If you have ideas you would like to share, send them via email.
Thanks to my colleages in the New York City public school system and around the world whose willingness to share ideas gave me the inspiration to start this project.
Send comments or lesson ideas to John Korber Jakajk@aol.com
You can save this page now for future reference. More to come!
When a colleage of my mine, Sarah Cunningham, asked me what I thought about ESL students in our school creating a newspaper, I suggested having them create a web site instead. Since September of 1997, we have been working with a group of about ten students who meet once a week in a LEP student resource center to work on creating pages.
The club attracted students with varied levels of English language ability, and computer knowledge. Working with three computers, we have managed to have students write some essays and code them up in HTML. The project has allowed us to teach students some basic computer skills, and it has given students an opportunity to see their writing presented in format somewhat more impressive than humble ink and paper. Students without computers have a chance to explore the internet, and practice some basic word processing. At least one is becoming a Photoshop addict, and I am looking forward to handing over the graphics department to him pretty soon.
There are a lot of benefits I can see coming out of creating pages with students. Students can practice basic skills like typing and working with computer applications. Using a word processor or HTML editor where documents are displayed on the computer screen makes editing very simple. Students with different skills and levels of English ability can collaborate with each other. The prospect of communicating with the world can increase the level of motivation to write as well as possible.
If you are thinking of having your students create web pages you will need to have access to a few computers, an internet service provider, and appropriate software. Knowledge of HTML code is very useful but not essential. The codes I have my students use are pretty simple. We have been using a basic HTML 4.0 reference book. All the pages were created using Notepad (Windows95), and SimpleText (Macintosh). However, you can avoid having to use any codes if you are able to purchase an application like Claris Home Page.
If you would like to see the work our students have done. Follow the link below:
--John Korber, March 1998
Contact:Jakajk@aol.com