The purpose of this study is to design a model for the development of ‘English lesson plans’ focusing on improvement of cultural understanding in elementary English education utilizing the Internet. This study examined the use of the Internet as a...
The purpose of this study is to design a model for the development of ‘English lesson plans’ focusing on improvement of cultural understanding in elementary English education utilizing the Internet. This study examined the use of the Internet as a teaching tool for English culture education. The reasons for devising new lesson plans utilizing the Internet are as follows. First, in this fast-paced information era, the Internet allows people to study beyond time and space. The Internet is a necessity in daily life and will play a more leading role in education in terms of content and will be instrumental in the future. It is necessary for the nation and individuals to use the Internet in order to effectively study English. The Internet not only allows for the sharing of information but also drastically changes education of English. Second, it is important that learners understand English culture. It is necessary for learners to learn the target culture as well as the language in order to get rid of false stereotypes or misunderstandings about the target culture, and successfully communicate with native speakers. Third, learners use the Internet as a main source of educational media. There are many ways to learn the target culture in the process of English learning, but these have a number of limitations. One of the solutions to this program is the learning through the Internet. It is a valuable tool for learning the target culture in English learning, and to introduce the Internet as an efficient too for learning the target culture. In order to achiever the main purpose, a background for using the Internet for English education and culture teaching must be established and an investigation of the actual conditions of elementary schoolchildren should be conducted. From a review of research findings that analyzed students’ actual conditions, and English lesson plan for elementary schoolchildren was designed. The basic principles of this leson plan were based on the 7th English curriculum for elementary schools. The lesson plan combined linguistic competences and culture, the objectives of the unit. In conclusion, the results of this study show that the Internet is the most suitable way to teach and learn English. The contents of lesson plans are made of basic Internet-based activities for learners to experience culture-based activities with interest and practice language functions naturally and effectively. This method can also be adjusted both for on-line classrooms and for traditional off-line classrooms. I expect that this study will help Korean media education fields to research new media including multimedia like that on the Internet and introduce new methods of their own.