Self-help On The Web

The Web is making it easier for us to be teachers. Not on-ly can our students find exactly what they are interested in on the Web and improve their language skills at the same time, but we can find aids that help us improve our teaching. One central resource for self-improvement for both students and teachers is ALI, Apple Learning Interchange.

Apple has created an online resource for teaching, learning, and, what they call, collaboration. The collaboration is weak since not many users have taken advantage of this well-designed section.

Perhaps there aren't many users, even though the audience is not limited to those with a Mac. ALI can be accessed by those unfortunates who labor with Windows.

At Apple Learning Interchange's Home Page (http://ali.apple.com), the options are teacher-centered; students could find their way around the menus, but there is a lot of educator-specific information. Clicking on your students' grade-level, for example, takes you to topics of general interest to educators and content-specific guides.

In one of the sections, Quicktime TV for Learning, students can take virtual field trips to outer space or to the Field Museum in Chicago and Ball State University. Last May these two institutions hosted Sue Unveiled, about "the largest, most complete, and best preserved Tyrannosaurus rex ever found." The Webcast (weighted towards opening speeches) was supplemented with lists of web resources, practice units, and on-line curriculum designed by the Field Museum. Students and teachers were encouraged to visit the ALI Forum (collaboration) where they can tell others what they thought about the Webcast and what they learned about dinosaurs.

Does that sound like language in context?
Even though May is long gone, these events are archived so you can still participate. Check the ALI schedule for some of the fall Webcasts, which include the ever popular classroom topic, Exploring Ecosystems, as well as titles like Stories Written in Stone, Messages from Outer Space, and African History and Culture.

The advantage of these archived Webcasts is that a student can stop them and back them up to listen to missed words or
thoughts.

One of the most useful of the features of ALI is the Resources section. Here you can review, what Apple calls, UOP, Units of Practice. A teacher in need of some good ideas for lessons can sort by subject, age level, keywords, language, and contributor.
The search results are marked if the lessons correlate with state and national standards. I did a quick search on English and found units on Persuasive Writing, This Date in History, Transforming a Story, Giving a Persuasive Presentation, and Transforming Dialogue. The units are rated by the users with the 5-star lessons presented first, but you be the judge.

Not everything is free. If you feel like returning to school, ALI offers Apple Learning Professional Development. This section lets you register, for a fee, for online courses such as Internet in the Classroom and Multimedia in the Classroom. I didn't check these out, so sign up at your own risk.