Expecting an Expert?

Every English class is a class for special purposes. In your class you might have future engineers, chemists, artists, bankers, or politicians. As the teacher you must meet the language needs of all of these students; you must make your lessons appropriate to their interests. Like a parent, you must be an expert in everything.

There's no need to scratch your head over the difference between paying back and paying down a loan or to stumble around trying to explain the Monroe Doctrine. If your students want to know how wine is made, which herbs to take to cure the flu, or when Haley's comet will pass again, send them to the real experts.

Newsgroups, of course, are the most obvious place to post a question. Your browser will have a newsreading function. Have your students scan the "Group List" until they find the content area that matches their question. Pick an active group list and preferably one that is "moderated" to avoid spam postings. Your students can post their question and wait for the answers. The answer may not be precisely what the students expected. They can start a dialog with the responder by redefining their question or asking for clarification.

Many sites function as newsgroups. ExpertCentral.com offers free advice from over 7,000 experts. You can browse through categories like arts and entertainment, business, health and medicine, law, and so on. They also have a Chat Series with topics like "A 12-step Program for Running Meetings" and "Resume Writing." The experts give their backgrounds and are rated by users.

Abuzz.com is an advice service of the New York Times. At this site, a question is posted to a circle of experts (at least people with opinions). Your students may get conflicting answers, which will be an interesting language problem for them to solve.

Knowpost.com is organized like ExpertCentral with searchable categories. This site has the interesting feature "Soapbox" giving users a chance to sound off about anything.
Anyone for real language?

The Web has thousands of people who are willing to share their opinions on most any subject - and some of their opinions and advice may be accurate. Whether the answer is true or not, doesn't really matter. It's the process that counts. Searching for information and dealing with ambiguity are important language lessons.
If your students don't feel comfortable with ambiguity, send them to the University of Michigan's Internet Public Library (ipl.org) or the Virtual Reference Desk (vrd.org) of ERIC Clearinghouse on Information and Technology and the National Library of Education. The answers may not be any more accurate, but they come with a pedigree.
Advice does not always come cheap. Some of the sites below may charge for their services.

www.about.com
www.abuzz.com
www.deja.com
www.ehow.com
www.epinions.com
www.exp.com
www.expertcentral.com
www.guru.com
www.inforocket.com
www.ipl.org
www.productopia.com
www.webline.com
www.vrd.org

Lin Lougheed is President of Instructional Design International (IDI) based in Washington, D.C.