Contents
of the user's guide to ELLSA
- A
user's guide to ELLSA
- The
ELLSA development team
- Reading
materials
- The
three stages of ELLSA
- The
contents page for each level and the lessons
- Teacher's
notes and self-study guides
- Web-based
lessons and downloadable, print-based lessons
- Technical
information
Updated
22nd March, 2004
ELLSA
home page...
1.
A user's guide to ELLSA
Welcome
to ELLSA. Please take a few minutes to read this page before going
into the ELLSA site, which is very large and contains hundreds of
page links. As you become more familiar with ELLSA, you will find
that navigation through the site is very quick and easy.
This
user's guide is intended to help you find your way around the site
and give an indication of how ELLSA is constructed and why it has
been constructed that way.
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2.
The ELLSA development team
ELLSA
was originally developed as an initiative in providing on-line lessons
and support for working with literary texts. Initial sponsorship was
provided by the US Department of State English Language Programs through
the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The site was originally
developed for Students and teachers in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand,
and the Philippines, but has since reached a wider network of users
in all parts of the world.
The
initial proposal was created by John Morgan and Jeffrey Taschner and
funding was secured to develop the first stage of the project in 1999.
The original site was hosted at http://www.rdlthai.com/ellsa_index.html
(owned and maintained by John Morgan) and was later transferred to
its current location.
The
development team consisted of:
Since
that time, ELLSA has been a self managed project and the web site
as it stands today (23rd March 2004) is undergoing modifications
to try to bring the unfinished components together. Levels 2 and
3 are being merged to facilitate a complete site that can be adapted
to suit current users.
3.
Reading materials
Users
will need to purchase or borrow books from their libararies. The
recommended books are available from State Department representative
book sellers.
http://exchanges.state.gov/education/engteaching/pubs/index_nof.htm
ELLSA
has two stages or levels, which each contain five or six lessons.
The links connect to the publisher of the texts used in developing
the lessons in this site.
1.
American Literary Classics (The Ladder Series), which
includes
- The
Gift of the Magi and Other Stories, O. Henry
- The
Red Badge of Courage and Other Stories, Stephen Crane
- To
Build a Fire and Other Stories, Jack London
- The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain
- The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain
2.
Tales of Mood and Mystery with lessons taken from
- Highlights
of American Literature
- American
Patchwork
- Being
People
The
lessons are:
- The
Cask of Amontillado, Edgar Allan Poe (from Highlights)
- An
Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Ambrose Bierce (from Highlights)
- Pillar
of Salt, Shirley Jackson (from Patchwork)
- Molokini,
T.W. Hard (from Patchwork)
- Immigration
Blues, Bienvenido N. Santos (from Being People)
- Two
Kinds, Amy Tan (from
Being People)
The
two levels are connected via the index
page and form three independent web-sites. Cross referencing
between the three levels can be done quickly and easily from the
map pages at the top of the index page, which are linked to every
page in their level. Every page in ELLSA is reciprocally linked
back to the respective map pages for their levels.
From
the index page you can link to the contents page for each level.
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4.
The contents page for each level and the lessons
On
the contents page for each level, you will find links to
each lesson, indicated by the titles of the stories. Each lesson
is again, an independent unit. Within each lesson you can link
to every page in that lesson from any page. These links are entered
at the bottom of each page. The index page for each lesson is
called Title Page in the links.
You
can link back to the contents page, map of that
level and title page from any page in each lesson. If you
want to cross from one lesson to another, that can be done by
linking to the map or to the contents page for that
level.
Each
lesson contains the following pages:
- Biography
page, which contains a reading passage and vocabulary checkpoint
- Synopsis
(Level 1), which again contains reading and vocabulary checkpoint.
In Level 2 Synopsis is replaced by Author, which takes the
place of the Biography page from Level 1.
- Pre-story,
which contains exercises that should be done before reading
the story
- In-story,
which contains exercise based on the story. You may need to
use the book to work with this section of the lesson.
- Exercises,
which contains language exercises based on the story, or the
theme of the story.
- follow-up,
which contains written exercises based on the story or themes
related to the story.
All
necessary answer key pages are linked only to their relevant exercises.
The
lessons can be done in any sequence, though a recommended sequence
is provided for each level, which can be seen in the Contents
page of each level.
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5.
Teacher's notes and self-study guides
Even
though the ELLSA lessons are mostly self-explanatory, teacher's
notes and self study guides can be found on the contents
page of each level.
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6.
Web-based lessons and downloadable, print-based lessons
All
the lessons that are provided on the web-site are also provided
in downloadable format. The teacher's notes and self-study guides
are also available for download. You can find the downloadable
format lessons on the contents page of each level.
They
are available as Microsoft Word documents for use with PC Windows,
and as Adobe Acrobat PDF documents, for use with PC Windows or
Macintosh systems.
In
order to use Adobe Acrobat PDF documents, you will need to check
if your computer has Adobe Acrobat Reader. If it doesn't, you
can download it free of charge from the Adobe web-site, via the
link on the Technical Information page.
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7.
Technical information
The
Technical Information page, which is linked to the Index
page, contains details on upgrading your current browser to newer
versions. It is important to update your browser as new internet
technology is developing rapidly and older version browsers do
not always display information accurately. Also, older browsers
may not be able to work with interactive forms and interactive
lessons. As ELLSA is updated, interactive lessons will become
a feature of the site.
Any
other software programs that are recommended for using ELLSA can
also be found on the Technical Information page.
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