My ICT resource; “Digger and the gang”

I have found a website that I believe could be very useful and fun for both teachers and pupils. It is called “Digger and the gang” and it is BBC which is the creator of the site. In the website there are many different things that you can use when teaching/learning English, within different projects or not. There are also many ways for you as a teacher to work with other subjects and at the same time having the children learning English.

The website aims at English speaking pupils at the age of 5-7, 7-9 or 9-11. I have concentrated on what the pages has to offer pupils at the age of 5-7 English native speakers, which would probably be a couple of years older with English learning pupils. All you need for this website to make it work is first of all a computer with access to the internet. When clicking on a picture there is either a photostory shown or a photo with parts of it moving around. For some there are sound, but not many. I tried to see if there was anything specific that you need to install to make it work (something that I already have installed) by I could not see that there was.

Three pages from the website
These aim at my chosen age group. The first one is called “Welcome to Adventures”, the second one is “Welcome to fun and games” and the third is called “Science clips".(I had a picture from each of the sites which showed the different clickable pictures, but it did not work when I were to put it in the blog).

"Welcome to adventures"
English
To grandma’s party
• An invitation
• Presents
• At the party

Maths
Sports day
• Get up and go
• Up and jump
• Cool down

Science
To the animals
• Into the boat
• Float and sink
• Animal park


"Welcome to fun and games"
• Send an e-card
• Create your own picture
• Create your own story
• I’d like to be...
• Create an animation
• Create a turtle tune

"Science clips"
Ages 5-6
• Our selves
• Growing plants
• Sorting and using materials
• Light and dark
• Pushes and pulls
• Sound and hearing

Ages 6-7
• Health and growth
• Plants and animals in the local environment
• Variation
• Grouping and changing materials
• Forces and movement
• Using electricity

How does it work?
First we look at “Welcome to Adventures”. The pupils click on one of the pictures above. There are three different subjects with each three different stories. Each picture opens a whole new window that contains a photostory. Within the photostory there are tasks to be solved. Ones the pupil has solved one task the next one becomes available. Within each picture there are “print to do” available. That is a task within the subject chosen, that the pupil or teacher can print out and do.

When it comes to “Welcome to fun and games” there are many different things to do, all on a very basic level. You can for instance create your own photostory (from a selection of alternative), learn how an animation is done by creating a small one yourself or way not create a turtle singing song etc.

The “Science clips” page is divided into the ages 5-6 and 6-7 (and older but I have focused on the tasks for younger children). There are six pictures to click on for every age group. Inside a picture there are various kinds of tasks, that all have to do with science. E.g. One in the 5-6 year old group, you are to water a plant with enough water to make it grow big and there is one that wants you to decide what is living and non-living things. For 6-7 year old children, there is e.g. one called “Variation” were the children are to sort living things into the groups of insects, mammals, birds and plants. When it comes to both of these age group’s tasks, there are almost always a quiz about the theme. If there is not a quiz there is a task called “Labels”, where the children can practice new words e.g. stem, leaf, root and flower.

How can the webpage be used.
This site contains a lot of English on a level that is easy enough for the pupils to manage and understand with some support. It is also created in a way that will able the pupils to handle the technical parts by themselves, with just a bit of experience with computers. I believe that teachers can use parts of the site as a complement to other materials and teaching resources.

When working with a site like this I believe that it is very important to get the pupils to talk as much English as possible with each other while solving the tasks. The site contains tasks that practice the alphabetic order, logic thinking, problem solving and vocabulary etc.

Even though I believe that this site brings up many good things that children need to practice, I think it is of great importance that teachers don’t leave the pupils alone to solve the tasks. For the site to be useful and not just something to “click and be done with”, there has to be some kind of follow up tasks. E.g. write a list of the new words you learnt from the site and write your own story with the new words in it. There is one story about the children buying some ice cream, where the pupils need to know how much to pay etc. This task could in different ways be redone in the classroom. The pupils could answer similar questions where they are to know how much they need to pay. They could also create tasks for their friend to solve or even using drama when solving the task. I see the tasks on the site as idea breakers or a fun way for the pupils to get into a new theme or area within a theme, or practice the new theme in a different way. I guess it is only the imagination that stands in the way of how to use it successfully.

Another thing that is good with using a site like this on the internet, is that if the pupils find it fun they might even return to the site on their spare time. If they do, this will give them even more time learning and experiencing the English language.

Things to think about
When using an English site like this where the ages of the tasks are younger than the pupils are in the English learning classroom, it is important to talk about this so that the pupils do not get a lack of confidence.
I do not know if the characters on the site are well known from e.g. tv, but the site is created by BBC. If that is the case there might lay some advertising thoughts behind the site, which is not particularly good.

Work of reference
BBC. Digger and the gang. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/digger/index.shtml Accessed: 2010-05-02

“Welcome to Adventures” and “Welcome to fun and games” are available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/digger/5_7entry/5_7.shtml

“Science clips” is available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/index_flash.shtml

By Susanne Åberg 1EN30L VT-2010 Module 1, part B. ICT