Thursday 31 January 2013

Click n Learn - To Learn / Teach English Interestingly And Interactively


What is Click n Learn? What can Click n Learn do?

If you think it is ideal to teach / learn English while playing games, then you cannot miss a fabulous website called 'Click n Learn'. Click n Learn is a free website which provides numerous English teaching and learning resources related to different topics such as music, sports, traffic, colors, weather, etc. Also, all the materials are categorized into three levels (easy, intermediate, and difficult), which are convenient for users to use this website more properly.


Why is Click n Learn relevant to language teaching?

    1. It contains a lot of pictures, animations and audio effects; most 
        materials are designed as games. These are helpful to arouse 
        Ss' curiosity and attention, especially for young learners. 
    2. It includes vocabulary practice, grammatical rules, cultural 
        knowledge, etc. The wide-ranged materials are beneficial for 
        Ts / Ss to teach / learn.
    3. The materials will appear automatically from basic ones to 
        advanced ones. Ss can choose the most appropriate level and 
        material to learn instead of challenging the hardest part at the 
        beginning.
    4. Ts can select ore or more specific topics related to the 
        textbook to teach or to use this website as supplements. Also, 
        Ss can choose the most interesting topic to learn, which will 
        help promote learners' motivation and autonomy.


How can Click n Learn be used in / outside class?

    1. Ts can use the games as warm-up activities, which will easily 
        attract Ss' attention and make them more interested in the 
        following learning activities.
    2. It also provides materials to teach pronunciation (e.g. vowel 
        sounds, phonemes, dipthongs, etc.). In my context, speaking is 
        always ignored due to time limitation, and most Ss refuse to 
        speak just because they do not think they have good 
        pronunciation. Thus, Ts can take advantages on the exercises 
        to teach pronunciation in an interesting and interactive way, or 
        ask Ss to do further online learning / practice after school.
    3. Some grammatical exercises are also suitable to be used in 
        class such as tenses, voices, clauses, and so on. Also, the 
        lexicon part is also designed very well for learners, especially 
        for beginners. These are good materials for Ts to do questions 
        and answers in class. Ss also have opportunities to review 
        again and again at home.
    4. The materials in this website are mainly divided into different 
        topics. For example, the topic 'number' requires both English 
        and mathematics skills to answer the questions. Maybe there is 
        a possibility for Ts to develop and promote 'CLIL' (Content & 
        Language Integrated Learning), which means to apply what Ss 
        learn in target language to other subjects.


What limitations are there?

    1. This website is basically designed for Spanish speakers. 
        Therefore, it is inevitable to see some Spanish terms appearing 
        on the webpage. What's more, some instructions are only 
        written in Spanish. Sometimes it may be interference while 
        teaching / learning. 
    2. The background audio effects sound good, but from time to 
        time it may distract Ss' attention. Also, there are some 
        misspelling words which may cause misunderstanding if T does 
        not clarify the errors.
    3. Some grammatical questions can not be answered merely 
        based on Ss' English knowledge (see 'passive voice' for 
        example). Instead, it requires knowledge in other fields to 
        successfully choose the correct answer and language learning 
        may be out of focus. Thus, Ts should be responsible for 
        choosing or recommending suitable materials to maintain 
        teaching / learning quality.

8 comments:

  1. Hi, Jonathan, you've updated so quickly. I enjoy reading your blog. Everything is very clear and you've got so many page views! Could I just ask where the music come from? Is it from Dvolver? It may be a bit noisy. I remember Tilly asked us not to choose the music in Dvolver, but anyway, it's up to you.

    Also, I like it when you often mention how this particular technology can be used in your own context. I would like to learn from you and add this to my own blog.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Cecilia, thanks for your comment! Yup, you are right. I also remember Tilly's advice. However, when making this Dvolver movie, I was hesitating. A silent movie may be a bit boring, and one of the limitations of Dvolver is that it has no audio except background music. So that's why I chose to add background music to make it more interesting. Maybe I'll edit it later coz the background music has been a little annoying recently. Lol...

      Delete
  2. Hi Jonathan,
    One good thing I found - the music goes off when you open the comments! Perhaps it's an encouragement to write more comments...?! I don't mind the music so much any more now that I know what causes it.
    Cheers
    Tilly

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Tilly, thanks for your comment! Perhaps it's really an encouragement to write more comments. (lol)

      Delete
  3. Hi Jonathan and Tilly,

    Two days ago I re-made my Dvolver due to such annoying music.

    Nowadays I recommend people to create Dvolver with music for fun, but tell them not to add any music when they are planning to embed it into social websites such as a blogger.

    I love this 'clicknlearn' but feel uncomfortable to listen to the noisy music repeatedly whenever I open this tool. - Especially because this is not my taste.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Yaeko! Thanks for your comment and I agree with you. I may remake my Dvolver video later cause sometimes it's really annoying like 'Dog Health Tips of The Day' in your blog! Haha...You are right. It is great to use technology in language, but sometimes teachers should have 'wisdom' to choose the best way to present.

      Delete
  4. Why not! 'Dogs Tips' is very fabulous! Love nature, love dogs, and love dogs' boots, Jonathan. This is a soothing gadjet to all educators who loves dogs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry, Yaeko. I really can't understand your 'humor'. Hehehe...

      Delete