Mind Mapping | Craig's TESOL Blog

Curriculum Design Using Web-based Resources for TESOL learning

Category: About Me Tags: Australian Slang, Breaking News English, Chinese Speakers, Curriculum Design, English HELP, Grammar, IELTS, Listening, Mind Mapping, Online TESOL, Oxford Online, Pimsleur, Private Lessons, Reading, Scott's English, Speaking, Syllabus Design, Teaching EFL, TESOL, TESOL Course Design, Web-based Resources, Writing 2 Comments

Over the years I find beginner TESOL teachers are often stuck when asked to prepare or present a series of classes for beginner students. Generally an ELICOS college or a major language school has set and prescribed texts/course books and a rigorous Curriculum that is audited and reviewed. However, a large segment of the TESOL market includes teaching in under resourced market segments. These might be situations like: Teaching English overseas (EFL) with low budgets; Providing private one-on-one/small group classes; or Teaching in Community Support/Voluntary contexts etc.

Below is a range of Websites and Online Resources that can be used by a TESOL teacher to beef-up a curriculum and/or provide some ideas to teach more effectively. Most are free, some require a small subscription fee.

ACADEMIC – Griffith University – English HELP has collated a large database of Academic English sites from a range of providers: https://www2.griffith.edu.au/international/englishhelp

ALL SKILLS- Breaking News English – Mini Lessons –https://breakingnewsenglish.com/mini_lessons.html

ALL SKILLS- Oxford Online – Free Lessons –https://www.oxfordonlineenglish.com/free –english –lessons

AUSTRALIAN SLANG – Aussie English Site – http://www.theaussieenglishpodcast.com/category/podcastepisodes/

CHINESE– Low Level Mandarin Speakers Audio-Lingual –http://www.pimsleur.com/learn –english –for –mandarin chinese –speakers

GRAMMAR– Cambridge Phrasal Verbs Machine – https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/phrasal –verbs machine/id593374912?mt=8

GRAMMAR– Scott’s English – TOEIC activites http://answers.scottsenglish.com/categories/toeic –test

IELTS RESOURCES– Free IELTS Materials – https://icte.uq.edu.au/testing/prepare –ielts

LISTENING – BBC – 6 minute English – http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/6 –minute –english

LISTENING– BBC – English for Work – http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/english –at –work

LISTENING – Spelling/Listening Activity –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXk9PQAdeaw

LISTENING – Short 1-minute listening and quizzes – http://elllo.org/

MIND MAPPING – Note Taking App – http://mindmapfree.com/

READING – News Dictation and Lesson – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6832D1096B2CE3DB

READING– Tiny Texts –https://tinytexts.wordpress.com/

READING – Level-Specific-Reading –http://www.readitenglish.com/

SPEAKING – English Club – https://www.englishclub.com/speaking/

SPEAKING – Pronunciation Lessons (British English) –https://www.qietesol.net/blog

SPEAKING– Rachel’s English – http://rachelsenglish.com/

TEST – Oxford Online – Level Test –https://www.oxfordonlineenglish.com/english –level –test

WRITING – Ultimate Spell-checker! – https://www.grammarly.com/

There are literally thousands more free sites out there for TESOL teachers – Hopefully these will get you started!

References

Cover Image by Pexels. Retrieved from https://www.pexels.com/

TESOL Discussion Padlet

The following is a link to a discussion board on Padlet that I have been working on to assist my TESOL students (Padlet, 2019). The course referred to is the Certificate IV in TESOL and the Diploma of TESOL delivered by The Foundation for English Language Teaching t/a QIE Queensland Institute of English (RTO 41553) (TGA, 2019).

The Padlet’s gives the trainee teachers an overview of the entire course with useful links to each of their units. I like to use the idea mapping styled format option called “canvas” on the Padlet a la Tony Buzan who was the innovator of the “mind map” and utilised the technique as a study and mnemonic facilitator (Buzan, 2019). Although the Padlet is by no means as rigorous as mind mapping, it still allows the student to get an overview of the course with hyperlinks to information and their relevant assessments via a link to their Moodle-Based Learner Management System (Moodle, 2019).

Students can publish their questions/research and benefit from the exchange and/or get involved in the conversation therefore, becoming a community of practice (Lave, 1991). Howell also notes the original description of this form of collaboration, that is a ‘community of practice’ and summarises it as “a process of social learning that occurs when people who have a common interest in a subject or area collaborate over an extended period of time, sharing ideas and strategies, determining solutions and building innovations” (Howell, 2013, pp. 33-34). The advantage of technology is that the TESOL students, who are situated all over Australia and in numerous foreign countries, can use the Padlet as a discussion board as an Online Community of Practice, or virtual community of practice into their learning program.

The following video by Jamie Keet of Teacher’s Tech gives a great overview of how to use Padlet in the virtual class=sroom (Keet, 2016).

References:

Buzan, T. (2019). Tony Buzan – Inventor of Mind Mapping. Retrieved from https://www.tonybuzan.com/

Howell, J. (2013). Teaching with ict : Digital pedagogies for collaboration and creativity. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Keet, J. [Teacher’s Tech]. (2016, July, 16). How to Use Padlet. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkBnwPqaIjA.

Lave, J. (1991). Situating learning in communities of practice. Perspectives on socially shared cognition, 2, 63-82. Retrieved From http://lagim.blogs.brynmawr.edu/files/2015/03/Situating-learning-in-CoPs.pdf

Moodle. (2019) Moodle – About. Retrieved from https://moodle.com/about/

Padlet. (2019), Padlet – About. Retrieved from https://padlet.com/about

Craig's TESOL Blog

Curriculum Design Using Web-based Resources for TESOL learning

TESOL Discussion Padlet

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