Additional Post #5Which English phrases annoy Americans the most? 美国人最受不了的英文用语是什么?

Additional Post #4Educational technology: not just computers

Reading Prompt #5

I have two mp3 players; one has a big screen while the other doesn’t. I bought my first mp3 player which has no screen at the second year of my college. I had a lot of English tests so I mostly used it to practice my listening. But I sometimes enjoy some music, still English. Then I bought my second mp3 player and I found it’s a better way to learn English using this then use the one before, because I can download videos. However, podcast, it is totally new to me, all that I know about it is from the book.

McQuillan has some really good points about podcasting in his paper. The “Audio diary” he mentions is very interesting. I believe that something one hears is more impressive than something he or she sees. So if a language learner keeps an audio diary, it will definitely help him or her to improve the proficiency of the target language. And if the learners turn in the diary to their teachers for evaluation, that will be even better, although we know that if it is not an assignment with a due date, learners preferred to keep the audio diary for themselves. They can also use portable device like iPod or mp3 to listen to the diary and find out the mistakes they made.

The “Narrow listening”, which “involves listening to several audio recordings on the same or a similar topic, recorded by different speakers of the target language” is interesting, too. It is like a advanced version of “read articles of the same topic in different languages”. For example, I am going to practice my English by listening to a short passage, and it has Chinese version. So if I don’t familiar with the topic, I can listen to the Chinese version first then go to the English; otherwise, I will listen the English version first and then the Chinese version, checking if I get all the meaning right.

iPods help ESL students achieve success

iPods help ESL students achieve success

Additional Post #3The persons speaks five languages!

Reading prompt#4

Levy and Stockwell talked about a focus on the learner. Designer should try to be sensitive about the learner’s characteristics and the learning context. It means that the designer is supposed to know well about the learner’s background, such as gender, physical abilities, education, cultural, goals and computing experience and what the design is made of or why it is made for. That’s the way the designer can make something attractive to learners. The better the designers know, the better design they can make. Learners are encouraged to be involved in the design, because they know themselves best and they know learners like them better than the designer. Like the example Levy told, students write Hot Potatoes for each other, or develop learning and review strategies to share with one another, the result must be better than the activity involves only the designer.

I am interested in East Asia culture, especially the articles and comments wrote by western people. By reading those articles and comments, I will find out something new about my country and her neighbors, something I wouldn’t know in home. Besides, that makes my English improved. I found a website about learning English years ago. It provided me one word a day and all of these are frequently used American English. Since I first learned BrE and then learned AmE, that website really helped me a lot. Unfortunately, I know nothing about RSS at that time, so I’m trying to find it again. For using with students, I think follow some news is good. Whatever language on the news is up to date, that avoid the risk of using out-of-date word and make students be aware of what is happening all over the world. Language learning should not be separated from the real world.

Additional Post #2Chinglish - Lost In Translation (CNN)

Additional Post #1The difference between learning Chinese and Japanese

Reading Prompt #3

The challenges which Soares had met are also the problems to the teachers who are the beginners of blogs. Students at this generation are immersed to lots of new technologies, so if a teacher wants to make a blog be attractive and valuable to the students, he or she should learn enough about blogging. However, even if the teachers have adequate knowledge, there’s still a question that if the blog really plays the role as a language learning tool in education. According to what Soares mentioned, students are motivated in class but reluctant at home, and she was disappointed that only half of the students turn in the assignment. A lot of students don’t even think about using the blog as a learning tool, or some just have computer problems. So for the future using of blogs with students, Soares thought that it is important to provide students the opportunity to express themselves and communicate with real readers in class (because the students tend to be interested in class work, not home work). Peer feedback and correction should be considered. She also suggested that when students are familiar with blogging, it’s a good way to communicate with people outside their class blog.

Levy describes several types of technologies, among which I am most interested in the Pronunciation-Training Technology. The best way to learn a new language is talking to native speakers of the target language. However, it’s impossible for people who live in where those languages are seemed as foreign languages. Thus, the pronunciation-training technology is a good choice for those language learners. They can have their own language tutors to make them improve the pronunciation. Nevertheless, when we use this technology, we should be aware that technology is merely a learning tool, it cannot replace the teachers, and we use it only because it satisfies the pedagogical needs of education.