Journal Reflections

The blog MUETIRSHADWAY has been in the net since April, 2014. Now I have published 36 posts and 48 links; mostly on current issues.
The journey...well, it is all about emotion, passion, frustration and devotion. There is a lot of effort being put in the setting up of the blog and maintaining it. I have had some experience setting up a few blogs for my pre-university unit since 2010 but this one is particularly academic--the former ones were just reports.

The Road Not Taken

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;         5 Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same,         10 And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.         15 I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.         20 the I have taken  road which spells hardship and frustration and hope that it turns out to be success and accomplishment. This blog is a legacy for Irshadians especially the sixth formers. I hope they would treasure what it has to offer or it will just be a heavenly piece of junk orbitting the net! __________________________________________________________________________ The Teacher and Unprescribed Duties 28 Jan 2015 Left my car at 7.07 in the morning and straight to the office, punched the card and switched on my lappy. The first duty was to check the 5S Organisation Chart, the 5S Guide Committee Chart, 5S Logo and the 5S objectives. And...there it went again, the printer was stuck again. Not a problem, Mr DIY is here. First, switch off the printer and then swith it on again. When the cartridge stops at the middle of the trough, then start the operation: Tadaa! The printer could be used now. Then, I have to make errands to several places to inform my subordinates for the 5S project--that would be a few hundred calories. No announcement, please! Phew! Finally got them all and just in time for my MUET class at 12.30 p.m. The class ended at 2.15 p.m. Knock! Knock! Knock! "There will be Academic Committee Meeting at 3.00 p.m. Attendance is compulsory! Let's reflect: 1. Punch the attendance card 2. Prepare the 5S Organization Chart 3. Repair the printer 4. Run errands 5. Attend class 6. Committee meeting Not bad for Mr Fantastic! Teaching takes just 1 out of 6 chores. Stupid question 1: a) Why don't you ask the technician to repair the printer? Stupid answers 1: a) That's your printer, you repair on your own, ma! b) I have better things to do, sir! Stupid question 2: a) Why not asking the office boy to do errands? Stupid answer 2: a) Sorry, sir. I have to deliver the relief slips to the teachers! b) Who's the boss? ________________________________________________________________________ The abstract for W.A.L.L. (Web-Assisted Language Learning) __________________________________________________________________________________ PRESENTATION OF RESEARCH PAPER, W.A.L.L by Mohd Rosli bin Saidin at Summit Hotel, KL 5 December 2014             Assalaamualaikum and a very good morning I bid to all present. What I am going to share with you today is just a very simple idea--it's about the internet and e-communication. But how do we harness the power of the net which is much simpler, much more practical and cheap?                     The web, yes the web ladies and gentlemen. I'll quote, an ex-college student from UK once said " Everything that I have learned in college is in Wikipedia". Well it must have hit the teaching and learning institution real bad! It's a reality. The internet is undeniably and extremely generous source of information, ladies and gentlemen! Do you agree if I say even among friends, you'll have some sessions of face-to face but later continue through sms or social network? In other words the relationship is further elaborated through e-communication. Even with friends, you would by any chance be talking about using google to find the location of say, Summit Hotel!                     It has become part of our daily routine--the internet is something that we could not afford to live a day without!! What if the teaching and learning institutions turn into an internet routine, just like ours? Even now, some of us are turning to the smart phone to access our what's apps for some information, right--while a paper is being presented!           Well, to certain extent, consulting the net has become part of our daily routine. It has become a trend in the US that teaching and learning happens actively through the net. Right here, in Malaysia? You and I will have to initiate it. __________________________________________________________________________ CONFERENCE/PRESENTATION OF RESEARCH PAPER AND POSTER FOR THE PRINCIPALS AND HEADMASTERS OF HIGH PERFORMING SCHOOLS, MALAYSIA. 5 DECEMBER 2014   Reflection:   Towards the end of the session, on the last day of the conference, I was expecting some discussion moderated by Dr Rohaya binti Hassan, the Deputy Director of Fully Residential and Excellent Schools Management Division. It did not happen. The following paragraph was what I had in mind to share with all the participants.   Dr  we are here for an event and it's done. Following this, I suggest would be a compilation of all the materials presented in detail, that is, a prospectus. I suggest that SBT should go a step further or should I say advertise ourselves that we are functioning as High Performing Schools in Malaysia.           My suggestions are:   A. have a website or a blog where we can:   i)   post our activities ii)  upload our research papers iii) set up relevant links iv) post newsletters   B. Produce our own newsletter which reports our activities to be shared by all schools         across  the nation. The contents could be:   i)    Events ii)   Research Papers iii)  Innovations iv)  opinions/suggestions by: Mohd Rosli bin Saidin Senior Assistant of Administration of Pre-University   ________________________________________________________________________________   PUSH HARD, REAL HARD!!!                                                          Push hard to head-start! by Mohd Rosli            Wondering how to head-start changing the climate of teaching and learning in the school? Pedagogy is a big boulder planted in the attitude domain of teaching and learning instructors which requires a lot of effort to move. Everybody in the school must understand that we have to apply a huge force in the same direction or else the boulder won't budge!           Likewise, we have to accept changes. Changes are usually painful and there are two types of pain; one which hurts you while the other changes you, for the better or the worse. But worse is better than worst! How do you know that it's going to be worse? Yet the worst is really the result of not willing to bear the pain of changes; no pain, no gain!           I understand that it isn't easy to accept changes. Changes come in tides and sometimes in waves. Waves will strike you flat if you don't start running. If you can't run ahead of the waves, then run with it. But if you kneel, you'll be washed away.           The choice is yours as the changes will come and greet or scare you. Sooner or later you will have to adapt to it. So, let's move; walk and then run--run for you life!   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------     Running around with potentially sound ideas without sound responses!!! by Mohd Rosli          You're shouting out loud but people still ignore you!!! What are the reasons for this? I have been blogging for about four years with materials involving English Language for Pre-University students and even those in the lower and upper secondary levels. Why are they not responding much? The Publicising is not done? I did that quite often. In fact I have advertised the blogs by sending links to 'What's Application Groups'. But they seem to ignore them. I only have a few colleagues responding to the blogs. Even students ignore the blogs. I told them that the blog is 'ALL UNDER ONE ROOF'! Perhaps I should include catchy lines or headlines to draw the audience's attention. Perhaps the blog doesn't contain enough sensational elements which are current or trendy. But I have to abide by my principal---remain educational. I have to be more patient handling this kind of blog.   The Power of A Blog by Jason Falls Why are blogs such a powerful communications tool in the arsenal of a company? There are lots of reasons, really. But the explanation I’ve used that normally gives those who don’t quite understand blogging have their “ah-ha” moment is a simple one. To understand the power of a blog you have to compare it to something familiar. Think about your company newsletter. If you’re not that hip to blogging yet, your company newsletter is probably still printed and circulated in everyone’s box in the mailroom. Or maybe it’s mailed to everyone’s house. But in some form or fashion, some printed piece of information is circulated monthly or bi-weekly to everyone in the company. There are pictures of new hires, company softball team news, maybe even some tips and tricks articles for the sales team and a list of birthdays. Image via Wikipedia The problem with that mechanism of communication is that the information has a limited life cycle and, due to costs, the publication has a limited circulation. Only a few people can access it. With a blog, even if just focused on internal news, everyone, in or out of the company, can access it. There’s less hard cost to produce and adding news or information doesn’t add cost to the project. And the information can be updated on a whim, giving it a forever life cycle. Not to mention, the content can be more easily found thanks to the ubiquitous power of search. Those reasons alone make a blog a much more powerful communications mechanism — internally or externally — than a company newsletter. Capitalizing on that same analogy, though, think about how many company newsletters you’ve read that were interesting enough to want to read again. It’s a comparable medium, but not the same. With more power, comes more responsibility. It’s time companies grasped that and made their new newsletter, in whatever form, worth reading About the Author Jason Falls Jason Falls is a leading thinker, speaker and strategist in the world of digital marketing and is co-author of two books, No Bullshit Social Media: The All-Business, No-Hype Guide To Social Media Marketing and The Rebel's Guide To Email Marketing. By day, he leads digital strategy for Elasticity, one of the world's most innovative digital marketing and public relations firms. Follow him on Twitter (@JasonFalls).

Starting to Write an Essay

How to write topic sentences

Techniques for Writing: Writing Topic Sentences for Paragraphs

A paragraph is a sequence of sentences that cooperate in supporting one main point. Sometimes that point is so obvious that it doesn't need to be stated, but often a paragraph begins with a topic sentence that states the main point directly. Before you can write a topic sentence, you must decide what you want to say and what you don't want to say in your paragraph. In other words, you must first explore your starting topic and then select your limited topic. The next step is to make a statement about the limited topic. Keep these points in mind:

A starting topic is usually broad, stimulating many ideas.

A limited topic is narrow, connecting a few selected ideas.

A topic sentence makes a statement about the limited topic.

For example, study this progression:

Starting topic: Football

Limited topic: The role that football has played in my education

Topic sentence: If it hadn't been for football, I might never have taken school seriously.

Note: A topic sentence is always a complete sentence expressing an idea about the limited topic. It is not a title (What football means to me), or an explanation of the writer's plan (I am going to tell you about the role football played in my education.) The more clearly it focuses the reader's attention on the points covered by the paragraph that the writer wants to make, the better.

Exercise A: For each limited topic below, select the two items that could serve as topic sentences.

Limited topic: how to train a cat.

1. This paragraph is about how to train a cat.

2. Before a cat learns anything, it first teaches its owner a lesson in humility.

3. Everything you wouldn't have thought to ask about training a cat.

4. Training a cat takes physical stamina.

5. Animal training is a complicated subject.

"HOW TO TRAIN A CAT:"

    Possible topic sentences are #2 and #4. (#1 merely announces the writer's plan, #3 is a title and not a complete sentence, and #5 is too general.)

Limited topic: changes in patients as they settle into convalescent homes

1. Americans are learning how to grow old gracefully.

2. The outside world seems to shrink when seen through the window of a
   convalescent home.

3. Closing up a home and moving to a small room can make even an extrovert turn
   inward.

4. It is important to look at the changes in patients' attitudes as they settle
   into convalescent homes.

5. The increasing delight in daily conversation as patients become accustomed to
   life in a convalescent home.

"CHANGES IN PATIENTS:"

    Possible topic sentences are #2 & #3. (#1 is too general, not mentioning convalescent home, #4 relies too heavily on the vague word, "important," and #5 is not a complete sentence.)

Limited topic: scuba diving

1. The excitement of scuba diving.

2. My childhood fascination with scuba diving.

3. It is very interesting to experience scuba diving.

4. The sport of scuba diving has always excited me.

5. Since I was a child, I've been fascinated by scuba diving.

"SCUBA DIVING:"

    Possible topic sentences are #4 and #5. (#1 and #2 are not complete sentences and #3 relies on the vague word "interesting.")

Exercise B: Below are three sets of notes for developing the topic, the role football played in my education. For each one, select which topic sentence will fit the completed paragraph. Choose a, b, or c from the list above.

1.concentration to learn plays
  discipline to follow through
  flexibility when plan fails
  college classes painful at first
  college pressure like my JV year in HS

2.distractions from high school—social life, job, being cool
  best friends dropped out
  team solidarity, support, tutoring
  State Championship goal, whole school cared
  coach insisted on better than C average

3.coach's weird warm-up exercises
  visualizing ways to overcome hardship
  insistence on accuracy
  team meditations
  application of problem-solving tricks in daily life

1. b     2. c     3. a

MUET Irshadway Statistics (now known as roslimuetmegastation)

MUET Report Statistics from July, 2011 to November, 2013

Audience Statistics as at 27 January 2015

W.A.L.L. Project Report

Project Paper

Title:

To Enhance Teaching and Learning of  English for MUET

Using

W.A.L.L. (Web-Assisted Language Learning)

by:

Mohd Rosli bin Saidin

SMKA AL-IRSHAD

Pokok Sena, 13220 Kepala Batas

Pulau Pinang

                               

1. Introduction

a) Abstract

Teaching and Learning is an ever challenging experience in English classes, I would say. Both teachers and students seem to struggle to find the best ways to bring commitment and interest together. But it seems the only thing that sustains is commitment in trying to stay awake! Not only that, should the lesson lasts for two solid hours, then the teacher will start staring at the clock and wish the lesson would end. There is no doubt that the environment of teaching and learning should come to a compromise—both the presenter and the audience should benefit academically as well as emotionally.

Should we stick to the conventional chalk and talk, the objective of the lesson might not be achieved. Due to this problem, I have suggested an approach where the platform of the whole business is the web; that is a web-based teaching and learning method. Living in the world of information technology, I can see that the benefit of learning online as an option is indispensable. Online learning is not only a supplementary, it can be a complementary to the existing approach.

This approach exploits the students’ interest—the passion of logging on to websites, the joy of interacting with media and the convenience of learning flexibility. In other words, you need not force the students to work—just tell them what to do and the magic will do the rest! This time around the master does not have to bring the horse to the river and force it to drink as it is already there and ready to drink! Exploiting the students’ interest in getting their co-operation to learn the way they like to do things is an assumed credit.

b)

i) Definition

This project aims at using the web as an alternative source of information. Why the web? The web contains amazing volume of information waiting to be tapped by the users at the accuracy of their purpose or request. The intended instrument here is the blog. http://muetirshadway.blogspot.com/ is the platform for pre-university students to experience what online education is all about.

            Besides supplying direct information, the blog provides some links for the students to visit other websites without opening another homepage. The links should cater to the needs and nature of their studies, which must be relevant and user-friendly.

            The learning style of the students in schools should match their interest. The old method of paper-cutting articles could be a history against copy, paste and edit of the W.A.L.L. type. Who would bother to take the trouble of looking for the articles, cut them out and then design a lesson according to the headlines or what the teacher or students had gathered. Teachers should come out with the lesson plan first and then proceed to looking for the materials needed to support the lesson which means that the web is much more versatile medium to use.

            The net serves our needs specifically. Search is based on the words or phrases keyed in. The specific information is therefore obtained in a matter of minutes or even seconds! This is proven when I was coaching the school debates team. The moment they received the motion, internet was their first consultation.

            The main point here is, the web serves as the powerhouse of knowledge which could be consulted at anytime, anywhere—a strength which we should not do away with.

 ii) Project Focus/Issue—a reflection

The programme is carried out to meet the requirements of Form 6 AR (Lower Six) who are mostly low achievers in SPM. They are very different from the mainstream students of SMKA Al-Irshad. They lack confidence in both speaking and writing. Their vocabulary is very limited and irrelevant to the level of English that they should have acquired to sit for MUET. I would want to teach them all the relevant words in describing trends or discuss current issues. But both they and I just do not have enough time to be together—the breach of formal time-table or instructional time by all the events annually scheduled by the school plus the ones organised by the state education department is giving us acute time constraints.

So, how do I came up with an approach where we can interact more and most importantly at any time we choose? That happened only three months ago when I was waiting for my wife and kids doing their shopping on one weekend. I was watching a young girl who was texting on a cellphone. She was so preoccupied with the on-air session with her correspondent. What if that is supposed to be her teacher or classmate? I am not suggesting that we should snatch her weekend away from her family and friends just to contact her teacher! What a cruel thing to do. But what if she likes to do so, voluntarily over the cellphone? I am now suggesting that we exploit her interest—that is substituting her friends with the teacher and her classmates over the smart phone at her own will!

Everybody’s life nowadays is all-the-web stuff—be it the mother, the kids or just anyone. So, why don’t we exploit this round-the-clock interest to draw the kids to their lessons? Well, that’s my answer; the web and the gadgets!

So, I started on setting up a blog, creating all the necessary links to help them meet their goal; acquiring as many words as possible through reading and discussion. Extensive reading is vital in the students’ life so I drew their attention to reading online. Besides reading, questions were also posted up the bog for weekend assignments. Apart from the blog-based activity, the students were also drawn to a group forum where they could discuss their problems over social links like What’s App instantly which is regularly joined by the teachers.

c) Project Objectives

i. It enables access to numerous and varied information.

ii. Information is up-to-date.

iii. Information can be accessed anytime, anywhere.

iv. It is self-accessed which means students are not bounded by certain schedule as in the traditional
     classrooms.

v. Students can be instructed via the web and they could send their
    assignments through e-mail.

vi. Students could interact with teachers on-line, that is through:

    a) Writing comments on the blog

    b) Interacting among themselves and teachers in the group through What’s Application and other
        social applications.

vii. Students could correct their mistakes faster and more effectively through the blog and social
      applications.

viii. Interaction between teachers and students is more flexible—can be
       carried out after school hours as needed.

ix. The teacher could choose to guide the students individually after formal lessons without meeting
     face-to-face or it could even be done while the teacher or the student are on their way in an express
     bus or taxi to Kuala Lumpur!

x. Students could revise their lessons after school hours and anywhere
     they wish.

d) Is Web-Based Language Learning method effective in teaching and learning?

Yes, this method is extremely helpful as an alternative to solve many problems in classrooms. The blog will serve as the main hub for teaching and learning. All information obtained from or through the blog may be discussed further on the computer via the social applications like What’s Application, Telegram or the less dynamic ones like Facebook or Twitter on the cell-phone. The teacher or instructor could choose to interact with his students in groups or individually in private at the chosen or desired time. The correction of mistakes could be done instantly online. Many participants could discuss in a single group chat meaning that some problems could be solved in the virtual presence of at least 50 members at a time! Students could also load or send their assignments via e-mail or simply through social application. How the assignment is going to be sent will be decided by the students or the teachers.

e) Significance of project

This project was initiated to help students who are vocabulary impaired. These students were mostly low achievers in ‘O’ Level English (SPM). To start building up their vocabulary from the very beginning will take a huge effort, time-consuming and might be implausible. Within six months of hard work, success is not guaranteed. The areas to touch in diction is so huge. So, it is wiser and more logical to focus on the relevant words. The blog, as a source of information helps the students to access the net conveniently. The blog with all the relevant links will provide sufficient and accurate compilation of words they need. Apart from that, the students will be assigned with questions and tasks which will help them understand and consolidate their understanding through the web-assisted learning programme. Besides the ideal and interesting learning using the blog, the students get the opportunity to interact with each other through social application like ‘What’s Apps’. So, the subject matter will be often touched by them.

2. Literature Reviews

i) WEB ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING (WALL) AND LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS (LMS) IN VIRTUAL CENTRES FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGES

German Ruiperez

Abstract

The Web has had different uses in the teaching of modern languages: (a) as a source of resources: In a very short time, the Web has become the largest source of resources for the learning of any foreign language; (b) as a window of multimedia applications (in this way CD-ROM is replaced by the Web as the main means of storage of multimedia applications.); and (c) as an e-learning platform.

For an institution to create a Virtual Centre for Foreign Language Learning, certain software must be installed in a computer connected to the Internet. This software is called a Learnig Management Systein (LMS). Apart from the basic functions of the majority of the LMS, we should mention the advanced functions of the LMS: voice chats, digital television channel. mobile telephone services.

WAP complementary services and access to the LMS through electronic pocket diaries (PDA). There are many comparative studies of LMS, carried out by consultants, specialist magazines, etc. Despite the proliferation of comparative studies of LMS. they have hardly considered the specific features of CALL software, in which the functions that pronote sound interaction should be more advanced. On the other hand, the subject of standards Iias become relevant. It is logical that the user who introduces contents into a given LMS would want the guarantee of being able to use those contents within another LMS.

Keywords

Web Assisted Language Learning (WALL); Learning Management Systems (LMS); Virtual Centre for Foreign Languages; Web Based Training (WBT); Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL); e-learning

ii) EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

Going to the MALL: Mobile Assisted Language Learning

George M. Chinnery

University of Maryland Baltimore County

Introduction

In August 2004, Duke University provided free iPods to its entire freshman class (Belanger, 2005). The following month, a Korean education firm offered free downloadable college entrance exam lectures to students who purchased an iRiver personal multimedia player (Kim, 2004). That October, a financial trading firm in Chicago was reportedly assessing the hand-eye coordination of traders’ using Game Boys (Logan, 2004). Yet while such innovative applications abound, the use of technology in education and training is far from new, a fact as true in language classrooms as it is in medical schools. Practically since their availability, a succession of audio-visual recording devices (e.g., reel-to-reel, VCRs, PCs) has been used to capture language samples, and myriad playback and broadcast devices (e.g.,phonographs,radios, televisions) have provided access to authentic speech samples. The espousal of audio-lingual theory in the 1950s brought the widespread use of the language laboratory in educational settings(Salaberry, 2001).Influenced by behaviorism, the lab was progressively replaced in the 1960s by drill-based computer-assisted instruction, which decades later was itself surpassed by a more intelligent, interactive and multimedia computer-assisted language learning. The popular acceptance of the Internet in the 1990s advanced the development of computer-mediated communications.

As technologies continue to evolve, so does their propensity to shrink in size. "Other technologies that hold the capacity for language learning include PDAs, multimedia cellular phones, MP3 players, DVD players, and digital dictionaries" (Zhao, 2005, p. 447). Such portable media—referred to in popular and scholarly literature as mobile, wireless, handheld or nomadic—are now social staples. Mobile learning, or m-learning, is a burgeoning subdivision of the e-learning movement, further evidenced by European initiatives such as m-learning and Mobile arn.In this paper, applied fusions of m-learning and language learning follow, after which their benefits and challenges are reviewed.

iii) Research Article

An overview of mobile assisted language learning: From content delivery to supported
             collaboration and interaction

Agnes Kukulska-Hulmea1 and Lesley Shielda2

The Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University, UK (email: A.M.Kukulska-
              Hulme@open.ac.uk) Independent E-learning Consultant, UK (email:
              lesley.shield@yahoo.co.uk)

Abstract

Mobile learning is undergoing rapid evolution. While early generations of mobile learning tended to propose activities that were carefully crafted by educators and technologists, learners are increasingly motivated by their personal learning needs, including those arising from greater mobility and frequent travel. At the same time, it is often argued that mobile devices are particularly suited to supporting social contacts and collaborative learning - claims that have obvious relevance for language learning. A review of publications reporting mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) was undertaken to discover how far mobile devices are being used to support social contact and collaborative learning. In particular, we were interested in speaking and listening practice and in the possibilities for both synchronous and asynchronous interaction in the context of online and distance learning. We reflect on how mobile language learning has developed to date and suggest directions for the future.

Keywords

MALL; m-learning; collaboration; distance learning; independent learning

  

3. Methodolgy

 A. Project Strategies—the blog

i) To establish a teaching-learning blog:

a) serves to impart information to students in the web

b) access is not limited to time or situation

c) sources of information is unlimited

d) quality of information is varied and monitored

e) links could be added anytime

ii) To design the blog

a) simple and organized (consists of posts and links)

b) layout could be changed occasionally

iii) To run the blog

a) the administrator will update the blog weekly

b) the material or information is classified and edited

c) the links are set up on choice and certification basis

d) class or subject instructions may be included in a few appointed posts

e) specifically appointed e-mail could be used as an assignment box

iv) To assess the blog

a) the visitors counter and comments will supply the rating

b) data in the live traffic feeds

B. Class Instructions

i) The topics are taught as usual through hand-outs or selected texts

a) The usual style of teaching and learning using printed materials

b) The students will react actively by jotting important points and pose questions

ii) Refer to the blog for relevant information

a) Students access the blog to search for relevant information from the blog articles or the links.

b) Students start to respond actively to what the web has to offer.

c) They are free to download, edit, copy and paste as required by the tasks.

iii) Interact actively through the social application

a) Interact with group members after school hours—the students are not allowed to bring along their
    cell-phones to school.

b) To try solving problems through their interaction with friends and teachers in the social apps.

C. Data Collection and Analysis                      

This is not meant for scientific process. The collection and analysis of data is to monitor the effectiveness of the programme and to see if there are some needs for intervention programmes.

4. Programme outcomes and implication

a) Programme outcomes and Implication

This programme is carried out to ensure active participation from the students in teaching and learning sessions. It will enhance the positive attitude towards second language learning. The programme will also heighten their confidence in using the language at their own pace and fancy. The change in behaviour and attitude towards English is something to celebrate! The students are now seen to voice their opinions in a manner they had not done before—louder and more confident!

5. Conclusion

This project was initiated with a meagre budget. The outcome seems to ridicule the small investment. The result is one of frantic joy and excitement. At least, our once unconfident, scared and shy students are now louder and bolder.

6. REFERENCES

a) Clinch, B.J. (1999). WEB ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING. In B. Collis & R. Oliver (Eds.),
    Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and
   Telecommunications 1999 (pp. 1334-1335). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.

b) Agnes Kukulska-Hulme : Will mobile learning change language learning?, ReCALL / Volume 21 /
    Issue 02 / May 2009, pp 157 – 165

c) Ki Chune Nah, Peter White and Roland Sussex: The potential of using a mobile phone to access the
    Internet for learning EFL listening skills within a Korean context, ReCALL / Volume 20 / Issue 03 /
    September 2008, pp 331 – 347

d) David Little : Language, Autonomy and the New Learning Environments, Douglas Allford and
     Norbert Pachler. Bern: Peter Lang, 2007. 287 Pages. ISBN: 978-3-03-910567-0. Price: €58.40,
     ReCALL / Volume 20 / Issue 03 / September 2008, pp 380 – 381

e) WU Hui-qi,XU Ting(Science and Technology College of NCHU,Nanchang 330034,China);The
     Application of Multimedia Technology in College English Teaching[J];Computer Knowledge and
     Technology;2008-06

Technology Savvy

Tethering using a smart phone

For Blackberry

As well as Samsung Galaxy

Question: What Is Tethering?

Answer:

"Tethering" is the use of your cell phone (or other mobile device that's connected to the internet) as a modem for another device, usually a laptop or a Wi-Fi-only tablet. This gives you internet access on the go, wherever you are--e.g., if you're trying to work at a hotel that doesn't have free Wi-Fi (shame on them!) or your internet access at home is down for some reason. You connect your phone to your laptop or tablet either directly with a USB cable or without wires through Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. (In the good old days, we tethered devices via infrared.)

Benefits of Tethering

Tethering enables us to go online from our laptops, tablets, and other mobile devices like portable gaming systems even without a built-in 3G or 4G mobile data plan. It's especially helpful in situations where there's no other means of Internet access: when there's no Wi-Fi hotspot like a Starbucks around, for example, or your cable modem goes on the fritz, or you're on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere and need an online map quick...you get the idea.

If you're already paying for data service on your cell phone and your wireless provider doesn't require any extra fees for using your cell phone as a modem for your laptop, tethering can also save you money, since you won't have to pay for separate mobile broadband service or buy additional hardware just to get your laptop connected.

You can also surf the web more securely using a tethered cell phone, because your information is being sent directly through the phone versus, for example, over a public open wireless hotspot.