Projects Using the Internet in Scuola Media English Classes

Student Needs

Teacher Goals

• Need for writing practice. • Need for writing with a real purpose in mind. • Need for authentic audience. • Need for reward or fruit of labour. • Need for feedback. • Need for motivation. • Need for new challenge • Need for peer evaluation • Need for something new. • Need for new skills. • Need for skills for future employment. • Need for creativity. • Need authenticity in writing.

• Improved writing in all areas. • Higher awareness/consciousness. • Writing with a purpose. • General understanding of the technology. • Active communication. • Student enthusiasm. • Understanding of the Internet. • Students working together. • General understanding of web research. • General computer/typing skills • Comprehensive understanding • Work outside usual instruction paradigm. • Self-expression in student work.

E-mail can encourage students to use computers in realistic, authentic situations in order to develop communicative and thinking skills, generate discussion, improve writing skills, and promote peer interaction. E-mail on the Internet allows language learners to communicate with native speakers, facilitating the use of the specific language in an authentic setting. Italian students will improve both their writing, as well as their knowledge of contemporary society. The teaching of culture is also facilitated through the immediate feedback and contact of L2 speakers who are interested in informing others about their culture.
Chat rooms can also be carried out through e-mail. In this situation, two or more individuals can "talk" on-line about various topics or issues. Such experiences, once again stimulate authentic communication and assist students in developing specific communication skills such as arguing, persuading, or defending a particular point. Chatting is always a stimulating experience for students.
The World Wide Web is a virtual library, a readily available world of information for the language learner. In addition to the communication benefits of the Internet, it will also be used to retrieve and access information.

Procedures
Typing Skills - Basic instructions, as it cannot be taken for granted that students who can actually produce written documents have typing skills.
HTML and Index Files - HTML stands for hyper text markup language. It is the international markup language used in the creation of web pages, and serves as the foundation for the index file, the primary file of a home page and other associated pages.Using HTML or related programmes, will allow students to publish their works and make them original and creative.
Introduction to the World Wide Web - Helping students understand the basic commands for operating the web browser, the software that accesses the web. The objectives for our classes focus primarily on composition and home page production. An external search for classroom application will be a sort of web hunt for a particular piece of information.