TASK 4: Heir Conditioning

assalamualaikum, hello, hi

this is the final task, before the final paper..
i'm making an edu courseware..
here, check it out

heir conditioning

hope you guys enjoy it

DOLPHINS

assalamualaikum, hello, hi

meet this new friend 

DOLPHINS

Dolphins are regarded as the friendliest creatures in the sea and stories of them helping drowning sailors have been common since Roman times. The more we learn about dolphins, the more we realize that their society is more complex than people previously imagined. They look after other dolphins when they are ill, care for pregnant mothers and protect the weakest in the community, as we do. Some scientists have suggested that dolphins have a language but it is much more probable that they communicate with each other without needing words. Could any of these mammals be more intelligent than man? Certainly the most common argument in favor of man's superiority over them that we can kill them more easily than they can kill us is the least satisfactory. On the contrary, the more we discover about these remarkable creatures, the less we appear superior when we destroy them.

click the blue and underlined words for more info

p/s: swimming happily

TASK 3: Lesson Plan

assalamualaikum, hello, hi

what else would a teacher do? here is my web-based lesson plan. do grab an origami paper and learn on how to fold a pinwheel origami.

click here for the lesson plan

and the worksheet. 

depend on how you want to conduct this lesson, this worksheet can be printed on a mah-jong paper, paste on the white board or, simply make it an individual worksheet. be creative.

p/s: bad pikachu

World of Warcraft: CALL Task 2

Assalamualaikum, hello, hi…

This is Emma, writing for the CALL Task 2: Article Review

The article that I chose entitle “Affordances for second language learning in World of Warcraft” by Paul S. Rama, Rebecca W. Black, Elizabeth Van Es and Mark Warschauer from Department of Education, University of California

The Mists of Pandaria

World of Warcraft.

Before I start discussing about this article, let me give you some explanation about “World of Warcraft” or WoW for short. WoW is a massively multiplayers online role-playing game (MMORPG). It was created by Blizzard Entertainment, has various expansions such as “The Burning Crusade” and “Mists of Pandaria”. Players will create an avatar, chosen from different races (night elf, dwarf, ogre) and classes (mage, assassin, warrior). Players can play alone or with friends, working under a guild to complete various tasks. As the players progressing, they will gain experiences, level up and become stronger. Each new player will start as Level 1 and eventually increase his or her level up to Level 85. Players can choose to complete the task alone, with a group or even fight with other players. To become more powerful, a player has to learn his or her character’s attributes, buying the suitable amours and weapons as well as learn new abilities and magic. Players can communicate with other player via chat or voice chat. Communication is important in order to complete the particular task.

Summary of the article.

The aim of the research was to find out the affordance for language development and socialisation offered by video game, specifically in “World of Warcraft”. The researcher has three theoretical frameworks that they followed, which were the sociocultural theory and second language acquisition, affordance in game in language learning, game as affinity space for leaning.

            The research was done using qualitative method as six students were chosen to undergone this research; four males and two females. These students were taking Spanish as their second language. Their competence and literacy in both Spanish language and WoW were varied from beginner to expert. In term of language competency, two participants was a high-beginner level, two participants were in intermediate level and the other two can be considered high-intermediate level. Three participants were experienced gamer for WoW while the other three were still new to the game.

            The participants were observed through their journals, chat text, recording in-game chat, and also interviews. The semi-structured 20 minutes interviews were done every two weeks, in order to understand the participants game play experiences as they were interacting with other player (note that the participants were not only played the game together but also with other online players from different places).  The data later on were analysed. This inductive process looked at the pattern of language use and interaction. Hence, three affordances were found.

World of Warcraft (1) allows for and supports the creation of safe learning and languaging spaces, (2) emphasizes communicative competence, or the ability to communicate meaningfully and effectively within a given context, and (3) promotes goal-directed, collaborative action between experts and novices. We then reviewed the data for examples of participants’ positive, negative, and neutral experiences with these affordances to understand the potential that they might offer in terms of language teaching and learning.

As the conclusion, using MMORPG is a good instrument in learning foreign language as it provided unique context and socialization. Game can be the platform for language learner to communicate as it provides opportunity of discussion between expert gamers and novice gamers. However, the interaction will be more effective if the participants or the students are well exposed with the game used. 

My review.

            This research really interests me as I am a gamer. I do play online games where interaction and communication between players are needed in order to win the battle. At the moment, I am playing League of Legends (LoL), a multiplayers online battle arena game. Interaction is important as we need to plan the strategy in defeating the bot champions. During the battles, I could see some players have low competency in English language but they were trying to use the language as English the medium of communication within this game.

            In my opinion, this research was well conducted. The participants chosen for this research was carefully selected and well observed. The researchers put so much effort, devoted many days to observe how the participant improved. It was a good idea to only have fewer participants (in this case, six participants) and really observed them. By doing so, the quality and validity of the result can be monitored. Other than that, this research was well explained, each point was clearly detailed and readers will not face any difficulties in understanding what the researchers intended. Reader without gaming background could also understand how this research was done.

            I found this research important for teaching English in Malaysia was because the fact that most of young Malaysians were playing online games. Normally, parents will get mad and stop their children from playing games. With this research, teachers and parents will understand how video games can play an important role for students to acquire other language (in this case, English language). As simple as Facebook games, Farmville to MMORPG, or console games such as Sony PSP and Nintendo Wii, all video games do help gamers learn the language. Another example of games as learning source is the game Assassin Creed, for teaching history. Since students play games at home, parents have to play their part by monitoring what type of games they are they playing. Furthermore, if the parents are gamers too, they can use this opportunity to ‘teach’ the language to their children. As for teacher, it might be pretty difficult to use video games in teaching process as this will consume too much time. However, instead of scolding the students for playing games, teacher can turn this ‘issue’ into her or his strength. Encourage the students to play and help them on how to communicate. By making gaming as one of the authentic topic, students who play game will be more interested to learn. This will help them improving their language competency.

Video games never made anyone goes violence. It brings more advantages that people love to ignore.

p/s: the name is Emmyra

POKEMON MASTER!!

Assalamualaikum, hello, hi..

The title must have made you people wondering, Pokemon Master? Are you one of the Pokemon's fans? Do you know all the Pokemon? Every evolution? Have you tried 'Google's Map Pokemon Challenge'? Me neither, I missed the opportunity =(

Well, cheer up as I'm going to share a simple crossword puzzle to test your knowledge on Pokemon. To try the puzzle, click this Pokemon Crossword Puzzle

I made this crossword puzzle as one of the task for my CALL class. I was using Hot Potatoes: Jcross. This is a fun software as it is easy to be handle and user-friendly.

Do try this crossword puzzle and prove if you are the Pokemon Master.

p/s: i wanna be the very best

In Class Assignment: Excel and Potato

Assalamualaikum, hello, hi

this time, i learnt about Hot Potato... initially, i thought it was some kind of game but surprisingly, HP (hot potato =P) is totally different. it is a software to create worksheet, i meant online exercise...really helpful for English teacher!!
at the moment, i only learnt on how to make a 'fill in the black' kind of exercise but i'm sure there are more to come. here is the link to my work

st Patrick's day jcloze

HP is user-friendly..it is easy to handle and fun..although the interface is a bit lame and dull, but what important is the content. ^__^

another software that i learnt was MS Excel. formulas, i haven't used any math and formula for about 4 years already. but, MS Excel is different. as soon as i understood the concept and the formulas, it became easier. however, to memorize the formulas is the issue here.. here is my link to my work

MS Excel

i'm leveling up, gaining more skills.. really excited to learn in this class.

p/s: gaining XP to gain more Skill

TASK 1: Website Evaluation

Assalamualaikum, hello, hi

For today entry, I will write about an English learning website. And the lucky website is englisch-hilfen.de learning English online http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/english_lessons.htm

1.    1.   This website is to teach English for second language learners. This website is originated from Germany, thus it is ran by non-native speaker administer. Although overall, this website is to teach English but it focusing on teaching grammar, specifically and vocabulary. It has special links for explanation and exercise for grammar and vocabulary. For grammar and vocabulary, the exercises are filling in the blank, it’s either writing a full sentence, a world or placing the answers in the correct categories, and choose or tick the correct answers. Other than just grammar and vocabulary, this website also provides with a section for exercise, which further divided according to level of proficiency. For the exercise section, there are many other ways used to test the learner. Games such as ‘Hang-a-man’, crossword puzzles and others are used. This is a good way for exercises as by using games, learners will not be demotivated or afraid of making mistakes, instead this makes the learners feel comfortable and enjoy the learning process. Learners can receive immediate feedback on the exercise. Some answers are also provided with further explanation. Exercises levels are differentiated using the number of years of using English. I don’t agree with level of proficiency is defined according to the number of years one learns the language. There might be some gifted learners who learn and improve themselves faster than the other. However, learner can define themselves and choose the appropriate level of exercises for them to try.

2.   2. This website is free for anyone to use. There is no registration needed, whether for learning, trying the exercises or downloading worksheets for teachers and students. I consider this website as very friendly user and helpful. The interface is simple and easy to understand.

3.    3.  For teaching grammar, I believe it is a universal way of using table to illustrate and explain how the rules work. Just like in my English classes, reference books or any other English grammar website, englisch-hilfen.de also uses table in explaining grammar rules. In teaching vocabulary, this website uses topic in which are universal and could easily be familiar to the learning. I did encounter this method when I was in my secondary school. Teacher used topics which we were familiar with, and triggered us to come up with more words or vocabulary that were related to that particular topic. The games as exercises are brilliant. During my microteaching and also practicum, I did use games for my teaching. Crossword puzzles and ‘Hang-a-man’ were the same games that I used. Although using technology is more fun than just using mah-jong paper and whiteboard. This website uses the simple and easy ways in teaching English, as well as making the learning process fun.

4.     4.  I don’t think none of the exercises from this website, can’t be done in normal classroom setting by using only books and whiteboard. The basic, simple way of testing, using fill in the blank. ‘Hang-a-man’ or crossword puzzle, these methods have been conducted before in class. Maybe the use of multimedia and technology are what makes this website more interesting. Instead of bringing and using many books and a dictionary, this website provides link for exercises and even digital dictionary.

5.    5.  I believe this website practices the traditional teaching method, where teaching grammar is more important. Grammar is viewed as the most important aspect in learning English language. Grammar explanation and grammar exercises links are place on top of the website. Drilling is used by this website in teaching grammar and vocabularies. There are tons of exercises and test for the learners to use. The exercises are further divided according to appropriate level. Thus, giving the leaners vast chance in testing their knowledge, comprehension and understanding.

6.    6.  The interface is user friendly, as the links are place at the suitable places. To me, the font style and size are also suitable. There is no broken link (updated until the day I posted this post).  Each lesson is conducted properly, as it starts with text related to the topic, explanation, grammar explanation and exercises. Furthermore, learners can receive immediate feedback to their answers. Although this website is a bit traditional, information wise, it helps a lot. However, I would suggest the admin to improve the layout as well as integrating other interactive learning style, such as using video.

7.   7. I would use this website for exercise but not as the main place to learn English. As I said before, englisch-hilfen.de focusing more on grammar and there are many other aspects which are also important. The exercises and tests provided are great as they are properly selected and categorised according to level. As for the level, I find it is hard to define one competency based on how many years of learning the language. Hence, this is another reason my I’m not using this website as the main place to learn English.  

this is only from my perspective. it might be different than you. so, click on the website and try for yourselves.

p/s: many ways to learn

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