WebQuests

😊 What are WebQuests?

Here is a video from Youtube giving you a good description of WebQuests.

The video is from Youtube.

According to this video, Bernie Dodge held the view that the definition of  WebQuests are "a constructivist lesson format wrapped around a doable and interesting task that is a scaled-down version of something adults do".

WebQuest is underpinned by the idea of task-based learning. Teachers put several tasks on the websites and students complete these tasks by reading the materials. Commonly, students work in pairs.

✌ Construction

According to 'concept to the classroom', a WebQuest usually has 6 parts: introduction, task, process, resources, evaluation, and conclusion.  However, many WebQuests do not have resources.
🔺Introduction: provide background and explain the general goal.
🔺task: describe what students should do and achieve in the end
🔺process: the steps the students should take to complete the task
🔺resources: resources students need to finish the task 
🔺evaluation: standards to evaluate students' work
🔺conclusion: reflection and thinking about the possible extension

Just click here to see recently published WebQuests: http://questgarden.com/author/reports/recentpubs.php

😄Relevance to language teaching and how to use it in teaching
WebQuest can facilitate the task-based learning process. A WebQuest is consist of several tasks. Students' reading skills will be improved by reading the materials. WebQuest can be used in group work assignment so through student-to-student interactions, listening and speaking skills will be improved. 

😀 Advantages

1. When working in groups, interaction among learners benefits their learning.

2. The ability of critical thinking is improved through coping with these tasks.

3 Encourage engagement and motivation

😭 Limiatations

1 I think the materials and detailed instructions are given on WebQuests so it is unnecessary for teachers to talk more about it. I am wondering if a teacher using WebQuests in class, what the teacher can do excluding giving necessary help to students when they ask for help? Hence, I think it is more suitable for after class activity and self-studying so the vital classroom time can be saved.

2 In group work, students with a low level of motivation to learning may rely too much on other group members.
3 WebQuests are not suitable for beginners because they require a certain level of reading skills.

🙂 Using the Quest Garden

Here is a video from Youtube teaching you how to making a webquest by Questgarden.

     The video is from Youtube, published by Diallo Sessoms.

Overall, WebQuests make good use of multimedia in the class and can motivate students to improve their critical thinking and team spirit though they have some limitations.

                                          

Reference
https://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/webquests/index_sub3.html

use Voki to motivate your students

It is important for teachers to catch students' attention in the class. Students tend to lose their concentration when teachers are giving a long talk. Many teachers are frustrated by this problem. However, now I am going to introduce a tool that can make your teacher talk more interesting. It is called "Voki".
What is Voki?
Voki is a game-like tool that can help you express by using a talking character and your own voice.
Tutorial
Put Voki on your google search and you will certainly find the website or you can just click here: https://www.voki.com/student/create
First of all, you can choose the character you like by clicking the first button with a face on it. There are several tags you can choose and under each tags there are many characters of the same type.

Then you can choose what the character wears by clicking the second button with a T-shirt and a cap on it. Uses are free to choose the background of the character showing by the second picture.

You can record your voice and enter message as shown in the third picture.

There are also many videos about Voki on Youtube. Search Voki and I think you will find more information.

How to use it in your classroom?

I will use Voki to give oral instructions in my classroom. We can also ask students to make a Voki video to express their ideas. It is good for you to add an interesting Voki video in your lesson presentation.

Limitation 

Though it can make the class more interesting for the students, some students may pay more attention to the character itself but not the message it conveys. To use Voki in the classroom, the classroom must have electronic devices like a computer and a projector. I do not find any way to download the video created by Voki so you need to use USB to store it and bring it to the classroom. It may be difficult for classrooms without these devices and the Internet in remote and poor areas. Additionally, the resources on Voki are limited. I think the background and the cartoon characters are kind of out of fashion. It cannot add pictures and presentation slides to the video. It will be better for students to understand when having some pictures and other materials. 

All pictures in my blog are from: https://www.voki.com/student/create