4 March 2010 (Thursday) | 16:40 - 17:00 | http://citers2010.cite.hku.hk/abstract/27 | SZE, Paul M.M.; YAU, Pik Kei Peggy; WONG, Hoi Lam; WONG, Kin Ming; Department of Curriculum and Instruction, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

1. Wikis and Blogs for Collaborative
English Language Learning
Activities for Primary School
Students
3 teaching cases

2. Rationales
• Collaborative skills among 9 generic skills
in Hong Kong School Curriculum
• Blogs and Wikis and potential for
promoting collaborative activities.
• To what extent can these tools be used
with primary children?

3. Using a Class Blog for
collaborative activities
Ms Yau Pik Kei, Peggy
Pui Kiu Primary School

4. Using Wikis to facilitate
collaborative writing with P.4
Ms Wong Hoi Lam Bess
Hong Kong and Macau Lutheran
Church Primary School

5. Online story writing through
wikis
Ms Wong Kin Ming Clare
Po Kok Branch School

6. A Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) Project
Combining
Creative Writing, Podcasting and
Responding to Peers
in a Class Blog for an Enhancement Class
Speaker : Yau Pik Kei, Peggy

7. Objectives of the CALL Project
Target : An enhancement class – English Plan A in Pui Kiu Primary School
Aim of the class : To enhance the students’ English language beyond the
regular language curriculum
Objectives of the project :
1. To develop the students’ ever-improving capability of using English
2. To show the students’ confidence in using English
3. To let the students appreciate of the beauty of the language
Combining creative writing, podcasting and responding to peers in a class blog
for an enhancement class by Peggy Yau

8. The Design of the CALL Project
writing speaking reading listening
podcasting blogging
Combining creative writing, podcasting and responding to peers in a class blog
for an enhancement class by Peggy Yau

9. Students’ Works -- Writing
If I Have a Magic Carpet…

10. Students’ Works -- Writing
If I am not “me”…

11. Students’ Works -- Podcasting

12. Blogging : www.xanga.com/puikiuplana
Combining creative writing, podcasting and responding to peers in a class blog
for an enhancement class by Peggy Yau

13. M y O b s e r v a t i o n
It is observed that the students were further motivated –
they love working with the computer;
they love learning to use the new software to record their read-aloud;
they love seeking the correct pronunciations from me before recording;
they love learning to combine the recordings with background music;
they love seeing their works being published on the weblog;
they love listening to their own podcasts on the blog;
they love reading the whole class’s writing on the blog; and
they love listening to the peers’ podcasts and commenting on them.
M y R e f l e c t i o n
Combining creative writing, podcasting and responding to peers in a class blog
for an enhancement class by Peggy Yau

14. Using Wikis to facilitate
Collaborative Writing in P.4
Wong Hoi Lam
Hong Kong and Macau Lutheran Church Primary School

15. Introduction
• Objectives and background
• The organization of my teaching case
• Sharing of students’ work
• Results and reflection

16. 1. Background and Objective
Problems encountered in writing
lessons:
• Limitation of time
– Not enough time to go through all the steps in
process writing
– No space for conducting collaborative writing
• Place constraints
– Students cannot refer to the teaching powerpoint
slides after school.
– Sharing of work (Publication of writing) is confined in
the classroom.

17. 1. Background and Objective
Objectives:
• Use Wikis to break the limitation of time
and place
• Use Wikis to create a platform for
collaboration, publication and sharing
of thoughts

18. 2. Design of my teaching case
Level A P.4 Class
(capable students)
Grouping 4 students per group
(10 groups)
No. of 6 lessons
lessons

19. 2. Design of my teaching case
Lesson 1 1/12 Read Aesop’s fables (online reading)
Lesson 2 3/12 Reading
Answer questions about the story and
give personal comments in Wikis
Lesson 3 7/12 Brainstorm the dialogues of the fables
on draft papers
Writing
Lesson 4 10/12 Learn the features of a script
Draft and save ideas in Wikis
Lesson 5 15/12 Students proofread their drama scripts
Lesson 6 15/12 Practise reading the dialogues with
drama skills in groups
Speaking

20. 3. Sharing of Students’ Samples
The P.4 Wikis http://funfuntuesdayradio3.wikispa
ces.com/
Sample Scripts http://funfuntuesdayradio3.wikispa
ces.com/Script-
Writing+samples+and+websites
Online survey of http://misswongnews.wordpress.c
students’ om/
response

21. 4. Conclusion
Strengths of using Wikis:
• Facilitate online collaborative work.
• Motivate students to write.
• Enhance Ss’ self-learning.
• Tailor-make Wikis easily for different
teaching purposes.
Difficulties faced by chlidren:
• Poor typing skills
• No computers / can’t surf the net

22. ( http://www.wikispaces.com)
Clare Wong Kin Ming
Po Kok Branch School

23. Objectives
• Group work promote collaboration
• Develop a stronger sense of belonging
to their group.
• Empower students to write
collaboratively and freely on their own.
• Develop a sense of success among
students with the production an online
stories at the end of the project.
• develop better collaboration skills with
their classmates.

24. Organization of online collaborative story writing
12 Primary Six students were divided into four groups.
Students chose their own topics to write the story starting
from late November. The stories were written in 6 sessions of
75-minute lessons in the extra-curricular class on Fridays.
The story writing was divided into 5 phrases:
1. Introducing students to Wikis and Prewriting (Story design)
2. First Drafting
3. Revising the First Draft and Second Draft
4.Proofreading
5. Publishing.

25. Links of Student Work
• Here are some of my students’ Wiki URLs:
• 1. “Dumplings’ Adventure” written by Miko
and Cherry at
• http://mcwriting.wikispaces.com
• 2. “An Amazing Dream” written by
Wendy, Sedrah, Yoyo and Amy at:
• http://sawy4122428.wikispaces.com/
• 3. “The Thrilling Tale of King David” written by
Donald, Ivy, Coco and Winnie at
• http://dciw345.wikispaces.com/

26. Students’ Responses
1. Students participated in the wiki writing
enthusiastically
2. They love working collaboratively with
their classmates to produce a writing wiki
3. They would like to have more chance to
do online writing in the future.