c. Adapting the Resources for Different Learners or Work

This part of the case study follows from what has just been said about evaluation of resources. If a piece of software, a World Wide Web site or a dedicated piece of courseware can be used for more than one group of learners or across more than one area of work, it follows that it is more valuable to you in your work.

In the case study, the teacher found the web sites useful for this particular group on this particular task, but also useful with the same group in other areas of their Communication Key Skills work. It was simply a matter of spending time with the pupils exploring what could be illustrated by working with the web sites. The web sites were also useful across a range of other groups. Pupils at all ages recognise the absurdity of some of the translations, and what you do with them as a teacher depends only on what you want the pupils to achieve and how creative you want to be. As well as the translation activity, the sites can be used for vocabulary exercises, where they can be made to behave like on-line thesaurus engines, albeit rather oddly from time to time.

Alternatively, you could imagine going further and getting pupils emailing each other translations, and developing competitions and games built around the very fact of the eccentricity of the way they function. It is ironic that we can imagine making such purposeful use of the devices, when Modern Foreign Language teachers often see them as a danger and a bane.

With all this in mind, think about how you would complete the grid on the following page, and discuss it with your mentor.

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