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This hypothetical scenario ** of a student's learning journey demonstrates: 1) how a learner

might be inducted into a blended learning programme; 2) how he would progress through the
programme; 3) the scaffolding and developmental nature built into the design of the
programme; and 4) how he would interact with peers and teachers, virtually and face-to-face.
This scenario is designed to be read in conjunction with a complementary diagram of the My
New Zealand scenario-based task, which can be accessed by clicking this link.

Nadif: My New Zealand Scenario-based Task

Name: Nadif
Year level: 12
Age: 17
Country of origin: Somalia

See Nadif's e-Profile - Record of Progress and socio-cultural and medical information such as
vision and hearing checks (socio-cultural and medical information stored in a secure area
accessible by e-teacher and e-tutor only - please click here for a glossary of definitions of key
personnel and their roles).

Nadif has been in NZ for 8 months. He can speak clearly in English using long, but not
necessarily standard, phrases. He relies heavily on formulaic phrases, but is developing his
own hypotheses about English and enjoys experimenting with these in oral communication.
He uses a wide range of high frequency colloquial phrases. He can retell main ideas from
listening to a text at level one (ELIP), and is functioning at stage 1, in oral work. Nadif can
negotiate simple transactions and express his own opinions. However, with written text Nadif
is at foundation stage B (click here for an example of Nadif's writing). His sentences show a
restricted range of learned structures, and a wide range of errors. Nadif is reading at Stage 1B
(click here for an example of the type of text Nadif is reading).

Nadif has already completed as part of the ELLINZ programme, the Orientation Camp: New
Faces, New Places course, and the Our Safari Park: Animal Discovery course. After six
months learning in the blended programme Nadif's eTeacher and eTutor ask students to form
a group of four (with at least two being from a different school), and she introduces a new
9-week project around New Zealand (during which he will be studying between 15 to 20
hours across the topic). Throughout the 9 weeks, weekly suggestions of central tasks/
language learning strategies to work on are included in the ELLINZ online environment. The
eTeacher asks students to form groups of four (with at least two in each group being from a
different school).

An exemplar has been created around the pioneers of New Zealand. Within the exemplar key
topic areas such as the Treaty of Waitangi have been embedded, along with the introduction
of generic topic-related vocabulary, and the explicit discussion of learning strategies in order
to promote learning inside and outside of the school environment. While exploring the NZ
Pioneers exemplar, the students are given the challenge question: "Why 1840?", which
students, in their groups, seek to answer through discussion in synchronous sessions, as well
as collaborative written replies in a Moodle wiki space. They are also encouraged to 'notice'
the structure and content of the exemplar, to predict who the intended purpose/audience was,
and to finally 'grade' the exemplar using a self-check rubric - the same one that will be used
for the scenario-based task***. Through this process the students become aware of some of
the important strategies that they will use while working around the scenario and in the
creation of their own My NZ resource. While completing the scenario-based task they will
also be practising, revising and producing the topic-related vocabulary, working on the
fluency and accuracy of their writing and speaking, and spending time reading, participating
in social interactions, searching, accessing and processing topic-related content, using
learning strategies to enhance their learning competence, and becoming aware of the cultural
and historical underpinnings of NZ.

After two weeks of working with the NZ Pioneers exemplar, all the groups of students choose
from a range of 10 topics focussed on NZ, including an 'own choice' topic. The teacher helps
the students decide on the roles they are going to take in each group (for example, one student
is in charge of sorting all the images and videos everyone takes, makes and finds, another is
responsible for making sure that all the writing is edited and revised until everyone is happy
with it, another looks after the audio files that are recorded or located by the group, and the
final makes sure the layout, design, and content provided by the team are suitable for the
purpose and audience chosen). The self-check grading rubric and set of instructions that
frame the scenario are referred back to frequently by the students, who also have access to
videos (with audio) which illustrate and demonstrate the key skills they will be using as well
as guidelines around what they might like to include. Further scaffolding in the form of
videos and audio helps students with concepts around inquiry based learning, such as Internet
search skills and staying safe online.

Nadif and his group like music, and decide to put together a wiki resource that is partly a
general subject guide to NZ music, and partly a historical account. Nadif and his group
discuss the scope of their project, and make the decision to just focus on bands and groups of
singers from when the Maori explorers first arrived in NZ. The group set up a wiki page in
the class wiki where they are going to initially put all the resources and collaborate on the
writing and revisions, so they choose to make it a private space for the first couple of weeks,
with only the teacher invited. They plan who will do each task. All members of Nadif's group
are able to independently text chat with other students on a social and increasingly academic
(foundation) level. They are also able to access online bilingual dictionaries and can search
for images, videos and music on the Internet.

Nadif's group find it difficult to locate information for the early groups of singers, so the
students go to their local library and ask the librarian there for help, and while some of the
language in the resources they find is much too difficult to understand, they are able to take a
couple of photocopies and translate some of the sentences with the help of their eTeacher.
Nadif and his friend also ask the teacher to help them get permission to visit a local Marae to
talk to the elders there. The elders are very helpful, and the students are able to record the
audio from the interview on their mobile phones, thereby capturing the stories and
recollections. They are invited to the next performance at the Marae, and given permission to
take video footage of the singers.

Throughout the scenario-based task each student in Nadif's group keep a weekly blog. They
can choose between recording an oral blog or writing one (although once a month all students
have to complete at least one written and one oral blog). Nadif has been able to capture his
concerns and anxieties, as well as his triumphs, successes and pleasures. He shares his blog
posts with the rest of his team, the eTeacher and another friend he has in the ELLINZ
programme.

The project takes 6 weeks to complete overall, during which time the students cover the
listening, reading, target vocabulary and language structures, as well as the associated
learning outcomes required by the syllabus, all in embedded, authentic contexts. At the end of
6 weeks the students open the wiki to a global audience, and a reporter from the local paper
interviews them about the project. Pictures of the wiki, and all of the students online together
in Adobe Connect appear in the next issue of the paper, much to the delight of Nadif's
parents.
Figure 1: Our NZ: A scenario (Click HERE to see the full size version of this diagram)

** The scenario developed here is based on research studies around English language
learning and ICT enhanced learning and teaching, including (but not solely based on):
• Gilmore, A. (2009). The times they are a-changin': Strategies for exploiting authentic
materials in the language classroom. In M. Dantas-Whitney, S. Rilling & L. Savova
(Eds.), Authenticity in the Classroom and Beyond (pp. 155-168). Alexandria,
Virginia: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).
• McDonough, K., & Chaikitmongkol, W. (2007). Teachers' and learners' reactions to
a task-based EFL course in Thailand. TESOL Quarterly, 41(1), 107-132.
 • Meskill, C., & Ranglova, K. (2000). Sociocollaborative language learning in
Bulgaria. In M. Warschauer & R. Kern (Eds.), Theory and practice of network-based
language teaching: Concepts and Practice (pp. 20-40). Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
•
*** Scenario-based tasks develop a contextualised situation or activity that exposes learners
to challenges, issues, and dilemmas, and asks them to apply their knowledge and skills to the
situation. Students navigate the scenario-based task through discussion, trial and error,
reflection, and choosing options. Throughout the process they are given feedback based upon
their choices, from peers, teachers, and the wider community where desired/relevant. This is
an example of a video that sets up a scenario-based task with the task, instructions,
requirements etc included.

Nadif: My New Zealand - a scenario by Hazel Owen is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 New Zealand License. Based on a
work at docs.google.com.