Since the time back in 1989 when I worked as part of a team developing a Macintosh lab for ESL students in a Vancouver high school, I've been in and out of second language English computer labs, mostly in Japanese universities. What I usually do with students and Macs is so grass roots I haven't thought much about it, but since April '97, when KUT opened its doors and gathered in its first flock, I've been getting four other instructors up and running in the Mac lab, and the process has been a revealing one. Collegiality is so helpful for seeing the inner workings of methodology.

RECENT PROBLEM SOLVED: students in CALL need to do some of their composing and typing as homework but they can't bring alien floppies to the CALL lab. And the students can't access their campus email from the Macs, even though the Macs have a hot hot www connection. Our solution for the interim is HOTMAIL for students.

The steps are as follows :
1. Student goes to www.hotmail.com and registers for a hotmail address.
2. Student does homework word processing on home computer.
3. Student sends homework text to self at hotmail address.
4. Student comes to CALL, and via www, picks up hotmail email.
5. Student copies typing from email and pastes into project document (HyperCard, ClarisWorks or html).