Sunday, May 27, 2007

Theoretical Discussion About My Interactive Representation

1. Introduction
At the beginning, Mandy and Maria should be in a group for doing this final assignment. However, both of them were fully occupied with their personal matters. They were unable to come out to do this assignment with me. Therefore, I did this interactive visual representation alone.
I am a primary teacher. I have to teach lower-class students English Language. For enhancing my teaching work and my students' learning motivation more effectively, I cannot use the traditional method to teach them English Language again. According to the English Language Handbook and the Education and Manpower Bureau (Curriculum Development Council, 1990), they suggested teachers teach younger students English Language through activities, for examples: playing games, singing songs and so on. In this circumstance, students will learn the best because they not only feel happily, but also have opportunities to participate in learning activities (Lillian, 2005). For achieving the above-mentioned goals, I decided to design an interactive visual representation, which is included these types of elements to offer my students for learning English in an enjoyable way.

2. Explain how my interactive visual representation can be used
According to the English Language Handbook of the Education and Manpower Bureau, Primary Two students have to learn some domestic animals which relate to their daily lives, for examples: cat, cow, hen, duck, horse and pig. I chose this topic of “On the Farm” for my final project because it belongs to one of the instructional unit - “Animal World”. In my visual display, there are some elements consisting of games and songs. I selected these elements in my interactive visual representation according to Peter and Iona' s ideas (1959). They suggested children loves listening to songs and enjoy singing songs. In fact, songs are good materials for providing children to communicate and express their emotion. For assisting my students in obtaining a better effect of learning, I chose a song of “Old MacDonald had a farm” because this song not only is matched to my project's theme; it is also melodious and easy to follow. For the above reasons, I think my interactive representation can be used to teach my students English Language in an enjoyable way and help them learn the English Language's sentence pattern through a song (The Education and Manpower Bureau, 1998), for example: Subject + Verb + Object.
I designed four parts in my project. My students can learn six animals' names in the first part. In the second part, they can learn animals' noises. Students can learn a new version of "Old Macdonald has a farm". The last part is offered to students' parents to play some activities (songs and games)with their children. They can sing two different versions of “Old Macdonald had a farm” and play “Animals' Noises” games with their kids at home. In the first part, user need to push the mouse to the animals, then he/she will be able to see the animals' pictures and their names. In the second part, user moves the slider. After that, he/she will be able to see the animals' noises. In the third part, user will be able to see the lyrics of the new version of "Old Macdonald has a farm" after pushing the mouse to the animals. Students
will be able to sing the song with their classmates. After reading Daniel's suggestion, I know I have to demonstrate more pictures to be drawn by me and I have to avoid infringing upon the original lyrics of “Old Macdonald had a farm”, I needed to create a new version of words of the song. The following content is the new one of “Old Macdonald has a farm”.

The Song of “Old Macdonald has a farm”

Old Macdonald has a farm. Eh-I, eh-I, oh!
And on this farm he has some pigs. Eh-I, eh-I, oh!
Pigs say, “Oink-oink here. Oink-oink there”.
Here oink-oink. There oink-oink.
Old Macdonald has a farm. Eh-I, eh-I, oh!

Old Macdonald has a farm. Eh-I, eh-I, oh!
And on this farm he has some cows. Eh-I, eh-I, oh!
Cows say, “Moo-moo here. Moo-moo there”.
Here moo-moo. There moo-moo.
Old Macdonald has a farm. Eh-I, eh-I, oh!

Old Macdonald has a farm. Eh-I, eh-I, oh!
And on this farm he has some horses. Eh-I, eh-I, oh!
Horses say, “Neigh-neigh here. Neigh-neigh there”.
Here neigh-neigh. There neigh-neigh.
Old Macdonald has a farm. Eh-I, eh-I, oh!

Old Macdonald has a farm. Eh-I, eh-I, oh!
And on this farm he has some cats. Eh-I, eh-I, oh!
Cats say, “Miaow-miaow here. Miaow-miaow there”.
Here miaow-miaow. There miaow-miaow.
Old Macdonald has a farm. Eh-I, eh-I, oh!

Old Macdonald has a farm. Eh-I, eh-I, oh!
And on this farm he has some ducks. Eh-I, eh-I, oh!
Ducks say, “Quack-quack here. Quack-quack there”.
Here quack-quack. There quack-quack.
Old Macdonald has a farm. Eh-I, eh-I, oh!

Old Macdonald has a farm. Eh-I, eh-I, oh!
And on this farm he has some hens. Eh-I, eh-I, oh!
Hens say, “Cluck-cluck here. Cluck-cluck”.
Here cluck-cluck. There cluck-cluck.
Old Macdonald has a farm. Eh-I, eh-I, oh!

Besides, I wrote a Lesson Plan for teaching my students this topic step by step. My interactive visual representation will be offered my students to learn by themselves after completing the unit of “Animal World – Farm Animals” (See Appendix I – "Lesson Plan", Part B, No.8 and Part D, No.4).
For being convenient to my students to learn my interactive visual representation, I will save this visual display in the school intranet so that they will be able to read it in the School Central Library, Computer Laboratory, Self-study Corner and their classrooms. In addition, I will ask my school information-technician to save it in the school website so that students' parents will be able to sing the songs and play the games with their children for learning English at home.

3. Explain the educational or communicative value of my interactive representation
According to the Education and Manpower Bureau's instruction (2002), teachers not only have to teach subjects' knowledge to students, but also teach them generic skills at the same time, for examples: communication skills, collaboration skills, critical thinking skills, creativity and so on. Besides, the Education and Manpower Bureau supposes teachers are key persons to help students build up the ability of “Learning to Learn” for reaching the final educational goal (Curriculum Development Council, 2001). For achieving the above-mentioned goal, I would like to assist students in developing independent learning abilities through Key Learning Areas, which are consisted of Moral and Civic Education, Reading to Learn, Project-based Learning, and Information Technology for interactive learning (Curriculum Development Council, 2001). The four key learning tasks are inter-connected. Although I am an English teacher, I also have to use information technology to design some interactive visual representations for attracting my students to learn English through activities for building up the ability of independent learning step by step. In 21st Century, teachers are not fact tellers again, they are collaborators, sometimes are learners too (CUHK, 1998). Like me, I have to learn how to make interactive representations with Flash for promoting my students' learning motivation and interest. On the contrary, students are not listeners; they are collaborators in today's learning situation (CUHK, 1998). Due to the above reasons, teachers have to offer students an active environment to develop independent learning (CUHK, 1998).
For providing the active learning environment to my students, I designed the interactive visual representation of “On the Farm” to them for learning English. In the first part, when my students read my interactive visual representation, they will be able to learn six vocabularies, including: cat, cow, duck, hen, horse and pig. In the second part, students will be able to have an opportunity for distinguishing the characteristics of animals' noises. After that, they will be able to imitate different kinds of animals' noises. In addition, they can play a game with their classmates, for example: one student imitates one kind of animals' noises; the other one speak out the animal's name according to his/her classmate's imitation noise. When my students read the third part, they will be able to sing the song with their classmates together. In the last part, students will be able to sing the songs and play the games of animals' noises with their parents at home.
Finally, they will be encouraged to discuss with their classmates about those animals' eating habits and behaviors.
According to the above activities, students will be able to develop collaboration and communication skills. Additionally, they will be able to develop their critical thinking skill in order to play the games of “On the Farm”.

4. Conclusion
For achieving to help my students build up the ability of “Learning to Learn”, I offer a funny and active learning environment to my students. My students will be able to develop their communication skills, collaboration skills, critical thinking skills and creativity through the interactive activities in my final product. After trying to sing this song in my lesson, I observed my students love listening this song and singing it with me. For getting this experience, I agreed that “Sing to Learn, Learn to Sing” can increase my students’ learning experience happily.
In conclusion, I believe that interactive visual representations as educational context can be used to assist my students in building up the ability of “Learning to learn”.

5. Time-table of my contribution to this project
In the part of Introduction, I explained why I did this interactive visual representation alone. In here, I just would like to tell all of you how to complete this visual displaystep by step.

Date:
March 20, 2007
1. Start doing this interactive visual representation
April 1, 2007
1. Choose the topic of “On the Farm” for making my interactive representation.
2. Write an introduction of the interactive representation
http://iln.cite.hku.hk/com/1374/users/pmcheung2/Storyboard.doc
3. Make the storyboard of the interactive visual representation
http://iln.cite.hku.hk/com/1374/users/pmcheung2/Animalfarm.ppt#2
April 16,2007
1. Make the storyboard by using PowerPoint
http://iln.cite.hku.hk/com/1374/users/pmcheung2/AFarm.ppt
April 17, 2007
1. Search all pictures of animals for doing this project.
April 28, 2007
1. Make the prototype of the interactive representation
http://iln.cite.hku.hk/com/1374/users/pmcheung2/Prototype.doc
April 29, 2007
1. First Draft: Make the interactive visual representation with Flash MX.
http://iln.cite.hku.hk/com/1374/users/pmcheung2/Draftofourproduct1.swf
May 2, 2007
1. Second Draft: Insert music to the interactive visual representation with Flash MX.
http://iln.cite.hku.hk/com/1374/users/pmcheung2/Draftofourproduct2.swf
May 5, 2007
1. Third Draft: Add speech bubbles to our visual display with Flash MX after reading our classmates' comments.
http://iln.cite.hku.hk/com/1374/users/pmcheung2/Draftofourproduct3.swf
May 7, 2007
1. Write the reflections to my classmates' feedback.
May 18, 2007
1. Write the draft of Lesson Plan for teaching “On the Farm”.
May 19, 2007
1. Explain how my interactive representation can be used and
educational values.
May 20, 2007
1. Revise the music part of our interactive representation with Flash MX.
May 21, 2007
1. According to Daniel's email (24th May, 2007), he reminded me to pay attention on the matters of copying issues (pictures and songs). For avoiding infringing of the original copyright, I have to design the new version of my interactive visual representation immediately.
May 24, 2007 to May 27, 2007
1. Search pictures from the following websites
1.3 http://mud.mm-a4.yimg.com/image/2904043095
1.4 http://mud.mm-a4.yimg.com/image/3047443281
1.5 http://mud.mm-a2.yimg.com/image/2307103406
1.6 http://mud.mm-a7.yimg.com/image/3875730061
1.7 http://mud.mm-a3.yimg.com/image/2712188733
2. Re-design my interactive visual representation
2.1 Animals' Name
2.2 Animals' Noises
2.3 Songs
2.4 Activities
3. Make this interactive visual representation.
May 27, 2007
1. Complete the whole of the interactive visual representation with Flash MX.

Lesson Plan (Appendix I)
Target Group: Primary 2
Topic of this project: On the Farm
Instructional Unit: Animal World – Farm AnimalsCurriculum Unit: English Language
Previous knowledge:
1. Students learnt the names of some animals, for examples: bird, fish.
2. Students can use indefinite article correctly, for examples: a bird, a fish.
3. Students can ask ‘what’ question to find out the name of an object, for example: What is it?
Teaching Objectives:
1. Students will be able to name farm animals’ names, such as cat, cow, duck, hen, horse and pig.
2. Students will be able to use animals’ names to identify farm animals’ noises.
3. Students will be able to imitate animal’s noise when shown a picture of a farm animal, for example: Cow – Moo-moo.
4. Students will be able to distinguish between the singular and plural form of nouns, for examples: a cat – cats, a dog – dogs.
5. Students will be able to use pronouns to refer to express facts, for example: It is a cat.

Materials: Storybooks, Computer, projector, PowerPoint software, worksheet.

Methods/Procedures:
(A) Pre-Visit Activities:
1. Let students watch a movie about farm animals;
2. Some books about farms will be read to the class, including:
(a) Animal Farm: a fairy story by Orwell George; or (b) A guide to Animal Farm by McGregor, Iona; and (c) On the Farm by Richard Scarry.
3. The class will construct a construction paper mural showing how they think Richard Scarry’s Farm will look.

(B) Teach the text book's content in English Language Lesson.
In the session, teacher will teach some of farm animals to our students according to the text's content – Farm Animals.
Procedures:
1. Students revise the names of some small animals with the help of pictures,
for examples: bird, fish.
2. Teacher shows the slides of different animals, such as a cat, a cow, a hen, a duck, a horse and a pig.
3. Students read the words loudly along with the teacher.
4. Students are required to give answers for the exercises, e.g. What is it? It is a cat.
5. Teacher shows the slides of different animals’ sound, for example: Cow –Moo-moo.
6. With the help of slides, students learn to distinguish between the singular and plural form of nouns, for examples: a cat – cats, a dog – dogs.
7. Students are required to imitate different animals’ noises.
8. Students are required to follow teacher singing a new version song of “Old MacDonald has a farm”.

(C) On-Site Activity: After finishing teaching the content of the text book about “Farm Animals”. We shall plan to carry my students to visit a farm. I shall invite students' parents to participate in this activity. Each parent guide will be responsible for four children. The guides will have a map highlighting the different areas of the farm their group should visit and they will bring a camera to take photographs for the children. At a specified time, all groups will meet at the barn to help milk the cow, and then watch the calf drink its bottle. All groups will meet again at the visitors' barn for lunch. After lunch, the whole class will help the farmer turn corn on the cob into chicken food and feed the chickens.

(D) Follow-Up Activities:
1. Teacher will prepare magnetic tapes and put them on the several series of pictures.
This will enable the children to sequence events on the magnetic chalkboard which they observed at Richard Scarry's Farm.For examples: Picture 1 - children were grinding corn into grits. Picture 2 - children were carrying the pail of grits to the chicken coop. Picture 3 - children were feeding the chickens.
2. The class will look at the photographs of animal at Richard Scarry's Farm and brainstorm a list of attributes such as furry, friendly and brown-eyed for each animal. The lists will assist students in using descriptive words in their creative writing.
3. Every student will be given three pieces of experience paper. On the first piece of paper, students will write the beginning of their farm story. On the second piece of information, they will write the middle of their story and on the third piece will be used by them to complete the end of their story.
4. For promoting students self-learning, teacher lets them freely explore more contents from the interactive visual representation of “On the Farm”, for example: the sentence structure – Subject + Verb + Object. I shall save my project in the school intranet. Students will be able to read this visual display in the Computer Laboratory, School Central Library, Self-study Corner and their
classroom.
5. Finally, the students will be encouraged to search more information about other animals from the Internet and library for their self-learning.
* Due to my students who are too young to search information for self-learning, I shall provide some appropriate websites to their parents for assisting them to learn more different kinds of animals after English class.
For examples:
(a) Farm Animals
http://www.kidsfarm.com/farm.htm
(b) All about Farm Animals
http://www.kiddyhouse.com/Farm/
(c) Farm Animals/Farm Life
http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/web/farmanim.html
(d) The Farm Animals
http://www.magickeys.com/books/
(e) Animals
http://www.internet4classrooms.com/inv_button_animal.ppt#12

I do the above actions for expecting my students to achieve EMB's goal and my teaching objective.

Remarks: The following link is about the above-mentioned theoretical discussion about my interactive visual representation.

http://iln.cite.hku.hk/com/1374/users/pmcheung2/MLIM6323IndependentWork.doc

Bibliography:
1. Activity for ESL Students. (Study material for students of English as a Second Language) Retrieved April 23, 2007 from http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/s/
2. Animals.
Retrieved April 24, 2007 from http://resources.emb.gov.hk/project_work/animals.htm
3. At the Zoo.
Retrieved April 24, 2007 from http://www.hkedcity.net/resources/common/general/preview.phtml?res_cntr_id=24906
4. BBC school online (4-11 years).
Retrieved April 22, 2007 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/schools/4-11/index.html
5. Education and Manpower Bureau (2004). Information Technology in Education – Way
Forward. Hong Kong: The Government Logistics Department.
6. Education and Manpower Bureau (1998). Information technology for learning in a new era: Five-year strategy 1998/99 – 2002/03. Hong Kong: Government Printing Office.
7. English Resource (free teaching and revision resource).

Retrieved April 21, 2007 from http://www.englishresource.co.uk
8. Garden Farm.
Retrieved April 24, 2007 from http://www.hkgardenfarm.org/
9. Internet Basic for teaching and learning: An Introduction.

Retrieved April 26, 2007 from http://www.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/~cmc/netbasics/intro/intro.htm 10.Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden.
Retrieved April 24, 2007 from http://ihouse.hkedcity.net/~hm1203/eco-activities/farm-hk-kadoorie.htm
11. Learn to sing; sing to learn (1990).
Retrieved April 23, 2007 from http://www.emb.gov.hk/FileManager/EN/Content_2804/learn_to_sing.pdf
12. Looking for a pet.
Retrieved April 24, 2007 from http://res.hkedcity.net/general/0003/63/61/re_1397354293.ppt
13. McGregor, Iona. A guide to Animal Farm, 1998.
14. National Research Center on English Learning & Achievement.

Retrieved April 24, 2007 from http://cela.albany.edu
15. Orwell George. Animal Farm: a fairy story, 1995.
16. Resource for Students Learning English as a Second Language.

Retrieved April 20, 2007 from http://members.aol.com/adrmoser/esl.html
17. Scarry, Richard (1976). On the Farm. USA: Golden.
18. School-based curriculum Adaptation at Primary Level (1999)
Retrieved April 24, 2007 from
http://www.emb.gov.hk/FileManager/EN/Content_2804/curr_adpt.pdf
19. The American Language Centre in Taiwan.
Retrieved April 24, 2007 from http://www.alctaiwan.com
20. The Curriculum Development Council (2001). Learning to Learn – The Way Forward in
Curriculum Development. The Curriculum Development Council, HKSAR.
21. The Curriculum Development Council (2002). Quality Learning and Teaching Resources
and School Library Development – Bringing about Effective Learning. Hong Kong:The
Curriculum Development Council.
22. The Curriculum Development Council (2002). Basic Education Curriculum Guide – Building on Strengths (Primary 1 – Secondary 3). Hong Kong: The Curriculum Development Council.
23. The Internet TESL Journal (For Teachers of English as a Second Language).

Retrieved April 19, 2007 from http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/
24. The Perfect Pet. Retrieved April 24, 2007 from
http://www.storyplace.org/preschool/activities/petsonstory.asp?themeid=13

1 comment:

yiuLibrary said...

Dearest Emily,

You are hard-working enough to finish your final assignment. I am sure you have learned much from this module.

Candy