Teacher Process
This WebQuest is designed to take about two or three 50-minute class periods. One class period can be spent in the computer lab gathering information and one can be spent in the classroom writing the paragraph and synthesizing the information. The lesson can be used to teach the comparative and superlative adjective forms to any ESL or ELL learners regardless of their native language since it uses simple English. (For Japanese students, all words used on the student pages are found in the New Horizons textbook level two index.)
Teachers should teach the superlative and comparative adjective forms in prior lessons as this WebQuest functions to aid students in further understanding of the forms in addition to boosting their comprehension and use of the forms in a written product.
A computer lab is needed as it gives all students an opportunity to utilize the WebQuest as well as because individual tasks are assigned to each team member.
The WebQuest can be modified from a group activity to an individual task if needed. Teams of students can also work from a single computer thus increasing the interactions in English and in their native language. The teamwork aspect of the activity is to encourage interaction in English between team members, but also to lessen the apprehension a student might feel when reading, writing, and speaking in a foreign language. The process can be adapted (omitting a task, not using the chart, etc) to assist in computer lab or class time constraints or to modify the lesson for students with alternate learning styles.