Week 3 - Delicious and Non-Delicious

Delicious, mhmm! Yammy! Not having heard of it before? Neither have I. 

Yammy: Delicious pages are social bookmarking website on which you may store all interesting or important web links you have come across or you visit regularly. It is easy to sign in, add links and follow other´s delicious websites.

Good: The materials needed to be read this week were quite extensive dealing with CALL (computer assisted language learning), providing information about tools used to teach listening skills, pronunciation and intonation. According to Lindsay Miller (Developing Listening Skills with Authentic Materials, ESL Magazine article), listening skills are not intentionally focused on while acquiring L2 (the second or foreign language) even though almost listening skills are most often used (about 40 %) in a real life. Miller suggests several tools to use authentic materials in language learning, the radio, videos, films, CDs or DVDs inclusive with the emphasis on pre-listening, while-listening and post-listening tasks.

Non-delicious: Another paper by Maria Busa (New Perspectives in Teaching Pronunciation) was difficult to read since it was too theoretical and the research conducted seemed inappropriate for use in primary or secondary schools owing to the fact that language learners might see the picture of their intonation and pronunciation but it was not stated how to improve these two aspects of the language to be similar to those of native speakers´ except repetition. No such techniques were mentioned. This paper took too much time to comprehend. On the other hand, quite a lot of colleagues of mine appreciated the approach presented in the paper and expressed their interest to try it with their learners.

Tasty: Julia Gong´s paper The Employment of CALL in Teaching Second/Foreign Language Speaking Skills is more practical than theoretical so it is worth reading it again to contemplate pros and cons of CALL use.

ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS: Browsing through recommended websites proved and showed enthusiasm of teachers in need for new, more interesting, authentic and ready-to-use materials.  Some of the websites I have been familiar with, but they were either lost or forgotten. With the help of delicious.com all interesting and important websites will never be forgotten. In addition, peeking into my colleagues delicious pages has enriched my list of useful links.

Teaching pronunciation is so easy with the tool below.