these students with Australians that she met when she was a student herself at the
Australian National University in Canberra.
As the class begins, there is lively chatter about the assignments they have been
working on, both in English and in Thai. The teacher greets the students, also in both
languages. With each student now seated at his and her own computer, the teacher
asks the students to check their language learning blogs and to read any new
comments that have been made to their blog entries. The teacher peers over the
shoulders of each student to look at the computer screen and to make sure that the
assignment has been done. After giving the students a chance to check their blogs, the
teacher asks the students to turn their chairs inwards to form a discussion circle. She
begins the discussion by asking ‘How many of you have received comments on your
blogs?’ All the students raise their hands. ‘Did you receive any comments that were
surprising?’ ‘Did you receive any comments from someone not in the class?’ ‘Who is
willing to share a comment?’^3 One student, Tuk, says, ‘I received a comment from an
English language student in Jakarta, Indonesia, who wants to know if I use a word
that I had written, “segue,” in my everyday speaking. This Indonesian student, Dedi,
said he had only seen this word written and never spoken.’ The teacher asked for ideas
from the class. ‘How might Tuk respond to Dedi’s comment? How have you heard the
word “segue” used?’ she asks. Many students have not heard the word before; those
that are familiar with the word have only seen it in print. The teacher tells the class
that later in the lesson they will use a computer corpus to see what they can learn
about ‘segue’.
A second student, Lek, says, ‘I received a comment from an English student in
Costa Rica, named Alejandro, that I don’t understand.’ The teacher asks, ‘How can we
help Lek understand what Alejandro was trying to tell her?’ The class switches to a
mixture of English and Thai for a few minutes as they brainstorm the best ways to
respond to Alejandro. Lek thinks that she will be able to use the suggestions of her
teacher and classmate to communicate with Alejandro.
Next, the teacher asks the students to form pairs at a computer. She tells them to
take turns opening up their Facebook pages and reviewing together what has been
posted there. There is a good deal of laughter as many posts are funny. One student in
the class, Sunni, had written on his ‘wall’ (the location on Facebook where individuals
can share their current status), ‘I love coffee.’ Other Facebook friends commented on
the wall: ‘If you love coffee, marry it.’ and ‘Aren’t you getting enough sleep?’ On his
wall, Sunni also read an invitation to get coffee at a nearby café from a member of the
class, Waew. He turned around and called over to her saying, ‘Sure. Let’s drink
coffee. How about after class?’
After 10 minutes, the teacher asks the students again to turn their chairs to form a
circle. She asks a few questions: ‘What idioms or special use of English did you
encounter or use on your Facebook page?’ ‘What do you think these idioms mean?’