As a computer teacher, sometimes the last thing I think about is the English side of the lesson. Although, I need to focus more on it, especially since I teach a wide-range of international students. Since my wife teaches English at the university, she reminds me of the importance of English instruction in my lessons. I often assume the students understand the content and vocabulary of my lessons, but in computer, students often don't grasp the technical jargon. Today I was surfing a Twitter group and discovered Lesson Writer which allows you to insert the content of your lesson into their lesson builder and it quickly and intelligently generates a list of vocabulary words that students may need help with. It even provides definitions and easy pronunciations to these difficult words along with questions to review understanding. It took me less than one minute to generate the following lesson:
History of the Internet
By:
Source: http://History_of_the_Internet.org
1 Vocabulary
1. disparity-(n) - Difference; inequality.*2. network-(n) - A group of connected parts that work together.
3. packet-(n) - A small package.
4. penetrate-(v) - To enter or force a way into.
5. prevalent-(adj) - Common.
6. protocol-(n) - A set of rules that describe how to do something.
7. separate-(v) - To divide.
8. implement-(v) - Put in use.*
9. define-(v) - To identify and explain what something is.
10. occur-(v) - Happen.
11. concept-(n) - Idea.
12. popularity-(n) - The state of being liked by many people.
13. station-(v) - To put into a place or position.
14. solution-(n) - The act to solving a problem.
2 Reading
Before the widespread internetworking that led to the Internet, most communication networks were limited by their nature to only allow communications between the stations on the local network and the prevalent computer networking method was based on the central mainframe computer model. Several research programs began to explore and articulate principles of networking between physically separate networks, leading to the development of the packet switching model of digital networking. These research efforts included those of the laboratories of Donald Davies (NPL), Paul Baran (RAND Corporation), and Leonard Kleinrock at MIT and at UCLA. The research led to the development of several packet-switched networking solutions in the late 1960s and 1970s,[1] including ARPANET and the X.25 protocols. Additionally, public access and hobbyist networking systems grew in popularity, including unix-to-unix copy (UUCP) and FidoNet. They were however still disjointed separate networks, served only by limited gateways between networks. This led to the application of packet switching to develop a protocol for internetworking, where multiple different networks could be joined together into a super-framework of networks. By defining a simple common network system, the Internet Protocol Suite, the concept of the network could be separated from its physical implementation. This spread of internetworking began to form into the idea of a global network that would be called the Internet, based on standardized protocols officially implemented in 1982. Adoption and interconnection occurred quickly across the advanced telecommunication networks of the western world, and then began to penetrate into the rest of the world as it became the de-facto international standard for the global network. However, the disparity of growth between advanced nations and the third-world countries led to a digital divide that is still a concern today.
3 Vocabulary
1. The accident _______________________ on a rainy night.
2. The dictionary _______________________ a rabbit as a long-eared short-tailed mammal.
3. They began to _______________________ their new sales strategy last month.*
4. She has a new _______________________ for a business.
5. We need a _______________________ to the broken pipe.
6. His company _______________________ him in Paris for two years.
7. His _______________________ as a singer helped him become a movie star.
8. There were one hundred $100 bills in the _______________________.
9. The city bus _______________________ can take you anywhere.
10. There can be no _______________________ in marriage, like unsuitability of mind and purpose. - Dickens - David Copperfield
11. The drill _______________________ the wood.
12. For sports, the school _______________________ the boys from the girls.
13. There are medical _______________________s that doctors follow when they treat common diseases.
14. English is the most _______________________ language in the world.