In English education, technological support is absolutely supportive in Korea. No other subjects have CD-Rom title for teachers and students, and audio tapes. There is an online self-study website, and vocabulary learning site is added last year. The ministry of education is working on a new English website for comprehensive learners right now. There is even English education public channel (EBS English, Educational Broadcasting System English). However in the practical class, there are times when those fancy websites and materials are not sufficient. I like to make special PPT for my students. When I need image file, I usually look up the Google image search. There are countless picture filed posted. Then if I need movie clips or audio files, I access to You Tube. If I type the proper word, I can find various kinds of materials. Funny junk dot com is one of those sites, but it is not precisely ESL learning website. There are many kinds of interesting items in it such as funny pictures, movie clips that are captured from Google and You Tube, puzzles, etc.
If we need some interesting pictures and movie clips to motivate and stimulate students, this site is very helpful. There are lots of authentic discourses and audio files in it. They are categorized according to the topics such as animals, news, pranks, sports, etc.
You should, however, be discrete to use the materials in this site. Some contents are not appropriate for young learners. To introduce the site directly to students is not recommended. For instance, there are lots of games in this site. Some games are very addictive. Even I was sidetracked for half an hour while I was searching for the information. If any young learner is distracted with unsuitable contents, the fortes of the good site will be diminished. The teachers need to modify the contents fit to the purpose of the lesson. For example, in lesson six of grade 3 text book in Korea, students learn how to count the number of animals. The movie clip, “Puppy Time” is very useful for the activity. There are several different numbers of puppies in the movie, and they are all very adorable. Students will love it and fully engage in the class.
There are also flash movies. These movies are good for teaching American Culture. Children love cartoons and animated movies. The flash file, “This is Halloween” is good for teaching the famous holiday. After teaching some distinctive features, I can use the flash movie as post-listening activity.
Selecting good materials out of zillion contents is a crucial skill for teacher these days. Fascinating students with old fashioned way is very difficult. Now, it is time to speak in their language.
You should, however, be discrete to use the materials in this site. Some contents are not appropriate for young learners. To introduce the site directly to students is not recommended. For instance, there are lots of games in this site. Some games are very addictive. Even I was sidetracked for half an hour while I was searching for the information. If any young learner is distracted with unsuitable contents, the fortes of the good site will be diminished. The teachers need to modify the contents fit to the purpose of the lesson. For example, in lesson six of grade 3 text book in Korea, students learn how to count the number of animals. The movie clip, “Puppy Time” is very useful for the activity. There are several different numbers of puppies in the movie, and they are all very adorable. Students will love it and fully engage in the class.
There are also flash movies. These movies are good for teaching American Culture. Children love cartoons and animated movies. The flash file, “This is Halloween” is good for teaching the famous holiday. After teaching some distinctive features, I can use the flash movie as post-listening activity.
Selecting good materials out of zillion contents is a crucial skill for teacher these days. Fascinating students with old fashioned way is very difficult. Now, it is time to speak in their language.
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