Online Resources: English Grammar
Learning English now is very easy as there are many reliable resources on the web which will help us any student of English irrespective of their level. Some selected websites has been given here.
www.englishtown.com
Englishtown is a reliable source in learning English professionally. Their trainers will give the students a holistic approach to language learning. They are giving training on Business English, Industry specific courses, TOEFEL& TOEIC.
public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/index.html
The site gives a comprehensive list of common errors in English, which has been taken from Paul Brians' "Common Errors in English Usage." It is a guide where we can see almost all the issues addressed. The highlight is that some other good sources are also mentioned at the end.
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl
Anyone who wants to get an overall picture about language and style, I would suggest owl.english.purdue.edu. Along with grammar, the site provides instructions on general writing, research, teaching, ESL etc.
www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/
As we know, BBC is an authentic source regarding English language. For anyone who wants to learn Standard English, BBC is a must.
www.tolearnenglish.com/
Contrary to other language sites, what is attractive about this site is that it contains language games, jokes etc. Apart from that there is a discussion forum also.
www.drgrammar.org
The site, as the name shows is a doctor to treat our English diseases. It is maintained by UNI Department of Languages and Literatures.
grammar.quickanddirtytips.com
quickanddirtytips provides a lot of tips to improve English language skills. The site has a podcast version for all its lessons, which will help the learners listen and understand.
yourdictionary.com
yourdictionary.com is an authentic site on English usage. In this particular URL, the site is providing 5 most common errors in English. Correcting these errors will make ones writing perfect.
http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/kids/animals/malefemalechild/
This section of the site would be good for early learners of English, especially children. It is specially designed for kids, so following the link will make learning an entertaining experience.
www.enchantedlearning.com
As the previous site, this also helps the kids to learn some basic ideas in the language.
http://www.eslgold.com/grammar/basic_sentence.html
This link will help the learners to master sentence structure.
www.english-the-easy-way.com
Learning English is always easy as the site promises. It has different sections such as Grammar, Writing Skills, Academic Writing, Punctuation, Speaking English, Proofreading & Editing, Reading, Job Hunting, Writing Resumes, Vocabulary and so on.
www.englishpage.com
englishpage.com is good for understanding almost all topics in English. However, I would suggest this especially to improve tenses. The exercises given are very good to master the basic ideas of tense.
grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar
Referring different topics in different sites is always very monotonous, but if you check grammar.ccc.commnet.edu, then no need of another source at all.
www.world-english.org
If you are looking for activity oriented learning, there is no other best source than this. As they claim, it is "the one-stop resource for the English language and more..."
Monday, October 21, 2013
Friday, October 11, 2013
Teacher- A Facilitator, or a Tuglaq?
Every language teacher will have faced a situation where he/she felt himself/herself as the Great Tuglaq. Muhammd bin Tuglaq was a great ruler in India who made many revolutionary administrative reforms and most of them turned out to be tragic due to poor implementation. He wanted to make his rule more effective and had an eye for future changes, for example, his decision to change the capital to Delhi. However, his reforms did not bring about the desired effects as he was too haste and didn’t think about practical problems. Language teachers who want to make a difference are often face similar problems. As ELT trainers, most of us wanted our students to speak English fluently within a short period of time. This will create a totally reverse situation than we have ever imagined. This is so because language learning requires a longer period of time different from other disciplines. The situation becomes more difficult when the teaching methodology adopted in institutions does not focus on this aspect and give less importance to language learning. In most of the universities in Kerala, now the duration of teaching English is two semesters; in these two semesters, little or no importance is given to developing English language skills.
Teaching language can be more difficult in most situations as the students may not have the interest to learn the language. When language becomes just one subject, and the focus is given in getting more scores than really mastering the basic concepts, learning process will be the last activity in the classrooms.
ESL activities can be a double-edged weapon in such classrooms. The activities can motivate the students to learn the basic concepts well. Besides, the students will get real-time experience in situational-language learning; whereas this can have an adverse effect if the students are not interested in the activities, or did not understand the basic idea behind the activities, or if the instructor conducts the activities without much planning. In other words, the teachers should not be Tuglaqs.
So, what should be the role of the teacher in the classroom? Should he be a dictator as in the olden times (at least in my student years)? Or a friend who will encourage, motivate the student through friendly gestures? Or should he be both? In one method, teacher is a ‘facilitator’ by which it means “An individual who enables groups and organizations to work more effectively; to collaborate and achieve synergy. He or she is a 'content neutral' party who by not taking sides or expressing or advocating a point of view during the meeting, can advocate for fair, open, and inclusive procedures to accomplish the group's work" – (Doyle, Wikipedia). How far this idea of ‘content neutral’ works in an ESL classroom? Here, being ‘neutral’ doesn’t mean being passive. Like any other place, a classroom also consists of different types of audiences, hostile, critical, uninformed and sympathetic. Here, the facilitator needs to change his teaching strategy according to his audience. In other words, the overall picture is important and also understanding each and every individual in the classroom.
Teaching language can be more difficult in most situations as the students may not have the interest to learn the language. When language becomes just one subject, and the focus is given in getting more scores than really mastering the basic concepts, learning process will be the last activity in the classrooms.
So, what should be the role of the teacher in the classroom? Should he be a dictator as in the olden times (at least in my student years)? Or a friend who will encourage, motivate the student through friendly gestures? Or should he be both? In one method, teacher is a ‘facilitator’ by which it means “An individual who enables groups and organizations to work more effectively; to collaborate and achieve synergy. He or she is a 'content neutral' party who by not taking sides or expressing or advocating a point of view during the meeting, can advocate for fair, open, and inclusive procedures to accomplish the group's work" – (Doyle, Wikipedia). How far this idea of ‘content neutral’ works in an ESL classroom? Here, being ‘neutral’ doesn’t mean being passive. Like any other place, a classroom also consists of different types of audiences, hostile, critical, uninformed and sympathetic. Here, the facilitator needs to change his teaching strategy according to his audience. In other words, the overall picture is important and also understanding each and every individual in the classroom.