22nd MELTA International Conference

I attended the 22nd Malaysian English Language Teaching Association (MELTA) International Conference from 28th to 30th May 2013 at Persada Johor Convention Centre, Johor Bahru. The theme of the conference was “Innovations in English Language Education: Evolving Policy, Envisioning Curriculum, Empowering Practitioners.”

I presented my paper titled “Language Learning through Literature via WebQuest” in the afternoon session on the first day of the conference. WebQuests are a form of PBL (project-based learning) that include collaborative task, task-specific searches, rubric for self evaluation and an end product. The drive for the paper came with the idea that we as English teachers should always remind ourselves to incorporate critical thinking skills in teaching-learning situation so that our students become independent thinkers to fit themselves in the ever-changing modern world. My paper exemplified how combining a classic literary text and a web-based tool – WebQuest in teaching can make learners become more confident users of English by critically thinking and creatively producing. I implemented the project with my tertiary level literature students and found them taking interest in the task as it offered them a chance - of getting out of the typical way of passively studying a literary text, of using the language creatively and of videocasting. The WebQuest example showed how learners became autonomous and produced content for the web through the process of self-evaluation. At the end of my presentation I showed a video clip of my students’ performance.

The paper germinated through a project aimed at bringing a technology-related change in my classroom as part of the “Building Teaching Skills Through the Interactive Web” course which I undertook with the Department of Linguistics of the University of Oregon.

My presentation was well-received and I got two responses - one from a Malay school teacher who asked me about WebQuest and another was a Srilankan teacher who asked me about the students' level. I answered their queries and made friends! The conference was an enriching experience foe me. I want to thank my students who undertook this project and made it possible for me to take their work to Malaysia.

Your Assignment

After reading the original text ‘Agamemnon’ by Aeschylus, analyzing two characters and applying the techniques of dialogue writing, you will create a short scene of 600 – 800 words (which does not exist in the original text) by writing a dialogue between two characters i.e. Clytemnestra and Aegisthus planning the murder of Agamemnon before he arrives at Argos which is comprehensible with the use of everyday conversational (not informal) English illustrating the characters’ personality traits as presented in the play. 

After thorough rehearsals you have to record your performance and upload the clip in http://vimeo.com/ for us to watch.

Please go to http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=182851 for a detailed overview of the assignment and necessary resources.

Don't forget to provide your Vimeo links here on this post in the form of comments.

Happy acting!!

Your Task

My ‘Classics in Translation I’ course students (46^th and 47^th batches) - Greetings to you all!

Welcome to my blog!

Please read over the information below for your next task. After you have read over the information regarding web searches, you will need to post here (students who have a Gmail account and can access this blog) or send an email to me at tahsinayasmin@stamforduniversity.edu.bd (students who do not have a Gmail account). The second group will be provided with a written and printed task by 10^th February 2013, Sunday.

Look at Noodletools' "Choose the Best Search for your Information Needs." It's not just www.noodletools.com - if you go to the main NoodleTools page, make sure you click on Choose the Best Search for Your Information Needs.

You can also look at the link to Web Searching Tech Tip for ideas about techniques for searching. Try some of the search engines or portals to see which ones work best for your course related searches and for information for your class studies.

Try something that is NOT Google, then post a comment about:

• which search site you used
• what you searched for, and
• a specific URL to show your result.

Don't forget to write your name and ID number at the end of  your post.

A sample answer might be -

I searched for the topic 'the status of women in ancient Greek society.' I chose Bing as my search engine and my entry was - "status of women" +ancient Greek Society. My search resulted into 5 very useful links on the first page of the portal. The following link has a two page essay which is very useful in understanding the topic.

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/5331547/ancient-greek-women

Good luck with searching!