In
this article the Webquest was define by Bernie as "an inquiry oriented
activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with
comes from resources on the internet, optionally supplemented with
videoconferencing." He meant that the Webquests provide the opportunity to
combine technology with educational concepts and to incorporate inquiry-based
learning.

Webquest is structured into components, which include: introduction, Tasks,
process, evaluative, concluding and often motivational elements are added
(e.g., gaming aspect, extra credit, and contest), which might include groups
competing against one another.



Webquest is highly recommended for teachers because it is a good way for
focusing on the learners' thinking at the levels of applying, analysis,
synthesis and evaluation, and allowing them to explore the information in a
meaningful manner. Therefore, the teacher who designs the tasks should choose
an interest task for her students to motivate them. Also she is considers as a
facilitator during the learning process. Moreover the teacher has to build the
structured environments that orient learners to a specific curricular topic by
provides them with the Internet, print resources they need and guidance for
completing the tasks and for evaluating learning. On the other hand the
students are active participants at the forefront of any Webquests who guide
their learning process by following what the teacher has asked in the task.
Students use critical thinking to look for information from internet resources,
they either answer questions or solve problems which depends on the given task.
In addition the class environment has to be informal, where students work on
their computers to solve the task. But we must mention that students should not
stick only to their computers, but also they should work together as groups in
classroom to complete their tasks. They can draw, color, rearrange, read books,
magazines and newspapers, etc. Furthermore Webquests tend to be
student-oriented and collaborative when students engaged in constructivist
activities resulting in shared learning experiences and new knowledge based on
enquiry-oriented language use and Web research skills. Project-based learning
(PBL), one of the enduring approaches to education that supports the use of
Webquests because it gives a variety of learning styles and multiple forms of
intelligence have a real world authentic orientation, also it is focus on the
learner constructing meaning and knowledge from an assigned activity. And it
promotes higher-order thinking, uses hand-on experiences and various modes of
communication.



As a future English language teacher I will use the Webquest with my students,
because I believe that learning is not what you receive but what you work on
and acquire. This will help my students to be collaborative and independent
learners also to be able to improve themselves where they can learn and find
information by themselves. Also they will have different and interesting
experience by using the Webquest.

Evaluating Lanternfish Website

One of the websites dedicated to ESL and TEFL is LANTERNFISH, http://bogglesworldesl.com/. The website was created by Chris Gunn; who’s a web and materials designer currently teaching at a university in Korea, Stephen Gordon; an editor and a content creator specialized in business English resource materials and currently teaching at a university in Korea, Cam Lirette; an editor and content creator currently teaching at a university in Korea, and Thomas Lavelle; a writer and content director currently teaching at a university in the United States. The website and its content is maintained and created by a group of ESL teachers in Asia and North America. They do offer contact information for users to email them and ask questions and content contact and the content is owned by the website and it prohibits anyone from redistributing them electronically or otherwise.

LANTERFISH’S aim is to bring free printable ESL material resources to teachers and parents for educational usage. The website offers advertisement that is very distracting and annoying. The website’s content does not expand the imagination or the experience of the user, but it does not promote any bias to gender, race, religion, etc.

The website’s design and information is very confusing and it’s difficult to find specific materials, you need to choose an activity to access the glossary from it which is a hassle and there is no search bar to quickly access material. The text’s font differs and not spaced appropriately, the graphics are not distracting but the whole website feels outdated. The topics and links have the same color which is very confusing and not appealing to young people or children, but the website does load very quickly without any problems and does not require any plug-ins and users do not have to pay any type of fee or offer any personal information.

The website’s title is not appropriate to its purpose, and its content is not easy to read because it’s all blue and feels like it’s melting together. The website includes a good amount of materials that makes visiting it worthwhile, but the content is not presented in an attractive way and there is no search tool to help users find topics easily. Some aspects of the website are updated and some aren’t but the spelling and grammar are correct. Links to more information are not provided and the graphics are related but outdated. The websites is dedicated to ESL but there are Spanish and French exercises which aren’t relevant to the intended audience, the skills required to use the site’s features and structure aren’t easy and a bit challenging, but the viewpoint presented is comprehensible. The content is educational and appropriate for all ages.

The website offers a huge diverse content material for all ages and levels and their needs, but it isn’t interactive or engaging and there isn’t one book that can include all the content on the website to be compared to.

Reflect on the live session we had with Peggy

The virtual classrooms was about how does the Arabic language influence pronunciation of English language the name of the presenter is Peggy, she is American English consultant trainer and teacher, specializing in English speaking and listening skills she hold a PHD degree in education, a master degree in teaching English as a scorned language. Peggy had an American pronunciation center and she taught ESL and EFL in the U.S., Turkey, Italy, Switzerland, and Mexico. She has a deep understanding of pronunciation challenges and solutions for people developing their proficiency in English. She has helped many people to understand and create the American English sound, and give some ways to keep working and improving their sound after they are done. In these virtual classrooms there was two classes, the students’ number between 15 to 20 students. Also there was two teachers. It was for one hour.

I learned from these virtual rooms that The Phonetic in Arabic and English and What is the different between Arabic sound system and English which make the difficulties to pronounce the English sound for Arabic speaker and vies verse. Moreover she gave some solution for wrong Arab pronunciation also she assumed that active listening are the most useful way to distinguish between the similar sounds.

There are a lot of advantages for using the virtual classrooms the important advantage are that different classes can join in one virtual classrooms that make it more useful for a lot of people. The students can share their opinions and thought without interrupting the speaker. The students can see lecture or the lesson when they need it and show it to anyone who interest. In addition we can learn from others knowledge in the world.

 And the disadvantages of virtual rooms in the language classroom are some time the students will feel confusing because there are more than one leader so I think that will be useful for adult student not for a children and also maybe they will not understand the accent of the presenter especially if she or he do not know the level of the students in English language.

These is very interesting way to teach the students which i will use it in my classroom because that will engage the students to the lesson quickly and make them more attention. Also they can contact with each other and with the teacher or presenter in the same time i think that is good idea. Moreover I can use it to give them some examples of other people or to help them to understand the class clearly or to show them others experience that will help them to learn from others knowledge in the world in interesting way.

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

The Morrison’s reasons for create web- based for language activities/quizzes/materials are accessibility, renewability, and adaptability. Therefore I think that are useful for the students especially in Saudi Arabia because different reasons, the first one I think that will motivate the students and will increase their engagement to the class. The second reason they will feel more comfortable because all materials are found there if they need it. Moreover most learner are digital native so they will find it easily for them.

Wordle in EDU 401

Normalisation of Bax in the Saudi Kingdom

1-In this article Bax discussed the development of the CALL through the past, present and future. And he suggested some changes of achieving nomalisations that concept means when the computers become as a part of our life. Moreover he explains the CALL stages which were divided by Warschauer:

· Behavioristic CALL

· Communicative CALL

· Integrated CALL.

Behavioristic CALL, is the most acceptable and would engage most agreement. But the other two are not. In addition he assumed that the CALL will extension to the normalization level when the technology become used as a normal thing in our lives also during the teaching and learning process. Moreover he explained some approaches which they are Restricted CALL that from the 1960s until about 1980. And Open CALL that from the 1980s until today.

2- (A) Bax suggested some change of achieving nomalisations that when the teachers use the computers as part of their lesson. Moreover he divided the means into three steps, they are:

1- Identify the critical factors which require the nomalisation.

2- Examination the practice of each teaching context.

3- Adjust the practice in each aspect to encourage the normalization.

2- (B) In my opinion, I think the Saudi Arabia’s schools started using technology at some classes. Moreover, I think the ministry of education will start to train their students and teachers to use technology in their classroom. And also they will try to provide many computers, projectors and internet in their schools. So, they still need many efforts to reached "normilasation" to achieve the required level.

Challenges of creating web-based activates in Sally Morrison” Interactive language Learning on the Web

Many teacher may face some challenges in creating Web-based language learning activities. The first and greatest challenge are that many teacher do not have the technical skill and knowledge to do it. Also they do not have time to require this skills. In addition some teacher avoid to use it because many students may face some problem like difficulty to accesses to internet or variety of their modem speed or the variety of Web browsers or because some students have a special needs. Therefore the teacher should take all this problem into account when they designing their online activities.
Some of difficulties that may face the teachers in SA are the accesses to internet, because not all schools here in SA provide the internet in their classes. Also not all students can accesses to the internet all the time. And not all schools have an appropriate materials which can help the teacher to use the technology in their classes. Moreover there are some students who don't have an appropriate material to help them to accesses to the internet or to learn by using technology. In addition some teacher or students are not familiar with technology so they don't use it to learn or teach. Therefore the ministry of education should provide an appropriate materials to their students, teachers and schools. And also they should train their students and teachers to teach them how they can take the benefit of using technology.