Fun Brain’s URL:
http://www.funbrain.com/cgi-bin/gg.cgi?A1=m&A2=0&A3=0&AFUNCT=1&ALEVEL=1
The two web-based,
virtual environments that I chose to talk about for this week’s blog post is
called “Brainpop.” “Brainpop English
language-learning program” uses lively, engaging content to teach English to
speakers of other languages and native speakers of English. This program is loaded with content, games,
movies, words and their usage. The
audience for this virtual learning environment are for all academic levels and disciplines such
as science, math, social studies, health, engineering & tech, and
English. This site host loads of
information for the teacher such as lesson plans, a free BrainPop educators
section with Common Core Standards for every subject for all fifty USA states. The interface has animated, lively colors,
large font, and appears to be user friendly and easy to navigate. The part that really passions me is Brainpop
ESL/ELL. The downside of this site is every character is an animated cartoon,
which my irate some adult learners.
Brainpop’s ESL/ELL
virtual learning environment is built around animated movies and supporting
features, it is an excellent resource for adult learners, because it reinforces
vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, reading comprehension, and writing
skills. It can certainly make a
difference in the learning of all ESL/ELL students! It also features all conceivable learning
style, such as aural, visual, and tactile. Laureate’s week five video report,
“We’ve seen people learn so much through games!” I agree that BrainPop has really created
mathematics, English, etc. that kids, as well as adults can learn from and love
to play.
The Minnesota
Literacy Council has its own website that offers a plethora of
instructor
material resources and aids for computer education and ABE
grammar
skills development and for the building of
basic computer
literacy for adult learners living in Minnesota. These virtual programs found on this site are
prepared by members of Minnesota’s CTEP (Community Technology Empowerment
Project).
I would
incorporate BrainPop
virtual
interactive ESL, literacy, and reading content, movies, and games into my
English language arts literacy-writing course via hyperlinks that connect learners
to my subscription. These virtual
environments will enhance and reinforce the skills that I know that adult
learners of literacy writing need to excel in their educational achievement, economic
success, positive health outcomes, and civic engagement responsibilities to
themselves, their families, and the community.
For example, students will improve their
reading and writing,
speaking, spelling,
word
recognition,
word
identification and pronunciations,
parts
of speech such as nouns, verbs,
adjectives,
adverbs, prepositions, and etc.to become proficient communicators and writers
through the visual, aural, and interactive built in elements that BrainPop offers. As for the Minnesota Literacy Council’s website,
most activities are offer limited English speaker demographics, as well as native
English speakers. Another feature of
BrainPop is students’ growth from being gamers to game designers.
Both environments
offer students opportunities that inculcate passion and motivation for learning
Standard American English. Both sites are available anytime and from anywhere
students have the technology, broadband, and/or Wi-Fi to access it.
Best Education
website also offers numerous resources of multiple academic disciplines for adult
learning via games and learning activities. This site can be accessed in one spot by
downloading the
Homework
Simplified Toolbar.
Squire (2011) posits
identifying students’ passions and using them as advantage for relating
academic content should be something that skilled teachers can do regardless of
technology. Squire’s narrative suggest
gaming is a great way to build meaningful relations that forge friendships built
around common interests that can help address academic matters related to things
of interest or just by calling upon the goodwill teacher and student develop via
interest and gaming (p. 46). By building
relationships with others of like interest, students learn to hang out in
forums, which are an excellent source for learning.
Moreover, Squire
(2011) suggest there’s a coupling effect between the students’ interests and
academic ones via a degree of reciprocal indoctrination involved in getting
students to care about the same kinds of things teachers care about (p.
47). In my profession of teaching adult learners, I
have observed that some students may not have the necessary computing
experience for Online learning to play games for learning. Hyperlinks that direct such students to online
content can be a welcoming sight for many older learners; hence, I use them to
help guide my students along their internet browsing experiences. It would also behoove the instructor/teacher to
administer the
VARK, keyboarding and surfing skills tests along with the
ELSA skills tests to ensure students are able and ready to engage and participate in
online courses and learning.
References
Squire, K.
(2011). Video games and learning: Teaching and participatory culture in the
digital age. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
