| Teaching ESL by way of conversation, a common | | | | pedagogical benefits of teaching by way of |
| practice in face-face-instruction, is becoming highly | | | | conversation in e-learning. Learning English by way of |
| motivating to ESL students in e-learning. I hear from | | | | conversation: |
| teachers I work with and from my own teaching | | | | -increases student motivation to improve spoken |
| experience, ESL students show high motivation for | | | | English |
| conversational English in e-learning despite its current | | | | -provides immediate feedback to the student to |
| drawbacks. With Internet-based instruction only a | | | | correct errors and make improvement quickly |
| decade old and emerging e-learning technologies | | | | -provides meaningful context for the student to focus |
| currently experimented among which audio-video have | | | | on and learn new concepts |
| just started catching up, there are challenges: slow | | | | -presents a model for the student to see both formal |
| video streaming, at times fuzzy and interrupted frames | | | | and informal usage of English |
| due to insufficient Internet data transfer speed, | | | | Below are the step-by-step instruction to prepare a |
| students' low-end computers, language deficiency and | | | | conversational lesson: |
| insufficient training to communicate via audio and video. | | | | 1. Write a short overview paragraph on a topic of |
| However, for all these drawbacks in e-learning, even | | | | interest to your students. |
| static web pages with conversational content are | | | | 2. Write a short dialog for two speakers. |
| attracting ESL students today. Considering this | | | | 3. Generate questions on the topic from the overview. |
| observation on ESL students' high motivation for | | | | Depending upon online class length (45 -60 minutes), 3 |
| conversational instruction, ESL teachers can use | | | | questions are sufficient for the lesson plan. While |
| conversation to teach language mechanics effectively | | | | teaching, more questions on the topic and language |
| and, most importantly, help to increase opportunities for | | | | mechanics will occur from the student and instructor. |
| the student to speak English. | | | | 4. Explain the vocabulary. Make anchored hyperlinks |
| Below you will find a framework for conversational | | | | for the vocabulary. |
| ESL instruction. This framework entails two parts: an | | | | 5. I highly recommend making podcast lessons using |
| overview and a dialog. The overview part is a short | | | | this format if you have the means and time to do it. |
| paragraph for the ESL student to grasp the topic. The | | | | For tips, see Creating ESL Podcast for E-Learning. |
| conversation part consists of a dialog written for two | | | | Even a vocabulary podcast is welcoming to ESL |
| speakers, the student and teacher. To make the most | | | | students. |
| of this conversation, the student and teacher role play | | | | 6. In the online class, role play alternately with your |
| alternately in the online class. I have found the following | | | | student. |