Tell @ ELI

Technology Enhanced Language Learning at the English Language Institute

India in the CALL Classroom
A CALL Listening/Speaking Activity (Level 4)
By Lisana Mohamed

We become so entangled in our daily lives that we cease to remember that there are others who live oceans apart, whose problems make ours seem pathetic and trivial. On a different note, I am often surprised about how little my students know about India, how little they realize the extent to which basic human needs are neglected, how abject poverty can cripple an individual or even an entire village.

What does this have to do with language learning? Better yet, what does this have to do with CALL? I’ll tell you. I was listening to NPR not so long ago and I heard a tragic story of a young Pakistani woman named Shenaz, whose attempt at suicide ended with her floating down the very river that did not after all claim her life, into India. She survived only to be thrown in jail in India because she was not an Indian citizen. In jail she was raped and ill-treated and gave birth to a child whose only knowledge of the world has been of a jail cell.

I thought of my students. What would their reactions be if they heard this? So I came up with a listening activity for my Academic Interactions IV class - a high level listening and note –taking class.

I listened to the broadcast again from the NPR website and I heard yet another tragic story of Indian farmers who burned themselves to death because the monsoon rains were late and thus their crops were destroyed, leaving them unable to pay their loans to feed their families.

The activity that resulted from using these two broadcasts was one of the most successful activities I’ve had using the computer lab.
Here is a step-by-step guide to the activity that I created.

India – Information Sharing Exercise

1. Divide the class into two (2) groups. Group A and Group B
2. Have class open Internet Explorer and go to www.nicenet.org
3. Students go to their class (Academic Interactions) and then to Link Sharing.
4. Under Link Sharing students will see two different links: NPR's Shanaz Without Country (posted below are the names of the students in Group A) (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1484509) and NPR Suicide Rate Spikes Among Farmers in India (posted below are the names of the students in Group B) (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1847048 )
5. Students click on their respective links. They listen to the broadcasts as many as three times.
6. Students are required to take notes on what is heard.
7. Students go to the Documents section on Nicenet and :
a. Group A prints the question sheet called GROUP A Questions.
b. Group B prints the question sheet called GROUP B Questions.
8. Students use their notes to answer questions.
9. These are turned in to the instructor for grading.
10. Students then go back to Documents and :
a. Group A prints GROUP A Partner Question Sheets. (Group A students now have question sheets about Indian farmers)
b. Group B prints GROUP B Partner Question Sheets. (Group B now has questions sheets about Shenaz)
11. Students get into pairs. They pair up with a partner from the other group. Students take turns informing their partner about the broadcast that they heard. They must be as clear and complete as possible. The partner who is listening must use his/her Question sheet to answer questions based on what his/her partner is saying.
12. Students complete question sheets and give to their partner for grading.

Students must not ask their partner for the answers to direct questions. They must listen and use the information to compete question sheets.