Saturday, April 19, 2014

Speaking on Technological Chunks

It is highly recommended for teacher to conduct this activity of speaking on technological issues if they are to brush on their speaking skills for this chapter.


So, students, are you ready to speak? 


A teacher may start the speaking activity by preparing a few topics in a jar of glass. 

Students, embrace yourself as the fun learning is about to begin!

The topics that should be included has to be interesting and very well focusing onto the language element and also, the language item. 

And we have discussed earlier, the language item is expressing views and asking for opinions.


Include as many words as possible for students to express their ideas as freely as they may.

Example of topics to be spoken on: 

a) Internet


b) What does a hand phone mean to me?


c) World without technologies.


d) Technology. Then and Now.


e) Apple or Samsung?

f) Is technology harmful to humans?



Students are given a period of time to prepare.



Upon that, the students are to come in front and speak in front of their classmates and teacher.



Students, speak confidently as these experiences in classroom shall be carried forward into the future where real life begins. 









All the best lovely students ! 



Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Recapping The Lesson

Expressing Views and Asking for Opinions

Books or Technology?



 Who Am I?



Albert Einstein has been a wonderful contributor to the world


THANK YOU !





Conducting a Debate



To spice up your lesson, introduce a debate session in the classroom!

Debate routines are interesting and also, provocative. It benefits the students in terms of listening skills, speaking skills and also their critical thinking skills. 

There are proper methods to conduct a class debate.
Let's go through the points, shall we? 



ESSENTIAL TIPS FOR CONDUCTING A CLASS DEBATE:

1) Introduce the topic

2) Assign the affirmative & negative
   -Two sides to a debate session, affirmative and negative.

3) Give time for research
     -Time to search up the topic and prepare for the points.

4) Keep a track of time
    -Debate is carried out and the time is kept in mind

5) Make judgement
  -The teacher decides who fought the points well.



Below are the example of topics that can be conducted in the classroom, for easy reference :

a)   Video games brings more negative impacts than any positive effect to the users.

b) Humans are very dependent on technology and its devices and it is making the human nature inefficient.Do you believe that the Internet brings out the best in humanity?

c) Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter is currently trending. Is it safe to submit your private and personal information online?

d) Does our world benefit from the introduction of the robots?

e) It is said that technology advances humans. But, it seems to forbid communications with individuals around you. Technology prevents communication. Do you agree?



f) Do you think cyber socializing is dangerous?






Writing Argumentative Essays

To conduct the activity of writing argumentative essays, it is important to brief the students on the elements of an argumentative essay. 

Argumentative Essay

The argumentative essay is a genre of writing that requires the student to investigate a topic; collect, generate, and evaluate evidence; and establish a position on the topic in a concise manner.

  • Clear and logical transitions between the introduction, body and conclusion.
  • Body paragraphs that include the support of evidence.
  • Evidential support, be it factual, logical, statistical or anecdotal.
  • Conclusion has to be effective and fully logical based on the supportive points made earlier in the essay

There are a few topics the teacher may use for her lesson. Example of topics are as follows:

a) Does using cell phones make people more or less connected?

b) Do cell phones cause a cancer risk?

c) Why are children better at understanding new technology than their parents?

d) Do violent video games cause people to act out violently?

e) Should schools use video games to teach students?

f) What is the difference between reading on a screen and reading a book?

g) Are smart watches going to replace cell phones?

Let us see an example on how to write an argumentative essay.

Are We Too Dependent of Computers?

                  Computers are good means of education because it helps student practice writing, learning and reading. It helps us find out and analyze any kind of information. It makes us think, thus, evolve. With the help of computers and the Internet, we can talk to people from different countries, and even see them. Computers also have its own disadvantages like it has harmful impact on people’s health. The most hazardous part of any computer is its screen. Due to it, users can get 2 types of radiation: X-ray and electromagnetic radiation. Both types influence health and our eyesight. Computers also make people addicted. In fact, Chinese scientists consider the Internet and computer addiction to be a serious psychological problem. It also hampers people’s development in real life. We do not read printed books anymore, since we can listen to audio books or read books online. We spend less time with people, since we would rather talk to someone online.
                    Nowadays people use computers in business, public services, education and, most of all, in entertainment. Almost everything we do and every aspect of our life is affected by modern technology like the computers. There are a lot of advantages using modern technology. Firstly, computer – controlled cars, planes or ships allow us to travel safely. Secondly, all the mental work we need to do, from simple equation to huge statistic data would be almost impossible without using the calculator. Finally, medical care and all the equipment used while helping people would not provide such results if led only by human hand. We should also remember about large branch of entertainment, from television and video with remote control to the Internet, all the children of modern technology.
                    Most people use computer instead of book. According to school research, students choose computer to do their homework. Some people believe that books are more useful than computers. However, this research indicates that children and teenagers benefit from computer more than book. Therefore, schools should purchase computer rather than compiling library because of two main reasons: students can reach every information without spending much time and use computer when they do their homework. Businesses today want employees who are able to use computer because all companies use computer in order to connect with other companies. If children learn how to use a computer in early in life, they can improve their skills from day to day. In the future all people will be controlling their job from computer. To sum up, school has a big part of children’s lives. Therefore school managers should spend money to built computer lab. They should give a change to their students to save time and learn computer. If students spend less time for their homework by using computer, they can join after school activities such as playing basketball with peer.
                   The spell check feature on word processing problems has long been a problem for both students and teachers. Because the program automatically catches spelling mistakes, students are less cautious when typing, and may not bother learning the correct spelling on a certain word simply because they can rely on the word processing program. In addition, spell check is often ineffective if a student mistakenly types one word that is correctly spelled but not the proper word. For example, if a student enters the sentence “He wouldn’t except the package,” spell check will not identify that “accept” should be used, because “except” is properly spelled. Other word processing features such as the dictionary and thesaurus can be used as learning tools, but too often are used to “cheat” and add perceived depth to an assignment without truly learning the new vocabulary. Word processors and advancements in software have changed the way assignments and works are approached in school. However, while word processing offers many pros, there are also disadvantages to students relying on these programs. The overall fear with any given reason is that computer software and word processors will allow students to become complacent and cease to think critically about their writing.
                    Books can play a very important role in shaping our life because we can learn lots of things easily from books. Books provide a great solution in front of us to learn about anything and increase our knowledge level. Therefore, large numbers of people around the world read books because they find them very useful. Books are present in our world from many centuries in different forms and shapes of books are changing with time.
                    Learning is a significant process in human being life. It is self-evidence that human development cannot stand without a good learning. To reach that target, people always search the appropriate ways. Besides, the main important elements that help people to learn are books and experiences because of their unlimited benefits. The book is a valuable source of knowledge that consists of infinite benefits. It transports us into different worlds and cultures, as well as, it informs us about ancient civilizations and more. In addition, it helps us to learn about new technologies and literature. It allows speaking languages fluently and to communicate spontaneously. Therefore, the book can be faithful friend and the nearest into us which can guide us to how to behave in our practical life. And experience keeps our minds aware of the way to solve some problems, for example, if someone re-confront a problem, it would be easy for him/her to solve it. Experience also could indicate to us the suitable method of living in our life. In conclusion, learning is a strong challenge that requires patience and efforts. Books and experiences are the best sources of learning because of their vast importance and great advantages. Therefore, books are the first choice and computers are the second choice of the user in searching. Maybe people think that the information is more reliable on the textbooks than on the internet or computer.
                    There are numerous things a person can find in a dictionary.  The first and obvious things in a dictionary that people think of are definitions.  The words are all in alphabetic or A-B-C order.  Words sometimes have more than one definition. There is also other information about words such as their function or part of speech, their pronunciation, as well as origins, or roots, of words. A fun thing to do might be to open a dictionary and see what kind of information you can find. And some are still using these references and they do not rely on the spell checks on the computer. Because people who still uses these are thinking that spell-checks on the computer might be wrong.
                    People are on the new generation and high-technology is part of it. People just use these resources like computers for our daily lives in order to save time and make things easier. Technology has been developing. Therefore schools should obey modern world’s rule. They should prefer computer because firstly, today all documents and data are written on computer especially internet. People share their countless sources by using internet. In addition, books are read in the internet. All of this acknowledges shows that computers and internet are treasure for students. For example, when a student want to search his homework topic such as history of art. He can just read one book because of deadline. He can access all information about his homework by using internet website include in articles pictures or short films. All of these are good reason to choose computer. However, some people are concerned by the developments. They point out all the failures made by computers that have done a lot of harm to people. Scientists fear that the vital skills can be lost by next generations as computer technology replaces traditional ways of working. Moreover, they predict the chaos that can occur when suddenly the systems fail to work or, what is worse, refuse to listen to people’s orders.
                   That is why in my opinion, computers and other developments of technology are useful and there is no possibility to live without them nowadays, as we got too much used to them. However, we should also work to find the ways of making our dependence on technology less dangerous for us. New developments much be utilized when it is important and helpful for people. Also depends on the user if he would be dependent or not on the computers. Let us be aware of using these computers.

The students are advised to branch out their ideas into a rough outline before writing the essay.




Remember:


*Your essay should be in approximately 300

 words in length.


*Each student is given 20 minutes to complete

 the task given.


*Make an outline before proceeding to write the

 essay.


*You are required to ask assistance from your

 teacher if in doubt.


*The teacher monitors the students and guides 

when necessary. 

  

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Exchanging Views and Asking for Opinions

*Freedom

*Control Over Speech


What if...

*If you are disagreeing, what would you say probably?

*How would you say it out?

*Express your disagreement

The teacher may play a video clip in the class to show the students on how to exchange views and ask for opinions appropriately in a rightful manner.

Click on the link below to watch the video:







Topic 2: Wired Youth

Welcome to our next topic! 




The topic we will be covering here is Wired Youth. As all are aware, this topic covers on the usage of technology in our daily life. 


Technology is an important element in today's world. Without it, we are unable to move in the fast-paced world. Hence, it is thought to be included in the curriculum of our secondary education level.

Introduction

Introducing a topic can be really tricky. Why don't you begin by letting the students know about interesting facts on technology? It would be an interactive session between the students and the teacher upon watching the video. Brainstorming sessions may be conducted to ask their opinions and exchange views among those present in the classroom. 


Click on the link below to watch the video:




The teacher may proceed with the lesson by asking a few question on the subtopics stated below.

i) emails  ii) Facebook/ Twitter  iii) Technology  iv) Socialization 


Examples of Questions : 


*In your opinion, what do you think of the subtopics listed above? (Pick any 1)

*Do you think that studying online or through an educational blog is beneficial? State youe reasons to justify your answer.