CHAPTER 2

WORD PROCESSOR IN THE

CLASSROOM
CHAPTER 2: Word Processor in the
Classroom
 What is Processor?
 Why use Word Processor?
 Word Processing Tips to take
into Account in the Classroom
 Using Word Processors for
Creative Writing
 Word Processor: Consideration
What is Processor?
A word processor is an
electronic device or computer
software application that
performs the task of
composition, editing,
formatting, and printing of
documents.
Why use Word Processors?
Word Processors can be used in many
invented ways:
Teachers can prepare, create, store and
share materials for their classes by using
a Word processing program, and learners
can use a Word processing program both in
and outside the classroom, to practice
writing skills, grammar and other language
points, as well as to present their work.
GENERAL PROCESSES

 Inserting Images
 Text Wrapping
Word Processing Tips to take into
Account in the Classroom
 Encourage your students to save their
documents in a consistent way, naming them
with their own name and a brief description.
 Ask students to keep a copy of their work in
a memory stick.
 Be prepared to deal with some computing
terminology.
 Before each class try to identify the
related vocabulary and make sure that your
students understand it in the class.
Using Word Processors for Creative
Writing
• Exchange documents between learner and
teacher or learner and learner.
• They also include dictionary, grammar and
thesaurus (However, they might give learners
too much support in the writing process
itself).
• Use the spell-checker as an important tool
when writing (Turn it off whenever students
are practicing language and structures).
Word Processors: Consideration
There are some potential downsides to
using word processors - not the least of
which is working with mixed technological
ability classes where typing skills (or lack
of them) may play a large part in
performance anxiety and in the pace at which
activities are carried out.
Some attention must be paid to not
putting too much pressure on your learners
to perform too quickly.
Word Processors: Consideration
You should also not expect great success
with these cycles ofrevision and peer
correction if your learners are not used to
doing such activities away from the
computers.
In short, trying to introduce too much
too quickly into your word processing
classes may ultimately make them more
challenging than they should be, and
frustrating for your learners.
Word Processors: Consideration

Starting with simple activities,

and getting your learners used to
the mechanics of word processing
before moving on to the more
creative side, will help with this
writing process in the more
traditional fashion.
CHAPTER 3
USING WEBSITES
CHAPTER 3: Using Websites
 Using Websites in the Classroom
 ELT Websites or Authentic Websites
 How to find useful Websites
 How to Evaluate Websites
 Planning Lessons using the Internet
 Web Teaching Do’s and Don’t’s
Using Websites in the Classroom

Using websites is one of the

easiest and less stressful ways of
integrating technology into the
classroom.
There is a plethora of constantly
expanding collection of resources on
the web, at a variety of levels and
covering an amazing array of topics.
Using Websites in the Classroom
You can choose from authentic
(written for internet surfers in
general) sources or ELT specific
sites (made by, and for,
teachers), monolingual sites,
sites with multimedia or just
simple text for those on slower
connection.
There are several ways you can use web
pages in the classroom:
As printed pages in cases where
there is no computers or where there
is a limited access to the net.
Teachers can just print out a
couple of pages containing the
targeted items they need to use in
the classroom and then zerox it for
the rest of the class to have.
There are several ways you can use
web pages in the classroom:
With one computer with an internet
connection.
There are many schools that do not have
enough computers to cover all the needs of
teachers and students, in this case one can
have access only to one computer and with the
use of data projector or an interactive
whiteboard the visibility can be greater for
the whole class and the
benefit is generalized.
There are several ways you can use
web pages in the classroom:
In a computer lab with a set
of networked and interconnected
computers.
This is the ideal situation
any language teacher would
aspire for.
Using Websites in the Classroom
It is very important that teachers
should organize regular get-togethers with
their learners to explain to them the
advantages of learning through technology.
It should be clear to all language
learners that the use of internet is an
intrinsic part of their overall language
development process and is not a pass time
or an occasional activity that has nothing
to do with their study program.
ELT Websites or Authentic Websites

1.ELT Websites
2.Authentic
Websites/Materials
1. ELT Websites
• Provide content that learner can use
• More opportunities for more
controlled language work
• Ideal for home work
• Controlled language work
• For certain aspect of the language
• To prepare for exam
How to Find Useful Websites
For teachers: Having good search
skills means:
• Finding useful resources
quickly
• Speeding up lesson planning
• Facilitating web use in class
How to Find Useful Websites
For Learners:
• Being able to quickly
accomplish web-based task
• To ensure technology enhances
the learning experience rather
than impeding it.
How to Evaluate Websites
Having found potentially useful
websites, the next step is to
evaluate how useful and appropriate
they are for the classroom.
You will also need to think
about the aims and objectives of
your lesson.
How to Evaluate Websites
Does the website you have found fit in with
these, and does it enhance and complement the
other materials and activities you have planned
for the class?
Sometimes the Internet content will be the
core of a particular lesson but at other times
it will merely serve as a jumping-off point
into something more closely related to a
particular course book theme or unit, or be a
source of extra material to follow up on the
core classroom content.
There are various standard criteria for judging
websites which can serve as a starting point for your
evaluation:

1.Accuracy
2.Currency
3.Content
4.Functionality
1. Accuracy
• Who wrote the page? Is this person an
expert in the subject matter? Check
qualifications, experience - look for
an ‘about me' Link.
• Is the page content reliable and
factually correct? Cross-reference
with other similar websites and
encyclopedias.
2. Currency
• Is the content up-to-date?
Check factual information
against other reliable sources.
• When the page was last updated?
Check for information at the
bottom/top of the page.
3. Content
• Is the site interesting and
stimulating? Consider the content
from your learners'point of view.
• Is it attractive and easy to
navigate? Check the colour
combinations, the logic of the
links and visual structure.
4. Functionality
• Does the site work well? Are there any
broken links? Be sure to check all
pages, and follow all links to all
pages you intend to use.
• Does it use a lot of large files or
alternative technologies (e.g. FlashX
Check how quickly it loads for
learners; check sound, video and
animation work.)
How to Evaluate Websites
It may well be that the accuracy and currency
criteria, both essentially factual, are not of
interest to you if you are working on a purely
linguistic level, that is planning a class that
exploits the language of the site, rather than the
content itself.
On the other hand, accuracy and currency might
be the most important criteria if learners are
taking notes and interpreting information in
preparation for producing a project.
How to Evaluate Websites
Another thing to bear in mind as a
language teacher will be the
linguistic accuracy of the web page.
If this is important to you, you
will need to add this to your
evaluation criteria.
This again will depend on the
purpose of the site in your lesson
plan.
How to Evaluate Websites
This is an area of contention
among teachers, and a subject
that almost always crops up in
technology training sessions.
Only you can really decide on
the linguistic content of a
particular site
How to Evaluate Websites
Spending lots of time on a
site devoted to mobile phone
texting language with a class
preparing to do an examination
is probably not in the best
interests of the learners, for
example.
How to Evaluate Websites
As far as content is concerned, note
that criteria such as ease-of-use and
interest are taken into account, but you may
also want to consider adding a further set
of criteria here along the lines of
appropriateness.
In this subcategory you would note which
groups or levels the site would be suitable
for and any problems you foresee with the
site itself.
How to Evaluate Websites
Functionality will be a category
with consequences for all teachers.
Not only can it be very
frustrating to follow through the
content of a site to be met with
broken links and missing
information.
How to Evaluate Websites
But it can be equally frustrating to
wait twenty minutes for a short video
to download due to the speed of your
connection.
Again, careful preparation and
investigation in the lesson planning
stage can go a long way towards making
the learners' experience enjoyable and
trouble-free.
How to Evaluate Websites
However you evaluate the
usefulness of the websites you
find, make sure that you keep a
record of the content and
address so that you begin to
build up a large stock of
evaluated sites
Planning Lessons using the Internet
At this stage, you have: –
 Set up your objective(s)
 Found some websites
 Evaluated the websites (remember
previous discussion?)
 Decided the website(s) to use
 Decide the objective(s)
Planning Lessons using the Internet

 Plan your session well

 Search the website
 Evaluate the website
 Visit the website and Know
the way around
Make a Lesson Plan
• Parts: warmer-web-what’s
next
• Use the computer only as
long as it’s needed
• Time and task
Application
• Level of learners: upper-
intermediate to advanced
• Skills:
Asking and answering questions
Reacting to information
Showing interest
Web Teaching DO’s and DON’T’s
• Use knowledge of other teachers and of
your learners to help with technical side
of the lesson.
• Use Tech Savy learners to assist.
• If a lesson involves few web pages - save
in hard disk.
• Use internet explorer – File – Save as-
you will be able to use even if the
connection goes down.
Web Teaching DO’s and DON’T’s
• Don’t let them work alone in class! Pairs
or threes are fine as long as there is a
turn for everyone – it helps to encourage
oral communication.
• Layout of computers – arrange the computer
room – you can keep control over learners.
• Activities- Use the ideal layout.
• Filtering content – not all the content
will be suitable for the learners.
Web Teaching DO’s and DON’T’s
• Install filtering software
which can limit access to
content.
• User specified and control
• Have a back-up plan in place,
be prepared.
END OF LESSON...
Thank you for listening!