View Content #20735

By Renée Marshall, CASLS Flagship Coordinator

The goal of this activity is to encourage students to take their language learning into their own hands by practicing evaluating an online resource. Online resources vary in genre such as websites targeted toward language learners, or websites in the target language, geared toward L1 speakers, such as newspaper websites, magazine websites, sport pages, blogs, etc. Not all resources are equal; so it's important for language learners to be savvy about evaluating the uses and usefulness of different sources of language practice. We also want students to take an interest in the language they are learning outside the classroom as well as inside the classroom. Good online resources give students a way to explore their particular interests in their L2 – music, movies, sports, fashion, nitty-gritty grammar explanations, etc. Students may even start participating in online blogs, fan fiction and gaming in the target language, making the L2 a fun language they use everyday instead of only something they do in the classroom and for homework. This example activity is very simple and has students practice evaluating one particular resource: the Korean language learning website, Talk to Me in Korean (TTMIK) http://www.talktomeinkorean.com/. This activity can be adapted for other online resources in any language.

Objectives:

• Students will be able to evaluate the usefulness & appropriateness of a language learning resource and discuss how they might use it in the future.
• Students will be able to pick out, write down & use vocabulary words, phrases or cultural information from a section of the website that is most interesting to them.

Resources: Evaluating an online resource handout

Procedure:

1. In class have a whole class discussion about the importance of taking language learning beyond the bounds of the classroom. Are there websites in the target language that students are all ready using, such as news sites, magazine websites, sports websites, TV websites, etc.? Are there websites specifically for language learners that students are all ready using? What are some ways to identify if an online resource is useful and legitimate (Ex. NOT illegal, bogus, a scam, or inappropriate)?
2. Give each student a copy of the Evaluating an Online Resource handout. Depending on your computer availability and how tech-savvy your students are, you can have students do this activity during class time with each student using their own computer or handheld device, or you can have students do this activity at home and then return to class with the activity completed.
3. When students return to class, they discuss their findings with a partner (#7 on handout).
4. Encourage students to keep what they learned in mind throughout the next few weeks to see if their vocabulary, phrase(s) or cultural information appears again in a reading, a video, or a conversation. Encourage them to try to use what they learned while speaking and writing. Encourage learners to seek out other online resources, those geared for L2's and also for L1's, in order to personalize and improve their language learning experience.