Week3- Things to consider

1. Consider the difference between ELT related and authentic websites.

ELT websites ...
provide content that learners can use and also include useful classroom activities. They can help learners prepare for exams or brush up on certain aspects of the language. They are often ideal for HW, access to the Internet permitting.

Authentic sites...
can be chosen to fit your learners' interests. This is a key factor in keeping motivation high in your teaching, try to find ones which have an easy structure and navihation, and with smaller chunks of text per page. They also provide an ideal opportunity to work through the issues of 'total comprehension' that plenty of learners have to deal with at some point in their studies. Students are able to feel comfortable with understanding the content of a site and identifying what they need to know or find out without reading every word on the screen.

I have a question; how the learners figure out whether some authentic sites they choose are really authentic?
Are teachers supposed to check and help them find proper sites?

2. Examing finding websites using different types of search engines.

* Crawler (Spider)-Based

Crawler-based search engines such as Google and Yahoo, compile their listings automatically. They "crawl" or "spider" the web, and people search through their listings. These listings are what make up the search engine's index or catalogue. You can think of the index as a massive electronic filing cabinet containing a copy of every web page the spider finds. Because spiders scour the web on a regular basis, any changes you make to a website, or links to or from your own website, may affect your search engine ranking.

It is also important to remember that it may take a while for a spidered page to be added to the index. Until that happens, it is not available to those searching with a search engine.

* Directories

Directories such as Open Directory depend on human editors to compile their listings. Webmasters submit an address, title, and a brief description of their site, and then editors review the submission. Unless you sign up for a paid inclusion program, it may take months for your website to be reviewed. Even then, there's no guarantee that your website will be accepted.

After a website makes it into a directory however, it is generally very difficult to change its search engine ranking. So before you submit to a directory, spend some time working on your titles and descriptions or hire a professional to submit to directories for you.

 - Paid Inclusion

Most directories offer some form of paid inclusion. Paid inclusion guarantees your website gets reviewed and/or indexed promptly. Keep in mind that these search engines usually still allow people to submit for free; it just takes longer.

(source :http://www.redcarpetweb.com/basics9.html)

* LINK-BASED SEARCH ENGINES.

One other kind of search engine provides results based on hypertext links between sites. Rather than basing results on keywords or the preferences of human editors, sites are ranked based on the quality and quantity of other Web sites linked to them. In this case, links serve as referrals. The emergence of this kind of search engine called for companies to develop link-building strategies. By finding out which sites are listed in results for a certain product category in a link-based engine, a company could then contact the sites' owners—assuming they aren't competitors—and ask them for a link. This often involves reciprocal linking, where each company agrees to include links to the other's site.

(source: http://ecommerce.hostip.info/pages/924/Search-Engine-Strategy.html)

Things to Consider

2. Examine specific teacher doubts about using technology in the classroom and suggest some solutions.

To use technology in the classroom often needs much time to prepare and some teacher might believe coursebooks and formal materials such as audio player and white board are still good facilities. However, their lecture will pick up by using technology. Students can improve their knowledge by searching information related with topics. Teachers can make PPT or Prezi easy to make but look fabulous and wonderful. It would be time consuming work, but it is worth trying.



3. Look at a variety of EFL teaching contexts and instructors' access to computers, and discuss the types of computer-based activities you can do with your learners.

I looked four English course books as EFL teaching contexts and tried to find some instructors' access to computers. I noticed that there aren't as many directions and activities as I expected which let instructors access to computers, and it is pretty surprising me because I distinctly remember we often use computer during the classes to help both teachers and students. In books, instructors play Master CD and show students how to write email and that's all. I might choose wrong EFL teaching contexts and that's why there isn't enough computer-based activities.