II. TEACHING THEORIES AND TECHNOLOGY RELATED RESOURCES OF AUTHENTIC MATERIALS. [301734]

II. TEACHING THEORIES AND TECHNOLOGY RELATED RESOURCES OF AUTHENTIC MATERIALS.

II.1.Theoretical approaches to using the authentic materials.

II.1.1. Task- Based Language Teaching Approach.

II.1.2 The Constructivist Learning Approach

II.1.3. The Communicative Language Teaching Approach

II.1.4 The creative approach to authentic materials in teaching english.

II.1.4.1 Creativity in education.

II.1.4.2 Creativity and the authentic materials.

II.1.4.3 Creativity and the writing skill.

II.1.5. Theories on motivation raised by using authentic materials.

II 2. Teaching English through Technology

II.2.1. The importance of using computers in teaching languages.

II.3. [anonimizat].

II.3.1. Modern Tools.

II.3.2 Modern Techniques.

CHAPTER III. [anonimizat].

III.1 Internet -[anonimizat].

III.1.1 Internet-based authentic materials.

III. 1.2. [anonimizat].1.3 Internet -based examples of resources for EFL classroom activities.

III.2 Classroom activities based on Internet resources to develop writing skills.

CHAPTER IV. [anonimizat].1. THE OBJECTIVES AND THE HYPOTHESIS OF TEACHING ENGLISH USING AUTHENTIC MATERIALS.

IV.2 PRESENTING THE PARTICIPANTS.

IV.3. THE STAGES OF THE RESEARCH.

IV.4. THE PRESENTATION OF THE TEST RESULTS

IV.5 THE PRESENTATION OF THE FINAL TEST RESULTS.

IV.5.1 THE ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF THE TEST RESULTS

CHAPTER V. FINAL CONCLUSIONS

II. TEACHING THEORIES AND TECHNOLOGY RELATED RESOURCES OF AUTHENTIC MATERIALS.

[anonimizat] 1899. He thought that authentic texts “do justice to every feature of the language” [anonimizat] “[anonimizat], [anonimizat]” (Cited in Gilmore, A. (2004). A comparison of textbook and authentic interactions.ELT Journal 58/4, 363- 374 ). Chomsky (1965) and Hymes (1972) rekindled the interest for using authentic texts and materials underlining the necessity to use language in a context in order to apprehend it. Chomsky, N. (1965).Aspects of the theory of syntax . Boston: MIT Press.

[anonimizat] (2001) draw the attention to authentic materials by relating them to the communicative approaches as attempts to simulate real world during the classes. There have been several language teachers such as Shrum and Glisan, 2000 and Richards, 2001 who restated the crucial undisputable role of authentic materials when teaching a language.

II.1.Theoretical approaches to using the authentic materials.

English is usually taught for specific purposes. [anonimizat], [anonimizat]-[anonimizat] a job interview or engaging into a conversation to reach a certain destination. [anonimizat], at what level and to what extent.

Harding – Harding, K. (2007).English for specific purposes. Oxford: Oxford University Press., p: 10 – gives teachers some indications on how to use the authentic materials. In his opinion, teachers should establish the aims and the learners' subject area in order to look for texts and contexts and authentic materials that interest them. Moreover, teachers should make materials motivate learners through diversity, fun, and importance for their subject matter. In other words, they need to intermingle the outside world with the classroom one.

When using authentic materials teachers mix the cognitive and pragmatic teaching ideas. According to the former one, learners should become responsible for their evolution and language development while to the latter one, learners should focus on the language and on the use of materials they have and should pay attention to language interaction and its sociolinguistic elements.

The 20th century seems to be preoccupied with the teaching and learning processes as part of the language teaching. There have been a lot of teaching methods which have been used by the language teachers. That stream led to various skills which teachers are compelled to develop and to various teacher development and training approaches. The science-research approaches to teaching process aim to improve teaching methods through research tasks, the development depends on the research in the learning process, motivation, creativity, initiative, critical thinking and many other aspects. In order to teach well, a teacher should apply the results of the research. Different concepts of teaching will result in different conclusions on what skills teachers should develop and what approaches to use. There is the science- – research conception requires the application of the outcome of the research. The task-based approach goes along this concept since it implies using tasks and activities assisted by the learning principles followed by a close monitoring to check whether the aims are achieved. The second conception that we can mention is the theory- philosophy conception which is based on the idea of commonsense teaching. A good example of using this concept is the Communicative language teaching approach. Having chosen the materials and tasks according to the theory teachers should establish whether they confirm the theory.

Art-craft conceptions value the teacher’s personal knowledge and skill and that is why no approach can limit the tasks. Each situation is unique and requires a characteristic strategy which allows the development of personal approaches to teaching.

Since the conceptions are different leading to different perspectives on the necessary skills, materials, and tasks, they could be viewed as a continuation. In the beginning, teachers should have the theoretical background to teach based on teaching principles but after a while, they can interpret the teaching theories and in the end, they can design teaching approaches according to the particular conditions and situations, creating a system of challenge and reward for teachers which is beneficial for the learners.

II.1.1. Task- Based Language Teaching Approach.

In terms of design, authentic materials are essential as they encourage task-based learning. This approach to language learning sets the learners' tasks in the centre of the learning process, being connected to curricular objectives.

In Nunan's view (1991: 279) the five typical features of the learning process are :

1. An emphasis on communication through interactive activities in the target language.

2. An introduction of authentic materials into the learning situation.

3. The condition for learners to focus both on language and on the learning process.

4. An increase in the learner’s personal experiences to contribute to classroom learning.

5. An attempt to bridge classroom language learning and out of the classroom learning.

He views the task as a piece of meaning-focused work which can be analyzed according to:

– aims – the general objectives for the learning task.

– input- the data which represents the starting point of the task.

– activities- the learners' performance .

– roles – the relationship between learners and teachers in a task.

– settings- the classroom arrangement and the learners' interaction in the task, such as pair work or group work.

Many researchers make a distinction between target tasks and pedagogical tasks.

Long (1985: 89) offers an entire list of target tasks such as filling out a form, buying a pair of shoes, making an airline reservation, borrowing a library book, taking a driving test, typing a letter … making a hotel reservation, writing a check, finding a street destination …

(Long, M. (1985). A role for instruction in second language acquisition: Task-based language teaching. In K. Hylstenstam & M. Pienemann (eds.), Modelling and assessing second language acquisition (p. 89). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters

In his view the task deals with the people's daily activities and teachers should instruct learners to perform these tasks in the real world using the intended language. Although target tasks can be practiced in the classroom learners will also do many other activities which will facilitate language proficiency development. Richards, Platt and Weber (1986: 289) suggest "actions carried out as the result of processing or understanding language (drawing a map while listening to a tape, listening to an instruction and performing a command)."

Tasks usually vary in order to increase the level of communication of language. The pedagogical task is, according to Breen (1987: 23)

"any structured language learning endeavor which has a particular objective, appropriate content, a specified working procedure, and a range of outcomes for those who undertake the task" Breen, M.P. (1987). Learner contributions to task design. In C.N. Candlin & D. Murphy (Eds.), Lancaster Practical Papers in English Language Education: Vol. 7. Language learning tasks (pp. 23-46). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

and Nunan refers to the activities (1999:25) the pedagogical task implies and the learners' focus on the grammatical knowledge in order to express meaning in the target language.

Once the learners complete the pedagogical tasks , they get the skills to deal with the target tasks in the real world. For example, if the target task is for the learners to listen to the weather forecast, they should then decide whether to wear a t-shirt or a sweatshirt to school. The related pedagogical task is to listen to a weather forecast and then answer true/false questions.

A task-based approach should focus on the learners' needs about the language. Brown (1994:229) thinks that the task-based instruction means to give priority to " the functional purposes for which the language must be used." and less importance to "the pieces of language". In order to use the task-based language teaching, the teacher needs to organize classroom activities which concentrate on the practical tasks that language users will perform in the real world.

II.1.2 The Constructivist Learning Approach

The Constructivist Learning Approach assists learners to develop their own learning experiences “… by testing ideas and approaches based on their prior knowledge and experience applying these to a new situation" which allows the blending of the new experience into "pre-existing intellectual constructs”( Brinner ,1999:2)

Being a constructivist learning approach it focuses on the idea that everyone should design information in an optimistic, active and particular manner according to his environment. When integrating the constructivist learning approach in the class, the teacher brings along its features which were enumerated in the British curriculum for schools according to the Department for Education and Skills:

"alternative viewpoints offered, assessment for learning, explicit thinking about errors and misconceptions, exploration, knowledge construction, learner control, metacognition, multiple perspectives, problem solving, peer-group learning, pupil-directed goals, primary sources of data, real-world activities and contexts, reference to what pupils know already, scaffolding, sharing knowledge, teachers as coaches. Department for Education and Skills (DfES) (2004b) Pedagogy and Practice. Creating Effective Learners: Using ICT to Enhance Learning. London: DfES. Also available at: www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/keystage3/downloads/sec_pptl043804u15using_ict.pdf – retrieved 13th July 2016

Learners need to connect through authentic complex activities, authentic materials, and authentic locations – in school or out of the school – to the real world and provide them with authentic life experience. Authentic materials used in authentic learning settings can motivate learners to learn out of the school as well. The authentic materials used out of the school for learning aims can prove an advantage for the learners' language development.

II.1.3. The Communicative Language Teaching Approach.

(CLT) involves both the linguistic aspects and the ways to teach a language. From this perspective, it is better to focus on the language functions that would help learners use language in different contexts and for various purposes.

In order to use language appropriately must be given plenty of opportunities to study real -world language through communication paying more attention to achieving the communicative task. Some of the suggested activities are simulation and role-play. Learners can simulate a scene in a restaurant where they ask information about the ingredients in one of the dishes or meeting a group of tourists and ask for help for directions. Or they can solve problems through debates. Teachers should find the learners' area of interest to make them willing to communicate- how to get somewhere, where some building is located, how to buy an item they need, etc. They can use any language structure they know and the teacher plays a passive role.

Lately, CLT has been used as a term which refers to the learners' improvement of productive skills- speaking and writing. It has not been clearly defined and that is why teachers can use the techniques they think can encourage learners to communicate of either a communicative nature or not. Although it has been frequently criticised for using an out-of-control range of language, teacher's role being minimised or learners' loss of accuracy of language.

In spite of these attacks it is still used for communicative activities worldwide. Both CLT and task-based approaches are a benefit to teaching but they are sufficient to come to speak a language fluently and accurately.

II.1.4 The creative approach to authentic materials in teaching English.

II.1.4.1 Creativity in education.

Creativity is a complex notion applied to several domains of activity. Creativity has been defined in relation to the ability to make something "novel and appropriate" (Sternberg & Lubart, 1999), and "to see possibilities that others haven't noticed " Craft (2005).

There have been many approaches to creativity, like the cognitive approach (pragmatic methods; thinking theory), end-product approach, the psychometric approach, psychoanalytic approach, self-expression, and mystical approach.

The end-product approach is probably the most appropriate one to be mentioned in this research since it refers to the resulting product or work following an activity. A new product usually reflects background knowledge, skill, and motivation. Although creativity is mainly seen in visual arts and music industry, it is a tacit element of any written piece of work as well. Albert &Runco, 1990; Sternberg, 1999a, Taylor, 1988 consider that creativity and creation mean the same thing although not all products are creative.

Being often considered a reductionist concept, an overall implied understanding and knowledge of creativity can influence creativity itself in Runco's opinion. (1999).

The blurring aspects of creativity are, in Laske's view (1993), due to its tight connection to the culture and social environment and the impossibility to appreciate it scientifically. Culturally, creativity can be regarded as context dependent and shaped, previous -practice back grounded, and environment -related performed.

A creative approach to education is a relatively new concept. The new technologies seem to be the element that triggers such approach due to its ease of communication and access to information. Since learners and teachers use new media and technology on a daily basis they can be an asset to the process of learning, both formal and informal if used creatively. The fast technological development is also a challenge for teachers to deal with the learning innovations and learners' needs. The new learning pattern emerged due to the social computer-based applications allow teachers and educational facilities to tailor learning to the learner's real needs. The extraordinary variety of media tools and digital formats represent an open door for new resources which can facilitate creativity both at the individual and collaborative level. Researchers consider the correlation between education and the new technologies so important that that lack of it can lessen the learners' performance.

The new technologies have the cultural component which should be considered by the educational systems in order not to fail the learners' future needs. Creativity is a positive stimulus for learning, and a possible catalyst to self-learning, learning to learn and life-long learning. Moreover, if we approach creativity cognitively we can notice that the knowledge and the thinking skills creativity requires are the perfect link between the two processes.

Encouraging learning creatively means giving a new meaning and understanding to knowledge. Nowadays, teaching and learning are more student-centered than the teacher -centered which implies the appearance of new ideas, approaches, and experiences during the teaching and learning process. The learning approaches such as the constructivist one value the innovative connections between old and new knowledge. Creativity is an aspect of learning. Craft (2005) considers creativity "an aspect of learning" and the creative teaching a " form of skillful teaching ". Accordingly, is worth developing as a means of enhancing learner's role in the teaching and learning process and making teaching truly efficient.

Teachers play an important role in developing learners' creativity and use it to boost the learners' potential. They have to know clearly the effect of creativity on the learners' learning process, to be able to evaluate creativity objectively taking into consideration all the learners' prospects and appreciating the process (thinking and cognitive aspects) more than the product. Teachers should turn into motivators or coaches in order to allow learners to control effectively the learning process.

The concept of creative learning refers to the blend of understanding and new awareness, to allowing the learners to eventually focus on the thinking skills after having acquired the necessary knowledge. The creative learning is contrary to the reproductive experience, prioritizing understanding to content acquisition.

As creativity is not considered a useful skill, its enhancement is not the main objective of the education practice. The education system needs to adapt to the present situation in terms of school space organization, time spent at school or structure of the school timetables. The curriculum should balance the school subjects and assessment should include instruments to measure creativity.

II.1.4.2 Creativity and the authentic materials.

In terms of choice and use of authentic materials, creativity plays a pivot role. There have been a lot of theories on how to teach the second language and its acquisition. In order to deliver good lessons and develop good language skills to his learners, a teacher should be creative himself.  This means that he should produce ideas and materials to meet the aims of the lesson and to motivate the learners to enhance their creative skills and thinking.

Authentic materials can prove resourceful aids for teachers and offer the learners the exposure to materials helpful for real life and for out of the classroom context. If we consider authentic material, all the materials involving “real” language, then factors such as format , style, context and language are to be focused on when teaching language regardless of the main skill teachers intend to develop. By using authentic materials they fill the gap between the real world use of language and the classroom context. The more they use authentic materials the easier they will reach their communicative aims either written or oral.

When a teacher uses authentic texts he should develop the learners skills in order to be able to interpret the text and respond to it correctly. An appropriate response to that text means an appropriate response in real life. One example of authentic material and an authentic response is the job advertisement. If it might seem dull when reading the newspaper it becomes important when someone looks for a job. Teacher wonders how he can motivate learners in the topic, what are the objectives he should meet or what approach should be used in order to teach a certain material more effectively.

However, teachers can use this kind of material as it has a standard format and easy language.  Only the visual representations and the approaches the teacher uses can increase the learners' motivation. There are many reasons for using job adverts in the classroom.

Firstly, they are available, being found in newspapers, magazines, etc. Secondly, it can have a lot of follow-up activities such as role-plays, letters of intention and writing CVs. Thirdly, job adverts give learners the opportunity to practice vocabulary, grammar and language skills, controlled and free writing. The last but not the least, they are a source of information for their professional life.

II.1.4.3 Creativity and the writing skill.

Another aspect the teachers need to have in view when trying to enhance students' writing skills is the appropriate topic and genre because students are more likely to invest work and to produce written pieces when the subject matter is exciting and familiar. That is why, teachers need to choose interesting topics, create interest in the topic, give them examples related to the topic, use a large variety of topics and genres, and provide the information students require. Before eliciting the students' written products, teachers also need to necessary approaches to writing, if the individual creative writing or the cooperative creative writing is to be encouraged and to what extent the computer can assist in the creative writing process. Chris Tribble (1997, p. 148-150 )- considers that before the students actually start writing letters or newspaper articles or factual reports, they need to collect and study a lot of examples. They should be asked to "make notes of particular vocabulary and /or grammar constructions in the letters… use dictionaries and any other resources they need to check understanding. … and make a list of commonly occurring lexis or grammar patterns". Although probably it is effective to a certain degree, it requires a laborious work which would not be good for developing the creative element in the writing process. The creative writing is often associated with a feeling of achievement being in Garffield-Vile's view (1998: 31) a journey which "promotes effective learning".

When students write their opinion on a certain topic, stories about their own experiences, letters of apology for a personal mishap, or an advert for their favourite item, they personalize the writing making it creative and indirectly developing their creativity because of an inherent enhanced motivation. The students would become even more creative given the chance to post the products on a blog, to share them in the school groups on Facebook, to post them on the poster in the school English corner or to publish them in the school magazines or newspapers.

II.1.5. Theories on motivation raised by using authentic materials.

"Authentic texts can be motivating, because they are a proof that the language is used for real-life purposes by real people." (Nuttall 1996, p. 172)

II.2.4.1 Theories on motivation.

"The authentic materials have proven useful in developing learners' motivation for learning languages. Psychologically, motivation is defined as ''the process whereby goal-directed activity is instigated and sustained'' (Pintrich and Schunk, 1996, p. 4)

Crookes and Schmidt defined motivation from the teachers' perspective and the learners' high degree of involvement in the learning tasks '' . . . without the need for continual acknowledgement or direction'' (Crookes and Schmidt, 1991, p. 480).

Maybe one of the shortest and comprehensible definition was given by Gardner in 1985. In his opinion, motivation is "taking effortful action to achieve a goal"(Gardner, 1985:8). Many other researchers such as Otte, 2006 or Thanajaro, 2000, perceived the learners' improvement of self-satisfaction and motivation after they have used authentic materials in the classroom. Authentic materials help learners learn the language and increase their self- confidence of studying the "real" language.

Hyland (2003, p. 94) also supports the idea that the increase of the learners' motivation is "one of the most important advantages of using authentic materials" which is a positive aspect for the learning process. Thus, learners learn the language better when the teachers use authentic materials during the teaching endeavour.

Along the years, some researchers brought to attention the learners' higher interest in studying with authentic materials than with the materials in the coursebooks. Little, Devitt,& Singleton (1988) or Peacock (1997) have highlighted the motivational effect of using authentic materials while Oguz and Bahar (2008) insisted on the interaction with authentic materials "out of interest and without difficulty" as the main approach to learn actively and in this manner raising the learners' motivation levels.

Berardo (2006, pp.60-68) for example, stresses the connection between high motivation levels due to authentic materials and the “sense of achievement” which cannot but stimulate their further usage of authentic materials. This kind of encouragement will help learners cope with real life situations and contexts thanks to the skills they have apprehended in the "safe" classroom environment. Moreover, if teachers use authentic materials to a large extent they can help learners with an up-to-date real language use.

Berardo's opinion is sustained by Herrington & Olive (2000, pp.23-47) who add that an authentic learning environment as a kind of guidepost is also a support to establishing a linkage with the real world.

On the other hand, Guariento and Morley (2001, pp. 347-350) assume that using authentic materials can lead to confusion and de-motivation if teachers select texts which involve a high language level. Accordingly, teachers should single out the ones which can create positive or negative reactions and choose only the materials which are real and give the learners a sense of coping with a living entity if their goal is to promote motivation among learners.

However, when researchers defined motivation, they all seem to agree on its affective aspects in teaching languages regardless of their various approaches. The cognitive, the behavioral or the constructivist one renders its own perspective. The behavioral approach, explains it in connection to elements such as relationships , requirements , regulations or specifications while the constructivists add the learner's self-determination to the above-mentioned.

Contrary to these, the cognitive approach emphasizes the learner's personal decisions, "the choices people make as to what experiences or goals they will approach or avoid, and the degree of effort they will exert in that respect" (Keller, 1983, p. 389).
Ausubel (1968, pp. 368-379) based motivation on six needs which are

"the need for exploration , for seeing "the other side of the mountain,"; the need for manipulation, for operating; the need for activity, for movement and exercise, both physical and mental; the need for stimulation; the need for knowledge, the need to process and internalize the results of exploration; the need for ego enhancement."

Motivation has also been related to the learners' needs. The researchers have agreed on

the intrinsic and extrinsic orientations and divided the learners into intrinsically- oriented and extrinsically – oriented according to learning for self-perceived actions, needs and purposes which are inherently motivated or externally motivated through diplomas, scholarships and good marks.

Edward Deci (1975, pp.56-60) defined intrinsic motivation:

"as the doing of an activity for its inherent satisfactions rather than for some separable consequence" and the intrinsically motivated activities are the "ones that provided satisfaction of innate psychological needs". In his view, the extrinsically motivated activities "vary in the extent to which they represent self-determination. Internalization and integration are the processes through which extrinsically motivated behaviors become more self-determined."

The researchers seem to agree that motivation will be increased whether classroom conditions manage to satisfactorily meet three basic human needs which refer to the innate needs to feel the bond, agented and efficient while being exposed to new ideas and practicing new abilities.

There has been another attempt to define the effects of motivation based on the learners' need perspective. This approach involved many variables like cultural beliefs and several context ambiguities including which could not lead to a conclusive result. Reserchers differentiated between integrative and instrumental motivation which is basically a focus on the learners' attitude towards career- related needs and socially and/or culturally- related needs. Studies conducted by researchers such as Gardner and Lambert (1972: 214-228) have proven that integrative motivation can help learners get better marks on foreign language testing while other researchers have demonstrated that even the instrumental motivation on itself can lead to successful language acquisition. Their conclusion seems to have been that there is not a single factor which can play a major role in enhancing motivation and easing second language acquisition but both of them can become either subsequently or simultaneously important and that one does not exclude the other. Moreover, attitude differs from one learner to the other, from one context either social or cultural to the other, and from one teaching method to the other.

Having concluded that authentic materials can be a real motivator of language learning, many researchers (Freeman and Holden (1986: 67); Bacon and Finnemann (1990: 459-60); Peacock (1997); Little et al.(1989:65); Williams (1983: 187) looked into the intrinsic aspects of authentic materials for their connection to language culture or for their structure or vocabulary difficulties and concluded that higher motivation is perceived as a result of using authentic materials not as the cause of it.

One cause-associated motivation problems has proven to be authenticity of the materials because of the wide range of features that can be applied to it such as the intended result behind the text, the intended need of the talkers, the talkers' different interests.

Porter Ladousse (1999:140) thinks that since "Most conversations are appallingly boring" only by taking part to a conversation "speakers" become "talkers".

The second problem is related to the appropriateness of the tasks used in class and the teachers' ability to use the authentic materials to effectively motivate the learners. (Kienbaum et al. 1986:65-80). The third motivation-related problem rises from the learners' familiarity with the use of authentic materials. According to researchers such as Peacock (1997), motivation gets stronger when learners have been acquainted with authentic materials. In his opinion, the longer they use authentic materials, the better the motivational results.

The fourth problem in relation to motivation is its dependency on the variety of measurement instruments. Some studies take into account the data the learners report, which can be subjective. Skehan (Skehan 1989: 61/2) says that learners might answer what he thinks will reflect well on him, i.e. the respondent works out what the ‘good’ or ‘right’ answer is, and gives it.’

Keinbaum et al. (1986); and Peacock (1997) are the researchers that tried to connect authentic materials to the motivation levels. Following a study in an American college students , Keinbaum et al. concluded that in order to increase motivation of second language acquisition, a methodology on authentic materials needs to be compiled. They used an attitude survey instrument to measure the effectiveness of the use of authentic materials on motivation, which did not render convincing results. In Gonzales' study (1990:64/5) over a group of Spanish students in an American college, authentic materials used as additional materials to textbooks lead to no motivation -related conclusive results either. Probably, the measurement instrument – the student's self-report data – was not the best option to use.

Lastly, in Peacock's study (1997), applied to a group of English language university students in South Korea, proved that authentic materials can lead to a higher motivation if learning task was clearly stated over a longer peiod of time. He started his study from Crookes and Schmidt' s definition (1991: 469-500) on motivation which implied the

"interest in and enthusiasm for the materials used in class; persistence with the learning task, as indicated by levels of attention or action for an extended duration; and levels of concentration and enjoyment."

In order to measure the results he studied the on task behavior, the overall classroom motivation, the learner motivation and conducted post-class interviews. The same study also revealed that fact that learners did not find the authentic materials interesting enough , which was interpreted as a proof that interest and attention and determination towards the learning task are two components that contribute separately to classroom motivation.

To sum up, in spite of several studies and approaches to define and measure motivation in relation to second language acquisition through authentic materials, there is no conclusive result to demonstrate objectively that the use of authentic materials can result in a higher classroom motivation level.

II 2. Teaching English through Technology

Connecting technology and the learning process we can open the door for many educational purposes. The government encourages and supports e-learning projects in educational institutions. Teachers have noticed the learners' higher achievement and learning motivation although an exact quantification of the learners' quality of home assignments, time lap spent learning or references to analytical or synthetic abilities is hardly possible to assess. Teachers need to adapt their teaching knowledge and ability to the new technologies. They need to understand the complex relationship between the objectives, the content and the technology and to develop appropriate context-specific learning strategies. The teachers have the decisive role in making technology work for educational purposes. They decide the impact of technology on education since they are the ones who decide what resources and tools to use, how to implement innovation into the teaching and learning process.

The computers have been used in the language teaching since the 60's but in spite of this, as Grauss (1999) says, the Internet has provided the opportunity to reshape the language learning through their function of multimedia tools.

II.2.1. The importance of using computers in teaching languages.

Computers have become a familiar source of information and a help for keeping data. The computer can be used for various purposes: to teach new language, to tests students on the already taught structures, to assist students to do certain tasks, to provide students with the information they need to solve different tasks, to allow communication among students on different topics. However, what teachers should determine is the extent to which computers are a helpful tool in teaching in general and in language teaching in particular. The modern society has become a computerized one and knowing how it works is as important as the reading or speaking skills. Computer technologies introduce learners to a wide range of topics and experiences that are beyond their classroom or dwelling opportunities.

In addition, they can change the teaching system and the teachers' methods and materials of teaching. There are many materials teachers can find using the computers and the teacher's role might change from a provider of knowledge to a guide to organizing and using the knowledge.

Computers can support teachers' work through various functions it has becoming less time consuming for managing activities such as keeping lessons and planning tasks and typing. Computer-based materials are needed in order to trigger learners' interest and to enhance the abstract personal interpretations of the subject area.

Computers are also an excellent tool to be used to develop students writing skill because it ease the editing stage of writing and it is an advantage for the students who have handwriting issues. secondly, the students can write faster, check the spelling more often, and facilitate working in groups or in pairs for school projects.

The Internet proves to be one of the best resources for authentic materials. Even though magazines and newspapers can still be a good source of materials, The Internet has the advantage of being available non-stop with up to date information of any register. The authentic materials can be both visually and audio stimulating and interactive which motivate learners even more.

Nonetheless, teachers have to remember that they have to focus on teaching and learning through the use of new technologies and not on technology itself. Ellis (1974) said that: “… the computer’s role in education does not mean thinking about computers, it means thinking about education.” (1974: 42)- Ellis, A. (1974) The Use and Misuses of Computers. New York: McGraw-Hill.

II.3. Modern Internet-related Tools and Techniques to facilitate EFL learning.

II.3.1. Modern Tools.

The technological development and the learners' needs and interests which enhance their motivation to learn English have determined a large amount of teachers to use the Internet tools and specific techniques during the EFL classes.

The pedagogy of teaching methology has been fueled lately by the new technologies. New phrases such as "e-learning", "e-books" or "Technology in Education "seem to have already become obsolete in the educational environment. However, although the phrases seem old-fashion, the process of integrating the technology in the education environment is at his early stages. Teachers deal with new technology in order to meet the needs of the contemporary language learners. Using new technologies like Internet, Skype, YouTube, Twitter, many educational blogs, mobile phones, interactive boards not only enhanced the learners' motivation but also brought interactivity within the classroom to a higher level. Teachers can motivate the learners to become skilled at English Language by exhausting the unprecedented ELT techniques like English songs with or without lyrics, online poems, movie clippings, dramatics, advertisements, articles and sports commentaries. Employing the modern tools can engage the students, enhance their creativity and thoroughly prepare them for the labour market. It provides opportunities for interactive ways of learning. Furr (2003:2), referring to the new technologies and the pedagogical changes it implies, said that the word interactivity "captures them best".

In the information-addictive world, e-learning catalyzes the educational system bringing significant benefits to teachers and students alike. The e-learning tools and its applications include communication devices such as radio, television, over head projectors, projectors, interactive boards, i-pads, blogs, computers, the Internet, audio equipments, scanners, printers, e-mails, which are not only influencing what is being learned in schools but it is also supporting changes to the way students are learning.

English Language Teaching (ELT) has gone through many changes since it was introduced as a compulsory subject in the learners' curriculum both in terms of contents and methods of teaching. The grammar- translation method, the bilingual method, direct method, audio-lingual method, the structural approach and the situational teaching, communicative language teaching etc. have been used to make ELT easier to be taught. Although the new more effective methods have appeared, they do not substitute the previous ones completely. The innovative ELT methods bring the novelty and easiness in language acquisition that is necessary nowadays. The methods assist learners in the learning process and allow the continuous development of language skills over the lifetime. Teachers' role is to tailor the knowledge to meet the learners' language needs. Modern technology tools and new learning paradigms can blend into the educational system and lead to high proficiency in the English language.

There are many e-learning tools teachers can use to create authentic educational situations. One of them is the Internet. It is not useful only to find authentic materials and interesting lesson ideas or lesson plans to be used in the class but also to send learners the home assignments, or worksheets. The Internet provides resources and software to help them translate words or phrases, pronounce and spell English words correctly, prepare projects or other materials together. The teacher needs to establish the level of difficulty necessary to his/her learners.

Apart from the Internet, which has been dealt with extensively above, another modern tool teachers can use in the class, are the socializing websites such as YouTube, Skype or Twitter. YouTube videos can be used in an ELT classroom for various aspects of English as to enhance vocabulary, accents, pronunciations or to clarify and practice grammar structure. The real advantage of using YouTube in teaching English is its resource of authentic materials. It offers authentic examples of everyday English used by everyday people in everyday situations. The teacher can use it as a tool for improving their Listening and Speaking, Reading and Writing skills. For example, the teacher can select a part of the movie appropriate to the level of the students and s/he can show those movie clippings to the students to improve their speaking skills as well as his writing skills. The teacher can also prepare worksheets on the movie clippings in advance and ask the students to complete those worksheets while watching movies. This can prove a good activity to enhance their listening and writing skills.

The following movie clipping retrieved from Youtube has proven a good authentic material to teach grammar. The lesson plan and the students' worksheets are attached in Appendix.

Figure 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48hS20iPDUc – retrieved March 2016

Skype, on the other hand, provides unlimited possibilities for the teachers and students to collaborate with each other anywhere they are- in class or at home. A class of students can connect with classes in other countries to practice and improve their language skills.This tool can assist the teachers who are willing to help students with their home assgnments and the students who are willing to help other students with information for research projects or various e-books and materials or even to read and perform for other students. On their front page the Skype team advertises their activity saying that:

" … Skype has become an essential tool for people around the world. Families share special moments together, students go beyond the classroom walls to learn in new ways and colleagues get to work from virtually anywhere. … Recently, we have been focused on transitioning Skype from peer-to-peer to a modern, mobile friendly cloud architecture. By moving to the cloud we have been able to significantly improve existing features like file sharing and video messaging, and launch new features like mobile group video calling, Skype Translator and Skype Bots to name just a few." Retrieved from www. blogs.skype.com on July 2016

Twitter, is a social networking application that can support students' improvement of English too. If used for educational reasons, Twitter can become a good tool to impact greatly on involving students in learning concepts. The activities can develop a better understanding of the learning concepts. The teacher can guide students to conduct online debates either among students of the same classroom or the students of the different classrooms on the class twitter network. Examples include “Science debates" or "Debating Europe".

Figure 2: retrieved from Twitter website – www.twitter.com

The Smart or interactive boards which have replaced the traditional blackboards and flipcharts , provide students with everything that can be presented on a computer desktop such as educational software or web sites. These tools can be used by teachers and students to improve their language skills through the combination of video or audio materials and web browsing and word processing. Being an interactive method of teaching and learning it resembles a play and learn method which is highly motivational for the students. The word games are a good way of revising vocabulary whereas the anagrams or jumbled sentences can be used when the lexis or collocation words are the focus.

Another interactive modern tool is the mobile phone with its wide range of applications. The teacher can ask the students to make a photo documentary using the camera function on their mobile phones or themed short movies using the video camera function, they can present research projects or look for the meaning of the words they do not understand on the translating application.

According to Merriam-Webster online dictionary, podcasting is the tool which has been defined as "a program (as of music or talk) made available in digital format for automatic download over the Internet". http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/podcast- retrieved 13th July 2016. Since students spend most of their time listening to music, watching movies and video clips via computers rather than on TV, it is easier to contact the students by podcasts. The digital-media files on a podcast can be shared over the Internet and used in the class. The teacher can assign a podcast assignment for homework and discuss the topic for the next day, can also use a music podcast to introduce students to the culture and show them how language can be used creatively or the news channels and programmes through which the students develop their speaking skills.

In our modern times, a blog in which to share ideas and experiences is a wide-spread tool. Blogging has proven an asset as educational tool being a great way to pass information and generate discussions. The textbooks and traditional methods, have been replaced with the new techniques by many teachers. Thus, the students can develop their language skills and become skillful with the modern forms of social media. The many free of charge education platforms encourage teachers to create their own blog on which to post exercises, lessons and video or audio materials necessary in the class. Blogs are good for developing the students' writing skills. When blogging, students have the chance to publish their writing and have a more significant audience and access and read what their peers write, they can also communicate online their opinion on their peers' writing, work online for academic purposes, and learn a variety of digital skills. If the students write their comments and questions to the teacher's posts, the teacher should respond to students' post quickly by writing short replies or comments. The teacher can also suggest students how to write a certain piece for school and in this way to create stimulus for writing. Teachers can elicit students to write to the blog as home assignment or as part of the class assessment. Students should be encouraged to post their writing homework on the blog instead of bringing it to school, reading it loud in the class or simply giving it to the teacher. A blog provides students with the opportunity to write, but at the same time they can demonstrate their language proficiency and other skills like collaboration, creativity, public speaking, and publishing, etc.

According to researchers such as Grauss (1999), when teachers use the Internet as a teaching tool, they do not necessarily replace other teaching resources and linguistic activities, but they just add or complement and integrate modern tools in the traditional language classes. However, despite the teachers' awareness of the usefulness of internet tools, their usage has not been maximized yet.

II.3.2.Modern Techniques.

The scientific approach to modern techniques provides us with numerous examples. Each of them has subtypes which can be easily adjusted to the students' needs and the teacher's objective. While the algorithm technique leads students to see English language as a system with its rules, the association-based activities technique refers to a mental connection between entities depending on the students' experience of sounds, tastes, smells, words, or mental images. The latter technique can be useful to teach new vocabulary or as starting point for class discussions. The examples of modern techniques can continue with brainstorming, classifying/listing activities, jigsaw activities, situation and simulation techniques, translating, word puzzle, etc.

The techniques needed to stimulate the writing skills require clear communication objectives, exploration of a topic, familiarity with the language conventions and record of experiences. The writing developing techniques depend on the approaches to writing such as controlled-to-free, communicative, free-writing, grammar-syntax-organization, paragraph-patterned, and process. The internet-based techniques necessary to teaching writing can be using pictures, texts, all language skills, teaching practical writing, using controlled writing, teaching organization, and responding to students' piece of writing.

Conclusion

As English has turned into a universal language, which requires new teaching objectives in order to develop more than the reading, writing, speaking or listening skill. The present educational needs require creative and constructive – attitude students who have to cope with the technological advancement every day. To teach English efficiently teachers have to include the modern technological tools into the language teaching process. Among the advantages we can mention the opportunity the teachers have to select from the variety of methods and tools and techniques of teaching English the ones they master the best, are available both for the teachers and the students and they can perfect their own technique according to their class.

III. DEVELOPING WRITING SKILL THROUGH INTERNET- BASED AUTHENTIC MATERIALS.

III.1 Internet-based versus Media-based authentic materials in the EFL classes.

III.1.1 Internet-based authentic materials.

Susan Cornish (1994:25), a curriculum officer, also sees advantages in using technology in classes such as videos which can help if used as models of real spoken language and if they are intended for activities that aim at improving the learner's listening skills. Thus, learners hear message, pause, rehear and understand meaning and emotions.

The new technologies did not impact the teachers to a large extent in the beginning. Over the years, the interest in the theory associated with the learning process has grown so much that the new technologies can change teachers approaches and learners' needs.

The behaviorist theory defines learning as a process which enables learners to respond to certain stimuli. Although it might seem too simple behaviorists believe in the possibility to split behaviour into small actions which can be mastered by a process of training, rewards and punishments.

Being able to respond correctly does not need understanding which makes it an ineffective way of learning. Even if learning information by heart is sometimes useful, most of the times it is understanding that helps learners develop completely and effectively. That is the constructivism theory. Its approach to learning is that learners build continuously through activities, processes, events based on their personal experiences interacting with others. when learners learn something new they actually add something new to a foundation. It is a theory which has an utterly social aspect since it involves interaction between people- family, classmates, friends, teachers, passers-bye, etc through dialogues in any convenient location either formal – school – or informal. Scaffolding is a process through which teachers support learners. scaffolding includes language support, appropriate material support such as the paragraph planning for writing stories, or discussions.

The role of the computer in general, and the internet in particular may not be immediately grasped in the context of learning languages and developing understanding because of the shift of the Internet between being, at times, a good tool to improve communication and collaboration and a poor one at other times. Learners can have immediate dialogues with someone else through a "chat" or longer time-spanned dialogues through emails. The Internet, however, can be a stimulation for internet-free dialogues for learners as it inspires its users.

The use of the Internet for language teaching has a more than a half a century history in the experience of schools and teachers with computer-assisted language learning. (Grauss, 1999)). As the use of the Internet by language teachers has been increasing as Fidelman, (1997:1-15) shows, many researchers have tried to come up with approaches, strategies and methods to help teachers with their educational work. For example, Finnemann (1996:1-10) has divided the Internet resources into teacher-centered and student-centered resources. In Ames' opinion (2001), the former resources refer to the ones the teachers can use to plan their classes, it is a kind of source of teaching materials and include language magazines and newspapers, journals, culturally-relevant videos or films, on-line literature and courses. There is also a large variety of authentic materials in many foreign languages as Dudeney, G. (2000:28/9) and Eastment, D. (1999:5/8). The latter resources refer to the Internet-based resources which they can access to improve their language skills. The examples include websites which allow language discussions and cultural exchanges of ideas on a plethora of topics- sports, songs, recipes, on-line dictionary consultations, grammar and vocabulary practice, interactive web pages with audio applications for listening and speaking practice with audio capabilities, etc. The almost unlimited amount of information found on the Internet supports language learning and enhances students’ cultural comprehension (Finnemann, 1996: 1-10). The educational institutions can implement the Internet resources in many ways depending on location, students' needs, etc. All researches seem to have come to the same conclusion regarding the advantages of using the Internet in the language classes: higher learning motivation (Gitsaki & Taylor, 1999: 47-57) increased classroom interaction (Singhal, 1997); cultural information of the target language (Gitsaki &Taylor); greater student self-determination in the educational process (Hanson-Smith, 1997).

The internet has become the most used technological tool in the classrooms. The access to the internet gives learners the possibility to “visit” places and to participate to far away conferences or other events. There are many sites which are meant to provide material for educational purposes. While looking for internet information learners enhance many skills such as selection, critical thinking, organizational skills, etc. Although choosing one website or another is usually a difficult task for the teacher, if he has a clear idea of his planned activity, the task will become easier.

The Internet as a tool can render the learners the opportunity to work in groups or in pairs to share ideas and do home assignments. Learners can also discuss the what and how of their products (artefacts) either essays or presentations. For teachers and learners alike working with the Internet is even more challenging since they have a lot of materials whom to choose. Having become a familiar tool for learners, the Internet and the wide -range of materials to be found on the Internet are strong points in favour of using it in the classroom.

Moreover, the Internet has the advantage of allowing each teacher to use his favourite approach to teaching depending on his own learning and work experiences. Since there is no perfect or most appropriate approach to a class and the Internet and new technologies have mutually -shared utility, teachers should be aware that it is good way to develop their multiple perspectives skills , to plan more student-oriented goals, to diminish the degree of learner control, to apply as many real-world activities and contexts as possible, to develop knowledge rather than to present facts, to refer constantly and minutely to students' previous knowledge, to deal with problem solving situations, to set well- structured assessment procedures for establishing learning results.

III. 1.2. The Media- based authentic materials

The authentic materials teachers can use from the media are basically necessary to improve communication. either as entertaining, informative , persuasive or educational purposes. There are several kinds of media we can name such as educational media or popular media. The former kind refer to the well-structured, content- logically -organized coursebooks needed to sustain and develop learning. It is the foundation for the high – level education.

The latter kind, although it does not have a structured content, includes the materials that any of us can use such as magazines, newspapers, billboards, travel brochures and the Internet, needed to manipulate people into buying or to entertain. The latter one is a link between the school knowledge and the learners' experience and needs, and a continuation of the former as it can be used to support leaning.

The brainstorming exercises, the role-playing, the simulations or the problem-based exercises represent good examples of the role the media plays educationally as they lay down the environment that can activate learning and develop the learners' skills and understanding.

An example is to get learners advertise their own products after they have learnt the vocabulary-related to advertising like marketing campaign, target, etc. Then, they can read about a product marketing campaign from the textbook to see means, targets and outcome, look for adverts on the internet and see their persuasion characteristics and finally they can produce and present their own product. These stages trigger the learners' interest into the topic, increase the learning, and finally activate it through their own presentations.

This type of activity develops more than one skill, enhances their motivation and creativity and enriching their understanding through both images and words conveys two-way information – to them and from them. In this way, learners perceive the opportunity they have to manipulate the world around into liking or disliking a concept or a product.

Media provoke interest and creativity. Some learners chose to advertise drinks or smart phones while others chose to present improved medical services or museum virtual tours. Learners used pictures of things and places or created their owns to persuade the listeners. The known and available resources of the popular media were more than a link, they were a starting point and an inspiration in itself. Although the magazines, newspapers or the Internet grant only bits of information they proved useful to learners to write persuading arguments.

Unfortunately, media resources do not seem to be very helpful for the teachers who seek to develop the learners' advanced reading skills, their critical or analytical thinking.

So, in order to meet their aims, teachers need to link media to the skill they seek to develop,

to make sure they correlate the texts in the textbooks and the ones in the media to consolidate the reading skill, to give the learners the chance to strengthen their opinions and interpretations of the concepts and to analyze and bring arguments to support them. In the end, learners will be able to classify information from their environment into useful categories and make connections, explain cause and effect and make predictions of the possible outcome.

In conclusion, the Internet should be used in classroom as an available resource for teaching and learning if its use is carefully looked upon. It is also a powerful resource if it is used as an aid to learning and when it has a supporting, not a central role in the process of classroom learning. Moreover, it can render the necessary culturally known settings, real events, real stories, real people and real issues which prove to be beneficial when learning EFL. The Internet features such as speed, replication, interactivity and communicability as well as its various tools can have a big impact on teaching and learning process and for all intents and purposes, it is available to all teachers in all schools and to all the students.

III.1.3 Internet -based examples of resources for EFL classroom activities.

The new technologies, especially the internet is a rich and varied source of class activities which can involve individuals working alone or in groups. Although some learners prefer learning by themselves, alone, the majority is prone to sharing their experiences, ideas and enjoy working in smaller or larger groups. The interactive feature of the Internet makes it motivate teachers to use it during the class. The teacher is the one who has to decide whether to organize learners in groups or let them work individually and its frequency.

Teachers can help students develop the speaking , listening, writing or reading skill using the internet resources. Many sites have vocabulary-related games, songs and fairy tales, even themed lesson plans and online courses of English such as www.britishcouncil.org, www.mes-english.com, www.elskidstuff.com, www.bbc.co.uk. and many others.

The following set of examples illustrates the variety of Internet-based materials which can be used in the classroom to teach various structure -related or vocabulary-related skills:

1. Learning vocabulary through games:

FIGURE 3: retrieved from http://iteslj.org/c/games.html

2.Learning idioms

Figure 4. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/towards-advanced/unit-2

3. Lesson plans to develop vocabulary

"What's done is done: Lesson plan

Aims: Students will…

listen for gist and detail in the context of a video about Shakespeare’s life, language and plays.

understand the meaning, use and form of the phrase what's done is done.

be able to understand and use expressions relating to guilt.

Task A: Lead in and gist

Students discuss what superstitions there are in their country and if they know any superstitions about the theatre.(For example, saying 'break a leg' rather than 'good luck'.) Elicit which Shakespeare play it is bad luck to say the name of in

the theatre (Macbeth) and discuss what they know about this play and its themes.

Elicit / tell students that one of the main themes in Macbeth is guilt and

set this gist question for students to answer as they watch the video:

Who is feeling guilty in this video-and why?

Play the video from beginning to end.

Students compare answers in pairs and then check as a class.

Answer:

Mary is feeling guilty because she put pepper in Nell's fruit pies and Macbeth is feeling guilty for killing the King! We also find out that Lady Macbeth feels guilty by the end of the play.

Task B: Detail

Hand out worksheet (pages three and four of this document.)

Students read the questions.

Play video again for students to answer the questions about the video.

Students discuss answers in pairs and give reasons. Then check answers as a class.

Answers:

1.Why did Mary put pepper in Nell's pies? Because she thinks Nell was admiring Mary's husband, George.

Note: Nell had her eye on George. 'To have your eye on someone' means: to be interested in someone -normally in a sexual context.

2.In Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, whose idea was it to murder the King? Lady Macbeth's.

3.Who has difficulty sleeping? Macbeth-he has nightmares.

4.What happens to Lady Macbeth at the end of the play? She goes mad with guilt.

5.What do Will and Lady Macbeth both say that it's best not to worry about? The past.

Task C: Language –What's done is done

Give students a few minutes to read Task C and discuss the answers in pairs..

Play the narrator section from 02.46 to 03.30for students to check their answers.

Answers

1) We use the phrase 'what's done is done' to tell people not to worry about the past.

2) You can't change the past so forget about your mistakes.

3) Thierry Henry's father advised him to forget about the past.

4) What is done is done.

Task D: Guilt phrases

Tell students they will now explore some phrases containing the word guilt or guilty.

Students work in small groups. They read the sentences and decide what the phrases mean.

Task E: Meaning of guilt phrases

Students use the examples in Task D to help match the meaning of the guilt phrase.

Answers: 1A, 2C, 3B, 4D.

Check students have understood the meaning of these phrases and elicit examples of guilty

pleasures (reality TV, cheesy music) and examples of guilt -free food / activities.

Check the form of these phrases and drill the phrases to practise the pronunciation.

Task F: Discussion

Tell students to read the instructions in Task F. Give them time to think about their story

and prepare what they want to talk about.

Put students into two groups and ask them to stand up. Have half the class make a small ring

in the middle, with their backs to the centre, and have the other half find a partner in this ring and stand facing them (so the outside ring are facing the centre of the circle.)

Students tell their story to the person facing them. After a few minutes move the outer circle round one space and the students now tell their story to their new partner. Continue until

everyone has had the chance to tell their story a few times.

Feedback interesting stories and focus on any good language and any errors to correct.

Play one of the vocabulary revision games from the worksheet Eight Vocabulary Activities.

What's done is done: Worksheet one

Task B: Detail. Answer the questions about the video:

1.Why did Mary put pepper in Nell's pies?

2.In Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, whose idea was it to murder the King?

3.Who has difficulty sleeping?

4.What happens to Lady Macbeth at the end of the play?

5.What do Will and Lady Macbeth both say that it's best not to worry about?

Task C: Language– What's done is done

Complete the gaps:

1)We use the phrase 'what's done is done' to tell people not to worry about ______ _____.

2) You can't change _____ ______, so forget about your ______ .

3) Thierry Henry's ______ advised him to forget about the past.

4) What ______ done ______done.

What's done is done: Worksheet two

Task D:Guilt phrases. Read the examples and pay attention to the phrases in bold.

Can you work out what they mean?

1) Ok.-I admit it.I'm listening to One Direction. Listening to boy bands is my guilty pleasure!

2) That’s the second time this month you’ve bought me flowers. Have you got a guilty conscience?!

3) I’ve made a guilt-free chocolate cake! It’s got no fat in it- and no taste either!

4) Dad, stop trying to guilt-trip me into visiting more often, I just don’t have the time at

the moment!

Task E:Meaning of guilt phrases

Match the phrases with guilt with their definition:

1) A guilty pleasure is …

2) Guilt -free describes …

3) Guilt-trip someone means…

4) A guilty conscience is …

a)something you enjoy, but feel guilty or embarrassed about liking it.

b) make someone feel bad about something.

c) something you can enjoy without feeling any guilt.

d) a feeling of guilt after you do something wrong.

Task F: Discussion

Talk about:

Something you did that you felt guilty about afterwards. Did you find it easy to say what's done is done or do you still have a guilty conscience?

One of your guilty pleasures.

Something you enjoy which is completely guilt-free.

Activity 1

What's done is done – get over it!

The Scottish play

Macbeth, one of Shakespeare's best-loved plays, is a tale of murder, guilt, magic and lots of drama. There is a superstition in the theatre that saying the name 'Macbeth' will cause bad luck, so actors often call it 'The Scottish play' to avoid disaster.

Someone's also having some bad luck at the market in this episode of Shakespeare Speaks – as you can see in the image below,

To do

Watch the video and enjoy. While you watch, answer the question: who is feeling guilty – and why? Pay attention – there's more than one guilty person. The answer's under the video – no looking!

Watch the video and complete the activity.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT.

Narrator
It was a late summer's morning. William Shakespeare is at the market.

Will
A pound of plums, please, Mary.

Stallholder
Here you are Mr Will.

Will
Mary? You're not your usual happy self this fine morning.

Stallholder
I feel terrible, Mr Will. I did an awful thing to that Nell Butcher – she's had her eye on my George for ages. I've had enough. I put pepper all over her fruit pies. Oh Mr Will, poor Nellie's in so much trouble and it's my fault.

Will
Well Mary, there's nothing you can do about it now. What's done is done!

Stallholder
Lady Macbeth said that in your play, didn't she Mr. Will?

Will
She did indeed Mary.

Stallholder
She was telling her husband that you can't change the past. You just have to forget about it and move on, even if it's really, really bad.

Will
And it was indeed very bad in my play, Mary. Macbeth murdered the King. And Lady Macbeth encouraged him.

Stallholder
No wonder he feels bad afterwards… I feel bad enough about the fruit pies…

Will
Macbeth feels very guilty. He has some terrible dreams. But Lady Macbeth doesn't feel the same. She tells Macbeth to forget his bad thoughts.

Stallholder
Say the lines, Mr Will.

Will
Very well Mary. Close your eyes and imagine: Macbeth is feeling bad about the people he killed. Lady Macbeth tells him that they are dead, so his guilty thoughts about them should die, too. He can't fix things, so he shouldn't think about them. These are her words:

Lady Macbeth
How now, my lord! Why do you keep alone,
Of sorriest fancies your companions making,
Using those thoughts which should indeed have died
With them they think on? Things without all remedy
Should be without regard. What's done is done.

Narrator
We'll leave them there for now. In Shakespeare's Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is central to the play's examination of the psychology of guilt. Deeply ambitious and ruthless, she encourages Macbeth to murder his way to power, but by the end of the play she is overcome by guilt and descends into madness. These days, people still use Shakespeare's exact phrase: what's done is done, usually to say that there's no benefit in feeling bad for a long time about past mistakes. Take footballer Thierry Henry, explaining how his father taught him to always think of the next game.

Clip 1
My dad always taught me to never be satisfied, to want more and know that what is done is done… You've done it, now move on.

Clip 2
Just explain you meant to send the email to a different Sophie – and then forget about it. What's done is done.

Stallholder
So Mr Will, should I forget about the pepper and the pies…?

Will
Indeed you should, Mary. And forget about Nell Butcher too.

Stallholder
Hmmm… to forget, or not to forget: that is the question.

Answer
Mary is feeling guilty because she put pepper in Nell's fruit pies AND Macbeth is feeling guilty for killing the King! We also find out that even Lady Macbeth feels guilty by the end of the play.

Do you think they should feel bad about what they have done – or is it time to get over it?!

To do

Now let's look more closely at the video. Have a go at this quiz to find out how well you understood. Watch the episode again first if you want."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/shakespeare/unit-1/session-9 – Retrieved on July 2016

4. Lesson plan to develop students' reading and speaking:

"he Love Clinic: Using Advice Columns in the Classroom

Richard Humphries; rick [at] gol.com; Kansai Gaidai College

Introduction

The purpose of this activity is to improve students' reading and speaking (i.e. clarifying, relating a problem, offering advice, etc.) skills, and to offer an arena for cross- or intercultural exploration and to achieve this in an entertaining forum. The procedure has been used in mostly in college classes (occasionally in company classes and community center ones) and has always been enjoyed by the participants.

Materials

newspaper clippings: advice columns from one or more newspapers (non-Japanese ones)

desks and chairs

Level

high-beginner/lower intermediate and up

Rationale

Many newspapers in English speaking countries carry advice columns that deal with problems of love, growing up, etiquette, relationships, and so on (AKA as "Agony Aunt" columns in the UK). Readers of American columns are certainly familiar with "Ann Landers", "Ask Miss Manners" and others of this genre. Although the advice, reflecting changing social mores, does vary over time, it cannot be denied that such columns are culturally loaded and offer an interesting type of material to use for cultural exploration and discussion.

Although most any type of advice column would have served the purpose, I was able to obtain some samples (if dated somewhat from 1983) from a Kenyan newspaper column entitled "Ask Zesi", which I use in class. The questions asked, and the advice offered betray hints that in Kenyan society at that time, polygamy occurred and that couples would sometimes have children before determining whether to proceed with marriage.

Procedure

1. Reading For Comprehension/Reaction Follow-up

Students were directed to read the advice columns, both questions and answers, and to answer questions with regard to general comprehension and vocabulary.

In small groups students were to discuss the columns and to note any general distinctions that could be made, using the columns as evidence, between Japanese society (relationships, notions of etiquette, what could or could not be discussed in print, responsibilities, etc.) and the society represented in the advice columns.

In pairs, students were assigned a particular question and told to assume the role of Japanese newspaper columnists assigned to answer the question (from whatever they assumed to be a Japanese cultural standpoint) submitted by a reader.

The student read out there and then these were discussed or debated upon by the other students.

2. Student Love Clinic

Preparation

After a short break the second part of this activity was embarked upon. Clinics were set up in the classroom using the desks and chairs available. Each clinic was composed of one chair with a desk-behind which the "doctor" would sit-and six or seven chairs set around the desk in a semi-circle. These chairs were for the patients. This activity could therefore be adapted to any size class, with large ones presenting no problem at all.

Activity

I selected certain students to be "love doctors" based on what I knew to be their English-speaking ability and what I indirectly assumed to be their either their potential maturity in such a role or their ability to be entertaining.

The other students were directed to come up with "love problems" but assured that the activity was a simulation and that in no way should they feel in any way obligated to reveal anything of a personal and private nature. On the contrary, they were urged to be inventive in dreaming up situations.

The doctors were directed to take their places and the patients to enter the clinics and take seats.

A protocol was established whereby:

Patients would be helped one at a time

The doctor would initiate a session by saying something like " Young lady, how may I help you today?"

Patients would refer to the doctor as "Doctor"

Other patients could only listen while they were waiting their turn to be helped. They could not offer advice oftheir own or contradict the doctor. The doctor might say something like "Your problem is very, very serious" to give atmosphere to the simulation.

Doctors were told that they should offer some advice but they could offer any advice they felt like offering, even unusual advice.

Patients were told that they could go to another clinic in the classroom to seek a second opinion.

At some point the new doctors were made and the ones who had been doctors allowed to become patients.

Reflections

Students appeared to enjoy the activity immensely, especially the "Love Clinic" and if anything, it was difficult to get them to stop. The types of "love problems" that they came up with were occasionally commonplace, and perhaps even reflected upon their real experiences (e.g. There is a handsome/beautiful student whom I like but I am too shy to approach, etc.). More often than not, they vied to come up with truly, in their eyes, bizarre problems such as (by one young lady) "I am deeply in love with my younger brother". Perhaps the strangest "problem" came from one college girl this year, who had previously been very quiet during the semester, but seemed to come alive during the activity. She said, "My husband and I have been married for two months and we have a six-month old child. I went to the store to do some food shopping. The store was closed so I came back early. When I got home, I found my husband in bed with his mother. Love Doctor, what should I do?"

At the end of class there is sometimes a discussion about the activity and whether such problems as they have mentioned are commonplace in Japan and whether these problems are publicly aired.

I generally use about 90 minutes for this activity, with equal parts for the reading/reacting and love clinic sections. It could be adjusted to run a shorter time but the students seem to enjoy it, particularly the "love clinic"."

Retrieved from : The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. III, No. 2, February 1997; http://iteslj.org

The variety of internet resources leaves the teacher to decide which ones to choose so as to “make sure that activities taken from different sources link together to make a cohesive whole, and that they serve to fulfill the aims and objectives of your lesson” (Gower, 1995, p. 80). -Gower, R., Phillips, D., & Walters, S. (1995).Teaching Practice Handbook.UK: Macmillan

III.2 Classroom activities based on Internet resources to develop writing skills.

One of the objectives of using Internet-based authentic materials is to develop the students' writing skills. We can do that by designing classroom activities based on authentic materials found on the Internet.

The following set of 10 classroom activities would serve our purpose of developing writing communication skills.

1. Article completion.

Summary: The teacher gives students an article from the online edition of a beauty magazine and asks students to complete it with the appropriate sentences according to the paragraph structure. The sentences have been cut and they have to complete by writing them in the empty spaces. (For the purpose of this illustration, the sentences have been written below the text.) This activity can be easily carried out in groups or in pairs to allow interaction. The teacher sets time limits in order to encourage competition and develop teamwork and group workskills. The teacher monitors the activity. This type of activity is suitable for the editing stages of process writing. The students can work individually, in pairs or in groups. The time allocated should not exceed 10 minutes with advanced level students.

Figure 5. Article retrieved from www.henpicked.net – 10th June 2016

1. Starting off your holiday with a professionally applied all-over fake tan is essential as, psychologically, it lessens the pressure to get some colour at any cost.

2. My only minor complaint is that the spray is tinted to give the skin an immediate colour, and this has to stay on your skin (so can't wash it off) for at least five hours

3. The result, Fantasy Tan, is one of the very best salon self-tans I have tried.

4. Two weeks spent sitting in the shade and topping up the self-tan just doesn't have the same appeal.

5. The compromise, or one that I find works, is to tan, but to do it sensibly.

2. Letter writing based on an article.

Summary: The teacher gives students an online article found on Google search engine and asks students to write a letter to the family to express their sympathy for the loss of their daughter and at the same time to congratulate them for their initiative. This activity is suitable for the students who have appropriate knowledge on how to write letters and have good reading skills. It may be used if the teacher is more interested in the product approach to writing. The letter can require individual or pair work activity and should require a minimum of 15-20 minutes time. The teacher monitors the activity .

Figure 6: Retrieved from: www.google.ro. – 19th July 2016

3. Journey description.

Summary: The teacher shows the students some images from a travel brochure and gives them 5 phrases as prompts from that advert in the brochure. The students are expected to write a description of the place and the activities tourists can enjoy there. The activity is suitable for the product- based approach at the advanced level of English and if the teachers are interested in developing the students' creativity as well. The students should have been familiarized with the paragraph planning of description. This activity is more suitable for individual work and should require between 15 to 20 minutes. If teacher chooses he/she can ask students to write a logo for the place.

The prompts are: WHEN JUST A MUSEUM IS NOT ENOUGH

HOME OF THE CREATIVE MIND

DISCOVER, UNDERSTAND AND ENJOY

BUDAPEST: CITY OF SPAS SINCE 1934

THE DANUBE BEND.A GIFT OF NATURE.

Figure 7: Retrieved from: http://gotohungary.com – on 15th June 2016

4. Factual reports. Writing the main ideas for a factual report based on online images.

Summary: The teacher organizes the students into groups and gives each group an image similar to the one attached below. The students have to write the main ideas for each of the paragraphs for a factual report. The students are expected to write at least one idea for each of the 4 or 5 needed paragraphs. The activity is suitable for the process-based approach to writing at the advanced level of English. The group interaction can stimulate students to speak in English and to develop leadership and cooperation skills as well. The students should have been familiarized with the paragraph planning of writing factual reports. This activity should require between 10 to 15 minutes.

Figure 8: http://www.slideshare.net- on 20th July 2016

5. Story writing based on a first-sentence given prompt.

Summary: The teacher shows the image and tells the students a sentence which is to be the first one of the story they are asked to write. The activity is suitable for the product-based approach to writing at the advanced level of English and can be used as the first draft stage of writing. A next possible activity can be to ask students to exchange their draft with their deskmate's for new ideas and error correction before the final draft stage. The pair interaction can stimulate students' motivation and creativity to produce exciting and correct stories. This activity should require between 30 to 40 minutes if the teacher requires at least about 200 words.

Figure 9: https://www.google.ro – on 20th of July 2016

6. Story writing based on a preset number of elements.

Summary: The teacher organizes the students into groups and invites a representative from each group to choose one paper cut with three elements on it. The students are told they can add one more element to the three. Then they have to develop a story using them. The activity is suitable for the process-based approach to writing at the advanced level of English. The group interaction can stimulate students to speak in English and to develop communication and cooperation skills as well. This activity should require between 30 to 35 minutes.

1. A stolen ring, fear of spiders, and a sinister stranger.

2. A taxi, an old enemy, and Valentine's Day.

3. Identical twins, a party invitation, and a locked closet.

4. A broken wristwatch, peppermints, and a hug that goes too far.

5. Aerobics, a secret diary, and something unpleasant under the bed.

6. An ex-boyfriend, a pair of binoculars, and a good-luck charm.

7. The first day of school, a love note, and a recipe with a significant mistake.

Retrieved from: www.creative-writing-now.com – 21st July 2016

7. Finish the article.

Summary: The teacher gives the students unfinished newspaper articles as in the example and asks them to write the ending paragraph. To make the activity even more challenging and creativity-raising, the students can be given some prompt words without an immediate connection to the topic of the article. In our example, a prompt could be the word "elephant". The activity is suitable for the process-based approach to writing at the advanced level of English. The group interaction can stimulate students to speak in English and to develop creativity and cooperation skills. This activity should require between 15 to 20 minutes.

At the end, students can be asked to read the endings.

I’ve done my hand in again': Hospitalised Scotty T reassures fans that just his wrist was broken in car crash… as he's forced to pull out of Dreamboys show

Reality television favourite Scotty T has reassured fans that he's 'sweet' after a car crash.

The Geordie Shore star, 28, was forced to pull out of his performance with The Dreamboys in Glasgow on Friday following the collision earlier in the day.

The heartthrob was rushed to hospital after the smash, telling The Sun newspaper: ‘I’ve done my hand in again but I’m sweet though, just waiting to get it checked and re-cast as it was already broken.’

The statement from his management explained: 'Scotty is currently in hospital and is injured but not seriously injured.'

Meanwhile, it isn't the first time Scotty – whose real name is Scott Timlin – has been in the wars this year as he fractured his arm in Ibiza, Spain last month while shooting Geordie Shore's summer special.

A source said at the time: 'Scotty T had an unfortunate fall a few hours into drinking and hit it so hard his arm snapped.

'He was reeling in agony and rushed to hospital where doctors said it was fractured and put it in a cast.'

The star – who won Celebrity Big Brother earlier this year – was reportedly left writhing in pain after the incident, which left him with a fractured arm.

Scotty also got into trouble with the police earlier this year when he was pictured aiming an air rifle while sprawled across the top of his car with a pal.

The star apologised for his 'foolish' behaviour after being arrested for possession of an air weapon in Newcastle.

Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk. on 20th July 2016

8. Article Writing.

Summary: The teacher shows the students the image of the car crash and the first paragraph of the article which summarizes it. The students are expected to develop their own ideas for the article. The activity is suitable for the product-based approach to writing at the advanced -level students. The groupwork and pair work seems more convenient for the activity. This activity should require between 15 to 20 minutes.

Figure 10- Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com – 22nd July 2016

9. Opinion Essay Writing.

Summary: The teacher organizes the students in groups of three and gives each one a part of the article. Having read the article, the students exchange information and decide on the arguments to support their opinion. The activity is suitable for the product-based approach to writing at the advanced -level students. The groupwork seems more convenient for the activity which should require between 35 to 40 minutes.

Students are given the advertisement and are asked to write an opinion essay on the ideas in the advertisement.

Figure 11 – Retrieved from "Shape" Magazine: http://www.nytimes.com. on 21st July 2016

10. Writing an advertisement.

Summary: The teacher organizes the students in groups and then shows them the images of three well-known Romanian products. Students are then elicited to write an advertisement to one of the products. The activity is suitable for the product-based approach to writing at the advanced -level students. The groupwork seems more convenient for the activity which should require between 20 to 25 minutes. Students can be furtherly asked to invent their own product and to write an advertisement for it.

https://www.google.ro http://aloshop.tv/sanatate-si-frumusete www.amazon.com/NutriBullet

/fitmaxx-5#product_tabs

Figure 12. Retrieved on 15th March 2016

11. Letter writing.

Summary: The students are given three types of letters. In groups, the students have to identify the type of letter and then they have to write a reply to one of them. The students can be given a letter of apology, a letter of invitation and a letter of application. The activity would be more suitable to the advanced level students as a process-approach activity. The time allocated should be between 25-30 minutes. The teacher organizes the groups and monitors the activity. It is mainly a student-centered activity. At the end, students decide who should read their reply to the letter to the classmates.

Dear Mr. Black,

Please find enclosed my CV in application for the post advertised in the Guardian on 30 November.

The nature of my degree course has prepared me for this position. It involved a great deal of independent research, requiring initiative, self-motivation and a wide range of skills. For one course, [insert course], an understanding of the [insert sector] industry was essential. I found this subject very stimulating.

I am a fast and accurate writer, with a keen eye for detail and I should be very grateful for the opportunity to progress to market reporting. I am able to take on the responsibility of this position immediately, and have the enthusiasm and determination to ensure that I make a success of it.

Thank you for taking the time to consider this application and I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.

Yours sincerely,

Figure 13: Retrieved from : "THE GUARDIAN" NEWSPAPER. https://www.theguardian.com – on 19th July 2016

2.

Figure 14. Retrieved from: Scallywag and Vagabond Magazine. – www.scallywagandvagabond.com

3.

Mr. Frank Edward

Musician

Loveworld Records

Area 3, Garki Abuja

Dear Frank Edward

We are having our “Annual Christmas Carol of Nine Lessons” in the New Law Theater of University of Abuja Main Campus December 9-11.  The theme of this year’s event is “Christ Is Come”. We are focusing on the birth of Christ and the lessons that came with his birth.

Would you be our guest artist? We are overwhelmed by the impact your music has made in the lives of everyone both young and old. Your performance will set the tone perfectly for our event. A 10 minute to 15 minute performance will be fine. We expect an attendance of over a thousand students.

Due to financial constraint, we will not be able to pay or cater for your expenses for performing at this event. We are hoping as a means of giving back to the society and mentoring  and motivating aspiring young singers and other students will be a sufficient incentive for you to be with us.

I look forward to a favorable reply, and just as soon as I receive it. I will send you complete details. Our meeting place is New Law Theater just east of the university gate.

Yours sincerely

Ade Abolarin

P.R.O (S.U.G)

Figure 15- Retrieved from : the "Speaker" Magazine. www.speakermagazine.com.

12. Post Writing.

Summary. The teacher gives copies of the article to the students and asks them to write their comments on a piece of paper and to stick it on the flip chart. It is suitable as an individual work to develop critical thinking. The time allocated for this activity should be between 10- 15 minutes.

Facebook has censored dozens of posts and user accounts after the death of a high-profile Kashmiri separatist militant, who was killed by the Indian army earlier this month.

Academics, journalists and the pages of local newspapers are among those who have had photos, videos and entire accounts deleted by Facebook after they posted about recent events in the disputed territory.

Burhan Wani, a senior member of the Hizbul Mujahideen rebel group was killed by the Indian army on 8 July. About 30 people died in the violent protests that spread across Kashmir in the aftermath of the killing, and an indefinite curfew has been introduced by the Indian government. Wani was considered a terrorist by the Indian authorities, but a freedom fighter by many Kashmiris and Pakistanis.

Mobile phone coverage, landlines and internet services were curbed throughout the region, except in its main city of Srinagar, and police raided newspaper offices, seizing thousands of printed copies.

Authorities lifted a three-day publication ban on newspapers on Tuesday, but editors refuse to resume printing until the government apologised.

Kashmiris say that the information blackout has been exacerbated by censorship on Facebook.

Figure 17. Retrieved from www.theguardian.com

13. Matching headlines with the right article.

Summary: The students are given three headlines and three first paragraphs of articles. They are asked to match them and then write the following paragraphs. It is suitable for process-based approach to writing and appropriate to advanced-level tudents. It should require 25-30 minutes. It would be better if the students were asked to work in pairs.

Headlines:

1. Diving enthusiasts could be used to measure ocean temperatures

2. Unsolved: The Boy Who Disappeared

3. Worried Trump might win?

First paragraphs:

1. When something is truly broken – rickety Ikea shelves, shonky standard lamps, the entire criminal justice system – you just have to pull it apart and start again.

2. In early February this year, Destination Cape Breton, the tourist association for the rugged island off Nova Scotia, was fielding its usual one to two online inquiries a week. Then local radio host Rob Calabrese launched a cheeky website called Cape Breton If Donald Trump Wins, encouraging Americans to consider a move.

3. Millions of holidaying scuba divers are able to become citizen scientists and take vital measurements of ocean temperatures, which are being driven up by climate change.

Figure 18. Retrieved from www.theguardian.com – 22nd July 2016

The above-mentioned classroom activites are meant to exemplify the variety of authentic materials which can be found on the Internet and used in the classroom to improve writing skills.

If we were to consider the type of materials on which the above set of 13 classroom activities was based, then the writing-skill developing items could be the following:

– Match the correct beginning paragraphs and ending paragraphs of the given article;

– Re-write a bad technically achieved article or essay observing the paragraph planning, using linking words or sequencing, avoiding strong feelings and short forms;

– Introduce sequence words such as firsly, secondly, etc into a given essay;

– Give first and last paragraph phrases and ask students to choose which is suitable for a

first paragraph and which is suitable for a last paragraph;

– Draw the plans for articles or essays and writing a title for each topic;

– Match quotations with composition topics to write essays;

– Write brief notes about an article or essay and then replace the linking words with synonyms;

– Write advertisements to well-known products or items based on headlines or pictures;

– Write sentences with given points for and against a topic such as the importance of electronic libraries, and arrange them to give a paragraph plan;

– Add one more reason to support a certain topic;

– Identify the style and the type of a letter and write a reply;

– Write a reply to an advertisement in a magazine or newspaper;

– Write the salutations, opening sentences and the closing remarks for a series of letters;

– Write a letter including all the factual information provided, using their own words;

– Write the description of a place, person, ceremony or object using some prompt questions or phrases or adjectives;

– Match the beginning and endings of stories and factual reports and write the reasons for your decision;

– Write the events in the proper order and join them in sentences using some linking words such as immediately, at first, by the time, etc;

– Write a reply to express their opinion on a certain event such as cenzoring the newspapers in India;

– Develop a factual report based on the first paragraph which is given to them;

– Add the first and the last paragraph to an article according to the previously given main body;

– Turning sentences into headline such as "Scientists developed 4 steps to help people set up a long-lasting speaking business";

– Match the headline with the first or last paragraph of an article.

Chapter IV. THE ASSESSMENT OF THE RESULTS OF DEVELOPING WRITING SKILLS THROUGH INTERNET-BASED AUTHENTIC MATERIALS .

IV.1. THE OBJECTIVES AND THE HYPOTHESIS OF TEACHING ENGLISH USING AUTHENTIC MATERIALS

The research as well as its objectives are mainly based on the theoretical background previously presented and on the teaching and learning classroom activities allowed by the national curriculum and the school unit . The research is aim at the showing "how" and "what" authentic materials can be used in EFL acquisition and their effect on the advanced level students.

The set objectives of the research are :

– to use authentic materials – Internet-based magazine articles, advertisements and essays – to demonstrate that their use increases the students' motivation to learn English as a foreign language.

– to demonstrate the students that they can confidently use these online authentic materials and make them aware of how and when they can use the authentic materials to acquire the necessary language abilities.

– to conduct a research regarding the manner in which by exposing the students to the present and authentic language in the modern means of information they can improve their written and oral/speaking communication skills.

– to evaluate the student’s progress in acquiring writing communication skills through Internet-based authentic materials.

The achievement of the above-mentioned objectives are directly linked to the following hypothesis: If the students of the advanced level – 11th grade- used more Internet- based authentic materials during the English classes, they would engage their already taught language background and thanks to the direct access to modern communication and information means, they would manage to communicate more confidently and would be motivated to study by themselves using similar authentic materials.

There are two research variables that have resulted from the hypothesis:

a. the independent variable: the use of Internet – based authentic materials in the EFL advanced level. The authentic materials were collected from different sites on the Internet by the teacher and the students themselves. All kinds of materials had the same types of tasks and written style and pieces of writing- stories, letters, essays requiring the same teaching procedures.

b. “the dependent variable”: the development of the writing skill in accordance with Dumitriu, Gh., Dumitriu C,(2003:74).

There were two tests applied to students at the advanced level as instruments to measure the achievement of the objectives and to confirm the hypothesis during the 36-week school year. The two tests were made up of beginnings and endings of letters, and articles from an English newspaper or magazine at three items of the objective type and various types of essays or letters they had to recognize and complete at three items of the objective type in order to check the writing comprehension skills of the students at the beginning of the school year, in September, and the final test in June, at the end of the school year. The set of tests was purposefully compiled to measure whether the students responded positively to the introduction of Internet- based authentic materials, the extent to which they developed writing skills easier, which was reflected in the test results.

IV.2 PRESENTING THE PARTICIPANTS.

The participants in the study were the students from a Romanian highschool- Colegiul Tehnic "Petru Poni" Roman.

Most of the students were female (20 out of 30), all of them were between 17 and 18 years of age. As mentioned above, the use of authentic materials in developing the students writing and speaking skills was approached. Therefore, in this experiment, the dependent variable was the student motivation to write and speak , which would include the levels of learners' interest, enthusiasm, activity and creativity , persistence with the learning task.

IV.3. THE STAGES OF THE RESEARCH.

The research was conducted during the school year 2015-2016 on 30 students (10 male and 20 female) belonging to the 11th C grade of Colegiul Tehnic “Petru Poni” in Roman, Neamt County. They are a L1 class studying English 2 hours per week. The reason for choosing this level was the fact that the students learnt the basic knowledge about how to plan the writing pieces- generating ideas ( e.g. brainstorming) and drafting- such as stories, factual reports, descriptions of people and places, newspaper articles and types of essays by using the non-authentic materials in the textbook, Mission 2, by Virginia Evans and Jenny Dooley, ed. Express Publishing, in the 10th class, and that they will take a graduation exam to prove their writing abilities in the following school year, the 12th class. Usually, at this level the students are encouraged to write compositions, to revise them, edit them by changing and correcting the possible errors and finally to share their artefacts with the class.

They took two tests in order to assess their writing skills and the way they improve this skill by using Internet-based authentic materials. A single sample group was decided upon because the results of the tests are more conclusive and provide objective data on the development of the students' writing skills process.

There were three stages in this research:

1. Stage I – the initial evaluation – was applied from 20th October 2015 – 24th November 2015. Its aim was to establish the level of planning comprehension of English written texts and the way the students apply the planning rules and the appropriate writing styles. The students took the initial test on the 25th of September. Having analyzed the test results, I have introduced Internet-based authentic materials to students as supplementary materials. They have been working with these type of authentic materials throughout the entire school year in class as well as at home, as part as their home assignment.

2. Stage II – the formative evaluation – was conducted in the two school semesters, between November 2015– 10th May 2016. The students continued to work with various authentic materials found on the Internet and draw up their personal portfolio of authentic materials to work with. The session of presenting their porfolio with Internet-based authentic materials and their own products indicated a visible progress in planning comprehension of the writing pieces and as well as in creativity, motivation and critical thinking levels.

3. Stage III – the final evaluation – was applied between 11th May 2016-10th June 2016 and consisted in lessons of consolidation of knowledge and of writing and speaking skills. At the end of the school year, the students took the final test, the result of which indicated the real progress that they have made by working with Internet-based authentic materials.

The methods used during this research have been in agreement with the requirements of the scientific pedagogical research and the set of objectives: the observational method, the method of analyzing “the products” and the method of analyzing the "process" of writing, the testing method.

a). The observational method was extended throughout the entire research period. It was applied in order to compare and contrast the performance and the students' reactions. The teacher notes thoroughly the students to see the impact of the use of authentic materials and whether “… the objectives and the phenomena related to the act of learning are put at work". – Balan, B., Cosmovici, A.,Cozma, T., (1998: 154). The teacher needs to gather information and record it systematically , either planned or incidental. Thus, he needs to anticipate the leaning results and the way he will record the impact of the approach. Although this method has lost its past importance as means of demonstrating the students' learning results, it is still used by teachers at all levels of education because this less formal assessment procedure provides the required amount of qualitative and reliable evidence to establish valid judgments concerning students' learning results.

However, the observational method is necessary because it meets the characteristics of a good assessment of the learning results. Graham Maxwell (2001:3), states that the assessment should be

"comprehensive, ensuring recognition of all desired learning outcomes, especially those not otherwise assessable than in classroom contexts; connected, situated within familiar learning contexts and closely related to curriculum frameworks, learning experiences and pedagogical planning; contextualized, sensitive to the effects of context on performance and deriving assessment evidence from a variety of situations and occasions; authentic, interesting, challenging, worthwhile and meaningful to students; holistic, emphasizing relatedness and connections in learning and involving performance on complex wholes rather than separate components."

This procedure helps to introduce simply and naturally the students with the scientific research. Since it implies the recording of events, facts and performances, the process of doing an artefact – a piece of writing or a composition, is more important than the artefact itself. The recording can be either direct or written. While the direct record of results can be made through video or audio recordings or sequence of photographs following an event like a group activity or a practical task, the written record requires observation sheets or a kind of diary of events which should include lists of students' learning results or in-class comments and records of important events or comments. With the written account, the teacher can record both the judgment or interpretation and the description of the specifics of the event. The description should include written commentaries on student progress on an observation sheet, critical occurrences and key achievements. The production of artefacts, which was the main objective of this research, can be both directly recorded or through descriptive accounts. They can be kept and placed in the student’s assessment portfolio, to be referred to at a later time in order to establish the student's personal progress.

The observational method cannot be used unless teachers plan it differently according to the required type of evidence. In Dumitriu's view (2003: 70), it involves the following stages:

– preparing to use the observational method by choosing the appropriate instruments and techniques;

– observing and recording the students' performance;

– analyzing the results and interpreting the data.

This method and its planning has the advantage of giving the students the chance to find out about the learning expectations and to stimulate their self-monitoring and self-assessment, and to have an easy standardized and well-structured recording plan.

b). The method of analyzing the students' “products” provides information about the students’ personality traits by observing the outcomes (the “products”) of their in-class and out-of-the class activities such as: the notebooks, portfolios, test papers, essays, etc. The results of the students are mirrored by different school documents (the school register, portfolios, the students’ files which contain their marks). The product- based writing approach has four stages Badger and White (2000: 37/8) which include familiarization, "makes learners aware of certain features of a text", controlled writing, guided writing deal with the content aspects allow students to practice the writing skill, and free writing in which students use the writing skill as a part of a genuine activity- writing a letter, story or essay. If we observe these stages we can teach the writing skill through using authentic materials.

c). The method of analyzing the "process" of writing: It is necessary because writing is a creative act which requires several stages, time and positive feedback. If students are required to write a report on the way the people their age spend their spare time, the stages should be observed: the pre-writing activity when teacher introduces the topic, brainstorming of various spare time activities and answering some questions regarding the spare time activities, discussing the factual report techniques, the paragraph planning, and style. Having written the factual report, the students hand it in for the teacher to check the draft and then they will write the final paper. Murray (1972:11-14) stages the writing process into three : prewriting, writing and rewriting, that is "researching, note- taking, title writing, outlining", secondly, preparing the first draft, and lastly, rewriting means "rethinking, redesigning, line by line editing", while Onozawa (2001:15/23) says that writing as a process usually consists of

"…three steps: prewriting, drafting, and, revising. Some sequences, however, use four steps, such as thinking, planning, writing, and editing, while others use five steps, prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and evaluating." and concludes that each writer "has a preferred way of approaching the writing process …" which vary according to the writing purpose and the level of the learners. –

The disadvantage of using the process approach to writing is, as Pica (1986:7) says, related to the fact that it “ … does not meet their needs for feedback from more informed sources and focuses instead on the writer’s potential for self-correction as a means of achieving success in writing”.

d). The testing method has the advantage of helping the teacher test the entire class in a shorter period of time simultaneously. It also allows the teacher to test the apprehension of the key elements which have been taught. In addition, it is preferred by many students who have oral communications issues. Testing is a direct result of the importance aspect of writing. It is the skill which deals with communication more than the other skills because through the interactive writing activities such as letter writing, blog posts we can fortify the connection between written and oral language skills.

We have used tests to measure and assess the students’ writing skills at the beginning and at the end of our research. The two tests had the following structure:

1. a letter , which was never studied by the students, and two objective items: (3 points);

– rearrange the paragraphs item (the students had to rearrange the paragraphs according to the taught paragraph planning of letters). (2 points);

– specify the style- formal or informal- and give at least two examples, and add salutation at the end. (1point)

2. three online newspaper articles, with three objective items: (3 points)

– match the paragraph item (the students had to match the beginning with the ending paragraphs of the articles);(1 point)

– provide the newspaper headlines ( the students had to give the headline for each article so as to sum up the general idea of the article and to catch the reader's attention); (1 point)

– circle the correct answer (true/false) item ( the students had to recognize the first and last paragraph techniques used in the articles; (1 point)

3.Write an essay of opinion based on the following statement: "Older and younger generation should live together". Give arguments and examples to support your opinion. Use between 180- 250 words. (4 points)

Having graded the tests, we allocated the number of points according to the number of the invalid answers. No extra point was added. The students who gave the right solutions accumulated 10 points. For 10 points, the students got the maximum mark, which is a 10.

To conduct the research, we used a form of the psycho-pedagogical tests, which consists in a set of specific test items. The answers given by the students to these items indicates the progress that they have made or how much that have developed their skills, the reading comprehension skills in our research. In designing these items, we went through three stages:

– setting the objectives for testing;

– selecting the newspapers and magazine articles;

– deciding upon the relevant aspects for the items design and the time allocated for the students to their tasks;

– allocating the right number of point for each item;

– analyzing and interpreting the test results.

In order to analyze, compare and interpret objectively and correctly the data derived from the test results, we have used integrative test items where students had to choose a large variety of language structures and a rich topic-related vocabulary, as well as indirect test items through paragraph-reordering and direct test items by creating a so-called "level playing field". Before making the test we have to take into account the time factor of test-taking and test-marking, the knowledge and skills we want to test, the topics and situations which are familiar and of interest to the students, balance the test items and the scores.

In designing the test items, we paid attention to:

– setting the objectives for testing;

– selecting the appropriate materials;

– deciding upon the relevant aspects for the items design and the time allocated for the students to perform their tasks;

– distributing the right number of points for each item;

– analyzing and interpreting the test results.

Specific Mathematical and Statistical methods we used in order to analyze, compare and then consider objectively and thoroughly the data derived from the test results. They are reflected in the graphics .

IV.4. THE PRESENTATION OF THE TEST RESULTS

1) The stage of the initial evaluation

The Initial Test

ex. 1 Write the paragraphs in the right order, then specify the style and give two examples, add a salutation at the end according to the style. (Letter of Complaint – source ://www.sample-templates123.com – retrieved September 2015) . (3 points)

A: ___ To resolve the problem I would like you to please return and perform the service again in the specific area mentioned above.

B:____ Please contact me at the address or phone mentioned above.

C: ____ On 1 January 2013, I purchased pressure clean washing services for our building at 123 Main Street for a piece of $1000 paid by bank card.

D: ____ I look forward to hearing from you within 10 business days of receiving this letter. I would like this problem to be solved between us. However, if we are unable to resolve the matter I will refer it to the Office of Fair Trading.

E: _____ I am dissapointed because the service you provided was not satisfactory due tot he building still displaying grime and dirt in corners of the South corner.

F: _____ Enclosed are copies of my receipt with your company for the services provided.

Salutation:_________________________

__________________________

Name: ____________________________

ex.2 a. Match the Beginnings with the Endings of the following newspaper articles and then write headlines for each of them.

Beginnings

B.1The BBC director of sport Barbara Slater said the decision had been taken for pragmatic financial reasons in light of the ongoing debate over the licence fee and charter renewal.

B.2.Wildlife presenter is accused of pursuing ‘obsessive crusades’ and corporation of printing ‘blatant political propaganda’.

B.3.The report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development examines the impact of school technology on international test results, such as the Pisa tests taken in more than 70 countries and tests measuring digital skills.

B1-……………………….. – Headline: ………………………………………..

B2–……………………… – Headline: ………………………………………..

B3–……………………….. – Headline: ………………………………………..

Endings

E. 1.The current agreement ends in 2018 and while the Formula One chief executive Bernie Ecclestone has said he is keen for the joint deal between the BBC and Sky to continue, the corporation’s cost pressures could make it difficult.

E. 2.England's schools minister Nick Gibb said: "We want all schools to consider the needs of their pupils to determine how technology can complement the foundations of good teaching and a rigorous curriculum, so that every pupil is able to achieve their potential."

E. 3.Packham is filming abroad and could not be reached for comment.

b. Circle the correct answer : (1 point)

1. The first paragraph of the news article includes a brief summary of the event. T/F

2. Endings of formal news articles as in E.2 should always end with a quotation. T/F

3. A news article could start with a problem that needs a solution. T/F

4. The ending paragraph of the news articles should state a personal opinion. T/F

5. In B.2 the first paragraph makes reference to a strange situation. T/F

Ex.3. Write an essay of opinion based on the following statement: "Older and younger generation should live together in the same house ". Give arguments and examples to support your opinion. Use between 180- 250 words. (4 points)

Table 1 – The students’ results in the Initial test

The analysis of the initial test results indicates the following:

– The average was 6.60;

– The students scored 198.10 points out of 300;

The data provided in each row inform on the results obtained by each students, which is an indication of their writing communication skills.

The data provided on the columns show the points the students obtained at each of the three test items.

In the first test item 86.66% (26 out of the 30 students in the class) arranged the paragraphs of the letter in the correct order and wrote adequate names. However, only 4 students (13%) wrote proper salutation remarks at the beginning and especially at the end.

Table 2- The students’ results in the 1st item of the Initial Test

In the second test item, which was intended to test the students' knowledge on the paragraph content of the newspaper articles, 13 (43.33%) students managed to match the beginning paragraphs and the ending paragraphs correctly and add suitable headlines, 4 students (13%) wrote only two suitable headlines. No student in the class wrote no headline or only one headline.

Table 3- The students’ results in the 2nd item of the Initial Test

At the third test item, which was intended to test the students' knowledge on content, vocabulary, grammar and test organization of an opinion essay, 11 students (36.66%) had a strong central idea related to the assignment, a clear and logical organization with developed major points, used appropriate words, and had only few grammatical errors that did not distract from the overall message, the arguments and examples were not supporting the ideas very well, some sentences tend to be less sophisticated. 9 students (30%) expressed their opinion in a general way without a clear organization of the text, although the sentences were correct they tended to be too simplistic, there were one or two important grammar errors. 10 students (33.33%) have no personal opinion stated and no clear and logical organization, the ideas had no arguments to support it, the vocabulary seemed rather poor. There was no student to fail the assignment completely and write anything.

Table 4- The students’ results in the 3rd item of the Initial Test

Table 5 – Chart on the students’ marks in the Initial Test

Following the analysis of the students' marks:

– no student got marks between 9 and 10;

– 4 students got marks between 8 and 8.99;

– 7 students got marks between 7-7.99;

– most students, 11 out of 30, got marks between 6-6.99;

– 8 students got marks below 6;

– the average of the class following the initial test was: 6.60.

Having analyzed the results in the inital test, we may conclude that although the students are familiar with the structure and content of the letters and the newspaper articles, they are still insecure about the text cohesion and coherence, they lack creativity and practice in establishing headlines according to the paragraph content, they do not master the techniques to write an opinion essay in spite of the culturally and socially known topic.

2). The stage of the formative evaluation

At this stage, I designed lesson plans based on the Internet-based authentic materials such as magazine articles, various types of letters, newspaper articles, reports on sports and weather, film or book reviews as a supplement to the textbook "PROSPECTS, ADVANCED LEVEL". In addition, I asked the students to select online articles from newspapers, advertisements to various products, letters of application/invitation/complaint to read in the classes, travel brochures and to include them in their e-portfolio. What really pleased me was the fact they did it in a very short time using a variety of sources, they exchanged information on the best and richest websites, they even came up with ideas on what type of written practice to do and on kind of materials to use. Some of their internet-based materials were used during the classes for analysis.

After sets of classroom activities based on internet materials, I evaluated my students’ writing skills by applying the methods of product analysis and process analysis as well as the observational method.

The items were of objective as well as semi-objective type and were intended to assess:

– Writing communication skills;

– Text organization;

– Content knowledge;

– Vocabulary adequacy

– Grammar mastery .

Although the students were not given a written test, the outcome indicated a small progress in creativity, higher motivation and involvement in the class, and better writing knowledge and skills. Some of the students' products were attached in the annexes.

3). The stage of the final evaluation

At this stage of evaluation of the students' writing skill improvement following authentic materials found on the Internet I used similar exercises as in stage of the Initial evaluation . Before the final test, we reviewed important aspects related to writing stories, articles, advertisements, letters and essays. Accordingly, we revised writing techniques, sequencing words, paragraph planning, features of good or bad essay, story, factual report or articles.

In terms of topics, the girlstudents said they has a thing for fashion, healthy food, makeup tricks, how to keep fit, entertainment while the boystudents preferred topics related to cars, sports, tech, and the film industry.

The final test (the June test)

ex.1 Read the following advantage and disadvantage essay and then decide on the right topic, and write the disadvantages related to family issues, cultural problems, language barriers. (3 points)

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

These days many people choose to live or work in other countries, which has been made possible because of the convenience of air travel and modern communications. I believe that this has more benefits than drawbacks. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Despite this, there are significant advantages it can bring to people’s lives. Firstly, it means that people have the opportunity to see other parts of the world and the way people live. For example, people from the West often go to work in Asia or the Middle East and visa-versa. This enriches many people’s lives as they get to learn about other languages, traditions, cultures and different ways of working from their own country.

In addition to this, on a wider level it may also benefit other countries. If someone moves abroad for work, it is usually because their skill is required there. To illustrate, nurses and doctors often move to work in hospitals in other countries when there is a shortage, so this is very valuable to the place they move to.

I would therefore argue that although there are disadvantages of the current trend to live and work abroad, they are outweighed by the advantages. It can enrich people’s lives and lives of the people in the countries that they move to.

Figure 19. Retrieved from: http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/skills/writing-skills-practice/and-against-essay

ex.2 Match the beginnings with the endings. Then, identify the style and the type of letter. Write the correct ending in the gaps. (3 points)

Beginnings:

Endings:

E.A. Dinner and dancing will follow at 7:30 p.m. at the Riverfront Country Club, 999 Posh Street, Centerville, Kansas.

E.B. To receive this goodwill package, please visit vwdieselinfo.com and enter your VIN number.

E.C. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss matters further and to learn of how you propose to prevent a similar situation from recurring. I look forward to hearing from you.

E.D. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me and I will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

E.E. You have built a magnificent business since I first joined 52 years ago and it has been an honor making my contribution.

ex.3. Write a story based on the following picture: Use 180-250 words.(4 points)

Figure 20. Retrieved from www.twinkl.co.uk .

Table 6 – The students’ results in the final test

The analysis of the final test results indicates the following:

– The average was: 8.77;

– The students scored 263.20 points out of 300.00

At the first test item, 9 students out of 30, which means 30%, developed the three disadvantages and wrote the topic correctly, 20 students out of 30, which means 66.67% referred to only two disadvantages, and the rest of them, that is 1 student referred to only 1 disadvantage. There was no student who did not write any disadvantage.

Table 7 – The students’ results in the 1st item of the Final Test

In the second item, 23students (76.67%) got the highest score (3.00) and the rest of the students did not quessed the style of one of the letters correctly.

Table 8 – The students’ results in the 2nd item of the Final Test

In the third test item, 3 students (10%) got the highest score (4.00), 7 students (23.33%) had two minor grammar errors and one spelling mistake, and only one of them did not use linking words correctly and had several spelling mistakes and three grammar errors.

Table 9 – The students’ results in the 3rd item of the Final Test

Table 10 – Chart on the students’ marks in the Final Test

Figure 21 – Pie chart with the students’ results in the Final Test

Following the analysis of the students' marks:

– 12 students got marks between 9 and 10;

– 15 students got marks between 8 and 8.99;

– 3 students got marks between 7-7.99;

– no student got marks below 7;

– the average of the class following the final test was: 8.77.

Having analyzed the results in the final test we may conclude that although the students still have some grammar structure misuse, they have improved consistenly their abilities to plan, draft, organize, edit the various pieces of writing such as letters, stories, essays, articles, advertisements proving that approaching the writing skill with authentic materials which can be found on the Internet can be stimulating and procedural turn-point as school activity. At the end of the study, the students suggested using the Internet even more extensively in the following school year when they have to take the national highschool graduation examination and prove all the four skills development.

IV.5 The presentation of the final test results.

Table 11: The Students' Results in the Two Tests

The data in the table above shows that the average percentage of increase in the writing performance is 2.17%. All the students succeeded in scoring better in the final test than in the initial test, showing a rewarding progress. There were no students who registered diminished writing skills.

Table 12 – Chart with the average tests results

The chart above presents the average of each of the two tests. A first-sight analysis of the data in the table shows the students' progress, which means that the hypothesis was correct.

Figure 22 – The frequency polygon with the students’ results in the 2 tests

IV.5.1 THE ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF THE TEST RESULTS

The tables and figures above helped us compare the results the students got at the Initial test and the Final test and represented useful tools in drawing the conclusion of the research:

– all the students have made visible progress since the average of the marks in the Initial Test was 6.60 and the average of the marks in the Final Test was 8.77;

– the 30 students in the 11th C grade have developed their writing skills, as we can see by comparing the marks they got in the Initial Test and in the Final Test;

– all the students developed the writing communication skills as indicated by the results they got in the two tests in all the three test items, which were intended to check the students’ level of writing communication skills;

– the 30 students developed detailed paragraph organization techniques as indicated by the results in the two tests in item 1, which was designed to check the student’s level of organizing the paragraphs in letters or essays;

– the students have enhanced creativity by writing stories or essays based on pictures or phrases used as prompts, which is reflected in the two test in the test item number 3 which was intended to check the students' level of creativity as well as their vocabulary acquisition and grammar structure mastery ;

– the progress made by the students in the writing skill as well as in the adjacent sub-skills such as motivation, creativity, and critical thinking is due to the introduction of Internet-based authentic materials in the classroom activities.

This paper is organized in two distinct parts: the theoretical part and the practical one. The theoretical part was dealt with in the two chapters introduces the debateful definitions of the authentic materials and the way they can be used to improve all the four language skills, reading, speaking, listening and writing. The second chapter dealt with the theoretical approaches to using the authentic materials, and the computer- related tools, techniques, examples of authentic materials to be used in the classroom activities as opposed to media-based authentic materials. based on and the influence they cast on language apprehension theories and practice as well as an introduction of writing skill-related elements, and assessment methods and finally explores the assessment approaches the teachers can use to develop writing skills.

Given the arguments previously mentioned, we can establish that the hypothesis of the research that the students developed their writing communication skills through Internet-based authentic materials was verified. Thus, we further suggest the use of Internet-based authentic materials in the English classes because the students salute the idea of working with these authentic texts which are available on the Internet. Another reason for which teacher should use Internet-based authentic materials in the classroom is the fact that they are a real support for the students who look forward to developing writing skills through the use of modern internet tools and gadgets, which can facilitates the real world un-faked language apprehension which is extremely important for the students who are willing to go to university, to work and live abroad or to travel worldwide. Being able to communicate in a foreign language, especially in English, the present lingua franca, means to be fit for a competitive labour market, and to find out more of your own and others 'cultural background.

The students have come to understand that knowing English is vital to make use of an ever- evolving technology and elevate their creativity and communication and raise their standards of life.

After all, what is the purpose of learning a language if you cannot communicate in it with all possible skills and sub-skills!

V. FINAL CONCLUSIONS

This paper is organized in two distinct parts: the theoretical part and the practical one. The theoretical part was dealt with in the two chapters introduces the debateful definitions of the authentic materials and the way they can be used to improve all the four language skills, reading, speaking, listening and writing.

The second chapter dealt with the theoretical approaches to using the authentic materials, and the computer- related tools, techniques, examples of authentic materials to be used in the classroom activities as opposed to media-based authentic materials, and the influence they cast on language apprehension theories and practice as well as an introduction of writing skill-related elements, and assessment methods and finally explores the assessment approaches the teachers can use to develop writing skills.

I have also gathered and analyzed authentic materials from the Internet and gave examples of the way in which the teacher can use them in the class in the third chapter. The teacher's role is also pointed out although I have tried to pinpoint activities which could be more student-centered.

The list of examples includes both lesson plans which can be used to develop other skills than the writing one but also ones which can be used for this skill particularly such as newspaper and magazine articles, travel brochures, advertisements and even post from newpapers. I have also suggested classroom activities by giving a short summary of the way to use that material in class to develop the writing skill.

The research data have been presented in the practical part in the chapters III and IV. The research was conducted on the students from the 11th grade C from Colegiul Tehnic “Petru Poni” in Roman, during the school year 2015-2016. I have applied the testing method, analyzed and interpreted the students' results in the Initial Test and then the Final test. The students however, have been monitored all through the school year as they had to write several pieces of writing and compile personal portfolios.

In the end, I concluded that the hypothesis according to which the students developed their writing communication skills was confirmed. Their better writing skill and knowledge about content, vocabulary, grammar structure and style has been obvious at the first item of the final test.

The students’ results in the second item of the final test proved that they have developed their knowledge about the difference in style and type of letters which is due to using authentic materials from the Internet as much as possible. I also noticed that the students have expanded their interest in the variety of topics as in the beginning their "taste" were very rigid.

The students’ results in the third item of the final test showed the fact that the students have enhanced their writing communication skills as well as their motivation to communicate their personal experiences or plans in writing, their critical thinking.

Using the observation method, the method of analyzing ‘the products’ and the method of analyzing the "process" of the school activities, I inferred that the students became better writers, managing to write a wider range of pieces of writing at a higher speed, and more accurately towards the end of the school year.

Developing writing skills through Internet-based authentic materials can become a successful activity if the teachers will:

– try to motivate the students to learn the foreign language;

– allow students to use the Internet materials and the specific tools in order to get ideas, analyze them and incorporate them in their own writings;

– try to find a way to display the students' products either at the school on a board and in the school magazine or in other typical publications.

– organize sessions of communications of the students' writings;

– design motivational classroom activities based on Internet- materials;

– encourage students to express their opinions on the events and situations;

– approve the solutions they provide to problems,

– give them real world assignments such as writing letters of applications or letters of apology to a friend;

– organize ‘virtual’ trips to places they would like to visit or introduce people they would like to meet;

– organize writing competitions and workshops;

– teach students the importance of developing writing skills.

To conclude, developing the students' writing skills through Internet-based authentic materials is a rewarding challenge for both the teachers and the students and which can lead to positive outcomes for the teachers of EFL.

APPENDIX

LESSON PLAN No.1

Date of Presentation: April 13th 2016

Estimated Time of Lesson: 50 minutes

Students' level: (Advanced)

Type of lesson: Grammar

Teaching Point: Wish/ if Only / Regret + vb-ing

Pre-entry Performance: Students have learnt

– the irregular verbs

– The Past Perfect Tense Simple

– the paragraph planning for descriptions

MATERIALS: – the coursebook "Prospects. Advanced",ED. MACMILLAN; Laptop; flipchart, handouts

LESSON AIM:

– to present and practise wish/ if only and regrets about past situations

– to provide fluency practice on the subject of expressing regrets

PERSONAL AIMS:

– to think how to stage a lesson in detail

– to introduce the subject of the lesson

– to analyze target grammar on the lesson plan

– to give clear instructions, hand-outs and graded language

– to make sure all the students participate

– to reduce TTT (Teacher Talking Time) , increase STT

Anticipated learner difficulties:

– unusual grammar rules

– different levels within the group

-while writing in pairs students may fail to use target grammar or do so incorrectly

PROCEDURE

STAGE 1 – INTRODUCE THE TOPIC. 6 MINUTES

Teacher brainstorms students about what they, in general, have regrets. He starts by giving examples such as better marks, more computer games, a new bike, ….. and then elicits other examples and writes them on the blackboard.

STAGE 2 – PRESENT GRAMMAR STRUCTURE- 8 MINUTES.

2. Teacher introduces the grammar structure by presenting the material on the PowerPoint slides.

Teacher invites students to read the examples and asks questions to check students' understanding. Then, they come in front of the classroom and match the sentences to the situations on the flipchart.

STAGE 3 – CONTROLLED PRACTICE – 6 MINUTES

To provide accuracy practice Teacher gives the handouts to students A and B. (situations and regrets). Students are asked to work in pairs and solve ex.2 in writing . Student A needs to read the situation and student B reads the regret. Each has to fill in the gaps on his/her page. The activity is followed by an oral feedback.

STAGE 4 – FURTHER CONTROLLED PRACTICE- 8 MINUTES

Students solve ex. 3, individually. Then, they are asked to check with their partner. Teacher elicits the answers and students, in turn, come to the BB and write the solution.

STAGE 5- FREER PRACTICE – 12 minutes.

Teacher provides a context through start practising the structure individually. The students watch the 4 – minute movie segment. Then they need to write at least 3 regrets the man may have. Before feedback, students will watch the movie again. Students come to the BB. Having watched the video students are asked to complete the captions on the flipchart with the man's regrets . Teacher might help them by asking questions like: Did he have a good relationship with his father? What did he want to change? – Is the scene about the past, present or future? Can he change his past? Why (not)?

e.g. He wishes he had accepted his father's invitation. or

He wishes he had looked at his father.

Teacher asks students to write a list of 3 things they did recently and which they are sorry about. Students need to use wish/ if only+ Past Perfect and regret+ verb-ing. An example is provided.

example: My friends persuaded me to have my hair cut. I wish I hadn't listened to them.

STAGE 7- HOMEWORK . 4 MINUTES

Students are asked to write a paragraph in which to describe a past event or a situation which they regret. Use 70- 100 words.

Students' Worksheets

A. Student's Worksheet

ex.1 I wish I had….

a. studied harder 1. business situations

b. bought the house

c. called her 2. personal situations

d. quoted a better price

e. gone to the concert 3. social situations

f. booked the room

ex.2 Match the situations to the regrets:

A. SITUATIONSPartea superioară a machetei

1. I miss my friend. …………………………………………………………………………

2. Partea inferioară a machetei

My hair has always been short. ……………………………………………………………………………….

3. My brother's always waking me up. ………………………………………………………………………….

4. I don't know where my girlfriend is. ………………………………………………………………………

5. I didn't know my friend was depressed. ……………………………………………………………………

6. We don't earn a lot of money…………………………………………………………………….

7. My cousins are always at our house. ……………………………………………………………………

8. My sister has been going out with her boyfriend for years……………………………………………….

ex.3 Rewrite the sentences to express regret.

example: 1. He wishes he hadn't missed the horror film.

1. My brother is really sorry he missed the horror film. He wishes……..

2. I stayed up last night. I regret it now.

If only ………………………………………………………………

3. It was a bad idea to sleep on the floor! My back is really hurting!

I regret ………………………………………………………………..

4. Margaret left the window open and her desk got wet.

She wishes ………………………………………………………………………….

5. Why didn't you tell me about the exam? I didn't study for it!

If only you ……………………………………………….

6. Jim's parents bought him an electric guitar. They regret it now.

They regret …………………………………………………………….

ex.4 What are his regrets?

He wishes he had ………………………….

If only he ………………………………..

He regrets …………………………………….

ex.5 Write a list of 3 things you did recently and which you are sorry about. Write sentences using wish/ if only+ Past Perfect and regret+ verb-ing.

example: My friends persuaded me to have my hair cut.

I wish I hadn't listened to them.

ex.6 Homework. Students are asked to write a paragraph in which to describe a past event or a situation which they regret. Use 70- 100 words.Use wish/ if only+ Past Perfect and regret+ verb-ing.

B. STUDENT'S WORKSHEET

ex.1 I wish I had….

a. studied harder 1. business situations

b. bought the house

c. called her 2. personal situations

d. quoted a better price

e. gone to the concert 3. social situations

f. booked the room

ex.2 Match the situations with the regrets:

B. REGRETS. Partea superioară a machetei

1. ……………………………………………………………

I wish he hadn't moved town.

2. Partea inferioară a machetei

………………………………………………………………………..

I wish I had had long hair.

3. …………………………………………………………………….

If only he hadn't made so much noise.

4……………………………………………………………………..

I regret arguing with her.

5. …………………………………………………………………………………

I wish she had told me.

6. ………………………………………………………………..

If only we had been rich.

7. ……………………………………………………………………………..

I regret being out of work.

8. …………………………………………………………………………………..

I wish they had got married.

ex.3 Rewrite the sentences to express regret.

example: 1. He wishes he hadn't missed the horror film.

1. My brother is really sorry he missed the horror film. He wishes……..

2. I stayed up last night. I regret it now.

If only ………………………………………………………………

3. It was a bad idea to sleep on the floor! My back is really hurting!

I regret ………………………………………………………………..

4. Margaret left the window open and her desk got wet.

She wishes ………………………………………………………………………….

5. Why didn't you tell me about the exam? I didn't study for it!

If only ………………………………………………..

6. Jim's parents bought him an electric guitar. They regret it now.

They regret …………………………………………………………….

ex.4 What are his regrets?

He wishes he had …………………………………..

If only he ………………………………………..

He regrets ………………………………………….

ex.5 Write a list of 3 things you did recently and which you are sorry about. Write sentences using wish/ if only+ Past Perfect and regret+ verb-ing.

example: My friends persuaded me to have my hair cut.

I wish I hadn't listened to them.

ex.6 Homework. Students are asked to write a paragraph in which to describe a past event or a situation which they regret. Use 70- 100 words.Use wish/ if only+ Past Perfect and regret+ verb-ing.

Lesson Plan No.2

Date of Presentation: March 15th 2016

Estimated Time of Lesson: 50 minutes

Number of students: 30

Class: a XI a (ADVANCED level)

Title of the lesson: Ancient Civilizations (THE SEVEN WONDERS OF THE ANCINET

WORLD)

Textbook: PROSPECTS, STUDENT'S BOOK, ADVANCED. ed. MACMILLAN

Type of Lesson : Project Evaluation (post-unit lesson)

Pre-entry Performance: Students have decided, discussed and defined the aims of their project.

LANGUAGE SKILLS:

Writing- productive skill

Reading- receptive skill

GENERAL AIMS:

to keep the pupils’ interest on the ancient civilizations

to improve the students’ organizational, creativity, and synthesis skills

to develop communication and group-work abilities

to enhance students' writing skill

to make students use their previous knowledge

SPECIFIC AIMS:

– by the end of the lesson:

students will be able to speak on any of the wonders of the ancient world

students will be able to use the information to look for and discover new things related to antiquity

students will be able to compare and contrast information and layouts

students should perceive more accurately the oral and written messages given by the teacher and their classmates

TEACHING TECHNIQUES:

Conversation

Questions and answers

Discussion

ORGANIZATION OF THE CLASS: lockstep, group – work, individual work,

Materials: textbook, flipchart , blackboard, overhead projector for the presentations. notebooks

PROCEDURE

STAGE 1: CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT.

The aim is to group students for the next activities (in terms of placement and order)

STAGE 2: FOLLOW UP ACTIVITIES. PAGE. 85

The aim is to check their opinion on the theories about ancient civilizations.

STAGE 3: PROJECT EVALUATION. 40 minutes

Teacher invites students in front of the classroom to present their written projects on the "7 Wonders of the

Ancient World"

STAGE 4: DISCUSSION ON THEIR PRESENTATIONS. 5 MINUTES.

After the presentation, students write their names on the poster, next to the name of the project.

Teacher speaks about their strong and bad points and marks them. The evaluation grid contains as follows:

THE LIGHTHOUSE OF ALEXANDRIA Mausoleum at Halicarnassus

LESSON PLAN No3.

Date of Presentation: April 15th 2016

Estimated Time of Lesson: 50 minutes

Class level: a XIa – (advanced)

Number of students: 30

Teaching Point: "Used to" vs "Would" for past habits

Type of Lesson : Lesson of fixation of knowledge and

of developing mixed skills and abilities

Pre-entry Performance: Students have understood the use of used to/would.

Performance Objectives: Content :

Students will know that used to and would are very similar.

Students will be able to use used to for states and actions while would cannot express states.

Students will be able to use them in various contexts to practise writing skills.

TEACHING TECHNIQUES:

Conversation

Questions and answers

Discussion

Materials: Blackboard, worksheets

PROCEDURES: TEACHER AND STUDENT ACTIVITIES

STAGE 1- Homework checking. 4 minutes

Teacher checks homework. How Miles used to look like before and after the plastic

surgery.

Students read the sentences in loud voice. Only three of them are written on BB.

STAGE 2- CHECKING GRAMMAR COMPREHENSION- 6 minutes

a. Teacher asks questions to check the theoretical knowledge.

e.g. Can we say "I would like icecream but now I don't." or

She used to live in Spain.

b. Then, teacher gives the students handouts. Students, working in pairs, identify the mistakes in each sentence at ex 1 on the handout.

As feedback, students read in loud voice the mistakes they have identified and explain why.

c. Students solve ex. 2 on handouts. The exercise is meant to further introduce the topic of dwelling space.

Feedback. Students, in turns, read the sentences.

STAGE 3 – INTRODUCE THE TOPIC – "HOUSE MAKEOVER" 6 minutes

Teacher elicits students house items they would change in their house "for a change". Teacher starts by saying that tastes change over the years and new more pleasant things appear: differently coloured curtains or futuristic ball-like/rattan/ fabric armchairs.

STAGE 4- WRITING STAGES.

1. Pre- writing. 6 minutes.

Students watch a video without sound of a house before and after the renovations. In pairs, they are asked to guess the missing words from the worksheet after watching the video. Teacher elicits their answers.

While-writing. 8 minutes

Then students are asked to write paragraphs to compare and contrast the way the house looked before ans after the makeover. Five comparisons are written on the BB.

Post-writing. 10 minutes

Teacher organizes the students into groups. They are asked to write their opinion on the changes they would have done. The questions on the handout are meant to help:

What things will you keep? What will you replace?

What style of decoration will you choose- oriental/ traditional/ futuristic/ patterned?

What colour will you choose for walls, curtains and floor covering?

FEEDBACK. Their opinions are elicited and the most interesting are written on the BB.

6 minutes

STAGE 5. HOMEWORK. 4 minutes

Students are asked to describe their your room and then tell what thing in the room they would change if they could. Use between 80 -100 words.

Before after

STUDENTS' PRODUCTS:

No1. Student's essay of opinion.

No.2 Student's advertisement

(p.1)

(p.2)

No.3 Student's story

What if I were Harry Potter…………?

I recently read about Harry Potter’s adventures. Someone brought me the book and I started to search information about it.

At the beginning I was pretty much confused how the epical plot can catch my attention, but soon after I read the first 10 pages of the story, everything started to become more fascinating for the character.

The story of Harry Potter and the need to fix his magical formulas made me imagine how I would act if I were in his place! That wasn’t the only thing I fancied. I also started to wonder what I would change around myself if I had Harry's magic skills.

So, one of my favorite incantation from Hogwarts it is called reparo. This spells are often named in Latin, a worldwide language for magical spells and witchery. The spell is used to repair things (not only material stuff, but also spiritual matters). I think that one of the things I would do with this spell would be to repair my grandma’s health and make her live as long as possible, because she is one of the key figures in my life. Another thing that I would repair with it would be to repair a house which burned down to ashes and which belonged to an old lady from my village. Now she has no place to live and she is at the villagers' mercy who help her overcome her tragedy.

Another spell is Expelliarmus. This one can be used to disenchant other spells or curses and also to unarm the weapons. If I were Harry Potter I would use it to protect innocent people, those who can’t defend themselves and also to disarm those who are building weapons of mass destructions. I think that the world would be a better place without bombs, guns, military equipments and so on.

I also like the Accio spell. This one can be used to bring remote objects close to you. If I were Harry, I would use it to get some of the nice fancy clothes the western celebrities possess. I know that this sounds selfish and probably it is, but I have to think at my own good, too!

Obliviate is one spell that can make people forget things. When you say the spell, you think at something you want to be forgotten. If I were Harry, I would definitely use it to make my friends forget all the tragedies they have experienced along their life. This time, I would definitely not use the spell for selfish interest. I do not think that it is normal to take advantage of someone because you have the skills and the ability to do it.

Stupefy is one spell from Hogwarts school and which is used to stop other spells or fight them. If I were Harry, I would use it to defend helpless people in an extrasensory manner. I mean those who do not know about this reality and those who are affected by the usage of witchery and magic without knowing that.

Beyond all this theoretical spells, I would use all my powers and abilities to make people understand how important it is to live in peaceful times and to make a spell which I would use especially for this matter. That spell will also need to make people conscious of the necessity to protect nature. Realizing how important it is to protect nature from the mean acts could help humanity continue developing a healthy way of living.

No 4.Student's story

Harry Potter will always fascinate us because he is the symbol of the most searing human aspirations- to have access to miracles, to magical forces. After reading Harry Potter's book, I started to wonder, what it would be to have special powers and what extraordinary things I would do and how the world arranged by me would look like. I guess it would be great and colorful: children would have all the sweets they want, flowers could dance, animals could speak, there would be no old age and cartoons would come to life.

One night, I found myself aboard the biggest and fastest ship in the history in which I sailed over the seas and oceans. Every time I wished something I was just saying the magic words Abracadabra and Hocus Pocus!.

From time to time I was returning to shore. In Switzerland I had a huge, white castle surrounded by mountains and forests. The music’s room was the special place in my castle. It was a chamber filled with all sorts of musical instruments that I would be playing every day. Other special rooms were: the confectionery, the toys’ room, dresses’ room, hats’ room, fruits’ room, jewelry room, paintings room and slides room. The entire castle was lighted by huge and glamorous chandeliers. The atmosphere was cheered all the time by symphonies that Mozart himself was playing for me. In the garden there were a lot of trees and flowers, fountains, statuary, seesaws and all sorts of animals.

At one point I teleported myself to an exotic jungle and then on a golden beach where I lied all day long. Suddenly I saw an infinite ladder to the sky, cushioned with a soft velvet carpet. A staircase that was passing through the clouds and rose higher and higher. When I felt like flying, I simply brought out my magical wings and flew away with pigeons and colorful dragons by my side. At night, I chose the largest and fluffiest white cloud to sleep on.

In the end I met a funny and party crew who took me on their ship. A wise man said to me: “Always be yourself! If you can be a pirate- then always be a pirate! This is freedom. That’s what a ship is, you know. It’s not just a keel and hull and a deck and sails. That’s what a ship needs. But what a ship really is… is freedom! Do you savvy? "

After that, the whole planet seemed regenerated: all the futilities disappeared and there were more plants and animals. People were more decent. They were dressed like during the Victorian era, decent and stylish: with dresses, coats, soft shirts, hats, gloves and so on. The entire world had turned into a fairytale world, where the impossible became possible and all the people were equal, smart, beautiful, kind, healthy and happy.

What a pity that morning came and my dream stopped! Whenever I remember my dreams, I always turn them into stories. But dreams are like life. You can’t catch it with your hands because you can’t catch something you don’t really see. If you believe in your dreams, you can be sure that any force- tornado, volcano eruption or typhoon winds, will not be able to knock you out of love; because love exists on its own.

No.5 Student's story:

Write a story based on one of the Halloween symbols: witches, Jack-o-Lantern, ghosts, etc.

Witches are some of the most known and the scariest Halloween characters.

In my story I will tell you about Helga,the Witch, She is a malign being who invents a lot of magic potions and enchantments her mysterious room. The house is dark, low beam-ceilinged and earthen. It is a house for a lot of giant tarantulas, fluffy rats and also for scorpions,skeletons, snakes andfrighteningscavengers. Helga has a magical globe into which she looks and amuses herself whenever she sees somebody frightened or in danger. The whiskers of her black cat tickle pink whilemolly- cuddling around the witch whenever feels the witch is hideously happy.The fearful Helga is not only wicked and jealous, but also angry, foxy and pessimist. She has black, bushy hair with thick grizzles locks. Her face is wrinkly and has a lot of wounds made by the animals she has experimented on. Her eyes are green and swollen, cracked by red and violet veins, with deep wrinkled bags hanging under them. Her lips are big, red and wry and the yellow and decayed teeth arise at the corners of the mouth. Her nose is big and snub and there is a hirsute reddish mole on its top. Her pale hands have a lot of burns from the poisons and spells. Her slender and short legs are barely dragging on the old and stiff floor. Her body is thin and covered bys loppymoth-eaten clothes. The green dress is dirty and partially torn. The mantle on her back is lined with pelt and the tapering hat stays tight on her round head. In her feet she has a pair of big vaulted overshoes, in the ears she wears huge candelabrum earrings and numerous colorful and bright frills hang down around her neck.

Could it be possible for our witch to be unsociable? No way! In the full moon nights she changes completely her look, transforming herself into a beautiful rosy-smelling young lady and goes out for a ride on her bushy broom. She hovers over the yowls of the wolves, hoots and frog symphonies. Boo!!! Even if it sounds frightening, Helga feels like a queen hunting in such an environment. When she lands, she allures the most beautiful girls and boys whose fate she decides afterwards. If somebody falls in her trap, Helga throws spells upon them, so the young man will always be in love with her while the young lady becomes her best friend. If her friends or boyfriends err or betray her in any way, Helga enslaves them in her den or she turns them into dumbs. Here comes the question: How can you avoid her? Don’t worry! You can recognize Helga by the flash of malice in her eyes and the malefic smirk. If one day you’ll meet Helga the witch, run as fast as you can! Because she is evil and she will seduce you taking your fate in her hands!

No.6.

HALLOWEEN STORY

It's Halloween, Emily and her friend Jessica are going today to a Halloween party. They are a little scared because the party is in a cemetery and they believe in ghosts. At the entry of the cemetery the girls becomes restless because they don't see anyone inside, but they enter anyway. They start walking between the graves, but they start hearing noises behind them so they became scared. They got closer to a tomb, and because they were curious they went inside and saw a coffin, they got closer and opened it, inside was a letter.

“To the one who opened the coffin,

I want to tell you that you have just 10 days to live. Are to wondering why? Because it's funny and I have a lot of free time, so see you in a couple of days. So Emily and Jessica see you in 10 days ".

You're killer.

P.S. Don't throw their letter if you don't to meet me sooner.

– Very funny guys, screams Emily, but if you want to scare as you have to try better than this. Let's go Jessy.

– But Emily, what if isn't a joke?

– If is not a joke then what, a real real killer will show up.!? Then let's throw the letter and see if he kills one of as.

– I don't want to do this I'm going home, says Jessica with tears in her eyes. I'm going home.

– You are like a scared cat, who runs with her tail between her legs. FINE GO HOME, BUT DO NOT EVER TALK TO ME AGAIN, says Emily screaming upset at Jessica who was leaving. I'm going to throw this stupid letter. I THROWEN YOUR STUPID LETTER SO COME TO KILL ME.

So 2 days has passed and Emily and Jessica hadn't talked to each other . Jessica is scared that the killer will show up and kill ker, so she doesn't talk with Emily.

Late at night Jessica gets a phone call with unknown number so she doesn't answer. The phone keeps ringing for 2 consecutive night's at the same hour 11:00. In the fifth night the phone didn't ring but she hear knocks at front door, and she became restless and hide under the bed, she was more scared because her parents weren't home(they were working until morning) . The knocking kept going and becoming louder and louder, until it stopped and everything became quite, she thought that everything is over, until the knocks begin at her window until it broke, she start to silent cry, the guy entered in the house and start searching for something. Jessica waits under the bed until she doesn't hear anything anymore upstairs. She waits in the dark listening to the noises that the thief(that she thinks it was) makes downstairs, until she doesn't hear anything anymore. She listens to the darkens and keeping hear breath in case of anything. She was so scared thinking that whoever was in the house could be still there waiting for her downstairs. She was contemplating whatever to take the run or not. She didn't even get to make her thoughts when she start hearing footsteps who were coming from the stairs and getting closer to her room. The door started to open and a rough voice started:

"Jessica come out from whenever you are, says the voice, you know you can't hide for long. Don't be like your friend Emily and i will kill you more faster so you can't suffer like your friend. If you guys didn't throw the letter maybe we wouldn't need to meet. You girls should listen. Now let's see where are you hiding. "

Emily was so scared thinking what could happened to Emily in this couples of days, but she was even more scared that it's her turn and the killer was right next to her bed and her live could end anytime. So she thought rather than dying like a coward, will be better to run downstairs and maybe if she is lucky enough will escape. So she start trying to go to the opposite part of the bed to take the run. She got out from under the bed and tries to run, but…

"Where do you think are you running, says the killer closing the door, I was very curious when will you get out from there, it was fun watching you. Now let's get to business, show we?, says him laughing. "

Jessica collapse right in front of him, and starts crying and screaming

" WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME? WHAT HAVE I EVER DONE TO YOU? I, i…. don't even know you. "

" What do you think i want from you? I give you three chances to guess, if you guess right we will never meet again, but… if you guess wrong you my darling(passing his hand throughout her hair) you will end up like your dear friend. But because it's not funny enough for me let me add something more, if you guess right I will give your friend Emily alive, is she still is, but if you guess wrong, two days later you guys will be on the TV, says him laughing.

Jessica stares at him, but couldn't see his face just it's cold eyes, but she could get just one feature from him, his scar on the hand. It was a very different scar, it wasn't a bite or a cut, it was like a drawing. A beautiful drawing. She start thinking what if she couldn't get the right answer, but she could stall some time until her parents get home.

"So i will give thirty minutes to answer so will better answer, if you can't answer in thirty minutes you know what will happen, but first let's get downstairs i have a surprise for you, says with a smirk on a face"

He grabs her and pulls her forcefully downstairs. There, on the table were some tools and a body, she took a closer look and it was a Emily body.

"Is she dead?"says with tears in hear eyes.

"Not yet, but she will be sooner or later. Now let's the game, but i will make it more interesting, for every wrong answer your friend will get a small wound, if you answer right you will get to live and she will die. Now tell me why i want to kill you? "

Jessica looks at the table and at her friend. She couldn't stop her crying until she heard this.

" It's ok, it is my fault for this so don't cry you scared cat, says in a small voice Emily, just do what you need to do. "

Jessica cries and cries until someone grabs her hair, pulls her next to the table.

"ten minutes run out, your friend will suffer, now chose where do you want to put this knife in." He puts the knife into her hand and then in a split of a second Jessica stabs him and run to the front door, but to her misfortune the door was closed, so she tried to run to the kitchen to the backyard. The killer was trying to catch her but because of the pain couldn't, so he decided rather than run after her he should have some fun with her friend. He got closer to the table and took the knife and stabbed her a couples of times. And the end he said to her before she took her last breath.

"Who told to answer the party invitation from a stranger?, says him laughing.

" Because i know who are you, says Emily coughing, because of that i came.

Jessica runned until her legs gave in and a patrol of police stopped her. She started crying and telling them everything that happened. The cops told her to take them to the house and when they got there the house was on fire and the killer was smiling from inside at them. And in her surprise Emily body was outside of the house, still breathing, with a letter.

" We will meet again, since then i will give a gift for escaping from me. Take care of care until my return. "

Since then have passed 4 years, Jessica and Emily moved to different cities, and haven't talked to each other, but they still text once a week.

No.7

Write an essay of opinion, on the following statement:"Old and young family members should live together in the same house."Use arguments and examples to support your opinion. Use between 180 – 250 words.

In my opinion, it is rather difficult to live with the older members of our family in the same house. There are many reasons which influence this decision.

First of all, lately, people have put great emphasis on professional success, mainly on activities that bring a bigger profit. But this is more often implemented on the young members by their parents who live under the impression that we will create a better future. The old generation no longer offer the youngsters the chance to choose what they want and lead to a degradation of the relationship between generations. How did it happen? In my opinion, people do not know how to communicate any longer. The young people's desires are not fully understood and in this way, we cannot learn much more from each other. If people had communicated better, our living together would be much easier.

Secondly, we wonder what and whether the young generation can learn from the old family members. Well, the main characteristic of the young members of a family is the libertine spirit, the attempt to give up prejudices. Why must we follow a pattern ? Why can't we take decision for ourselves? In our society, we need variety, people with a vast horizon of thoughts and ideas, who can make a change. We can be happier doing what we like, as we like it.

To conclude, I partly agree with the statement. Young members can live with the old members of the family in the same house if the old members understand that they need to open to new ideas and change things. The young members need to have patience if they choose to live with the old members of their family because after all different generations in the same house can create a medium full of variety which can bring benefits to all.

Essay grading scale.

a. Content. ………………………………………………………………………10 points

– the text is adequate to the elicited type of text ………………………………………………3 points

– the suggested number of words is observed ………………………………………………… 2 points

– the text contains arguments in favour or against the presented opinions ………… 5 points

b. The organization of the text ………………………………………….10 points.

– has effective linking words to create cohesion and coherence ……………5 points

– has a clear, logical organization with well developed paragraphs . …. 5 points

c. Grammar ………………………………………………………………….. 10 points.

– uses grammar structure correctly……………………5 points

– uses a wide range of grammar structures ……….5 points

d. Vocabulary…………………………………………………………………… 10 points

– uses the vocabulary correctly ……………………..5 points

– has a varied and topic-centered vocabulary ….5 points

No.8 Season description. (1)

SPRING PORTRAIT

Spring is a wonderful season which revives the nature. The sun comes out from behind the clouds and warms up not just the weather but also people’s souls. There is no creature that doesn’t enjoy the great seasonal return. It is a real moment of joy because many delightful phenomena are happening.

The cold snow melts giving its place to the soft, fresh grass. The shy and spotless snowdrops come out of the ground after a long, cold winter. Butterflies make their morning workout and then start the “Flowers’ coloring race”. Those who paint the most beautiful flowers will receive extra- wings for extra- flight. The atmosphere is cheered up by cicadas’ symphonies who take showers under the fresh dew that drains from the leaves. Frogs are joyfully accompanying them from the lake while the swallows rehearse for the great concert of spring. Meanwhile, dragonflies are working hard to create the perfect blue for a clear sky, and bugs are creating rainbow’s colors. An intoxicating scent of lilac fills the air.

All the animals enjoy the coming of the spring, especially the bears which have slept the whole winter. Now they can come to light and look for food, can walk and, why not: take a shower in the spring. Broods hatch during this season- so many fluffy and fragile chickens- white, black, spotted, yellow, brown- ready to discover the mysterious surrounding beside their proud mothers. Not just animals but also children are very happy about nature’s thawing. They can play outside all day long, ride the bike, play with animals, watch the blue sky and smell the countless flowers.

The first spring day is really a feast. In this magical day, symbolic gifts are offered and good wishes are made. A special spring-related celebration is on March 8th: Mothers’ Day. On this day children all over the world show their gratitude, affection and admiration for their mothers. Some of them also offer presents to their mothers to increase their happiness. But the most important spring holiday is Easter. This day celebrate Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Families gather and crack red eggs and then children start caroling, proclaiming the Resurrection. They get sweets, apples, nuts and painted eggs. All these celebrations crown the great spring, filled with joy and happiness. Spring is my favorite season. The day is longer and so I can see the sunrise when I go to school. I can wear my favorite clothes again, dresses, shorts, shoes and snickers. Moreover, the beauty and purity of spring make me happier and inspire me to draw and create. I feel like a fairy in a realm of stories.

So much beauty! Spring masterpieces have colors of rubies, sapphires, pearls, diamonds, emeralds, amethyst and many other gemstones. They shine so hard that you might get blind. So be careful! You will need spring- proof glasses!

Season Description. (2)

SPRING MAGIC

Spring season is the best and most favorite season of the year for the people who need and await new beginnings. Spring is the season of changes, a season of making big plans, a season of new and a season of life. People are fond of this season because of its beauty, slightly cool and comfortable nature. It is the queen of all seasons of the year and considered the poets' favorite season. It comes after winter season and before the summer season. It begins in March and ends in May. On the arrival of the spring season, everything on the earth looks adorable and charming. All the trees get new green leafy clothes, flowers start blooming and spread fragrance, birds start dancing and chirping on the tree branches, the sky becomes clear, cloudless and blue, fields become full of green hues of grass and vegetation. So many changes occur that we cannot grasp them minutely.

Spring is the season of flowers and festivals which brings about lots of joy and happiness. Colorful and beautiful flowers completely steal the heart and green grass gives us a nice carpet-like ground to walk on in the gardens. Beautiful flying butterflies catch our eyes often in the morning and in the evening. Day and night alike become very pleasant and cool. Spring is like a morning of a long day, like a river that can wash away the past. It can make horrible memories disappear and bring back the good ones.

Spring is the season of joy and happiness for all the living beings like tree, plants, flowers, animals, birds, human beings because it is neither hot nor cold. Days and nights become almost similar in length, neither too short nor too long. Everyone becomes fed up with the cold in winter, the heat in summer and mud and dirt in rainy seasons.

For many people, spring has different meanings, for some is a season full of happiness, for others, is a season with a few insignificant memories, but in fact, spring means new life, a reason for celebration. Accordingly, I had the curiosity to ask many persons what spring means to them and many answered: “To me, springtime translates to restlessness. I'm so ready for the transition. We've had enough winter, snow's been on the ground for months, I'm ready for the green to start peaking through…And then one day it finally does! It's so liberating and touching, hopefulness in the bitter wind of the end of winter…”

These answers made me get thrilled. It was an immense satisfaction to see so many people be deeply in love with spring. The new season means a transition from frozen or faded to life and vivacity. I don’t know if the air gets magic but it surely seems that way.

This renewal is cancer free. All people are bound to set off for a fresh new start. For many, season changes mean getting out of the house and enjoying nature’s bloom. Parks will start getting filled with people, kids will start practising outdoor activities and if you haven’t noticed, everyone seems to get a little happier around springtime. Psychologists also state spring cause mood changes while other experts point out that everyone reacts to season changes differently. Spring season doesn’t cure psychological disorders but there’s always hope to make things a little easier in someone’s life.

I love spring. Spring is HOPE and excitement and the good feelings that come along with acknowledging SUMMER is just around the corner. I think, to me, spring means a promise, open windows, the end of the school semester at the highschool. After being cooped up in the house by snow and bad weather, all the sun and fresh growth outside really motivate me to get up and get going. I know why they call it spring cleaning – you get the urge to make everything in your home as pretty as it is outside your house. Spring is so much fun because you have Summer to look forward to. The weather is usually beautiful and people are happier. The beauty of spring makes us forget our sorrows. Its music thrills our ears. Its beauty pleases our eyes. Its freshness kills our cares. I like it the most. Spring is a joyous and green traffic-lit for expectations season!

I cannot end my eulogy to spring with the last stanza of one of Shakespeare's poem which was dedicated to spring:

And, therefore, take the present time with a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
For love is crown`d with the prime
In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

Season Description (3)

AMONG FLOWERS AND SUNBEAMS

Many like it, but few are expressing their gratitude over the spring’s miraculous time. And when I say spring time, I mean all the processes nature is passing through in its resurrection determined way, after frozen times.

And what could be more sophisticated for writers worldwide than using such metaphorical expressions like reborn or resurrection!

Above all those fine expressed feelings I come and say that I love spring! I loved it from the moment I realized that those feelings rising inside me are called spring! Those moments when the sunbeams easily warm you up, the moments when the earth breaths, the moments when the trees are in blossom and the moments when my heart feels like getting out of my chest! I was born in winter, but I definitely love spring! And now, having grown up I realized that the love I have for spring is actually connected to the joy- the joy of spring, that is the joy that spring spreads with all its powers. My soul jumps and smiles when, at the end of winter, a sweet and warm sunbeam touches my face with such incredible tenderness. In those few seconds of life I wish I could lock the time and keep it with me forever. But I can’t do that, and soon dear memories such as the first green blades in the fields…that crude green so pure and absolutely incredible ravish my mind! The joy of seeing that greenish scenery makes my soul so happy that I want to lie and sleep on the grass and then carry it with me wherever I go for as long as I live through all the phases of life and turns of nature!

I fancy that I am not the only being who awaits springs with such enthusiasm. All the people I look at in spring seem to have caught this disease of spring joyfulness. The kids are starting to play outside, the men and women are working in the fields…but above all these things they seem to have a larger smile, the smile of spring joy, on their faces!

Spring is nature’s way of saying “let’s party”2! That is the free and extended version of spring joy! Everyone feels it and can come to its party! The joy is colored from the beginning till the end with all kind of flowers and special smells! Snowdrops, violets, hyacinths and many more color the canvas of our existence during the spring time.

As all the good things come to an end, spring makes no exception from this rule. The enchantment of new beginnings, the actual feelings which are impossible to be rendered vanish in a blink of the eye and nature passes into a new phase- of growing up/ maturation, the phase of rational thought and troubled existence.

However, instead of leaving a sad note at the end, we should make the most of each and every moment and momentary beauty, we must live the joy of it.

Spring time is close and this year it really seems to cut off the corner and arrive earlier!

We should give in to all the positive aspects it stands for. The hopes of joy and new good times is about to rise for everybody!

Internet sources

Photo 1: retrieved from: https://www.google.ro/search?q=spring+photos&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjNseqj9uzKAhVFEJoKHd4IAdkQsAQIIA#imgrc=PIWmOREFr_AlSM%3A, accessded 09.02.2016, ora 20.04.

The Quote: Robin Williams at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/spring.html, accessed 10.02.2016, at 12.35.

No.9 Article

Older people should learn from the young generation

If it was to define in one sentences the young people, I would say that “they are a miracle evolving with unlimited potential“.

When you are very young, you have a whole horizon in front . As you get the numbers of years , the horizon becomes narrowed, until it becomes a point . It is called viewpoint. A point of view so synthetic and rayon that even a confrontation with another point of view becomes a blasphemy.

What can we learn from the young people it is to keep our horizon, curiosity, childhood, and even rebel? But these are present thoughts, and I have a thousand of years. What I wanted the older people to learn from me when I was a teenager ?

Both for the young generation and for the elderly, success is, in my opinion, having an end as a result not only self-gratification but appreciation from others. I believe that when older people reach the point where the same protagonists are daily stories of young generation serves to remind how pleasant it is to try something new, to evolve, even if the personal evolution was no longer at the forefront. Sometimes the reflection on one's own self is commonly found in adolescent when he wants to find some answers.

It is a difficult subject because when you are a teenager you do not ask yourself these questions. What youngster cares for a t-rex-aged person? When you are 15 years old you are not interested in learning someone something, or looking for answers when you do not have questions to ask. I have never had, explicitly, such a thought until now and it’s exciting.

Do you find it exciting too?

No. 10 Informal Letter.

Dear Alex,
    I just came back from Austria yesterday. It was a long flight and when I arrived, I was too exhausted to write to you.
    The trip was awesome , we stayed in a 4 -star hotel , the food was awesome and I have to say that the hotel deserves 5 stars. I ate caviar for the first time in my life and it was delicious . That restaurant was the best restaurant I have ever been at ! Then, when I came back to the hotel I took a shower and I went to bed . Guess what …  It has water mattress !! 
    The next day , I went with my aunt to visit a museum. It was boring … but she enjoyed. I decided to go shopping, to see what clothes Austria has. I bought a pair of shorts and they are extremely comfortable.
    The third day I was soo sad because we left. During the flight I slept or I listened to music… Now I'm happy being at home but I'll miss the luxury of Austria. Write me back soon !!
   Your friend,
   Marius.

REFERENCE BOOKS

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2. Ames,Y.(2001).Foreign language study on the Internet. Available: http://www.lesley.edu/alumni/ames.html. retrieved on July 2016

3. Ausubel, D.P. (1968, pp. 368-379). Educational Psychology.A Cognitive view. New York: Holt.

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