MODULE 4 REFLECTION

We have discussed 2 main points in our breakout room: some recommended websites used for classroom activities and technology-enhanced lesson plan. I have learned a lot from my teammates. Mai Anh has shared the sites she frequently uses in her classroom. The first one is https://www.raz-kids.com/. It is a comprehensive and interactive reading program that provides students with over 400 eBooks at 29 different levels of reading difficulty. This ensures that all students, regardless of their current reading level, can find materials that are both suitable and challenging for them. After reading a book, students can do quizzes that assess comprehension and help teachers to track their progress.Raz-Kids is particularly useful as it facilitates differentiated instruction. Teachers can assign books that match each student's reading levels and track their progress through detailed reports. Besides, the audio narration and highlighted text of eBooks can help improve both reading fluency and comprehension. Its online running records enable teachers to digitally assess each student that saves valuable classroom time. The motivational "Raz Rocket" feature motivates students to read and provides parents with an alternative to getting students to read at home. The second site she has shared is https://www.starfall.com/. Starfall helps young learners develop foundational reading and writing skills through interactive games, movies, and books. Its engaging and colourful interface really captures kids' attention, while the content is aligned with early literacy learning goals. Starfall's activities focus on phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. It is useful because it offers numerous activities that cater to different learning styles. For visual learners, there are animated stories and videos. For auditory learners, there are songs and phonics games. This variety ensures that all students can engage with the material in a way that suits them best. Furthermore, the website is free and accessible to all students and teachers. Phuong Thanh also uses Raz-Kids. Besides, she uses https://www.britishcouncil.org/school-resources. This page offers a variety of resources including lesson plans, classroom activities, and professional development materials tailored for teachers working with students of different age groups and levels. It provides structured resources and activities that can be directly implemented in the classroom, helping to enhance the teaching and learning experience. Phuong Linh has been teaching secondary school students at B1-B2 levels. She realizes that many 9 graders have a lot of difficulties in learning English at level B2, especially in learning four skills Reading, Listening, Writing, Speaking. The main reason is because their English proficiency is assumed to be below B2. From her observation, most of her students find Reading and Writing is the most difficult skills, so she believes that Breaking News English is a wonderful website helping students enhancing these skills. This website allows students to practice four skills, vocabulary and grammar using authentic materials with different levels, which is perfectly suitable for a mix-ability class like her class. However, the required task she gives weekly to her class is just read 2 authentic reading and write the summary of these articles.Linh also uses https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/skills/writing to help her students enhance their Writing skill. This website provides clear instruction for learners in all levels (from A1 to C1) with a variety of writing genres such as articles, emails and essays. From the instruction and pre-writing activities, students will have a thorough understanding about the fomats and can utilize topic-related vocabularies and structures in their writing. Phuong Linh and Mai Anh have shared their technology-enhanced lesson plans. With different age groups and English levels, they have adapted different technology tools and materials into the classroom and provided opportunities for the students to learn at home. I find so many useful tips and tools that can be applied into my real teaching context.