Activities aimed at localizing Internet materials By Shefali Kulkarni

Internet materials most often need to be adapted for use in a language class. The following activities encourage participants to adapt the material available on the Net by localizing and personalizing it.

Activity 1: Download videos from the Internet. Here are some URL’s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUCDhvbQFmU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExuuycfXwF4 Show the movie clip with the audio switched off. Let the students watch the video. Then, in groups ,let them create dialogues to go with the movie clip. Play the movie clip again as the groups present their dialogues to the class. In some cases, like the two movie clipping examples given above you might want to show the class the actual clipping with the audio on afterwards. Skills – Listening, Writing, Speaking

Activity 2 Download interesting incidents from blogs or download any interests that spark your attention as a teacher. These are some interesting blogs where you will find experiences from another culture http://urbantravelgirl.com/2009/08/09/black-women-traveling-abroad-learn-a-foreign-country%E2%80%99s-social-mores-customs-before-you-go/ http://fogtdal.blogspot.com/ http://www.imdiversity.com/Villages/asian/education_academia_study/futurehmong_study_abroad.asp Narrate the incident to the class or ask them to read it. Then ask them to create a ‘writeup’ for a blog in the local context.

For the blog page at this URL – http://urbantravelgirl.com/2009/08/09/black-women-traveling-abroad-learn-a-foreign-country%E2%80%99s-social-mores-customs-before-you-go/ the class can be asked to work on the following questions- What kind of experiences do we have for lunch here? What kind of experiences in the market? What advice would you give to a first time visitor to your locality? If the facilities are available, let a class create a blog and let them keep updating it each week on the basis of a theme you have picked up from other blogs. It is an interesting writing exercise. Skills – Reading, Listening, Discussion, Writing

Activity 3: Elicit the names of all the students in the class and board them. Add your own name to the list. Also find out which locality the students stay in and board down the place names or street names and/or apartment names. Play the song on the teaching English website – http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-songs-one-small-world.htm Give them the worksheet given alongside. They listen to the song and fill in the worksheet. Now, in small groups let them replace the names of people and places in the song with names of their friends and the places they are familiar with. Each group presents the song to the class. Skills – Listening skill, Interaction skills and presentation skills

Activity 4: Download a comic strip from any site Edit the picture and erase the dialogues given and then print the comic strips. In groups, the students have to fill the blank dialogue bubbles with dialogues. All the comic strips are then collected and pated on the wall. All the students then walk around the class comparing their comic strips. Skills – Dialogue Writing, Discussions, Deciphering body language and expressions Here are a few sites where you can find comic strips – http://comics.com/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artsandliving/comics/

For example, Would be given to the groups like this –

Any feedback or questions are welcome. shefali.k.2009@gmail.com

Thank you