TLT458 – Website Paper 1 – Satrih

I am building a website called Satrih English Lab. The main purpose of the site is for

teaching and learning English as a Foreign Language. The target audience is all those who want

to learn English, particularly from Indonesia. Since I am an English teacher from Indonesia, most

probably the majority of my audience will come from Indonesia. However, English learners, as

well as teachers are absolutely welcomed as the site can be an educational as well as a cultural

bridge to build a better communication and understanding among the people of the world. We

can also exchange ideas and information about teaching and learning process especially for the

English subject in schools.

I name the website Satrih English Lab simply to create a more realistic sense in my

audience of going somewhere to learn something from it. As we all know, a lab is a kind of

building, which is an important facility in a school. It has rooms equipped with tables and chairs,

bookshelves, audio and video players, computers, and so forth. By naming my website that

sounds like a building, I wish to make my visitors feel like entering an English lab where there

are rooms for specific English language learning purposes and available resources with which

they can learn and improve their English language skills. So, my website or let’s say my online

English lab consists of eighteen rooms or generally known as pages. It is a very big lab, isn’t it?

So, here is the list of pages or the rooms arrangement:

1. Home: announcements, getting some brief information about the website are here.

2. About: this is my self-introduction page.

3. Contact: my visitors can contact me here by sending me messages that can be

appointments, questions or suggestions.

4. About You: this page is a special room for me and my visitors to get to know each other.
5. Grammar Class: this is the page or room for learning the English grammar. There are

useful links and a box there where my visitors can post questions.

6. Reading Class: this is the page or room where my visitors can read any kind of texts and

having a discussion about it.

7. Writing Class: this will probably be my favorite class because the writings will come

from visitors and I would love to see them share their thoughts and stories.

8. Speaking/Listening Class: Skype, Whatsapp, live chat, videos and audios are available

with a box for questions and comments/answers.

9. Question & Answer: this is the page where the visitors can send me questions or concerns

of any issues related to their English learning. It is linked to almost all the pages/rooms.

10. Library: this is the page or room where my visitors can pick their own e-book, with

which they would like to take their English lessons or to satisfy their thirst of reading,

and so on.

11. Videos & Audios: this is the page or room where visitors can watch my videos or listen

to audios and make comments on them to express their impressions, opinions, concerns,

etc.

12. Games: I still need to learn more about games myself in order to provide good

educational games for my visitors.

13. Quiz: I am also still working on this to provide challenging quizzes for my visitors.

14. Photo Gallery: visitors can enjoy my photos here.

15. Diary: this is my special room where I can share a daily journal of my life experience.

16. Scholarships Info: I will provide links for scholarships information here and visitors can

post their questions or concerns through the comment section.

 17. News & Events: this page will be the place where my visitors can get news or events I

would like to let them know.

18. Blog: this page/room will be developed most possibly after all the 17 pages/rooms

completely available.

I created this free website of mine with Wix.com. So far I found it awesome and really

helpful to facilitate my teaching strategies and purposes. It provides beautiful themes and great

tools to be used for making my website more interactive and attracting. I was actually a bit

confused at the beginning concerning the difference between a website and a blog, but I found

out that on wix.com, we create a website, a blog and a wiki only one at first. For instance, I was

confused that all articles I read say that a website is not interactive while a blog is interactive, a

website is more often used for business and a blog is more often used for educational purposes.

As I actually wish to make my website more interactive, I found that the tool provided by

wix.com named App Market is wonderful. It provides lots of useful software to better

personalize my website. So far I have installed an application named Comment to allow my

audience to post comments, questions or suggestions. iPlayerHD Video Hosting is also a great

application that allows me to upload my own videos without having to upload them to video sites

like Youtube or Vimeo first. Google Docs is also an available application on Wix.com that

allows me to add my Google Docs that can also be used for my visitors to submit their works

especially for writing class or whatever they want to consult with me that necessitate them to use

the Google Doc. Audio Play Button application allows me to upload MP3 files to my site. Skype

Call / Chat Button is also available on the Application Market that I can add to my page for

Speaking & Listening class. There are lots more useful applications I can add to my site. Other
tools like Background, Add, My Uploads, My Blog, and Promote are great tools that Wix.com

has to help me create my stunning website.

As for the instructional strategies, it will depend on the condition of my audience. I am

trying to make the teaching and learning process on my website as inquiry-based and interactive

as possible. I wish to make my audience keep coming back to my website by their own will and

goal, so my main task is to facilitate and help them improve their English by giving feedback

regularly based on their intensity to access the website for their learning purpose. The

improvement of the materials in my website will most likely depend on the demands from my

audience. MacKenzie & White (1982) as cited in Banikowski (Oct, 1999) said that “Instructional

technologies that involve students actively in lessons contribute to their long-term retention.” To

captivate their attention, I am going on trying to make my website look as eye-catching and

attractive as possible by choosing beautiful themes, providing nice visuals, giving interesting

information, and reducing stressful long texts, as Willis (2006) wrote that meaningful use of

colors in visual media can attract more student attention and enable them to store the information

in their memory last longer. She also explained that interesting information is always engaging. I

am still going on developing my website, which means there will be more lesson materials and

applicable instructional strategies, hopefully.

References

Banikowski, A. K., & Mehring, T. A. (1999). Strategies to enhance memory based on brain-

research. Focus on Exceptional Children, 32(2), 1.

Willis, M.D., J. (2006). Research-based strategies to ignite student learning: Insights from a

neurologist and classroom teacher. Virginia: ASCD