Kecak!

Kecak (pronounced: /'ke.tʃak/, roughly "KEH-chahk", alternate spellings: Ketjak and Ketjack), a form of Balinese music drama, originated in the 1930s and is performed primarily by men. Also known as the Ramayana Monkey Chant, the piece, performed by a circle of 100 or more performers wearing checked cloth around their waists, percussively chanting "cak" and throwing up their arms, depicts a battle from the Ramayana where the monkey-like Vanara helped Prince Rama fight the evil King Ravana. However, Kecak has roots in sanghyang, a trance-inducing exorcism dance.[1]

Kecak was originally a trance ritual accompanied by male chorus. German painter and musician Walter Spies became deeply interested in the ritual while living in Bali in the 1930s and worked to recreate it into a drama, based on the Hindu Ramayana and including dance, intended to be presented to Western tourist audiences. This transformation is an example of what James Clifford describes as part of the "modern art-culture system"[2] in which, "the West or the central power adopts, transforms, and consumes non-Western or peripheral cultural elements, while making 'art' which was once embedded in the culture as a while, into a separate entity."[3] Spies worked with Wayan Limbak and Limbak popularized the dance by traveling throughout the world with Balinese performance groups. These travels have helped to make the Kecak famous throughout the world.

LESSON PLAN

Favorite football team



LEVEL: Form 1 (Intermediate)

TIME : 40 minutes (Single period)

AIMS : To be able to locate information from the website and use adjectives to describe their favorite football team.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS:
One computer per group of 2 students, with an internet connection and a web browser.

Website: www.soccernet.com / http://soccernet.espn.go.com/?cc=4716&POLL=32495853#myTeam

PREPARATION:
1. Locate the site
2. Check sites before lesson make sure that the students are on the right track.

PROCEDURE:
1. Teacher asks students to sit in pairs and share a computer.
2. Teacher shows students examples on ways to write a proper sentence using adjectives to describe a football team.
3. Teacher gives a worksheet to each pair of students and asks them to choose a team available from the website.
4. Teacher asks each pair of students to complete the worksheet by describing the football team.
5. Teacher asks the students to search available information about their team from the websites.
6. Each pair has to discuss their worksheet with other pairs who are doing the same team and they are required to use different adjectives to describe their team.
7. When all students have finished describing their football team, they discuss about their team in the class.
8. Teacher asks each different pairs with different teams to present their description.
FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY:
1. Teacher asks the students to write about their favorite football player.
2. The description should not be less than 50 words.
3. Teacher asks them to bring it in their next class.

ESL website evaluation

MOHD IZZAT BIN ABD RAHMAN

2005478168

 

 

 

BBC Learning English

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish

 

 

 

 

1. What does the application attempt to “teach”?

 

   Basically the application is trying to teach language, English to be exact. The applications have a few sections and the sections are divided according to their own category such as grammar, listening, football, learning English and vocabulary. I tried the football quiz and find it interesting because it tests us on our knowledge of football and general knowledge. I also think that kids, especially boys will like the quiz because it is about football. The application tries to cover a few areas of learning English, such as grammar, vocabulary and listening. What the application is trying to do is very interesting because they have a few different components that a person needs to know when they are trying to learn the language.

 

 

 

2. What sorts of things is the application user expected to do with regards to learning the content?

    The application user needs to go to the website of British Council and click on the link to the application. This is an example of one of the link to the application http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/quizzes/football/shootout.shtml. When the user is there they have to follow the instructions given, the instructions are clearly stated, and therefore there would be no problem in using the application if the user follows the instructions given correctly. When the user had access to the application, they can simply explore the exercise based on what category that they choose. The can learn about the knowledge and test their knowledge by doing the quizzes and language games provided by the application..

 

3. What sorts of computer skills is the application users expected to have in order to operate/access/use the application?

   In order to use the application, the users should have an internet connection and the basic knowledge of using the internet and how to browse the internet. For some computers, the users may have to download Macromedia flash player, and for that case, they need to have the knowledge on how to download the application from the internet but for beginners, they don’t have to worry much because there are guidance and the just need to follow the instructions.

 

4. While you are “playing”/”accessing”/”assessing” the application, does it remind you of anything you do in a classroom, or with a teacher, or with a fellow classmates, or in self-study?

   In a way the application does remind me on how we should have knowledge on football if we want to play football. Just imagine playing a game without knowing the rule. That would only be interesting if we are trying to make fun of ourselves. The application also reminds me of my practicum time where I am the facilitator of the lesson and the students are learning about football. I had chosen football because I was teaching in a boy’s school and they are more interested to learn when they are learning about something that they have background knowledge on it. The application also reminds me the importance of interactions, we need to interact to gain feedbacks and based on my experience if we are the only one who are doing the talking the lesson would be meaningless like a body without a soul.

 

5. Can you pinpoint some theories of language learning and/or teaching underlying the application?

 

"Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language - natural communication - in which speakers are concerned not with the form of their utterances but with the messages they are conveying and understanding." Stephen Krashen

 

 The application uses Krashen’s Theory of second language acquisition under its Acquisition-learning hypotheses. We can see this in the grammar and vocabulary part of the website. Users can acquire and learn the knowledge of grammar rules in the application. Basically they acquire the knowledge with the interaction from the application when they use the application. When the users are using the application in way they are having a natural communication because the application is very interactive and the communication is almost real. They also have the message board and forum and that makes the communication is more real because there are feedbacks from real people.

 

 

6. How well is the constructivist theory of learning applied to the chosen website(s)?

 

“Suggestions for Teaching with the Constructivist Learning Theory

• Encourage and accept student autonomy and initiative.
• Try to use raw data and primary sources, in addition to manipulative, interactive, and physical materials.
• When assigning tasks to the students, use cognitive terminology such as "classify," "analyze," "predict," and "create."
• Build off and use student responses when making "on-the-spot" decisions about teacher behaviors, instructional strategies, activities, and content to be taught.
• Search out students' understanding and prior experiences about a concept before teaching it to them.
• Encourage communication between the teacher and the students and also between the students.
• Encourage student critical thinking and inquiry by asking them thoughtful, open-ended questions, and encourage them to ask questions to each other.
• Ask follow up questions and seek elaboration after a student's initial response.
• Put students in situations that might challenge their previous conceptions and that will create contradictions that will encourage discussion.
• Make sure to wait long enough after posing a question so that the students have time to think about their answers and be able to respond thoughtfully.
• Provide enough time for students to construct their own meaning when learning something new.

(Ref: Brooks, J. and Brooks, M. (1993). In Search of Understanding: The Case for Constructivist Classrooms, ASCD

  Constructivist theory of learning says that learning is an active process of creating meaning from different experiences. This is taken from an education website; it means that the process of learning is a process where a person who learns will have different meanings if they are exposed to different kinds of methods. That is what I understand from the meaning of the theory. The website applied the theory by giving variety to the users, users can choose what kind of activity that they want to and do it according to their level. Based on the list of suggestions, I noticed that most of it focused on the interaction of the students with teacher. From this application there is also an interaction between the user and the application and also interactions between the user and other users. I think this is how the theory is applied in the application, by allowing interactions and giving them prior knowledge to the subject.

 

 

7. In 1980s and early 1990s, there was a major debate on ‘whether the computer was “master” of or “slave” to the learning process ( Higgins and Johns, 1984). In relation to your evaluation – was the computer a replacement for teachers or merely an obedient servant to students?

 

  I do not think that computers will be a good replacement for teachers, teachers are more reliable and the experience is more real. I believe that the technology can be more advance in the future but nothing can replace a genuine learning classroom environment. The communication and experience are more real and authentic and we will get immediate feedback. I love computers but trust me, a computer can never replace a teacher. That’s for sure and I’m sure that there are others who are with me defending the importance of having real teachers instead of just computers.

 

8. Would you like to use the application yourself in your future work?

 

    Yes? Give reasons: yes, I definitely will use the application in my future work because I think that it is suitable for my future work as an educator. I find that the application is very helpful and it is not too hard because it is to be done according to your level and we can decide to use what level that we want to. The application is also from British Council, a very reliable source and that will ensure that everyone will trust the reliability of the application. To be an educator we need to experience it first and based on my experience using the application I will definitely enjoy it and I will surely ask my future students use the application.

    

 

9. Suggestions/Recommendations.

    I think that the application should give more variety to its user because they need to cater the needs of the user. For example, football may be interesting for boys but what about girls.  I also think that they need to work more on the colour of the application, what I mean is they need to cater the needs of a few different users. Make it more colorful to attract kids especially. When they use that kind of enhancements, it will be more pleasing to our eyes and we will be more interested to learn. Besides that I think that everything is just fine.

 

this is an exercise using MS EXCEL...

an exercise using MS WORD...

Basically this is an exercise created using MS Word, what i'm trying to do is an exercise using the underline function in MS Word using (ctrl+u). It is quite simple but i think the students will like it because i think so, hehe....

my first entry for my CALL class...so it begins...

In-class task 1

Create a blog using http://www.blogger.com/ - done...
now i'm moving on to introduce myself....

My name is Mohd Izzat B Abd Rahman but people call me Bobo ( i got this name because of the tradition of pre-degree TESL Kuantan) now i'm in part 8 and you can call me izzat if you want to. I'm from Terengganu where we can find Keropok Lekor or Nasi Dagang easily, to be specific i'm from Besut. for those who are not good with Malaysia's geography Besut is at the border of Terengganu and Kelantan. Most of the people there speak kelantanese but we're still from Terengganu eventhough people in Besut don't speak Terengganu dialect very well.

i think that is enough about myself, now we gonna talk about my skills and computer knowledge.
regarding softwares, i think that i'm just familiar with the Microsoft Office and maybe a little bit of this and that. this and that are softwares like adobe or anything that are related to my study. i'm not the type of person who loves to venture into bombastic softwares and all. i love computers and gadgets but i'm just not that good yet.

About hardwares, i know how to change RAM, come on... who doesn't hehe, i think i know how to assemble a CPU with the help of a manual but i haven't tried to assemble one. I've experimented with my old Pentium III but i think with the avaible technology nowadays that won't be helpful.
i know how to change HDD or how you can use your laptop HDD as an external HDD. but there are more things that i need to learn.

i'm not really a big fan of the Internet, i love the Internet but i'm juz not the type of person who utilises Internet to the max yet. Believe me, i've been through this but i think i will be a better Internet user after attending this class. Usually i just browse the Internet if i need something or just to get connected to the world, well, things like Friendster, Facebook, yahoo messenger and other things that normal people do. i used to love the p2p thing such as Limewire and ares but after a few lecture from my "otai computer" i tend to find other methods to download videos or music.
i think that would be sufficient for my first in-class task 1