WebQuest Repositories
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A fact about being a language teacher is that at times, between checking papers and exams and our daily lesson planning, we may find no time to work on developing more challenging activities for our students such as a WebQuest. Can this lack of time be somehow compensated for a teacher willing to dig the Web? Sure it can! Just get to visit a “WebQuest Repository” such as the one hosted by http://zunal.com/.
The Chocolate Quest, at http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=72623 and designed by Jose D. Caban, an English teacher from Puerto Rico, was my choice since, according to our Reading Skills 2 course book “Active Reading Skills 2” (by Neil J. Anderson), our next section of the book to cover is Unit 9: The History of Chocolate. Now let’s evaluate the Quest’s suitability for my class.
1. Is the language level in the WebQuest appropriate for your students?
Because my Reading Skills students are pre-intermediate language learners, about a A2- based on the CEF, the level of English in the WebQuest is right on target. The “i+1” by Stephen Krashen can be easily met by the students in my class. The language level is challenging enough for my students to fully complete the task.
2. Do you think the topic would be motivating for your students?
Chocolate, made from the seeds of theobroma cacao, has been one of those tasty delicatessens embedded in our culture ever since. Dealing with this particular topic by sharing a Hershey’s kiss with the students can be all the motivation they need to start digging the “delicious” past behind this “food of the gods.” (That’s the meaning of theobroma, “food of the gods.”)
3. Is the WebQuest appropriate to the age group of your students?
This particular WebQuest, not just because it is in our textbooks, is suitable for a reading skills class. The reason for this is that two of the cornerstones in our course are skimming and scanning. Can you think of a better way to have students skim and scan written material? I am sure that students will be able to apply their reading skills on the Web and complete the task.
4. What editing would be needed to make the WebQuest appropriate for your students?
The one thing that would be needed to be changed to fully fit my lesson planning purposes is regarding the evaluation the Puerto Rican instructor is using in it. His main goal is to have students present that material in some kind of oral presentations. Had I been working on this subject-matter in an oral communication class, it would have been suitable. But in my Reading Skills 2 class, the WebQuest should be modified to contribute with the Reading Reports they must submit along the course. And since Zunal allows you to sign for “one” free complete WebQuest and allows you to import it and modify it, I would have to make to proper changes to fit the course needs and standards in terms of the evaluation.
5. Where and when would your students be able to consult the Internet links recommended in the WebQuests?
Based on the framework used for my Reading Skills 2 class, students will work autonomously on this PBL task. That means, as most of the graded pieces of homework we have throughout the course, they will have to do this at home, consulting the Web links on their own, whether that is in their very home or cyber café. We try to encourage students to use the Internet to work on their projects and homework, so it would not be strange for them doing this sort of online task at home.
As a conclusion on the use of WebQuests in language learning, do not make this kind of PBL tasks optional or as a mere homework. What I mean is that some kind of grade or percentage needs to be tagged to it. It has been our experience at Universidad Latina that not every student will be willing to do this kind of autonomous work for the sake of their learning. I would not like any teacher trying this kind of PBL tasks to get an unexpected result with their students: finding that just 50% of the students did not do any work regarding the WebQuest. A grade equivalent to a given number of points of students’ final grades can be more than enough to fully motivate them to work on their projects, for the sake of their language learning.
Jonathan
Universidad Latina
Costa Rica
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