WEEK # 8: PROJECT DRAFT, PEER REVIEW AND ONLINE TEACHING RESOURCES

I have had a particularly hard week. Starting with the project draft, it took me much time to work on it so that I could present an acceptable draft to my partner for reviewing. We had valuable exchanges of views on each other's draft and received heartwarming encouragement to do better. As soon as this has been done, I have had to read the online resources in order to be able to choose and use one to create a site or an exercise online.

The online teaching resources were very interesting and many of them caught my attention such as

http://www.toolsforeducators.com/

http://www.easytestmaker.com/default.aspx  and

http://hotpot.uvic.ca/

As I said, all of them were valuable but I had to choose one for creating an exercise. Taking into account the internet limitations of my school, I have chosen HotPotatoes. This program offers resources that can be used online and offline. I have created a crossword puzzle about soccer. Due to the internet limitations I have installed the program on my computer so that I could use it anytime with my students.


file:///D:/E-LEARNING/~TempJCrossPrint.htm

SOCCER

Crossword

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4
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				11								12

Across: 1 To express pleasure or approval to somebody for an achievement or good fortune or on a special occasion. 3 Preferred or most liked. 4 In sport, somebody whose role is to try to prevent the opposition from scoring or getting into a scoring position. 5 Somebody who supports somebody or something, such as sports team. 6 With special ability and dexterity in doing something. 7 A sports event made up of a series of games, rounds, or contests. 9 A member of a football team active in the central area of the playing field, often both in attack and defence. 11 A loud or noisy disturbance. 12 To finish a game with the scores for the opposing sides level or with neither side having won.

Down: 2 In games such as football, a defensive player positioned in a goal whose main task is to keep the ball from crossing the goal line into the goal. 6 An attacking player in a football team whose main role is to score goals. 7 A group of people forming one side in a sports competition. 8 An official who oversees the play in a sport or game, judges whether the rules are being followed, and penalizes fouls or infringements. 10 A trainer of sports players and athletes.

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Since I have been studying UNIT # 4 : AFRICAN NATIONS CUP from "Go For English 2nde", the English textbook used at the national level by all the students in form 5 (grade 11), I will print the crossword puzzle and use it at the end of the Unit as a consolidation exercise or a test to check my students' understanding and memorizing of some vocabulary related to soccer (In Cote d'Ivoire we commonly say Football).

Using HotPotatoes could promote learner autonomy in the sense that students can exert themselves creating exercises or tests for their own. This is a way of assessing their knowledge. Isn't self-testing a good way of increasing critical awareness and promoting autonomy in learning?

The use of HotPotatoes can be made difficult if the access to the Internet is not available.