Computer Mediated Communication in the Foreign Language Classroom


	Computer Mediated Communication in the Foreign Language Classroom

Projects / Lesson Plans

Voices from the Classroom

An E-mail Project on "Teenage Life"

Lesson Plans

An E-mail Project on Young Adult Literature in CMC

Introduction to FC (step-by-step guide)

An E-mail Project on Young Adult Literature in CMC

Pre-Reading Activity 2:

One of the key issues in the book revolves around immigration and living in a foreign country. To raise students’ awareness about immigration issues in their own country, they should do some web research about immigration in their own country. Some suggested sites are listed below. As they look at these sites, they should take notes about how many people immigrate to their respective countries, why these people immigrate, what countries they come from, which languages they speak, where they settle and what difficulties they encounter. After collecting data about immigration, students should then email their partners about what they’ve learned.

For American Students:

American students should look at immigration to their state as well as to the United States as a whole. If they are working in groups, make one part of the group look at the statistics of the state, while the remainder of the group collects information on immigration to the country as a whole.

Sites to check for immigration info in the U.S.

http://www.gcir.org/about_immigration

Easy to use and easy to navigate. Breakdown by each state as well as for the whole United States. Good graphs and charts that can be interpreted fairly easily. Based on census data.

http://www.1americanimmigration.com/ImmigrationStatistics.htm

Clear, simple overview of immigration statistics.

http://www.indiana.edu/~libgpd/data/immigrationstats.html

Lists of resources (both print and online) for researching immigration statistics

http://americanhistory.about.com/cs/immigration/

Addresses causes and effects of immigration in the United States from the Colonial era til today.

For German Students:

Sites to check for immigration info in Germany

http://www.german-embassy.org.uk/foreign.html

Covers statistics on country of origin and trends, as well as policies and laws.

http://www.tufts.edu/as/ger_rus_asian/auslaender/ausl.html

Graphic showing land of origin. Also covers themes related to foreigners in Germany (in German)

http://www.sowieso.de/spip/_old_html/archiv/auslaender.html

Short essay about foreigners and immigration (in German)

http://www.literaturatlas.de/~lb21/friedl.htm

Short essay about the reasons why people immigrate to Germany and what difficulties they are facing there (in German)

Homework:

In response to the information they receive from their partner(s), students should write a short email to their partner(s) reflecting on:

Which country has got more immigrants
Whether immigrants come to Germany or America from the same or different countries
Whether the motivation for immigration is the same or different, depending on which country they immigrate to

© by the course "Computer Mediated Communication in the Foreign Language Classroom" WS 2002/2003, Dr. Michael K. Legutke & Carolin Fuchs, Justus-Liebig Universität Giessen in cooperation with the course "CALL 570 Introduction to CALL" fall 2002, Leo van Lier, Monterey Institute of International Studies