Teaching idea - Using "about.me"

I'll keep this nice and simple! I've chosen this tool because I haven't met my students yet (all I know is that some of them will be aged around 15 and their level will be pre-intermediate) and I'm not sure how familiar they might be with technology. However, I'm pretty sure they'll have access to the Internet at home and I assume they'll probably enjoy using computers. In terms of their literacy levels, I do not anticipate any major problems.

I would use this on week 1 as part of the "getting to know each other" process and the aim would be to revise language and vocabulary and assess them informally, especially their speaking and writing skills. I would show them my own biography and brainstorm some ideas about the background I've chosen first. I would elicit that I prefer warm, sunny weather, beach holidays rather than skiing ones, etc. I would ask them to tell me five things that they think I included in my biography and I'd elicit family, likes/dislikes, etc. I would subtly imply that some topics might not be appropriate to include when we use blogs to share information, etc to make them aware of this! I would get them to discuss in pairs some ideas so everyone has a chance to take part. I would monitor very unobtrusively while they do and get an idea of their speaking skills. We'd then have feedback as a class and we'd write down some ideas they came up with. I would then give them the biography and get them to gist read in order to compare their ideas and check if they were right or not. Whole class feedback.

Following that, I would tell them that they're now going to write their own, choose a background that they can identify with, etc. In class we'd write the first draft. I would first get them to write a list of things they'd like to include. I'd then get them to elaborate on them and write full sentences.I would monitor and  help if necessary. They would have to design and write their biographies using "about.me" (I would give them some guidelines of course!) and we would then share each other's biographies and write comments to each other about them. As a follow-up, I would get them to remember some information about each classmate and we could have a competition on who remembers the most! This is a nice way to get to know (and remember about!) each other, use a new tool and integrate speaking and writing as well.