“Do teachers need to create web-based language activities for EFL students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia? Why and why not?

Technology has made teaching and learning easier for both teachers and students. I believe teachers need to create interesting activities for language skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing on the Web to facilitate their student’s learning. Sally Morrison mentioned some advantages of creating web-based activities as; Accessibility: By putting course material on the Web, teachers provide students with 24-hour, independent access to course information, and updates to Web pages and new assignments are immediately available to students. Renewability: Once created, materials can be updated easily and often. Adaptability: Web-based activities can easily be modified to support students at different proficiency levels or with special needs. Evaluation: teachers can easily assess their student’s work instantly. Feedback: teachers can give feedback to their learners with ease.Some learners need incentives to motivate them. A teacher can create web-based languages activities to encourage those students.

Virtual classroom with Ms. Peggy Tharpe

 

For the first time in my stay at YUC on a Wednesday in EDU 401 class we had a virtual classroom session. Dr. Hala was the moderator who introduced Ms. Peggy Tharpe who is an American English teacher,trainer and consultant, americanpronunciationcoach. I can’t actually remember how many students were in the class but roughly 15 to 16 of us and a guest teacher. The session was on for about 43 minutes.

The topic of the lecture was about “how Arabic influences the Pronunciation of English?” Ms. Peggy started by telling us a very interesting story on how she came to study why people sound so American when they speak Arabic. From her study she discovered that;

·         Arabic and English are spoken in different parts of the mouth.

·         Differences in vowel system.

·         Differences in consonant system.

·         Arabic breaks in sound can occur within words (glottal stop) while

·         English breaks in sound separate phrases.

·         Consonants are strong in Arabic whereas vowels are stronger in English.

·         The problem with learning all the extra vowels for the Arabic speaker and extra consonant for the English speaker. eg

American		Standard Arabic
vowels	12-18	3:3+2
consonants	20	27-28

When the session was over she asked some questions and some answers were given. E.g. one question says, what works best to master unfamiliar consonants? Some students say, practice and listening skills. Ms. Peggy agreed, adding that even research has shown that the earlier one listens to a language the better they acquire the accent. 

Advantages

Accessibility: one can access a virtual classroom from home, office, internet café or any other place which has an internet connection.

It brings experienced people and learners from all over the world together in highly interactive virtual class.

Recording: all sessions in a virtual classroom can be recorded and you can watch and listen to the entire session at any time.

Disadvantages

Not all schools have the technology and the internet.

Cost of the technology.

Some feel that education quality will go down because of "mass" communication learning systems.

I will like to use virtual classrooms like blackboard in my classroom. Depending on where I am in the world. In Saudi Arabia I don’t think it will work because of the restrictions on the use of cameras and videos. However, things are rapidly changing.