Before the class, I have known that there are
so many resources that we can use to improve English. While I have no idea
about how to find such resources and what kind of the resources suit me the
best. I only used computer to find the definition of words which means that I
used it only just as a dictionary. However, after taking the CALL class in this
semester, I have learnt so many useful and excellent ways to improve skills
through Internet. For me, the most impressive and suitable resources are
blogger, TED and OpenCourseWare.
When to talk about blogger, all I know is to
write articles for expressing feelings to share with friends. In fact, I have
never thought about that this platform which I used to use frequently could
also be a way to improve English. With writing on blogger in English, no matter
it is an assignment or a diary, we can have the chance to exchange articles to
our friends. It is much more interesting to read an article written by the one
who we are familiar with than by one we even don’t know who he is. Also, it
encourage ourselves to write when our friends continually update their
bloggers.
Another
advantage of blogger is that we can add the links of websites to our blog, such
as several online dictionaries. It save time and is convenient for us to use
when we need these websites. We can add the links with the websites that we
find useful when we are surfing the Internet. Because there are too many
resources on the Internet and it is impossible for us to remember all the
addresses of these websites, adding links to blogger make us easier to find
them when we need. In addition, we can not only add the website which can
improve English skills, but also add the websites interest us.
The second one that interests me a lot is TED,
which is the most suitable to me than any other online resources. There are
many videos that are about the presentation given by different people. It is
not just a website for video, like YouTube, but also a useful website to
improve by watching others presentations. We
can not only gain the language skills but also learnt the methods to give a
successful presentation by imitating the speakers. For example, using proper
pause, intonation, body language are some basis elements to give an attractive speech.
The
third website is OpenCourseWare. It was my first time
to know about it and it really astonished me a lot. I couldn’t image that there
are free courses online which means that we don’t have to go to cram school and
spend lots of money. There are so many courses in different fields from various
university that allow us to take when there don’t have such lessons in our
school or we don’t have time to take lesson. Moreover, some courses even
provide videos, readings and exams to improve our listening and reading skills.
Therefore, OpenCourseWare is really a useful resource to gain knowledge as long
as we make use of it.
In
this semester, I learnt lots of ways to learn with computer which is important
and necessary as computer have popularized in this generation. Because of the
busy daily life, I haven’t spent much time on these websites so far. While as
the coming of vacation, I will have much free time to make maximum use of
them. Hopes myself will have progression.
