Making Waves Teacher's Guide
General The goals The target audience Making Waves and the English curriculum The Internet in English teaching Assessment Special education needs General Making Waves is the first online learning environment to promote English language proficiency at the elementary school level, in compliance with the Education Ministry curriculum. It accommodates a variety of learners from different cultures, varied language backgrounds, multiple learning styles, and several proficiency levels. Making Waves is a project from the Snunit Center for the Advancement of Web Based Learning, that takes advantage of the many information and communication possibilities offered by the Internet to provide pupils with an enjoyable and meaningful learning experience. Top The goals The goals of Making Waves are: The target audience The project is suitable for pupils' 1st, 2nd or 3rd year of EFL (English as A foreign Language) in elementary school. The site may be used for up to three consecutive years of study. It is intended for both Hebrew and Arabic speakers and includes complete support in both languages (e.g. instructions in native language where necessary and glossary translation into native language). The project accommodates pupils with special educational needs who experience difficulties learning the English language (e.g. those with visual, hearing, physical or learning disabilities). The project also includes advanced activities for native English speaking pupils. Top Making Waves and the English Curriculum The Making Waves project received its impetus from the new English curriculum, and applies it in creative and challenging directions. The project offers varied, enjoyable activities that are meant to advance pupil language learning proficiencies to reach the Foundation level standards set by the curriculum. The Making Waves project meets the curriculum benchmark, while eliminating the need for additional payments, or the acquisition of new textbooks. Top The Internet in English teaching Current research on the use of the Internet for EFL learning has focused on the question of the "added-value" of the Internet for EFL. In what ways can the use of the Internet help improve current teaching methods? The Israeli English curriculum emphasizes communication in English using real language. It points out that language learning is facilitated when pupils: learners to engage in real-life tasks and cross-cultural collaborations that require natural use of the English language. Pupils can search for up-to-date information in a wide array of subjects, they can learn to present their information on the web for others to see and appreciate, and they can learn to communicate with pupils from different cultures and countries. These activities lend themselves to increased motivation, higher levels of language usage, and better appreciation of culture. Different tools and genres used on the Internet have been integrated into the Israeli English curriculum standards. Pupils have the opportunity to achieve these standards by working directly on the Internet. Authenticity is increased when the pupils are communicating and collaborating with pupils who speak different languages (such as Hebrew and Arabic) or that use different web platforms around the world - necessitating the use of English as the "common" language to break through communication barriers. The Internet enables young pupils to share their work with other pupils and produce collaborative task-based projects. Collaboration can take place between pupils in the same class or between pupils from different countries. Top Assessment The tasks and nature of collaboration on the Making Waves website have been built in such a way as to facilitate formative assessment through alternative methods of assessment such as rubrics, checklists and reflection tasks. The pupils are led through a process while being made aware of the product they will produce and how it will be assessed. This process integrates the assessment principles in the curriculum in an authentic manner and enhances meta-cognition and understanding of process. Top Special educational needs (SEN) Making Waves was designed with SEN pupils in mind. In addition to insuring that all material is accessible according to professional accessibility standards, several important features of the site cater to these pupils The learning environment was designed to insure that SEN pupils can navigate and use its features by including "Help" information and instruction on navigation, providing multiple methods for navigation, and keeping consistent navigational features throughout the site. The site features onsite or easy-to-access assistive technology. Learning activities have been carefully scaffolded, so that pupils receive the necessary additional instruction or support in order to understand the planning of activities, important texts or production tasks. Top 
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