WEBQUEST: SALVADORAN TYPICAL FOOD

AIM:

The aim of this webquest is that students learn about some typical cuisine from El Salvador, as to enrich their knowledge in culture and traditions from our country. 

INTRODUCTION:

-You are to work in pairs, and each couple will be assigned a typical food dish to investigate about.

-You will research about the recipe, the process of its preparation, and historical facts.

-You also have to investigate if it is traditional cooking, and the special date it is usually eaten. In the end, you will explain to the class group, the preparation of the dish you were given in a presentation. In addition, bring a sample for each of your classmates.

Lesson Plan - Holidays

UNICAES

Intermediate Level

Topic: 

Holidays

Teachers:

Henry Santos Mendez Cartagena. 
Jonathan Ernesto Urrutia Figueroa.

Online Tools: 

-Youtube
-Youthink.com 
-Vocaroo 
-Mind42 
-Voicethread 
-Voxopop
-Facebook 
-Pro-Profs Brain Games
-Blogger
-ABC Article Directory 
-Slideshare 
-Google 

SWBAT Objective:

At the end of the lesson students will be able to use “holidays” vocabulary and write sentences including it.

Warm-Up 

-Students will watch the “Last Holiday” movie trailer (to introduce the topic, with the purpose of observing some topical vocabulary):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBUcxMNInL8

The teacher will ask students what places from the video they would like visit, or what activities they would like to experience. They will provide answers by sending them to the teacher's e-mail.

Presentation

-The teacher will present the “Holidays” topic to students by showing them a voicethread topic containing a descriptive audio, giving definition, common vocabulary and examples related to the content, with pictures that reflect what is being said.

http://voicethread.com/share/2786661/ 

The link above will be posted on a facebook group, previously created by the teacher, in which all students are members. 

CONTROLLED PRACTICE 

1. Students will take an online "holidays" quiz on the following link: 
http://www.youthink.com/quiz.cfm?obj_id=208726 

2. Students will solve the following online crossword: http://www.proprofs.com/games/crossword/holidays-puzzle/

HOLIDAYS crossword puzzle game » crossword creator

3. Students will read this article:  http://www.abcarticledirectory.com/Article/Exotic-Holidays---Vacation-in-France/1072004

Afterwards, they will answer the following questions, and post their responses on the facebook group.

Questions:

-What factor makes France a great vacation destination?
-Who are french people used to be around?
-Why is it advisable to plan your trip forward of time?
-Is visiting France nowadays as expensive as in the past?
-What journey packages are generally appealing?

SEMI-CONTROLLED ACTIVITIES 

1. A short Toy Story Toon video - “A Hawaiian Vacation” will be played. Students will simply watch the video, which will be paused at some points in order to identify “holidays” vocabulary, and write it down, for later choral repetition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VxgzOAdkzA

2. Students will be asked to write a blog entry, consisting of a 15-line paragraph, narrating their last holiday experience. The blog entries' links will be posted on the facebook group, for everybody to read. 

http://www.blogger.com/ 

3. Students will come up with a one-minute recording, after joining in a voxopop topic of a "holidays talkgroup" (created by the teacher), in which they will comment regarding the teacher's initial recording. In addition, they will write the transcription there, by attaching text in the "message options" section. 

http://www.voxopop.com/topic/fef70f33-e46d-41d0-9566-ed6fa766a847

FREE PRACTICE 

1. Students will create a Vocaroo recording, pronouncing 3 sentences of their own, using new words from the topic. They will share the links on the facebook group. 

vocaroo.com/ 

2. Students will open a new discussion (clicking in "record a new discussion") in the voxopop " holidays" talkgroup, and comment each other's participations regarding what they liked best of the holidays topic, using some of its vocabulary.  They will also write the transcription there, by attaching text in the "message options" section. They will share the link on the facebook group.  

http://www.voxopop.com/group/80a54aa0-95f7-40c3-9f60-3f2196e0b236 

3. Each student will create a new voicethread with pictures of their last holiday/vacation, including places they visited. The photos will be complemented wih an audio recording, in which they will describe their experience and what happened in those images. They will share the links on the facebook group.   

-Sample:

http://voicethread.com/share/2786499/ 
 
4. Students will open an account in mind42 and create a "holidays" mind map. They will add more branches to the existent topic and write about what they did in the last holiday they celebrated with their families. The link will be shared on the facebook group.

http://mind42.com/ 

WRAP-UP 

-Every student will post about what he/she liked the most of the "holidays" topic on the facebook group and use the newly acquired words. 

HOMEWORK

-Students will make a small powerpoint presentation, in which they promote the last touristic destination they visited during a holiday (they can use the same pictures from their voicethreads or google pics). The slides will be uploaded to this website (the links will be posted in the facebook group): http://www.slideshare.net/  

Consulted Websites For The Quizzes

WEBSITES HENRY & I CONSULTED FOR CREATING THE QUIZZES

INTRODUCTION 

In this blog post, Henry & I will present some quizzes we made, and the links of different websites with multimedia elements and applications, where we got the required information to elaborate questions. The objective is enriching our working tools as teachers, to use them in class, for students/teacher mutual benefit.

EARTHLIKE PLANET (ARTICLE) QUIZ (Adults): 

Henry & Jonathan's Quiz For Adults:

Directions: There are 12 question items in this quiz, select the right answer out of the three possible.  


http://www.youthink.com/​quiz.cfm?action=go_detail&sub_a​ction=take&obj_id=208390

In order to solve the quiz, adult learners will first read the article below and then answer the questions. The purpose of the quiz is having reading practice and  the use of memory and logic to select the right answer.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2106061,00.html

"IN TIME" MOVIE TRAILER QUIZ (Teens): 

Henry & Jonathan's Quiz For Teens:

Directions: There are 12 question items in this quiz, select the right answer out of the three possible.

http://www.youthink.com/quiz.cfm?action=go_detail&sub_action=take&obj_id=208154

Teenagers will answer some questions after watching the movie trailer on youtube. The quiz is about a new movie that might interest students, its difficulty stems from having to remember details, specific information from the audiovisual resource.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdadZ_KrZVw

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS "NEW FISH" PROMO QUIZ  (Kids):

Henry & Jonathan's Quiz For Kids:

Directions: There are 12 question items in this quiz, select the right answer out of the three possible.

http://www.youthink.com/quiz.cfm?action=go_detail&sub_action=take&obj_id=208387

Kids will answer according to the following youtube video that features a famous cartoon.  The quiz is aimed for audiovisual learners and intends to awaken their interest, as it's a character they most likely know. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rsx8CCIqOJU

CONCLUSION 

We believe that innovation in the teaching field is a must, thus, using online tools for students to take quiz, is a great example of making the evaluation process easier and less tedious. It is important that students get to know the resources that are available for them to take advantage. 

My Computer & Internet Skills

I like computers and surfing the internet. It's become a major part of lot of people's lives for work, entertainment, educational and social purposes. My computer skills are average, and unfortunately I do not possess any certificate in computer science, to "prove" it. The use of standard working software like Office is a must. However, I've realized that it requires consistent practice, otherwise, proficiency decreases rather quickly. Just like with languages, it is important to have a proper amount of practice.  Knowing how to give maintenance to my pc has been tremendously helpful especially for avoiding having to spend that money in the payments of what cyber cafes charge to repair. Nevertheless, with the newest equipment, every year that goes by, it becomes harder and harder to know how to fix most active systems nowadays. Pieces become smaller, and one needs to read long online tutorials to keep informed on latest advances in the field.


When it comes to blogger, I happen to enjoy the new dynamic views designs that allow visitors to personalize the site's interface to their visual preferences. Regarding other internet skills, I look for information online, everyday. It's quite tempting having such a vast source of knowledge at the reach of one's fingertips. I know some google tricks to search better and get more precise results. I find it to be effective, using the internet as a means to have access to resources, cultures, people, languages, and opportunities that would usually not be available for us. Participating in online learning is a good way to invest time, take free courses from american universities, like Stanford's open source project, read literary monologues, collaborate in multimedia sites like deviantart or share creative material on hitrecord.org, all those sites give people the chance to meet interesting topics and communities for their benefit. All you really need to do is dedicate some time to explore and discover. 


One difficulty is keeping ourselves updated with all the new programs, online trends, popular sites, latest info, etc. Internet skills are necessary, in order not to waste much time and have a smoother, more satisfactory experience while being online. Besides, sharing information is now the greatest source available. Thus, knowing how to post things on the internet, burning data, uploading files, attatching to e-mails, understanding formats and conversions is 
vital to be a part of the contributing online population.  I have also experienced chatting with people from other countries, by simply using little chat applications or websites, that allow video, audio or plain text interaction, to communicate instantly.


RSS feeds, tweets, streaming, 2.0 communities, collaborative phorums, and many other terms should be taken  into account for personal common knowledge, as well as for learning/instruction purposes. I love learning about the new technologies. I think I would feel old if I didn't want to know about the possibilities that come with playing and getting the best out of new technologies. The web is always evolving, and so should our internet skills, as even though we live in a third world country, that's no longer an excuse to only have internet for messenger or watching funny videos. 
In conclusion, I feel like computer & internet skills will benefit those who reach for them, and trouble those who refuse to learn anything new and keep on working with the same outdated tools over and over.