Have you ever thought of stepping outside the course book? Have you ever thought of stepping outside your comfort zone as an EFL teacher and do an EFL task online? Well if you haven’t yet tried something like that via WebQuests no worries! There’s a first time for everything.
To begin with, a web quest is a very well structured task that is executed via the web. You can either make one or use one of the million WebQuests that are available online. In the event you are short of time, I strongly recommend QuestGarden. There one can find any WebQuest for almost any discipline. For an EFL course I strongly recommend the WebQuest “Do You Help Save Energy?” because its content is similar with the essays intermediate learners are required to write.
Here the students have to select some information from specific websites that are appointed by the teacher so as to accomplish the task. WebQuests are divided into 4 parts (Introduction, Task Description, Process, Evaluation and the Teachers Page). Initially there is an introductory phase where the students become acquainted with the topic that they are going to research. Then there is a brief description of the task. The subsequent phase is the “process”. It illustrates analytically the stages that the students have to undergo in order to accomplish the task in question. In this specific WebQuest, the learners are firstly required to play a game “Energy Hog” and make a note of the energy hogs they encounter (This is a wonderful instance of Edutainment – as I have previously mentioned in the blog). Then a class conversation is held on this specific topic which aims to raise their awareness on energy saving and to boost their critical thinking. In the last stage they are required to brainstorm for ideas in groups. Each group is given two topics from which they have to figure out ways to save energy. This brainstorming technique is crucial to essay writing.
Does this approach ring
any bells? Doesn’t it resemble CLIL (the practice of teaching English through
the medium of another subject). Despite the fact that this task resembles a
geography lesson, the medium of instruction is in English. Hence, they
subconsciously learn the language.
Benefits
- Through WebQuests the students become acquainted with the target factual knowledge and practice it. It is widely claimed that experiencing what you have learnt enables you to not only learn it but also assimilate it. Kinesthetic learners proliferate mostly from this approach.
- Learners are no longer spoon-fed. What was once a one-way relationship between the teacher and the student has now turned into a two-way relationship. This is also known as interactive learning where the focus is on peer interaction.
- Such tasks enhance a learner's critical thinking. It is crucial for teachers to foster students critical skills from a very young age.
Drawback
- They don’t get the pleasure of searching for information. They are confined to the websites that are appointed by the teachers.
I vehemently believe
that WebQuests are a good balance between theory and practice. Do you agree?
