English_Second_Language@Cegep.Quebec
A site for teachers of ESL at colleges
in Quebec
who are interested in teaching and technology
Pedagogical Activities
This section will explore a different pedagogical activity each
month.
#1: Using Search Engines for Research
in the ESL Classroom
The Internet contains information on just about every topic under the
sun. It is a wild and wonderful encyclopedia with information on the rampage
and more being added every second. Search engines were invented to help
people wade through the reams of information on the Internet to find what
they were looking for in a reasonably efficient fashion. In order to do
research on the web, your students will need to learn how to use web search
engines. One very effective way of doing this is by having them take part
in a WWW treasure or scavenger hunt. Not only will they practise their detective
skills but they will also use their language skills as well. Most students
will really enjoy this activity.
Here are some suggestions as to how to proceed:
- Make up questions based on a variety of information and located on
different sites that you find as you surf the net. About ten questions
should be sufficient.
- Divide your students into small groups (either one group per search
engine or one group per question). Assign each group either to look up
all the questions using only one search engine or to look up one question
on all the search engines (the assignment given depends, of course, on
how you have divided the class up).
- Have the students race against time (determine a limit) or each other.
Other excellent suggestions as to how to proceed can be found at this link presented by The Internet TESL Journal.
If you would like to try a ready-made scavenger hunt, we suggest that
you send your students to the following site designed by Carey Nelson:
http://www.total.net:8080/~cjnelson/scavenge.htm
Or try the following site for a dozen more treasure hunts:
The Internet TESL Journal
Please feel free to send in your
own ideas or comments.
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