free time I like to swim whenever I can and in the summer I love playing cricket. I also like to watch films and read. At the moment I’m reading a lot of books on British history.
Activity 2
A Running Dictation
In this activity the students do a paired running dictation. This example has
five sentences and is taken from Grammar Dictation by Ruth Wajynrb / OUP
0-19-437004-6. However, the length of the dictation can vary depending on the source for the dictation.
The dictation - Chocomania
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Activity 3
One story from three - A journey
In this activity students are requires to combine elements such as sentences or individual words from three separate paragraphs in order to form a single, logical and coherent text. The separate paragraphs should be given to the students either on their PCs or as a handout. The activity is co-operative and requires the learners to share their information orally and appoint a secretary to type the correct version.
The activity here is taken from the book Discussions that Work by Penny Ur. The three paragraphs and the answers can be found on the following pages of the book
Activity on page 94
Answer on page 95
Activity 4
A nice story
In this activity the students study the following text that requires them to replace some of the more bland adjectives with more interesting dramatic ones in order to make the story interesting.
Once upon a time there was a nice boy who lived in a nice house in a nice town. He looked nice. He felt rather sad and so he decided to go for a nice walk in the nice forest. Soon the weather became bad and he felt quite sad. He was feeling frightened when he suddenly heard a loud noise and he turned round to see a nice girl from his nice school. She really was very nice and had nice eyes and nice hair and a nice personality. They had a nice conversation and he ended up inviting her to a nice restaurant on a date, which she thought was nice.
Activity 5
The beginning of a story
In this activity the students are required to continue the story below. However, after two or three minutes the teacher asks the students to move to the PC to their left and continue the story. The process is repeated until the students return to their original PC. Alternatively the teacher can conclude the activity by signalling that there is only 5 minutes left to conclude their story.
It was a cold dark night. Tom and Mary had been driving to the castle for about five hours. The wind was howling and in the distance they could hear the cry of wolves in the forest. Suddenly the car came to a stop. It had broken down.
Activity 6
Punctuation
In this activity the students are required to punctuate the following text.
dear mr brown im writing to you to let you know that ill be away from school until next Monday im sorry I couldnt let you know in person but your secretary told me you were busy and I didnt want to disturb you the reason for my absence is that my uncle from the united states is paying us an unexpected visit and as am the only one in the family who speaks english im going to look after him if I had known sooner I would have told you but as I said the visit is unexpected yours sincerely peter magnusson
Activity 7
Arranging paragraphs and working with linking words
Study this report. It contains:
a) One main title
b) Four sub-titles / main sections
c) The section entitled: ‘Results and Analysis’ is divided into three paragraphs.
Below you can read the report but none of the sections have been divided up. Read the report and decide where the titles, sections and paragraphs are. Use the mouse to divide the text up.
A Survey into the culinary tastes of the people of Norwich. Introduction.
Having now been in the UK for nearly two months, our group was curious to find out more about British attitudes to food and so we decided to ask members of public in Norwich some questions relating to this topic. This report is divided into a number of sections and each section relates to each question asked. Before analysing the questions, we will firstly give a brief overview of our survey. Description of the Investigation. For this survey we created a questionnaire and went into the streets of Norwich to interview eight respondents. The questionnaire comprised eight questions and a copy of the full questionnaire is attached in Appendix One. Results and Analysis. Firstly, we questioned people about what they kind of food they liked and also their reasons. We gave the interviewees a list of different foods and asked them to say which they preferred. Nearly all of the people surveyed, approximately 75%, said that they did not like fish’n’chips, saying that it was rather unhealthy. On the contrary, three out of every four people interviewed said they liked salad with tomatoes and olive oil. This, we found, rather surprising as we had been led to believe the fish’n’chips was one of the Britain’s traditionally foods. The response may be due to the fact that British people, like people all over the world, are becoming more health conscious. On the other hand, another reason may be that European tastes are influencing the British diet and so fish’n’chips is becoming less popular. There was one small group, those over sixty years old, who said that they liked fish’n’chips. This is probably because they were brought up during a time when such food was very popular. It is rather difficult for the habits of older people to change. Our second question related to the times of day when people eat. As far as breakfast is concerned, most eat between seven and eight in the morning. This is similar to breakfast time in our own countries. It probably reflects the fact that we follow similar patterns in our working days. Conclusion. In conclusion there seems to be a trend towards British eating habits becoming more multi-national. People eat out more and enjoy different kinds of food from all over the world. In addition they are becoming more aware of their own diets. This is probably mirrored in most populations the developed world.
Now look at the words and phrases in bold from the text above. Decide into which of the following section they should go. Type them in / copy and paste them in.