CALL Practice and Tools II: Reading and Writing

I am very much fond of the Sample Reading Web Resources website for the various activities it offers before, while and after doing a reading activity. In here, students and teachers can get away of the traditional way of classroombe reading. Students can enjoy watching videos related to the story they have read and can feel or find out that the story is real or maybe authentic. After reading the story and watching the videos, I think that students can find motivation on doing writing activities since the story is very interesting, informative, realistic although it is short. From this esl reading resource website, I'd like to use the program Writeboard for my students which appears to be like this, see the image below; Writeboard: In writeboard program, I am able to check the writings of my students through online close to the way we normally check the writings offline. I have been thinking of doing this ever since before for my students who join English camps in the Philippines but I haven't got the idea of how to do it until it has been discussed in the DECALL course. When I was handling the camp, I wanted to show the essay writings, or diaries, etc. of my students to their parents as soon as they have been checked but I didn't want it to be uploaded as an edited file already because it doesn't appear to be the child's original work once it has been uploaded as an edited file. So, I think through this Writeboard, students and parents can see the original writing with the corresponding corrections. Although the Sample Reading Web Resources contains not a lot of stories as compared to reading books, I believe that this website can be maximized during the short term English classes like English camps. However, this resources would be ideal for intermediate and advanced level students only. To use the Writeboard software, teachers guidance is needed at first as students begin to use the program. But first the esl reading resource website needs to be introduced at hand. When the students have done doing the writing activity, this needs to be either linked (to my blog, since i don't have the proper site yet, bear with me please) or saved in their own account. As an example for this let me introduce to you my lesson plan about pet passport using the esl reading resource site with Writeboard. The reading activities have already been planned in the esl reading site and all we need to do is use the Writeboard for the writing activities listed in the mentioned reading website. Sample of the first draft using Writeboard Sample of an edited draft using Writeboard Sample of a compare file using Writeboard The writing can be exported as a text or an html file. But I prefer my students to save it as an html file for better layout such as : html file or writeboard file and link it to my blog. Although the Writeboard software hasn't got all the proper ways of editing drafts I think it can still be useful for checking the writings of students who are in the intermediate or advanced level (aging 10 to 14 years old). But, I still would like to find out more programs having better editing features. Note: The sample edited file was not really edited properly. It's only a sample anyway. (Pick one of the software that you have received in class. Review it more carefully. Use the program if this is working properly and figure out the potential for L2 writing and reading. Write your view and lesson idea on your blog). Reading Materials: Why Do Student (Not) Blog. Electronic Journal of e-learning Exploring Wiki- Mediated Collaborative Writing. A case-study in an Elementary Spanish Course.