What is this?
A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web. The model was developed by Bernie Dodge at San Diego State University in February, 1995 with early input from SDSU/Pacific Bell Fellow Tom March, the Educational Technology staff at San Diego Unified School District, and waves of participants each summer at the Teach the Teachers Consortium. If you want to know more details about WebQuest, click http://webquest.sdsu.edu/taskonomy.html
It explains what kinds of tasks are available. For example, Retelling task, Mystery task, Design task, and Consensus building task.
Why is the content good for language learning?
- It is all free so no investment for teaching!
- It contains many tasks which learners can learn English both by individual and by group.
- It contains different kinds of genres.
- Some contain teacher's instruction how to evaluate students' work.
- Once the teacher sets the goal of the course, she can chose from exsited WebQuest focusing on particular skill such as reading, writing , speaking, and listening.
My favarite one
This movie 'Chalie and Chocolate factory' is very popular among the student especially at secondary schools, so it is easy to attract and draw them into WebQuest world.
Here is an example question;
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is more than just a story about Oompa Loompas and Everlasting Gobstoppers. Willy Wonka thought it was important to have a responsible, honest, trustworthy person running his factory. The characters that Roald Dahl, the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, created had qualities that you would and would not want in a citizen. The characters that he created over forty years ago can still teach us about the effects of violence, watching too much TV, fame, fortune, and what happens if you become an instant celebrity. Why is it important to understand the effects of these types of things? What qualities are important in a good citizen? Why did Willy Wonka choose Charlie over the other children?
The teacher can get students discuss this question in group and get a feedback from them in a class.
Limitations
- Some studnets cannnot use their background knowledge if they are not interested in motif like the movie 'Chalie and Chocolate factory'.
- Some webquests contain almost only words so it is difficult for visual learners to concentrate on the task.
No comments:
Post a Comment