Teaching Plan COmment
Nowadays the internet provided a lot of teaching ideas using new media in many different ways. Classes are able to contact other classes abroad, teachers are able to create interactive worksheets and presentations online. Simply, the internet offers a wide range on teaching material and ideas for everyone´s taste. Teachers benefit from each other´s work by using the teaching idea which already was tested by a colleague.
In the following I am going to comment on a teaching plan which I found on the website lehrer-online. The teaching idea is called "Australien: Cities via Podcasts bereisen".
In the following I am going to comment on a teaching plan which I found on the website lehrer-online. The teaching idea is called "Australien: Cities via Podcasts bereisen".
Australien: Cities via Podcasts bereisen
They students have to find information about Australian cities by listening to podcards (pun on the words “podcast” and “postcard” because every podcard is like a postcard from a different place). By means of Flickr they have to look at pictures of Australian cities in order to get a better visual overview. Furthermore, they should take notes and save images for their presentations later on. After that they have to find a partner who chose a different city. They should tell each other about “their” city by using the notes. Moreover, they should show each other the pictures they chose to illustrate their talk. Each of them should speak for about 2-3 minutes. Thereafter, the students should read further articles in order to deepen their knowledge of certain cities. Moreover, they should structure their notes. In the end, they all should be able and prepared to present their Australian city to the whole class by giving a mini-presentation for about 3-5 minutes. For homework, the students should write an essay about one city based on their notes. The essay should introduce the city, name its basic information (Where in Australia is it? How large is it? What's the climate like?) and should describe some interesting aspects of it.
The teaching idea trains both, the language competence as well as the media competence. By listening to the podcards the students enhance their listening comprehension skills. Furthermore they practice to speak and present in the foreign language in front of an entire class. By working with the internet efficiently they learn how to do a targeted research.
The teaching idea trains both, the language competence as well as the media competence. By listening to the podcards the students enhance their listening comprehension skills. Furthermore they practice to speak and present in the foreign language in front of an entire class. By working with the internet efficiently they learn how to do a targeted research.
List of necessary Websites
_ -->http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:As-map.png
On that page the pupils find a map of Australian´s cities.
-->http://www.eslpodcards.com/australia.php
-->http://www.select-language.com/australia.html
On both of the websites the pupils can find interesting podcasts of Australia.
-->http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/
On that website the pupils can find pictures of the cities.
On that page the pupils find a map of Australian´s cities.
-->http://www.eslpodcards.com/australia.php
-->http://www.select-language.com/australia.html
On both of the websites the pupils can find interesting podcasts of Australia.
-->http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/
On that website the pupils can find pictures of the cities.
Reflection
In my opinion the teaching unit is really interesting, since the students discover Australia on a very authentic way. Moreover, I like the idea to create a teaching unit on the basis of podcasts because today´s students are getting increasingly interested in media related techniques. Most of them are aware of its functions. With the teaching idea described above the teacher attract exactly their pupils interest which might help to make them more enthusiastic and motivated for the next couple of lessons.
Furthermore, the task trains many skills: language competence, media competence as well as their social competence. The students enhance their language skills. They have do a kind of listening comprehension, they should write down unknown words, they have to structure their information and finally should be prepared to give a short presentation. By learning how to work efficiently with online tools the students get in touch with the internet which is very important for their future career. As the students have to work in pairs they school their social competence. Moreover, I think that they could benefit from one another by asking their classmates when difficulties such as saving a file, doing a wise internet research or downloading mp3 files, occur.
Additionally, I like the fact that the students should work relatively free. They could decide which city they want to describe and which information they want to present.
All in all, I like the teaching idea and would embed them in my personal teaching plan. I think that it is more fun for students to do an internet research project instead of just working traditionally with the textbook. The internet provides a lot of good information and could really deepen and obtain student´s knowledge. Moreover, I think that listening to podcasts is much closer to real life than just reading a text. Therefore I could imagine that students could better feel into the situation and in our case better imagine Australia´s stunning landscape and in the end are keen on exploring Australia.
Another advantage is that teachers could prepare a virtual journey through all countries of the world. Once students are used to work with podcasts the teaching idea could be embedded more frequently.
Furthermore, the task trains many skills: language competence, media competence as well as their social competence. The students enhance their language skills. They have do a kind of listening comprehension, they should write down unknown words, they have to structure their information and finally should be prepared to give a short presentation. By learning how to work efficiently with online tools the students get in touch with the internet which is very important for their future career. As the students have to work in pairs they school their social competence. Moreover, I think that they could benefit from one another by asking their classmates when difficulties such as saving a file, doing a wise internet research or downloading mp3 files, occur.
Additionally, I like the fact that the students should work relatively free. They could decide which city they want to describe and which information they want to present.
All in all, I like the teaching idea and would embed them in my personal teaching plan. I think that it is more fun for students to do an internet research project instead of just working traditionally with the textbook. The internet provides a lot of good information and could really deepen and obtain student´s knowledge. Moreover, I think that listening to podcasts is much closer to real life than just reading a text. Therefore I could imagine that students could better feel into the situation and in our case better imagine Australia´s stunning landscape and in the end are keen on exploring Australia.
Another advantage is that teachers could prepare a virtual journey through all countries of the world. Once students are used to work with podcasts the teaching idea could be embedded more frequently.