Using search engines in LT

Search engines have been widely used by people all over the world to get information they need. They are so easy to use that even kindergarteners would probably have no difficulties at all in operating them. Despite the ease of use, you cannot underestimate the role of search engines in Language Teaching (LT). They’re not as trivial as they seem.

Here are some ideas about using them in your English classes:

1. Reading
Before you give a reading text about a particular topic to the students, ask them to search for information about the topic using the search engines. For instance, you’re going to discuss a text about April Fool’s Day. As a pre-reading activity, have the students search for information about April Fool’s Day. The information will activate their background knowledge and make it easier for them to understand the text later.

2. Writing
Ask the students to search for papers about a particular topic, then the following activities may follow:
a. summarizing a certain paper they like most.
b. synthesizing the important ideas in those papers in an essay.
c. comparing or contrasting the ideas in several papers.
d. etc.

3. Vocabulary
After you teach some vocabulary items, have your students search for more related words or phrases in the internet. It’s even better if they can organize the lexical items in a chart like the following.