[ Email ] [ WWW ] [ Newsgroup ] [ Chat/ MOO ] [ References ]

Email

1. In a standalone class, Email can be used in many ways:
   • Class/course announcement
   • Delivery of course materials
   • Collecting and returning assignments
   • Mentoring (advising and guiding students) - online counseling/conferencing
   • Peer review
   • Guest lecturing

2. Penpals of keypals

   You may work with a teacher from another unversity to pair students up.

   Where to look for Email pals?

   • Intercultural E-Mail Classroom Connections (http://www.iecc.org/)

   • The E-Mail Key Pal Connection (http://www.comenius.com/keypal/index.html)

   • Send your call to TESL-L, a computer discussion list for ESL/EFL teachers.

   Useful Advice from Tom Robb (http://www.kyoto-su.ac.jp/~trobb/keypals.html)

   School terms around the world in 1994 (http://www.kyoto-su.ac.jp/~trobb/pci/html/terms.html)

3. Email Discussion Lists

   They provide forums for ESL/EFL students to discuss and practice their writing. Teachers may set up class email lists for their own classes or students may join one of the Student Lists available. Two recommended ones are the SL Lists and the IECC.

   • SL Lists: International ESL/EFL Student Discussion Lists :

     The Student Lists were established in February 1994 to provide a forum for cross-cultural discussion and writing practice for college, university and adult students in English language programs around the world. There are currently ten student lists, but more may be added as the demand for them becomes evident:

     • INTRO-SL : A Discussion List for New Members
     • CHAT-SL : A General Discussion List (Low level)
     • DISCUSS-SL: A General Discussion List (High level)
     • BUSINESS-SL : A Discussion List on Business and Economics
     • ENGL-SL: A Discussion List on Learning English
     • EVENT-SL: A Discussion List on Current Events
     • MOVIE-SL: A Discussion List on Cinema
     • MUSIC-SL: A Discussion List on Music
     • SCITECH-SL : Discussion List on Science, Technology & Computers
     • SPORT-SL: A Discussion List on Sports
     
     For further information email a blank message to
     announce-sl@latrobe.edu.au

     or visit their website at:
     http://www.latrobe.edu.au/www/education/sl/sl.html

   • IECC at http://www.iecc.org/

     The IECC mailing lists are intended to facilitate international classroom electronic mail exchanges. Due to the high volume of postings on the IECC mailing lists (now with almost 6500 participants in 70 countries), the lists are broken into the following interest groups:
     

     IECC	for teachers seeking K-12 classroom partnerships
     IECC-PROJECTS	for teachers seeking partners for an e-mail project
     IECC-DISCUSSION	for discussing strategies for using e-mail in an educational setting
     IECC-SURVEYS	students and teachers can post requests for assistance on short-term projects, surveys, and questionnaires
     IECC-HE	teachers seeking partner teachers in institutions of Higher Education

     To subscribe send the message: subscribe (don't forget to turn off your signature file)
     To one of the following addresses:

     IECC-REQUEST@STOLAF.EDU
     IECC-PROJECTS-REQUEST@STOLAF.EDU
     IECC-DISCUSSION-REQUEST@STOLAF.EDU
     IECC-SURVEYS-DIGEST-REQUEST@STOLAF.EDU
     IECC-HE-REQUEST@STOLAF.EDU
     

   Advice for teachers

   • Basic info on the SL Lists (http://www.kyoto-su.ac.jp/~trobb/slinfo.html)
     
   • Detailed info for Teachers (http://www.kyoto-su.ac.jp/~trobb/slhowto.html)
     
   • Welcome Message for Students (http://www.kyoto-su.ac.jp/~trobb/slwelcome.html)
     
   • Information for students who are not currently enrolled in an English class (http://www.kyoto-su.ac.jp/~trobb/slindiv.html)
     

4. Email projects

   You may divide your students into groups and give them an assignment that requires collaboration, e.g. to work on a joint project, or to write a research paper. Email is a good tool to facilitate their communication and the writing process. Some examples are:

   • Global Communication Through Email (by Ruth Vilmi) http://www.hut.fi/~rvilmi/autumn93/global.html

   • The Cities Project http://www.nyu.edu/pages/hess/cities.html

   • Interclass Projects (compiled by Ron Corio) (http://www.vcu.edu/cspweb/,icp/ipi.html)

Newsgroups

1. Netnews:

   The Usenet, or Netnews, is a collection of disucssion groups organized under a set of broad headings called "newsgroups". Students should first subscribe to the topic they would like to join. Then they may read articles, send in replies or post their own questions or opinions. They may choose to post publicly, or just email the writer of a newsgroup article. The articles may be printed or saved.

2. Class newsgroup

   A teacher may set up a class newsgroup that is accessible by only members of the class(es). It can then be used as an electronic class bulletin board, for sharing assignments, conducting class discussion, asking questions and giving answers, making announcements, etc.
   An example (http://osu.orst.edu/~healeyd/162/162news.html)

3. Projects that make use of newsgroups:

   The International Writing Exchange (http://www.hut.fi/~rvilmi/Spring97/IWE_handout.html)

   This project started in Sept. 1994 as an email project and then moved to use newsgroup.

   See Warschauer 1995b for more project ideas.

World-Wide Web

1. A resource for language education http://home.ust.hk/~lclindam/apweb96/linda.htm

2. Resources for Students

   A few representative ones are:
   • Online Writing Labs - Purdue OWL http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

   • Dave's ESL Cafe http://www.eslcafe.com

   • Holidays http://www.aec.ukans.edu/LEO/holidays/holidays.html

   • Linguistic Funland http://www.linguistic-funland.com/tesl.html

   • Comenius Virtual English Center (Idioms and fables) http://www.comenius.com

   • More links indexed at HKUST: http://lc.ust.hk/~learn/

3. Collborative Projects For Class Use

   • HUT Internet Writing Projects
     1. Robots and Environment Projects (delivered via newsgroups) http://www.hut.fi/~rvilmi/autumn94/robots.html and http://www.hut.fi/~rvilmi/autumn94/environment.html

     2. Language Adventure Game and Internet Adventure Creation Environment
        http://law.cs.htu.fi/GAMES/

     3. The future direction is to go multi-media, multi-languages and multi-discipline:
        
        The King's Project http://www.hut.fi/~rvilmi/King/kings_prop.html and
        the HOT SOL http://www.hut.fi/~rvilmi/hotsol.html

        For details, join Vilmi's paper session "The web in computer-mediated projects" on Wed. Mar.18 10:30am to 11:15am CC604

   • Email Projects Homepage (by Susan Gaer) http://www.otan.dni.us/webfarm/emailproject/email.htm
     Note: This site includes both email and web projects. For details, join Susan Gaer's Discussion Group "E-mail and WWW Projects: collaboration on the electronic express" on Sat. Mar 21 at 7.30-8:15am

   • Famous Japanese Personages (http://www.kyoto-su.ac.jp/information/famous/)

   • Cities Project - Discovering Washington, DC (http://gwis.circ.gwu.edu/~washweb/efltrip.html)
     For details, join Meloni's paper session "The web in computer-mediated projects" on Wed. Mar.18 10:30am to 11:15am CC604

   • Web class newsletter/ Magazine: Technical Express and Class newsletters at CUHK

4. Resources for Teachers

   • ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) http://edrs.com/

   • Hong Kong TELEC http://www.telenex.hku.hk/
     Provides hypertext grammar, lesson tips, and online support for English teachers in Hong Kong.

   • Internet Lesson Plans http://schoolnet2.carleton.ca/english/ext/aboriginal/lessons/index.html
     a collection of lesson plans and learning projects provided by Abenaki Associates for Canada's SchoolNet. Can be adapted for use in classrooms of any grade.

   • Conducting Research on the WWW

     • Introduction (by Nick Noakes) http://lc.ust.hk/~lcstaff/albany/research.html
       
     • Research Guides (by Nick Loakes and Linda Mak) http://lc.ust.hk/~teach/wt97r.html

   • On-line journals and Magazines
     1. Journals and Newsletters in TESL/TEFL, Linguistics,and Communication
     2. E-zines: Electronic Publications (Full list)

   • Teacher Training and Development http://lc.ust.hk/~teach/

   • TESL Conferences
     1. Conference Schedule for Linguists, Translators, Interpreters and Teachers of Languages (a long list in alphabetical order)
     2. IATEFL '98: 14-18 April, Manchester
     3. TESOL Convention '98: 17-21 March Seattle, Washington

   • Developing a Course Web Page: Virtual Resource Packet http://www.knc.lib.umich.edu/workshops/gsihome.html
     a basic overview and collection of linked resources on the planning process, web page building tools, graphics resources, and selection of resources for linking.

Real-time Applications:

• Intra-class Chatting (http://osu.orst.edu/~healeyd/pci/chat_help.html)

• MOOs: Guide to SchMOOze U (by D. Healey) http://osu.orst.edu/~healeyd/pci/schmooze_help.html
  

Back to Getting Your Virtual Feet Wet

created by March 13, 1998 by Linda Mak
revised on March 16, 1998
http://www.ilc.cuhk.edu.hk/english/suzan/tesol98/pci/classap.html