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 Ratings
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| Reviewed: |
Jan 30, 2004 by World Languages Editorial Board |
| Overview: |
This monthly web journal provides a well organized and accessible resource for
teachers of English. It includes articles, research papers, lesson plans,
classroom handouts, teaching ideas and links submitted by other ESL/EFL
teachers. It also includes interactive quizzes and games for students.
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| Learning Goals: |
The site is designed to provide information that is of immediate and practical
use to ESL/EFL teachers.
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| Target Student Population: |
The site is directed toward the ESL/EFL teacher, but it also includes activities
and links for students of varying levels.
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| Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills: |
The website is extremely user friendly, so only basic knowledge of site
navigation is required.
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| Type of Material: |
This journal is organized in 3-4 distinct sections each month: teaching
techniques, lesson plans, articles, and announcements. All articles submitted
are reviewed according to the guidelines set forth by a review committee, which
in turn presents the reader with well-written and pertinent information that can
be immediately utilized in the classroom. Past journals are clearly archived
according to topic as well as chronologically.
Along with the journal, the website includes a wealth of quizzes, games, and
activities that can either be used by a student online or adapted for the
classroom by the teacher. There is also an online quiz generator which allows
the teacher to create personalized on-line quizzes that can then be uploaded to
the website and shared. Links to other ESL/EFL sites and popular search engines
are also referenced.
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| Recommended Uses: |
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| Technical Requirements: |
Some of the on-line quizzes require Flash Player for plug-ins.
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| Strengths: |
This website is extremely well organized and user friendly. Each section is
clearly marked as to its purpose and content, allowing the user to find
pertinent material without getting lost. Articles submitted to the journal must
adhere to a strict list of guidelines and must pass inspection before being
published online. These guidelines allow for well written articles that are
uniformly formatted, systematic, and highly readable.
The articles share teaching ideas and lesson plans in a manner that any teacher
will find helpful as they look to adapt them for their classrooms. Since the
articles are peer submitted, most of the ideas are tried and true methods that
have been employed successfully by other teaching professionals. Other articles
offer ideas dealing with multi-culturalism, technology, and other current topics
in the ESL/EFL teaching field from the perspective of the teacher.
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| Concerns: |
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Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool |
Rating:  |
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| Strengths: |
This site is a perfect resource for teachers who are looking for immediate and
practical ideas for their classroom. Each article and activity submitted is
done so with the express purpose of offering useful materials that can be
integrated immediately into the classroom. Teachers will be able to locate
specific lesson plans and/or ideas dealing with particular topics with ease
since the articles are written and categorized for that purpose.
Also, as mentioned before, there are various resources available on this site
(on-line textbooks, games, puzzles, scavenger hunts, quizzes) that can be used
by the student directly online or by the teacher in creating lesson plans. The
online quiz generator is an excellent tool for teachers in helping them to
create personalized quizzes for their students,
which they can in turn use out
of class for practice. The interactive nature of the quizzes make them engaging
and fun for the students and can include fill in the blank, multiple choice,
images, and true/false questions. The questions are randomly generated ensuring
that students never take the same quiz twice. It also includes a number of
bilingual quizzes in over twenty languages as well as activities for students of
varying levels.
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| Concerns: |
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Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty |
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| Strengths: |
This is a no-frills website and is, as they say on their site, ?optimized for
speed.? There are no advertisements or non-essential images that can slow
loading time, rather it was created to be accessible to those with even the
slowest internet connection.
The home page offers a clear start-point with clearly labeled headings and
links. It is very difficult to get lost in the site as everything is plainly
referenced and there are always links leading you back to the homepage. It is
never busy or cluttered.
Overall, the site is very streamlined and user friendly. Its simple color
scheme and uniform format allow the reader to read and navigate the site with
ease. As it is with all aspects of the website, it is very straightforward and
helpful, allowing for enjoyable, uncomplicated, and informative browsing.
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