Hi everyone, especially all ED 14-ers,

First of all, I'd like to congratulate you all that just finished the summer program and all the best for the ones who are progressing through the last semester. ^_^

In the picture, my in-laws and I were really enjoying food at the restaurant which we partly run. Actually, it was the first Thai meal I had longed for for about a year. Couldn't be happier for that:) ....... Prawn Tom Yum , very spicy stir-fried shellfish, deep-fried fish with mango salad, umm yum..m. I reckon you all may feel the same way as I do that no other meals are like our authentic national food. However, some of Asian food I've tried while I was in Australia was really amazing. Spicy vegetables and seafood soup from Korea was the one I really love. The one from Taiwan and Vietnam also impressed me.

I'd be really happy to be your host If you ever pay a visit to Thailand. Don't hesitate to let me know.

Best Wishes
Natdhaya / Natty

Reflective commentary on my website

The World Idols: Extension Activities Channel Website has been created for young male adult students aged between 18-22 years at lower intermediate level. It is aimed at promoting their reading abilities. In other words, these HP activities will serve as a supplement to the WebQuest activities.

According to the comments related to weak points I have received, one important thing is that the activities of ‘World Idols Cloze’, ‘Fact or Fiction’ and ‘World Idols Crossword’ should be accompanied with the reading texts or information to help the students do the activities. This point is really significant because providing more texts can improve the students’ abilities more effectively. As far as the reading texts are concerned, in these three activities concern World Idols that most of them are really interested in so that they may have some information about the people they love prior to doing these activities. The HP activities may serve as a resource that the students can discover more about their idols. Moreover, in the cloze activity, I just want to use the authentic reading material in the activity, and I do not want to adjust or alter it. It is not also easy to find the text that is quite similar to this one. This can explain why I do not provide the students with the texts for them to read in these activities.

Concerning the information provided, that is Tiger Wood’s official website, it is true that this website contains huge information, and the instructions should be more specific, that is, which part the students are supposed to read for the particular activity. Actually, I put About Tiger in the instructions. This may not be clear enough. I should be more careful next time. Moreover, another useful viewpoint is that it would be nice if there are some useful texts created for them to read and combine each of the stories of idols together and put into the word document. That’s also true. However, as I mentioned above, I really want to focus on using authentic reading materials.

Another view that is raised for suggestion is about the activity which is too long. I really agree that in the World Idols Crossword which contains 18 words can be made into two short activities so that the students do not get bored or give up before completing them. With regard to a template, I absolutely agree that, in the activity of ‘World Idols Sequence’, it is easier for the students to do the activity by using a drag and drop template because they can see all the statements and it is easy to change the answers while doing this activity.

With regard to learning style preferences, it appears that a visual person may find the colours in these HP activities bland and not so attractive. I simply use the actual HP activities templates, so the audience, particularly my students who are young adults, may get bored to find the same color in each activity. It is clear that my project needs to be more colourful as suggested. In addition, it is only later that I realise that each activity should have a new tab to help the students look back to a main page easily and would not lose track. I totally agree with this point, too.

To sum up, there are many areas of improvement needed for making my project become a more effective tool for improving the students’ reading ability. The suggested issues include: the sequencing should use a drag and drop template; crossword activity is needed to be shortened; more attractive colors should be added; and it would be a good idea that each activity use a new tab. I believe it takes a lot of efforts and time to create good HP activities to ensure that target audience can get the most out of the CALL materials website. This is a good start for the promising future.

Thank you...

I really appreciate all comments made for me which I could use them for improving my website to be a better tool for my students. Thank you again Jennifer, Sherry and Maggie. Wish you best of luck in your life and job.

Website comments

Hi Jennifer, Sherry and Maggie, these are my comments on your websites.

Jennifer...

I really love the way you put introduction, instructions and conclusion separately. Thinking outside the box, right? You also clearly state the purpose of the creation of this website and how to use it. Thus, teachers can use it effectively. The instructions on how to do each activity are very clear so that students will know exactly what they are supposed to do.

Your website is definitely attractive and colourful with lots of cute graphics. This can attract a lot of interest from young students. I found that your HP activities are very interesting and fun to do. It is a good idea to put the Christmas vocabulary into the website so that students can use them and understand the gist of the texts. It is significant that allowing students to visit the related websites and read texts before doing the activities can provide students with opportunities to improve their language skills, such as reading skills. I also really like the additional links that students can enjoy more to explore about Christmas around the world.

However, I found that the HP activities may put much focus on vocabulary. In other words, the website may need to add a variety to the activities.

Overall, it is clear that your website has achieved its purpose and effective. I’m sure your students would enjoy doing the activities you have created. Well done! Hope to see more websites from you, Jennifer.

Sherry...

Wow! Your website is very attractive as I have expected. I really love your design with lots of eye-catching graphics and pictures which can make the HP activities more interesting for young students. The bright colors that you have used also help attract a lot of interests from primary students.

I love your idea that this website will serve as a preparation for students to be ready for engaging in the WebQuest. This can ensure that students’ language abilities will be improved before involving in the more challenging tasks in the WebQuest. I found each activity is interesting and fun to do. You also give a clear purpose for teachers and easy-to-follow instructions for students.

I found that it may be a good idea to put time limit into the activities because students can judge their performance by using the time allocated. However, doing activities within the limited time may put young students under a lot of stress. Moreover, I found that the item 6 in General questions about butterfly (Is a butterfly a/an.....?a. mammal..) may make students get confused. Would it be better to change it into a simple statement to make it easy to understand?

Overall, you have shown how much efforts you put into the website. It has achieved its purpose. It is also very effective. Your students would have a lot of fun doing the activities. Well done! Hope you keep on designing a useful website, Sherry.

Maggie...

This may not be a critical comment. Just want to tell you that when I first saw your website, the word I only had at the very beginning was Wow!! It’s very attractive and it’s got an eye-catching design with lots of graphics and nice pictures spreading throughout the website so that it would make young students being more fun to do the activities. I may be a visual person!!

I found that the instructions are clear and easy to understand what students are supposed to do. Your HP activities are also varied, enjoyable, and challenging to do. Moreover, what I love about your website is that a requirement that students need to read the texts, or listen to the dialogues about Hong Kong before doing each activity can give students more opportunities to improve their language abilities. I definitely like additional websites which I found really interesting. Students can expand their knowledge and have fun at the same time. You know, I myself have learned some numbers in your language from one of websites. How interesting!

Overall, the website you've created is highly effective and I’m sure your students would be really appreciating it and enjoy doing these HP activities. Well done.

Sociolinguistics celebration...

I'm so happy to have learned with all of you guys. You all are so nice and lovely that I will never forget. Hope we still keep in touch. I'm also proud of some of us that've managed to finish this semester. Good on you! Best of luck on your new job, everyone.

Cheers,

My website...

My website has now been uploaded. I really love to hear your comments on this. Please visit my website and give me some suggestions about areas of improvement. Thank you.

The website has been created for students aged between 18-22 years at lower intermediate level. This website, which involves the extension activities of the Journalist and World Idols WebQuest is aimed at promoting the students’ ability in reading. In other words, the CALL module is a supplement to the WebQuest activities as well as a reinforcement of learning experience.

Here is the link : http://students.ed.qut.edu.au/n6171338/assignment2/index.html

Another impressive story..

Today I went to the city to meet my junior friend who is leaving Australia this coming Tuesday. We wanted to buy some souvenirs for family and friends in Thailand. While I was looking at a beautiful charm in a shop at the Queen Street Mall, I made it fall down and broke it. Oh!, how unlucky I was. It will cost me about Aust$10. I brought the broken pieces to a cashier. Guess what! she said "it's all right." She was very very kind to me and I really really appreciate that. Finally, my friend and I paid a lot of money for souvenirs from that lovely shop.

My assignments are progressing. However, the vacation plan to Tasmania often comes to my mind and distracts me a little bit from the assignments. I'm looking forward to the trip and a little break before summer program. Hope, you all are progressing well on your assignments and get them done soon.