The History of CALL
Computers have been used for language teaching ever since the 1960’s. This 40-year period can be divided into three main stages.
I. Behaviorist CALL: In the 1960’s and 1970’s, the first stage of CALL emphasized on repetitive language drills, the so-called drill-and-practice method. It was first designed and reinforced in the era of the mainframe and the best-known tutorial system, PLATO, ran on its own special hardware.
II. Communicative CALL: This stage emerged in the 1970’s and 1980’s as a reaction to the behaviorist approach to langue to language learning. It stressed that CALL should focus on using forms rather than on forms themselves. Grammar should be taught implicitly and the students should be encouraged to generate original utterances instead of manipulating prefabricated forms.
III. Integrative CALL: The former one was criticized for using the computer in an special and disconnected fashion and using the computer made a greater contribution to marginal rather than central elements’ of language learning (Kenning & Kenning, 1990:90). And it searches for both to integrate the various skills of language learning and to integrate technology more fully into language teaching.
2007年12月11日 星期二
Live ABC English Club
Live ABC English Club
This semester I conducted a school club called “Live ABC English”. After I decided to conduct it, I was wondering what kind of teaching style I would use to lead my students to like English, and then I decided to use the interactive CD-rom as my main teaching material to induce their learning motivation. The following is my teaching steps.
I played video with both English and Chinese subtitles at the beginning; then I turned off the Chinese subtitles, and then the English subtitles at last. I want to add the difficulty little by little so that they won’t resist learning English. Meanwhile, I also explain the new vocabulary to them, because Taiwanese students often feel more secure if they are supposed to understand every single word. Then I will make them do the dictation, because most students like dictation for it isn’t that hard to them. For the last part, I will introduce some music to them. Teenagers all like to listen to music. So far, I get lots of positive evaluation and feedbacks to my teaching style. I think this is the greatest pleasure to be a teacher.
This semester I conducted a school club called “Live ABC English”. After I decided to conduct it, I was wondering what kind of teaching style I would use to lead my students to like English, and then I decided to use the interactive CD-rom as my main teaching material to induce their learning motivation. The following is my teaching steps.
I played video with both English and Chinese subtitles at the beginning; then I turned off the Chinese subtitles, and then the English subtitles at last. I want to add the difficulty little by little so that they won’t resist learning English. Meanwhile, I also explain the new vocabulary to them, because Taiwanese students often feel more secure if they are supposed to understand every single word. Then I will make them do the dictation, because most students like dictation for it isn’t that hard to them. For the last part, I will introduce some music to them. Teenagers all like to listen to music. So far, I get lots of positive evaluation and feedbacks to my teaching style. I think this is the greatest pleasure to be a teacher.
Youtube
YouTube
Shi-Jun Chen, using a credit card and a couple of computers, and his partners established YouTube. With only sixty employees, they won the best program rating. Even NBC, CBS, ABC can’t compete with it. Within 20 months, Google makes them billionaires. Actually there are three founders, and to my surprise, their average age is not over thirty, and one of them even hasn’t graduated from college!
YouTube, meaning “Your Tlevision”, becomes the most popular website where you can share and find any kind of videos.
At that time, Shi-Jun Chen, also the only one who was born in Taiwan, left his original company, Pay Pal, where he had stayed for 6 years. Actually, there was a more promising job waiting for him, but he intended to create his own business instead. His friends tried to discourage him because there could be lots of invisible risk. But he believed he could succeed definitely, because he foresaw the market. With his talent and hard work, his business is really a huge success. It tells us that there is nothing we can’t fulfill as long as we have dream and then we make up our mind to achieve our goal step by step.
Shi-Jun Chen, using a credit card and a couple of computers, and his partners established YouTube. With only sixty employees, they won the best program rating. Even NBC, CBS, ABC can’t compete with it. Within 20 months, Google makes them billionaires. Actually there are three founders, and to my surprise, their average age is not over thirty, and one of them even hasn’t graduated from college!
YouTube, meaning “Your Tlevision”, becomes the most popular website where you can share and find any kind of videos.
At that time, Shi-Jun Chen, also the only one who was born in Taiwan, left his original company, Pay Pal, where he had stayed for 6 years. Actually, there was a more promising job waiting for him, but he intended to create his own business instead. His friends tried to discourage him because there could be lots of invisible risk. But he believed he could succeed definitely, because he foresaw the market. With his talent and hard work, his business is really a huge success. It tells us that there is nothing we can’t fulfill as long as we have dream and then we make up our mind to achieve our goal step by step.
E-Tool
E-Tool
I’m going to introduce a very useful website www.onlinedict.com which provides much material for us to utilize. First, it offers the most popular function—online dictionary where you can look up any words you like, and it also provides lots of sentences to show you how to use the words. Secondly, “Challenge your English”, also the most interesting feature of this website, is divided into four parts to test your English ability:
I. Scramble:
You have to re-structure the words offered by the system. And if you think the words are too easy or difficult for you to answer, you may also adjust the level of difficulty.
II. Hangman:
As you know, this game is to test your ability to find the word before you are hung to death. You are supposed to have nine chances to get the right word, or you may lose the game.
III. Popword:
This section is the most difficult and exciting. You may click-and-dragging across adjacent letters in the grid and releasing the mouse button when you have selected a word. Each successive selected letter must be directly next to the previously selected letter (either horizontally, vertically or diagonally). If the word you have selected is a valid English word, the letters will 'pop' away and the letters above them will fall to take their place. This game may absolutely test your quantity of vocabulary, and if you can get into the rank, your name will be shown at the website.
IV. Typing test:
It can test your speed of typing through an interesting game.
Third, it provides some English material such as “The basic 1000 Words”, “GRE Vocabulary”, and “Classified Vocabulary” for us to use if we want to enlarge our vocabulary. Forth, we may also find some useful slang and idioms such as “Money makes the mare go”, “Homer sometimes nods.”, or “Honesty is the best policy.” from the website, and to my surprise, it even tells me the source of some slang.
Believe it or not, this website really gives me lots of knowledge and great pleasure. Try it if you have free time!
I’m going to introduce a very useful website www.onlinedict.com which provides much material for us to utilize. First, it offers the most popular function—online dictionary where you can look up any words you like, and it also provides lots of sentences to show you how to use the words. Secondly, “Challenge your English”, also the most interesting feature of this website, is divided into four parts to test your English ability:
I. Scramble:
You have to re-structure the words offered by the system. And if you think the words are too easy or difficult for you to answer, you may also adjust the level of difficulty.
II. Hangman:
As you know, this game is to test your ability to find the word before you are hung to death. You are supposed to have nine chances to get the right word, or you may lose the game.
III. Popword:
This section is the most difficult and exciting. You may click-and-dragging across adjacent letters in the grid and releasing the mouse button when you have selected a word. Each successive selected letter must be directly next to the previously selected letter (either horizontally, vertically or diagonally). If the word you have selected is a valid English word, the letters will 'pop' away and the letters above them will fall to take their place. This game may absolutely test your quantity of vocabulary, and if you can get into the rank, your name will be shown at the website.
IV. Typing test:
It can test your speed of typing through an interesting game.
Third, it provides some English material such as “The basic 1000 Words”, “GRE Vocabulary”, and “Classified Vocabulary” for us to use if we want to enlarge our vocabulary. Forth, we may also find some useful slang and idioms such as “Money makes the mare go”, “Homer sometimes nods.”, or “Honesty is the best policy.” from the website, and to my surprise, it even tells me the source of some slang.
Believe it or not, this website really gives me lots of knowledge and great pleasure. Try it if you have free time!
Sight Translation
When I studied in the college, my senior classmates told us it was very challenging and exciting to take the interpretation course. At that time, I felt kind of self-abased and inferior to others, so I dared not to take the course. Later on, however, after hearing my fellow classmates told me how much they had learned, I started to regret. Although it was not so easy to pass the interpretation course, they did benefit a lot from the class. Therefore, when knowing there was the sight translation class in STUT, I took the course without thinking at all.
I am so glad that I took the course. It is so considerate of Professor Jason Chen is always adjusting his teaching pace according to our ability, needs, and opinion, and, of course, so does dear Robert, ha ha. He always starts with the chatting with all the students by asking them “what happened to you last weekend?” to enlarge our interest and learning motivation. In the meanwhile, the teacher will ask somebody to practice the simultaneous or consecutive interpreting by translating the conversation. Furthermore, the material the teacher uses is quite active for it provides the video part to enlarge the interaction. As long as one translates a sentence successfully, he is supposed to call the next number randomly to do the next translation, so you will never know when will be your turn. The only way to avoid making mistakes is to concentrate all the time. That’s why this course is so exciting and terrifying.
But to be honest, I have to admit that I’m still nervous to have the course, especially when I had a stomach depression before. It was a kind of TORTURE when I was asked to do the simultaneous interpreting or deliver an impromptu speech in front of the public, because I really felt so stupid when I hardly spoke anything. But I’m getting used to it now. I hope that means that I eventually have a little progress. And I will still try my best to learn as much as I can.
I am so glad that I took the course. It is so considerate of Professor Jason Chen is always adjusting his teaching pace according to our ability, needs, and opinion, and, of course, so does dear Robert, ha ha. He always starts with the chatting with all the students by asking them “what happened to you last weekend?” to enlarge our interest and learning motivation. In the meanwhile, the teacher will ask somebody to practice the simultaneous or consecutive interpreting by translating the conversation. Furthermore, the material the teacher uses is quite active for it provides the video part to enlarge the interaction. As long as one translates a sentence successfully, he is supposed to call the next number randomly to do the next translation, so you will never know when will be your turn. The only way to avoid making mistakes is to concentrate all the time. That’s why this course is so exciting and terrifying.
But to be honest, I have to admit that I’m still nervous to have the course, especially when I had a stomach depression before. It was a kind of TORTURE when I was asked to do the simultaneous interpreting or deliver an impromptu speech in front of the public, because I really felt so stupid when I hardly spoke anything. But I’m getting used to it now. I hope that means that I eventually have a little progress. And I will still try my best to learn as much as I can.
Court Interpretation
The court interpretation is greatly different from the conference interpretation. According to Liese KATSCHINKA, there are the five main differences:
I. A court interpreter does not work comfortably and he is isolated from a booth.
Working in the simultaneous mode from a booth is just one of many different types of interpreting. For conference interpreters, consecutive and whispered interpretation are still common skills in certain situations such as business negotiations, factory visits, study tours, visits by political delegations/heads of state, board meetings, interviews, etc. When considering the special set-up of the standard courtroom and the most common type of interpreting assignment for court interpreters, then conference-room facilities are certainly not necessary.
II. Court interpreters get less accuracy and fluency of the language.
The average educational background of a court interpreter's client differs from that of the average conference delegate, and it has an influence on speakers' oral performance. According to Liese KATSCHINKA, speaking of the speakers' fear and uncertainty, he believes that conference speakers will often speak too fast, simply because they are afraid of delivering a paper in public or are insecure about their speaking skills.
III. Court interpreters work alone.
According to Liese KATSCHINKA, a court interpreter rarely has the advantage of working in a team of interpreters. Court interpreters work alone for long hours and with no rest or recovery time. The potential damage to their vocal chords is never considered.
IV. They are forced to stand by all the time.
Court interpreters do not only work in court, but they are involved at every stage of the legal process, especially in systems where they are called to the interview following arrest. Such sessions often take place at unsociable hours. Interpreters are naturally expected to arrive at the police station, alert and articulate, minutes after being dragged from slumber by the telephone.
V. They have to keep neutral.
A court interpreter must make it clear from the very beginning and he has to be very impartial. In a courtroom, the seating arrangements of the interpreters can often contribute to making that point clear, especially to a court interpreter's "clients". Avoiding conversations is another way of maintaining one's impartiality.
2007年12月2日 星期日
Teaching Demonstration
Teaching Demonstration
After knowing that I was assigned to do the teaching demonstration, I had been nervous and worried about it. Maybe I don’t have enough confidence of myself, I really hate to do the teaching demo, for I know I have to face not only the students, but also all the wonderful teachers who are really superior or more capable that me. However, this is the first year for me to be in this school; in other words, I’m just a rookie, so there is no excuse for me to refuse this huge task. I, however, knew if I didn’t do it well, I would have been very embarrassed for a long time. Therefore, I took every process into a careful consideration. Wanting to do it well, I thought it would be the chance for me to prove that I am a capable English teacher. I spent long time searching the materials related to the subject of the lesson. I thought the most difficult part was the creativity. I had to make every activity useful and interesting. I think that would be the hardest part.
My lesson was “No hair Day”, which narrated a story that an intelligent, beautiful, and model-like girl, Alice, got a strange disease—Alopecia, which caused her the loss of her hair, and then how she faced her problems bravely. I think it’s a good story because most of us just care about our or others’ appearance but not the inner heart. We always neglect that the most important and attractive thing is one’s character. So, in order to catch everyone’s attention at the beginning of my lesson, I decided to use two famous singers¡¦ photos to enter the topic. I let them choose one of them as their boyfriend. One is Kong Kong (A singer who is ugly but talented and humorous.), and the other one is Rain (A singer who is very handsome, as you know.). Just as I thought, it worked. Every student was curious about and interested in my activity. I also made the PowerPoint which was involved in lots of lively pictures and sounds and it did catch people’s attention. As for the most dreary grammar part, I made every sentence animated through the PowerPoint and the students all liked the way of my teaching. After the demonstration, I was so grateful to all the English teachers who gave many useful suggestions and encouragement. That would be the most precious treasure I got from this teaching demonstration.
My lesson was “No hair Day”, which narrated a story that an intelligent, beautiful, and model-like girl, Alice, got a strange disease—Alopecia, which caused her the loss of her hair, and then how she faced her problems bravely. I think it’s a good story because most of us just care about our or others’ appearance but not the inner heart. We always neglect that the most important and attractive thing is one’s character. So, in order to catch everyone’s attention at the beginning of my lesson, I decided to use two famous singers¡¦ photos to enter the topic. I let them choose one of them as their boyfriend. One is Kong Kong (A singer who is ugly but talented and humorous.), and the other one is Rain (A singer who is very handsome, as you know.). Just as I thought, it worked. Every student was curious about and interested in my activity. I also made the PowerPoint which was involved in lots of lively pictures and sounds and it did catch people’s attention. As for the most dreary grammar part, I made every sentence animated through the PowerPoint and the students all liked the way of my teaching. After the demonstration, I was so grateful to all the English teachers who gave many useful suggestions and encouragement. That would be the most precious treasure I got from this teaching demonstration.
2007年12月1日 星期六
English Drama
After I took over this class (Their former teacher left this June.), my students told me that there would be an English drama contest on October, 10th. To my fright, they didn’t prepare or it at all, though they had already known the contest. It had been a long time since I instructed my students to do the drama last time. Actually, it was an exhausting task; I had to deal with the selection of characters and script, translation of the script, production of props and sets, and even the music step by step. They even asked me to take part in one of the roles, and I granted. We chose “Alice in Wonderland” as our script, and I played Alice's acid mother for they said no one could be as ironic as I. (They had modified the script.) As a matter of fact, during the preparation of the drama, I had lots of disagreement and quarrels with my students. However, to my comfort, everyone still worked together to accomplish this tough job side by side.
At last, here came the day. What a day! Everyone expected to perform well on that day, including me. However, everything was a mess due to the problems of the equipment. All of my students felt badly depressed after the contest, even though I tried to cheer them up. Actually they really did a great job, and I did take pride in them, but they cried, and so did I. I couldn’t tell you why. Maybe I already took much more pressure than I had expected and I knew I had to relieve it, so I collapsed.
Nevertheless, after a week, the ranks came out. To our surprise, we won the 2nd prize! How amazing it is! Everyone felt crazily exciting about the outcome. I deeply believe that we all have learned a lot from this experience. As long as we all get together and cooperate with each other, there's nothing we can't achieve!
After I took over this class (Their former teacher left this June.), my students told me that there would be an English drama contest on October, 10th. To my fright, they didn’t prepare or it at all, though they had already known the contest. It had been a long time since I instructed my students to do the drama last time. Actually, it was an exhausting task; I had to deal with the selection of characters and script, translation of the script, production of props and sets, and even the music step by step. They even asked me to take part in one of the roles, and I granted. We chose “Alice in Wonderland” as our script, and I played Alice's acid mother for they said no one could be as ironic as I. (They had modified the script.) As a matter of fact, during the preparation of the drama, I had lots of disagreement and quarrels with my students. However, to my comfort, everyone still worked together to accomplish this tough job side by side.
At last, here came the day. What a day! Everyone expected to perform well on that day, including me. However, everything was a mess due to the problems of the equipment. All of my students felt badly depressed after the contest, even though I tried to cheer them up. Actually they really did a great job, and I did take pride in them, but they cried, and so did I. I couldn’t tell you why. Maybe I already took much more pressure than I had expected and I knew I had to relieve it, so I collapsed.
Nevertheless, after a week, the ranks came out. To our surprise, we won the 2nd prize! How amazing it is! Everyone felt crazily exciting about the outcome. I deeply believe that we all have learned a lot from this experience. As long as we all get together and cooperate with each other, there's nothing we can't achieve!
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