Teacher Discussion Forums

Greetings to all of you!

This is my first message to this forum. Suddenly I find myself shy in this setting. So you must all be English teachers!? I am a primary school teacher and (Finnish) literature teacher from Finland, but currently I am at Sydney University working on a project that concerns electronic literature and multiliteracies.

I have experience in virtual communities, so I know that the people who hang in places like this are very helpful and friendly. I am trying to find out about the use of e-literature in EFL / ESL setting. Do you know of projects or research describing how teachers use narratives that can be found in the internet.

My main problem is "How can TESOL teachers use e-literature in their classroom practice and where do they find resources for the use of this new media?"

Some other questions I have in mind are:

* What (if any) proof there is that using eLit adds added pedagogic value in the classroom practice? Is there base for the demand of using ELit?
* reported cases, examples of good practices from classrooms
* what material is available (published eLiterature, pedagogic forums and resources)


I would appreciate any hints.

Minttu

I will describe my situation and experiences to you, and if you have any questions, feel free to get in touch with me through pm or e-mail.

When I was teaching for an ESL school in Vancouver, Canada, I did teach some advanced classes who needed real world texts and I often went to the internet as my source for such materials. With one of my classes, I had a couple of young men who were sci-fi enthusiasts, so I brought in some serial novels for them to work with. My problem with most e-literature is that it is not suitable for ESL and EFL students. The vocabulary is obscure, the level of writing far too difficult most of the time. I find myself adapting texts more often than not if I try to bring them in for most of my students to use.