The experience of creating something especially
designed for my students, based on their needs and context was exciting and
very demanding.
In order to
provide a solution to one of the several issues that we have to face in our EUS
classes in Amazonas, I decided to design a complementary space where students
could interact with the target language and also can go deeper in their grammar
instruction. This is the origin of “Grammar Express for you” a wiki, especially
designed to offer Amazonas’ students the opportunity of having extra tutoring
in some grammatical aspects that they do not understand very well and that
cannot be properly covered in the face to face sessions for the little time we
have. Basically, it contains the most important
aspects that are described in the instructional material but presented in a
funny and interactive way, so students can complement what it is presented in
their books.
Although, this site has not been used yet, I am
expecting to use it to see if the model that I adopted is compatible with my
students’ expectations. Although, this
site has not been used yet, and that introducing
technology in this context can be a little bit challenging because students do
not use computers frequently, for most of them computer access is limited, the
Internet service in the region is not very fast, and they have very basic
computer skills; I do really hope that this can be the proper means to
offer students extra counseling without waiting to travel to clarify their
doubts.
This wiki includes several technological tools like
videos, websites, readings and other exercises that can improve students’ reading
skills in the subject, and why not? May be they get interested in studying
English as a foreign language and do not limit their studies to ESP courses
that we offer in their career.
Despite the hard work it takes to design a wiki, plan
its pages, adapt the content to my student’s needs, and deciding which could be
the best methods to foster their learning autonomy, I do really hope that this
site can accomplish its purpose and it serves students as a window to go beyond
their classrooms and they can experience something a little bit different form
what they are used to do.