Be a smart Internet Player

Internet is a common and world technology in our life nowadays. Even if Internet is a smart and convenient tool, it still has some risks if we are unaware of it.  There are some tips for being a smart Internet player.

1. Do not post any personal information on the Internet.

Never post or write any your personal information on the website, blog, or Facebook. The personal information includes your ID number, your credit card number or your any account information. There are a lot of hackers will try to steal your information through Internet. Also, be sure to log out any website you are using.

2.  Do not open any e-mail that you don’t know

 There are a lot of hackers who send you an interesting file or content to your e-mail address. They try to let your computer be attacked by virus or thief your information through the website that they create. Don’t believe them and do not open it.

3. Do not download any software or install any programs that you don’t know.

If you want to download some software during the Internet, be sure to ask any computer experts or friends who have experience in these software or program. There are a lot of dangerous software or program that will harm your computer.

4. Be aware of any weird websites

There are a lot of advertisements on the Home page or some business website. If you are not familiar with the name or the brand of the advertisement, do not click on it. Some of them are created by hackers who try to attack your computer.

5. Browse websites or play games with your friends and family

Children and teenagers like to play on-line games and learn from Internet. Remember to browse any website with your family or friends that you do not know. Parents should also accompany their children when playing the computer.

Website's Link: Internet Safety

                          Help Your Child Learn to Use Internet Properly and Effectively

Meet Blog Standards

Blog is a personal journal published on the World Wide Web. Everyone can use blog and create their own blog. They can share their latest news, information or articles from the blog which is an efficient way for people to get along with any other in the world through technology.

There are three standards that we will meet from blogging in the language classroom.

1. Your own diary

Standard1. b. Students create original works as a means of personal or group expression.

Nowadays many kids, teenagers, students enjoy using blog as their secret spot or opening-feeling site. They keep their diary in the blog instead of writing in the diary book. They share their feelings, ideas, thought and things that happen during a day. The blog could also be blocked and read by themselves or share with specific people. As the study said, diary-keeping for teenagers is a therapeutic way. Moreover, using the blog as a diary-keeping tool for therapeutic value is even better.

I used to use blog to keep diary. I felt that is convenient and more interesting because I could also post some pictures and songs in my blog to reveal my emotion. Sometimes my friends can respond my feeling and give me some comment or suggestions. It is a kind of bridge for you and your friend to make a closer friendship.

 Website's Link: ISTE
Article's Link:A Blog as Therapy for Teenagers

2. Communication
Standard 2. Communication and Collaboration
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.

Internet is a powerful techonolgy nowadys, so learners can not only obtain thier information in schools, like library and langauge lab, but they can get knowledge thorugh Internet. Blog is one of the example, for shy students, they may not talk a lot in the classroom, but they might express their feeling with passion through the blog like writing their thought, opinions and reflections.They feel more comfortable when communicate with people using the technology tools.  

The other example is that the teacher can create their own classroom blog and post any information and articles sharing with students.  Moreover, the teacher can post a topic of second langauge in the blog, like defining the term "interlanguage" and ask classmates to find any relative information and comment on it. Through the blog, other studnets can read otehr students' thought and write their own opinions.

 When students use the blog as their learning tool, it also give them a chance to  collaborate with each other through digital media outside of the classroom. I have my experiecne of using blog as second language leaerning. When I was preparing the TOEFL, our cram school teacher share his blog which contains a lot of information about testing the TOEFL. He posted some English articles and learning skills on the blog. He also provided past TOEFL sample for us to download and practice. When students have problems about learning English and test, we can write our questions and comments on the blog. It is useful for the teacher and students to contact and exchange ideas.

Website's Link: ISTE
Website's Link: Blogs for Learning

3. Communities

Standard 5 Participate in Multilingual Communities at Home & Around the world

• Standard 5.1: Students use the language both within and beyond the school setting
• Standard 5.2: Students show evidence of becoming life-long learners by using the language for personal enjoyment and enrichment.

Internet can be a useful tools for every learners in anywhere and anytime. When a student learn their second langauge, they can find abundant information through the Internet, not only at schools. For example, blog is an entrance for blogger to share the articles and latest news. In the classroom, teachers can post the interesting articles and news on the blog such as health, sports, movies and education news. Also, post video or music which is related to thier topic of second languge learning. Students can read these news through the blog and enhance their knowledge at any time, and the vieo and musci would make langauge learning more interesting whihc is deffernet learning styles like sitting in the classroom. Moreover, the teacher can ask students to write their reflections, comments, summary on the blog after they read the articles. On the other hand, students can also share their own articles which they interested in with their classmates. In this way, blog not only makes teachers and learners closer and makes learning more interesting.

Website's Link: ACTFL