Peer Review

British Council's LearnEnglish Kids

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Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: LearnEnglish Kids is the British Council's website for children around the world who are learning English as a second language or foreign language. This site has free resources for children to use at home either independently or with family members or friends.
Type of Material:: Learning Object Repository
Recommended Uses:: Can be used for self-study/exploration or can be integrated into classroom lessons.
Technical Requirements:: web browser that supports video. access to broadband internet.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: LearnEnglish Kids is the website for children around the world who are learning British English as a foreign language. This site has a wealth of free resources for children to use either independently or with family members or friends. Resources include videos, games, audio (songs) and web pages for reading, writing, grammar, and vocabulary.
Target Student Population:: The target audience is younger learners. There is a separate section targeted to teens, and a special section for parents.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: Desire or need to learn English. Ability to use a web browser and understand the concepts of media player buttons.

Rating:
Strengths:: Concepts, models, and skills are valid and provide excellent support for learning the language. The material fully presents significant concepts in English via games, songs, videos and more so that learners can grasp reading, writing, and speaking (and even singing!) in British English.
Concerns:: The content might be difficult for some children with various cultural backgrounds, so care givers may always refer to ESL / EFL teachers to clarify vague content.

Rating:
Strengths:: The learning objectives are for kids around the world to learn, speak and write English as another language. The available material is vast and can be used as a resource for teachers to develop lessons for their learners.
Concerns:: There is no supporting faculty manual in order to teach this material. However, the British Council has have a separate website for teachers which is linked from this website. All the instructions are available in English only, so if any caregivers do not speak or understand English well, they might not be able to use the materials or activities efficiently.

Rating:
Strengths:: The website uses large text and bright colors that are attractive to young people. The website is highly functional and easy to navigate. Includes games, songs, stories and activities for children. For adults, there are articles to help support children in learning English, videos on using English at home and information about face-to-face courses around the world.
Concerns:: One weakness is that not all the videos have subtitles. Since this is an international site, videos and games may not be able to be played by those who do not have access to a broadband network.

Other Issues and Comments:: There are apps associated with this website for iOS and Android. The homepage includes an email address for questions or comments. Moreover, users can refer to the British Council's LearnEnglish Kids on either Facebook or Twitter to communicate as well.
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