INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY IN TEACHING WRITING: ADVANTAGES

     

         Teachers nowadays need to integrate the use of technology in their teaching. This is because students need to gain the skills that they will need to be marketable in the future workplace and to operate in a high-tech world. Technology can be defined as the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes. In my opinion, there are several advantages of integrating technology in teaching writing.

       

       Firstly, in my opinion technology improves the quality of students work as the students take control of the rate of their learning. Students can learn anywhere and how they wanted it to be. This will give them ample time to improve themselves. Furthermore, there are some peoples who cannot doing very well in public but when they are on their own they will be more creative.

       Secondly, technology also can improve students’ attitudes towards learning. Using technology as a tool makes the classroom more interesting and motivating. Teachers can catch students’ interest and attention by using different kind of texts, graphics, videos and pictures.

     

       Thirdly, in my opinion, technology promotes individualized and independent learning as students are able to look up for information anytime they want. Students can also build their self confidence and avoid major embarrassment. Students are afraid to speak up their ideas in class as they afraid to in public.

      To conclude, integrating technology in teaching writing has many advantages. Teachers should improve themselves in using technology to teach students for preparing them to the high-tech world.

HOTS

Students are required to examine the picture. Based on the picture shown, write an essay not more than 200 words. Your essay could be on effect of pollution, types of pollution and other topic that are related to theme: Environment.

Assessing students’ essay

Example of Student's Essay

The overall story was good. He/she got her own ideas. The organisation of ideas was good. The student also know how to expand his/her story but if the student used the WH-questions, he/she might expand his/her writing better. The student also got some problem with spelling. He/She also does the ' direct translation from the mother-language' thing. For the overall essay, I would give him/her 11/20.

Responding to Students’ Writing

Time to give some responds!! To be honest, at first it was so hard to give respond to their work but this is something that I'm gonna do in the future.

SOME OF THE CORRECTION

A Scary Experience.

     Last week, my friends Chase and Selina with me together go ( went to) shopping. There was a terrible thing.

     Last week Tuesday afternoon, we are buying clothes when an earthquake. Selina suddenly fainted, lying on the groud ( ground),Chase immediately ran to open place. I was trying on clothes was pressure in the wall below (hanging sentence). The confusion, Chase immediately found the rescue workers told me and Selina location, rescue workers soon found me and Selina. Chase saw me and Selina is still alive, very happy, to help the ambulance crew carried to the ambulance. We went to the hospital, a lot of people to see a doctor in the hospital.

     Chase tell (tells) Selina and me, when the time of the earthquake, do not panic, and quickly ran to the open. Selina and me learned from Chase where earthquake how to do. I think the earthquake is a very terrible thing.

also we need to create our symbol for each correction.

mine:

sp : spelling

sva : subject verb agreement

p.t : past tense

f.t : future tense

pr.t : present tense

The overall story are good. I understand what he/she are trying to say. The student got his own story-line. The organisation also good. However, he/she needs to work on how to expand and evaluate their ideas/points and stop doing the 'direct translation from the mother language' thing. Teaching them the WH-questions might help them.

Inside the Haiti Earthquake

You can choose your own role.

It took me 2 weeks to finish this game. My internet connection was so slow and with all the loading and buffering, I nearly gave up on playing this game. I even went to a cybercafé located at 1Borneo in order to finish this game. Stress level up. LOL.

My Reflection:

On Tuesday 12 January 2010, an earthquake with the magnitude of 7.0 Mw shakes the ground of Haiti. Many people were killed. Through this disaster, an application titled “Inside Haiti Earthquake” was created to give peoples chance to experience the disaster. There were 3 roles provided in this game which are the Survivor, the Aid-worker and the Journalist. I chose to take the role as a Survivor to learn how I would feel when the disaster happens to me. The videos, pictures and dialogues provided were from the real situations. Some videos and pictures may not suitable for the underage. This game teaches me to appreciate my life, my family and everything I have now.

Teaching using the Inside Haiti Earthquake game:

To teach using this game, we have to let the students experience the game first. Divide the class in to 3 groups. Each group take one role: the Survivor, the Aid-worker or the Journalist. This may take a long time depend on the internet connection. Teacher may ask the students to play the game before the class.

After finish playing the game, each group were required to create an essay describing what happen based on the role they have chosen. Pictures, videos and dialogues from the game could help them in creating the essay. This game also can help students in strengthen their vocabulary and grammar because of the word used in the game.

mini test 2

You are teaching the theme “environment” to a form three class with intermediate level of proficiency. Describe on activity on how to integrate the following thinking skills into your lesson

• Analysis- show students several pictures on types of pollution and ask them to examine the picture. Next, students are required to point out what they have seen.
• Application – Ask the student to describe and evaluate the point they choose. Students may also include moral value on their essay.

Show me the way!!

Instruction:

1.

Your friend from China is going to attend a conference located at Sabah Tourism Promotion Corporation. He stayed at Kinabalu Daya Hotel for the time being. He sends a text to you to ask the direction of the Sabah Tourism Promotion Corporation. Based on the map given, construct several sentences of explanation on how to reach there. After that, use the sentences made before to write a dialogue of you and him.

2.

You are Anita. You work as a shopkeeper at one of the shop located at Wisma Merdeka. Anna, a tourist from Canada comes to see you to ask for the direction to the police station as she loses her wallet. As a local people, explain to her the fastest way to get to the police station based on the map given. Your essay must be at least 150 words.

List of songs and movies that are related to the themes in KSSR and KBSM

World of Self, Family and Friends

Songs

Movies

A Song For Mama – Boyz II Men Anytime You Need A Friend – Mariah Carey Ben – Michael Jackson Big Girl Don’t cry – Fergie Breakaway- Kelly Clarkson Butterfly Kisses – Bob Carlisle Count On Me – Bruno Mars Gift of A Friend – Demi Lovato Go – Boys Like Girls Home- Chris Daughtry I Love You  - Barney I Turn To You – Christina Aguilera I won’t give up – Jason Mraz I’ll Be There – Jackson 5 I’ll Be There – Michael Jackson I’ll Be There For You – The Rembrandts I’ll Stand By You – The Pretenders Just the way you are – Bruno Mars Keep Holding On – Avril Lavigne Live like we’re dying – Kris Allen My Life Would Suck Without You – Kelly Clarkson Never Say Never – Justin Bieber ft. Jaden Smith One Love - BLUE Reflection – Christina Aguilera Rhythm of nation – Janet Jackson Stand by Me – Ben E. King That’s What Friends Are For – The Vultures The climb – Miley Cyrus Thinking About You – Katy Perry True Friend – Miley Cyrus We Are Family – Sister Sledge We’ll Be Alright – Travie McCoy We’re All In This Together – High School Musical What a Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong When You Believe - Stephen Schwartz Who says – Selena Gomez You Are Not Alone – Michael Jackson You Got A Friend In Me – Randy Newman You Raise Me Up - Westlife You’ll Be In My Heart – Phil Collins

101 Dalmatians A Bug’s Life Anastasia Brother Bear Camp Rock Chicken Little Cinderella Daddy Day Care Despicable Me Dumbo Finding Nemo Freaky Friday High School Musical Hotel Transylvania Ice Age 1, 2 & 3 Lilo & Stitch Little Mermaid 1 & 2 Marley And Me Meet the Robinsons Monsters, Inc Mulan Real Steel Tarzan The Fox and The Hound The Incredibles The Lion King 1 , ½ & 2 The Prince of Egypt The Princess Diaries Toy Story

World of Stories & World of Knowledge

Songs

Movies

4 Minutes-  Madonna ft. Justin Timberlake A Whole New World Circle of Life – Elton John Earth Song – Michael Jackson Firework – Katy Perry Hakuna Matata – Nathan Lane & Ernie Sabella Heal The World – Michael Jackson Hey You -Madonna Mother Nature's Son - The Beatles On My Way – Phil Collins Only Human - Jason Mraz Perfect (Clean version) – Pink Pray – Justin Bieber Steady as the Beating Drum – Stephen Schwartz The Lion Sleeps Tonight To The Sky - Owl City Under The Sea – Samuel E. Wright Wake Up America – Miley Cyrus What About Now - Daughtry What I’ve done – Linkin Park Where is The Love – Black Eyed Peas Who You Are – Jessie J

Aladdin Avatar 2012 A Bug’s Life Alice in Wonderland Around the World in 80 Days Beauty and the Beast Happy Feet Kung Fu Panda 1 & 2 Narnia National Treasure  Night At The Museum Pocahontas Slumdog Millionaire The Adventures of Tintin The Jungle Book The Karate Kid The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie Up Wall E Winnie the Pooh Movie

Game 1..!!

This is our first game during the class. All we need are newspapers, a pair scissor, glue, a piece of A4 paper and some energy to run. The game was simple yet fun, we just have to find a particular word from the newspapers, cut the word and glue it to the A4 paper. After that, we are required to make three topic sentences with the word we managed to find earlier.

Task 4 : Describing Places

• A market : peoples, sellers, buyers, fish, vegetables, fruits, meats, chickens,  moneys, bargain,

                     

• A village : fresh air, river, trees, peoples, bicycles, teenage 

• A haunted house : scary, empty, dark, quite, old, ghost, moving object, wind

• A busy city : many vehicle, busy peoples, smoke from the vehicles, honking sound from the vehicles, tired face

• A beach/riverside : calmness, clear water, the smell from salt water, calms, crabs, sand, fishes

Tutorial 2 : Causes of motor vehicle accidents

Thesis statements:

• There are several causes of motor vehicle accident to occur. Firstly, the driver drives under the influence of drugs. Secondly, motor vehicle accidents tend to occurs with the reckless driving habits of the drivers. Thirdly, distracted drivers were also one of the causes of motor vehicle accidents to occur.

three topic sentences:

1. Drives under the influence of drugs can leads to motor vehicle accident because drugs will lessen the brain’s ability to function well and make the drivers loss complete control of their body which can lead to accident.
2. Besides that, Reckless drivers who speed, change lanes too quickly or tailgate also one of the causes that will lead to accident.
3. Moreover, a distracted driver, who talking on a cell phone, sending a text message or even eating food while driving may cause accident to occur.

Task 1

Describing people

Eyes	Round eyes Large eyes Small eyes Almond-shaped, Round eyes Wide-eyed Teary eyes Bright-eyed Piercing eyes Mesmerizing eyes Sad eyes Sorrowful eyes Tear-filled eyes Gentle eyes Sympathetic eyes Warm eyes Compassionate eyes Expressive eyes Twinkling eyes Lively eyes Laughing eyes Slanted eyes Squinty eyes Crinkly eyes Blue eyes Brown eyes Green eyes
Nose	Sharp, Long Short Turned up Hooked Wide Narrow
Lips	Thin lips Full lips Pouting lips Pursed lips Laugh Smile Beam Grin Frown Grimace Scowl
Face	Square-shaped Oval-shaped Round-shaped Triangular-shaped Heart-shaped Oblong-shaped Rectangle-shaped Inverted triangular-shaped Diamond-shaped
Complexion	Freckled Rosy Ruddy Tanned Wrinkled Pale Spotless Silky Smooth Creamy Baby-soft Glowing Paper-thin or translucent Rough Callused Dry
Hand	Big hand Small hand Thin fingers Long fingers Short fingers Fat fingers
Cheek	Chubby Thin
Body	Muscular Well-fed Thick Busty Thin
Clothes/shoes/accessories	Fabric: denim, twill, wool, cotton, tweed, polyester, corduroy, fleece, spandex, leather  Bottoms: jeans, cargo pants, flat-front pants, pleated pants, slacks, trousers, overalls, sweatpants, crop pants, skirt, culottes, shorts, board shorts  Tops: sport shirt, dress shirt, polo shirt, button-down shirt, tank top, blouse, long-sleeve, short-sleeve, sleeveless, collared, T-shirt, sweatshirt, hoodie, pullover, sweater, cardigan, vest, jacket, blazer, coat, Other clothing: gown, uniform, costume, pyjamas, bathrobe, robe, Accessories: Bracelets, rings, ear piece, necklace, Tattoo socks, stockings, gloves, hat, cap, Shoes: High heels, sport shoes, flipper, boots slippers, sandals, flip-flops

Task 3

Five senses table

What do you see?	What do you hear?	What do you smell?	What do you feel?	What do you taste?
A tree covered with moss and have less leafs	Wind blowing through the leafless branches.	Smell of moss that covered the branches	Sorrow, sad	bitter

Task 2

Original: She was worried about her friend being late.

New: Brenda dialled her phone once again. She looked at the buses passing by with anxious heart. She could not reach Fatin. She was worried if her friend, Fatin being late. She looked at her watch while waiting for Fatin to answer her phone. Less than a minute, Fatin appears.

Summary on Integrating Social Networking Tools into ESL Writing Classroom: Strengths and Weakness by Melor Md. Yunus, Hadi Salehi & Chen Chenzi

     This article is about the advantages and disadvantages of integrating social networking services (SNSs) into the classroom. There are several advantage of using SNSs into the classroom which are they enhance outside classroom interaction and education between the students and the teacher. This method also helps to broaden students’ knowledge. Moreover, they also increase motivation and build confidence for students in using and learning English. Integrating SNSs into the classroom also train students’ thinking and writing skills besides enriching their vocabulary. These SNSs also provide a platform for teacher to prepare the lesson efficiently and shared large amount of information with the students. However, there are several disadvantage of integrating SNSs  into the classroom which are the students will easily get distracted when they use computer online. Besides, students will get use using informal short forms in their actual writing. Moreover, students will also tend to forget how to spell some words correctly as they are getting use with the autocorrecting service provides by some SNSs.



In my opinion, i would disagree on integrating social networking tools into my classroom. This is because, not every student have these facilities back at home. Not everyone afford to buy them self a computer and online at anywhere and every-time they want. 

A letter to my 19 year old self.. (^_^)

Dear Me,

   Assalamualaikum. Hi! How are you now?? I hope you are fine. Hope your life as a TESL student is great. Okay, maybe this course wasn't your heart choice, your mom’s advice actually, but I can feel that you will be doing just fine. Just be confident and never give up facing the challenges coming ahead. Remember what mom always said, "there always  will be a greater challenges coming ahead. So stay positive, never give up and be grateful for you already have". Have faith in yourself and be sure to finish your assignment on time okay. As they said “procrastination is the the thief of time”. So enjoy your life in a good way, appreciate what you already have and be a good girl. 

   One more thing, don't spend to much money on cloths, accessories and shoes okay? Spend your money wisely. Try to control yourself. Don't be a shopaholic..!! And please stop complaining about your weight!! Just enjoy the food..!! Because you can't enjoy them when you are dead right? LOL..

Good luck to you, dear Me…!! (^_^)