Artifact 7

The following links contain useful information for classroom teachers who are seeking help in regards to English a second language students (ESL). Each site can help in different ways. The first, http://www.englishlearner.com, provides grammar, language, and spelling tests for ESL students. Students can play games, such as hangman, on the free web site. The second, http://espanol.yahoo.com/, can be used to find data in the Spanish language.

Context
After completing a search using http://www.google.com, I discovered the web sites, http://www.englishlearner.com and http://espanol.yahoo.com. I used Internet Explorer 6.0 to run the search during the Spring of 2001.

Impact
These web sites will be useful to me as a teacher in that I can easily find the sites and have instant, up-to-date ideas about things to try with my students. Also, the students in the class, English-speaking, and ESL can benefit. They can log on to the Internet, type in the address, and have a world of knowledge at the click of a mouse. At the Yahoo site, the children can see many different languages represented. They can see Chinese, Japanese, Spanish (see link above), Italian, Norwegian, and many, many more. These links allow the children or teacher to run a search in that language and the links that match the search are also in the chosen language.

The English Learner web site offers many online games and language activities for students who speak a different language, and are working to sharpen their English skills. This is more of an educational site, with respect to the Yahoo site, however, they both can empower students. They can empower those who have a working knowledge of English, as well as those who do not know enough to function in a classroom with all English speakers. These web sites offer each of these types of students the benefits of using a computer, as well as learning to build upon their skills in predominantly English-speaking classrooms.

Alignment
There is a great need for ESL teachers in schools today, but in regular classroom settings, an ESL teacher, if the school has one, cannot be expected to be with all of the non-English speaking students all at once. Therefore, it is up to the classroom teacher to be knowledgeable of the language, have a background of the language, or to know where to find resources that will benefit these students that will be in the classroom. By identifying these sources (see links above), it is evident that I understand how to find technology resources that will empower the learners in my class with diverse needs, backgrounds, characteristics, and abilities (Goal VIB). The use of these technology resources also make it evident that I am aware of and identify resources that affirm that diversity that will be apparent in my classroom of learners (Goal VIC)..

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