Internet English - Fall 2006

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Internet English is a one-credit, one-semester elective EFL course for students at Kyoto Sangyo University, running from October 2006 through mid-January 2007. The purpose of the course is to provide students with the experience of interacting/conversing with people from around the world in English, while simultaneously learning how to communicate on the open Web. Moodle is being used as a course management tool, while students are required to run their own weblogs on Wordress.com and use Flickr as a social networking and photo sharing tool. The teacher (me) runs a weblog just like the students do to model the process.

The students meet once a week for 14 weeks in a computer room, come from different academic departments, and range in level from false beginner to intermediate. Most have studied English from textbooks since junior high school, but for many it is the first time they are actually using it in contexts outside the classroom. Your comments on their posts and photos would make a big difference to them. Listed below are links to their sites:

Wordpress Blogs:
Ryo: http://ryo0124.wordpress.com/
Sonken: http://sonken.wordpress.com/
Nattsu: http://nattsu.wordpress.com/
Yusuke: http://yusukefujita.wordpress.com/
Isamu: http://isamu136.wordpress.com/
Rika: http://rika120disney120.wordpress.com/
Yuki: http://yuki86.wordpress.com/
Takashi: http://takashi2006.wordpress.com/
Rio: http://rio1984.wordpress.com/
Shu: http://yummyshu.wordpress.com/
Motohiro: http://motohiro.wordpress.com/
Shin: http://shin11.wordpress.com/
Satoshi: http://satoshi1.wordpress.com/

Flickr Sites:

Isamu: http://www.flickr.com/photos/62744477@N00/
Yuki: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ginger_cookie/
Motohiro: http://www.flickr.com/photos/68222787@N00/
Ryo:http://www.flickr.com/photos/50909422@N00/
Yuta:http://www.flickr.com/photos/87976677@N00/
Takashi:http://www.flickr.com/photos/69358446@N00/
Rio: http://www.flickr.com/photos/32975473@N00/
Yusuke:http://www.flickr.com/photos/64061434@N00/
Satoshi: http://www.flickr.com/photos/43182639@N00/

Trackbacks & Pings

  1. EFL Geek: ESL & EFL in Korea on 14 Jun 2007 at 10:23 pm

    Internet English (again)…

    Two years ago and at a previous university position I wrote about a proposal for a course titled Internet English. Well it looks like I will finally be able to teach a course approaching what this was supposed to be. This summer, starting June 25, I ha…

Comments

  1. EFL Geek wrote:

    Aaron,

    I’ve started putting a proposal together for a course very much like this one. Would you be able to share your syllabus with me or any materials activities you do with the class. This would be very helpful to me in getting a course like this approved.

    I will of course give you full credit for your materials and ideas.

    Posted 28 Oct 2006 at 6:46 pm

  2. Aaron wrote:

    Hi EFL Geek. Good to hear from you again. I’d be happy to share anything related to this course. I’ll send you an email with more info.

    Posted 29 Oct 2006 at 8:42 am

  3. Edward wrote:

    Hey there,
    wondering if you want to do some kind of comment exchange? I’ll send my learners to your page for comments and you do the same?
    Or set up some sort of project/task the learners need to collaborate on?
    any ideas?
    Ed

    Posted 08 Nov 2006 at 1:07 pm

  4. amanda wrote:

    Could I get the same info-filled email that you sent to EFL Geek?

    I am going to teach a similar course here in Taiwan in the spring of 2007.

    Since the course is also now near completion–I would be interested in knowing what went well and what didn’t go as well as you had hoped.

    Posted 14 Dec 2006 at 12:22 am

  5. Sarah wrote:

    Hi! I have been spending some time exploring technologies and their use in the language learning classroom. I was wondering if you would share what went well and what didn’t go as well as you’d hoped in this course? I am most curious with your experience & students’ experience using Flickr. If you have time, I would really like to hear your thoughts.

    Thank you,

    Sarah

    Posted 09 Mar 2007 at 8:57 am

  6. Aaron wrote:

    Hi Sarah…I’m actually in the midst of preparing a paper on that very subject. I will share my notes and ideas soon in a new blog post.

    Cheers, Aaron

    Posted 16 Mar 2007 at 3:03 pm

  7. EFL Geek wrote:

    Aaron,
    I’m looking forward to hearing more about this. I still want to teach a class similar to yours and have got to find some way to persuade the administration that it is pedegogically valid.

    Posted 16 Mar 2007 at 4:03 pm

  8. Aaron wrote:

    EFL Geek, if you do end up facilitating such a course, please do let us know about it.

    Posted 16 Mar 2007 at 4:47 pm

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