How would I use blogs, wikis and delicious with my EFL students?

     Integrating new technologies in TEFL would be a very great helpful tool in order to make students more interested and encouraged to learn English. Some of these technologies are:

1-    Blogs:

     Using blogs would be so beneficial in teaching Reading and writing skills in TEFL setting.

Reading:

1-    I can ask my students to post texts related to what we are taking in the syllabus and each student should read two of her friends’ posts and write their opinion about it. In this activity, students will be excited to read what their friends have posted and giving their opinion will ensure that they read it carefully and understand it.

2-    I may post a certain reading material in my blog and ask my students to scan the article or text in order to find, for example, five new words for them. Then, they have to give their meaning, give examples about it and post that in their blog accompanied with pictures. This exercise will improve their scanning skill and expand their vocabulary in the same time.

Writing:

1-    Students may be asked to post a picture about a specific topic and write a description, opinion or a story about it. The same can be applied on a video and this will integrate listening skill too.

2-    Students can use blog for any topic we cover in the class that they have to write about it. Comments are required from classmates.

3-    When students write their comments on their friends post is also considered as a practice of writing because it will show how they express their opinion in organized way with a correct spelling and grammatical structure.

2-    Wikis:

     Generally, Wiki could be a very useful tool in collaborative learning which takes place outside the classroom. The class could have a Wiki page, for example in Wikispace, and start sharing the class activities and having class discussions on it. This page can be a reference for the syllabus content, study guidelines, extracurricular materials, assignments and class tasks.

     In EFL setting, there are many things we can achieve in teaching using Wiki like:

1-    Class can be divided into groups from the beginning of the course and each group will have its own Wiki page. There, the group members can share helpful materials about English skills related to the syllabus, exchanging ideas and opinions and solve their assignments collaboratively. Then, in the end of the semester each Wiki page will be assessed.

2-    We can create a Wiki page for each English skill, and post there related materials and have discussions. After certain period of time, students will be asked to write a report about what they have learned by going through these pages.

3-    Delicious:

1-    Delicious can be a helpful tool in letting students make their own dictionary of new vocabulary they are learning. That can be by putting links related to the topics we are discussing in the syllabus and they will tag it by the new learnt vocabulary. So, in the end of the course, tags will consist of all the new vocabulary they have learnt and they can refer to it any time.

2-    Each a certain period of time, a group of students will be asked to share videos or articles links related to covered topic on Delicious and the rest of the class have to go over it. Then, a class discussion will take place about posted links. This activity will improve student’s reading, listening and peaking skills in a very interesting way.

3-    Delicious also can be a reference for any link students feel that it is useful in learning English generally or specifically.

     These are some of the ideas in the usage of these tools in teaching English. Of course, over days and with being more professional in using them, we will discover more interesting and exciting ideas.