1. Integrating the Use of the Internet to the Teaching of Spanish as a Foreign Language Silvia Stanton University of Greenwich

2. The eLearning Mini-Web Sites Name of mini-sites: Spanish 1 eWorkshop 1. Spanish 1 eWorkshop 2 and Spanish 6 Project Mode of delivery: An add-on to face-to-face teaching as part of the portfolio in Spanish 1 for self-access study and revision. In the Spanish 6 Project an add-on to face-to-face teaching for research and academic writing skills in Spanish as well as oral presentation skills and group work by developing a mini- web site in Spanish URL of sites: EWORKSHOPS, Spanish 6 ProjectEWORKSHOPSSpanish 6 Project Technical Approach: The aim was to create text based mini- web sites that were simple to create, modify and access. One of the mini-web sites has been created by the students themselves using FrontPage with guidance from their tutor. Some of the activities were created by using the Hot Potatoes software available on the Internet Hot Potatoes Home Page and a variety of authentic and graded materials in Spanish already available on the InternetHot Potatoes Home Page

3. Why eLearning activities? Independence of time and place Many to many communication Spanish 6 Project Spanish 6 Project Collaborative/interactive learning Escritores que han difundido la lengua española en el mundo Escritores que han difundido la lengua española en el mundo Student centred Spanish 6 Project Spanish 6 Project Dynamic Spanish 6 Project Spanish 6 Project Authentic materials in the foreign language TIHOF - La Malinche: ¿Creadora o traidora? TIHOF - La Malinche: ¿Creadora o traidora? Harasim L “On-line education: A New Domain”

4. Communicative Approach to Second/Foreign Language Teaching Development of both, linguistic and communicative competence Student-centred type of instruction Mistakes are considered part of the learning process Learners are encouraged to interact with each other without feeling intimidated by overcorrection Meaning is more important than form Comprehension is more important than production

5. The Good Language Learner Strategies Finding a suitable learning style Involving themselves in the language learning process Developing an awareness of language Trying to expand their language knowledge and developing a separate language system Naiman et al (1978)

6. The Three Main Types of Language Learning Strategies Metacognitive Strategies (planning and thinking about learning) Cognitive Strategies (taking notes, use of resources) Social Strategies (interacting with each other) O’Malley and Chamot (1990)

7. Learning Outcomes for Cognitive Skills Knowledge Acerca de Antonio Acerca de Antonio Comprehension READING COMP. READING COMP. Application BIOGRAPHY BIOGRAPHY Analysis BIOGRAPHY BIOGRAPHY Synthesis BIOGRAPHY BIOGRAPHY Evaluation BIOGRAPHY, Carta BIOGRAPHYCarta Maier P & Warren A (2000) Evaluation of eWorkshops SECTION 3 SECTION 3

8. Student Feedback Spanish 1 eWorkshop1 (Antonio Banderas) Good grammar exercises Short! Most students enjoyed writing a letter to a pop star fan club (in Spanish) Some students did not like the feedback given in the Hot Potatoes exercises Most of them found the activity interesting and enjoyable

9. Student Feedback Spanish 1 eWorkshop2 (Mexico, the Aztecs, la Malinche and the Spanish Conquest) Useful and motivating Interesting (culture in Spanish speaking countries) Grammar Section very useful Reading comprehension texts too difficult for their level! Writing a biography (too demanding) but interesting and motivating! Too long! Instructions: some students found them very helpful others thought they were not! Some suggested using more pictures and photographs.

10. Student Feedback Spanish 6 Project Students generally enjoyed this project They appreciated the fact that they had learnt a bit about creating web pages Some complained about the lack of participation of other students Some thought there were too many oral presentations of their work

11. Personal Observations Students tend to like or enjoy short activities rather than long ones Design is very important. Most students like to see pictures, photographs, etc. Spanish 1 eWorkshops were evaluated by tutors through letter writing at the end of the workshop, but the other activities could not be evaluated Some students do not take the Internet seriously and just don’t do the activities Plagiarism Some students find it difficult to meet deadlines and to work in groups

12. Bibliography Creed (1996) “Extending the classroom walls electronically” adapted in Campbell W & Smith K New Paradigms for College Teaching Edina Harasim L “On-line education: A New Domain” Institute for Studies in Education Toronto Canada Mason R (1998) “Models of online courses” in ALN Magazine 2 Naiman N, Frohlich M, Stern H & Todesco A (1978) The good language learner OISE Maier P & Warren A (2000) Integr@ting Technology in Learning and TeachingIntegr@ting Kogan Page Limited O’Malley J M & Chamot A U (1990) Learning strategies in second language acquisition Cambridge University Press Race P “The Art of Assessing” http://www.lgu.ac.uk/deliberations/assessment/artof.html http://www.lgu.ac.uk/deliberations/assessment/artof.html Sheppard C (1999) “Evaluating online learning” in Fastrak Consulting Ltd http://www.fastrak-consulting.co.uk/tactix/Features/evaluate/evaluate.htm