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Analysis of Sites with Online Exercises |
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Group 1: Maryanne
Group 2: Mary Jane
Group 3: Keiko, Karen, Hane
Group 4:
Group 5: Michael, Chi-Kong, Mark S.,
Grammar / Vocabulary / Vocab, Grammar & Reading (and more) / Reading
| Content | Site Name
& Level |
Description | URL | Comments |
|
G |
ESL Blues
Pre-intermediate to high intermediate |
http://www.collegeem.qc.ca/ cemdept/anglais/trouindx.htm |
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University
- |
http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/ grammar/ |
“Ask Grammar” section is excellent for students. |
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| Grammar Safari
Intermediate to Advanced |
Assessment: Offers Ts a detailed lesson plans of how to go about a “hunt” for grammar samples. Clever idea for promoting student awareness of grammar points they have studied |
http://www.iei.uiuc.edu/ web.pages/grammarsafari.html |
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|
Online English Grammar Intermediate to Advanced |
Grammar
explanations |
http://www.edufind.com/ english/grammar |
Very extensive coverage | |
| back to top | ||||
|
V |
Beginners |
This is a good site for beginners because it includes a colorful picture for each word and covers the types of vocabulary usually included in beginning level courses | ||
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| http://www.studystack.com |
You
can create your own stacks or add to an existing one. Or if you have
already entered the information in a word processor or spreadsheet,
simply send the file as an email attachment to submissions@studystack.com
and they will create the stack for you.
|
|||
Multiple levels |
An amazing database which allows the student/teacher to search for a word and antonyms, synonyms, different parts of speech – the list goes on. | http://www.lexfn.com/ | This site allows the students to identify collocations, usage etc. It goes beyond the translation of a dictionary and provides more help than a thesaurus. Truly an amazing database | |
| Rhyme
Zone
All levels |
http://www.rhymezone.com/ | |||
| Adult Learning Activities
High school/higher education/adult |
Adult Learning Activities – Science and Technology (from California Distance Learning Project) | http://www.cdlponline.org/ | High interest for adult learners; based on CNN news stories. Simplified reading texts that you hear spoken. Another activity lets you hear words pronounced individually. Then you hear words and spell them; then a matching game of words with definitions (turn over tiles); then a M/C test (3 tries before you're given the right answer); then a quiz on reading content; then, finally, a short answer that is written – and links to related sites. At the end, you can see activities and scores which could be printed out as evidence of completion of the site – there is the option to print them or eMail them (I sent them to myself – and got all my scores plus the paragraph I had written. This was really an excellent site. This is great reading, vocabulary development in context, of high interest due to topic selection and student ability to choose topics, and it has the ability to print out scores or eMail them to the teacher. | |
| Wordsurfing
Lessons and quizzes at all levels |
Assessment: a fantastically rich site (especially for teachers) which offers a wide variety of types of exercises at different levels from several of the vocabulary learning categories | http://www.wordsurfing.co.uk | Comments: Many of the comments, suggestions, directions seem to be written for the language learner, but the student would have to be very advanced to understand them. However, the site is a wonderful resource for teachers! |
|
| Vocabulary Game
from ESL Bears entry level to intermediate |
Two kinds of games: JavaScript Hangman and Speedwords | http://www.eslbears.homestead.com /Contact_Info.html |
Children, especially beginners, enjoy the games as they study basic words. They play fun games, and study and review as homework | |
| Eslflow.com
Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate |
A site for teachers as well as students, offering teaching tips, lessons, exercises, games, and other activities. | http://www.eslflow.com/ | Site offers activities
for all levels. Vocabulary
development through reading selections, writing exercises, role plays,
topics for debate, puppetry, and links for listening. The home page provides links to three levels and other links to a variety of topics. However, when clicking on the topics, students cannot determine the level of each exercise |
|
| The
Tower of English
Intermediate and higher |
Covers vocabulary from words/ expressions in Advertising to Writing exercises. Includes vocabulary lists (1000 Most Common Words), word games (Boggler), vocab and grammar assessment tests, links to related sites (BBC – Words in the News) | http://towerofenglish.com/ vocabulary.html |
Interesting selection of vocab word games, such as AmbiGallery (ambigrams – words that look the same when turned upside-down. Also, extensive vocab topical areas | |
|
V G
R and more |
5 Minute English
Mostly intermediate |
This site is a collection of about 150 short lessons focusing on different skills. There are also numerous useful links, a message board, Q&A section, and more. | www.5minuteenglish.com |
Advantages:
Lessons are brief and to the point and clearly organized by category.
Message board and Q&A section. |
| CNN Newsroom and Worldview for ESL Intermediate to Advanced |
This is the companion site to CNN Student News, a weekly news program for ESL students. There are grammar and vocabulary exercises based on news stories. | http://lc.byuh.edu/CNN-N /CNN-N.html |
Advantages: Ss can study vocabulary in context. Results of exercises can be e-mailed to teacher.
Easy to navigate.
|
|
| Activities for ESL/EFL Students
Multi-level |
This meta-site is an amalgamation of other sites. It contains a wide range of activities including quizzes, exercises and puzzles. A helpful feature is that activities are categorized according to proficiency level. Another good feature is that teachers can create and contribute exercises to the site. | http://a4esl.org/ | Contains good sites for supplemental practice. | |
| ESL Independent Study Lab
Multi-level |
This mega-site has each site that it links to categorized according to skills: listening, reading, writing, etc. Vocabulary and grammar categories are further grouped by difficulty level. Students and teachers can submit reviews of individual sites. | http://www.lclark.edu/~krauss/ toppicks/toppicks.html |
Contains
good sites for supplemental practice. Some sites such as the TOEFL site have dead links or links which have not been updated lately. |
|
| Interesting Things for
ESL students
Activities
and quizzes seem to be at beginner and intermediate |
Assessment: a wide variety of engaging exercises, puzzles, games, and quizzes at the beginning and intermediate level for both vocabulary and grammar | http://www.manythings.org/ | These all seem to be independently scored, so they seem best for independent or pair work for students. The activities and quizzes are categorized in a broad way, but the teacher would definitely have to preview each to get an idea for what to suggest Ss try. | |
| ESL Party Land: The
Quiz Center Quizzes range from very easy to difficult |
Multiple choice quizzes with feedback for answers. Grammar, idioms, vocabulary, phrasal verbs, reading, TOEFL, expressions. Resources for teachers | http://www.eslpartyland.com/ quiz%20center/quiz.htm |
Good quizzes for students to do independently | |
| One Stop English
all levels |
Good
resource for teachers. Information, articles and practical ideas given
on vocabulary and grammar. Some lessons by level as handouts. Not a
website that I would send a student to. |
http://www.onestopenglish.com /english_grammar/vocabulary.htm |
Good resource for teachers. Some are specific for U.S. and some for Great Britain | |
| University
of Victoria English Language Centre Study Zone Beginning to Advanced |
Self-correcting
exercises in the above skills. A wide range of interactive grammar exercises many of which are preceded by explanations |
http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone | Easy
to navigate; easy to understand explanations and directions. Not very greatly developed site. There are more grammar resources than vocabulary ones (mostly beginning level quizzes with graphics). Some novel-related grammar and exercises |
|
| English Club.com
All age levels and fluency levels for students |
Lessons
for learners and for teachers, including many interactive pages such as
forums, games, books, e-books, and
software, quizzes, chat, ESL help and penpals. Grammar lessons, exercises and quizzes, including parts of speech and tenses. |
http://www.englishclub.com | Tons
of materials for students and teachers. Some for young learners. For teachers, the site provides lesson plans and info on ESL jobs. For students, lessons, resources, activities, quizzes, and info on study abroad. Although the site provides a long list of topics, exercises for each topic are few in number. |
|
| Purdue Online
Writing Lab
All levels of grammar |
Writing lab that provides ways to learn grammar: writing lab where a student can send in questions about grammar, handouts and materials ready to print, exercises with answers and feedback on answers with links to rules, online workshops and powerpoint presentations on grammar. | http://owl.english.purdue.edu | Good
exercises and materials for students to do independently. Mainly native speaker writing skills necessary for university success. However, there are ESOL materials, reference papers, handouts, exercises, and links. -printer-friendly handouts. |
|
| The Education
Resources Website
All levels |
This site has an
entire section called “Test Center” which tests grammar points first
by reviewing the rule then giving test questions. They are given one at
a time, with feedback, sound and animation. |
http://www.edufind.com/learning /index.cfm |
I would love to use this as a link on my webpage in ESL. I could assign tests on particular grammar points. Students need to register for free and it keeps record of their scores. I don’t think I can get those scores as the instructor though. | |
| English
Quizzes
All |
Interactive self-correcting exercises of four types: fill in the blanks, scrambled sentences, matching, and crossword puzzles |
http://www.oocities.org/
|
Students are able to
select appropriate levels and activities.
Exercises are varied and appealing Elementary exercises may not be easy enough for low-level students. Student answers may be correct yet are scored as incorrect. Layout of first page may be too colorful and busy |
|
| Isabel’s
ESL Site Elementary, Intermediate and upper intermediate |
Materials and links
for teaching EFL/ESL in secondary school. Vocabulary, Grammar, Reading, Writing, Songs, Holidays, Web-Based Activities |
www.isabelperez.com/
|
Materials have a high
interest level. Great
variety of exercises. Learning
incorporates games and songs, thus appealing to a variety of learning
styles Exercises require a single “right” answer when other answers may be correct. Teachers using this site should review the exercises first to determine whether they are appropriate for a given class. Exercises may be too difficult for elementary-level students. |
|
| English
Zone
All levels |
Grammar, Spelling, Vocabulary, Dictionaries, Reading, Study Skills,
Idioms, Conversation, Pronunciation, Teacher Resources . Teaching pages and interactive exercises (some exercises are free, but many are for members only - $5 for 30 days, $12 for 6-mo, $20 for a year). |
http://English-zone.com
http://www.english-zone.com http://www.english-zone.com
|
This site has a nice,
professional look to it. Activities
are easy to find and the pages are not too busy.
The teaching pages prepare students to do the activities that
follow. Elementary exercises may not be easy enough for low-level students. Student answers may be correct yet are scored as incorrect. Layout of first page may be too colorful and busy. |
|
| English
Page
All levels |
Grammar, Vocabulary,
Tutorials, Reading, Games, Dictionaries A site that links you to other sites with lessons and exercises – there are also many pages by English Page. |
http://www.englishpage.com
Some
example links: Grammar/adjectives.htm Prepositions/prepositions.html |
This site can lead you
to other great sites where ESL activities can be found. The site includes lots of flash and ads. :-( |
|
| English
for Everybody
Beginners to advanced students
|
Includes
general English language courses, reading practice, language games, EFL
exam practice (PET, FCE, CPE, TOEFL, etc.).
|
http://www.english-online.org.uk/ | Very well-structured
courses abundant in illustrations, interesting selections of vocabulary
games, extensive exam practice, regular updates of teaching materials. The contents menu is too general, which makes it difficult both for teachers and for learners to find immediately the sections they might need. |
|
| BBC
World Service – Learning English
Advanced |
Using radio, magazines and cassettes to teach English as a second language. News English, Business English, Grammar & Vocabulary quizzes |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
|
Great possibilities of
practicing such skills as reading and listening using authentic BBC
texts. Vocabulary and
grammar by topic, quizzes. There are very few activities to practice the grammar and vocabulary topics explained in the site. The site provides more information for experienced learners who can use their own learning strategies. Others will find it difficult to use. |
|
| English
Centre of HKedCity All level of students from primary to secondary schools |
It is a website created by the Hong Kong Government. There are lots of activities teaching the 4 skills (i.e. reading, speaking, listening and writing), grammar, vocabulary and so on. | http://www.hkedcity.net/english/ english-centre/ |
There are many links to self-developed materials designed by local educators and other overseas websites. The materials are graded to different levels of learners. There are also links to online dictionaries so that students can check the meaning and pronunciation of difficult words. There are also animations with grammar rules/selected vocabulary designed by staff of the HKedCity. Words taught in the animations and the examples for illustrating grammar rules are in local context. As a result, students find that the materials are related to their lives and they become more motivated | |
| Funbrain.com
by Pearson Education Grade 4 – Grade 6 naive speakers ( primary to junior secondary students in Hong Kong) |
There are 18 language games (vocabulary and grammar) with different target students who are from grade 1 to grade 10 | http://www.funbrain.com/cgi-bin/getskill_ s.cgi?A1=selects&A2=la&A4=0&A7=0 |
There are 18 games and students can have lots of choice to fit their own needs. The activities are very interesting with a lot of good graphics. Students can decide if they need extra help like examples so that they can guess the meaning of words more easily. There are different levels of activities within individual games. Therefore high achievers can choose more difficult games while slow learners can play more easier ones. Students have great autonomy when deciding their learning activities. | |
| FreeEng Beginner to Advanced |
Grammar:
2 games cover definite and indefinite articles and present and
progressive verb tenses. Cool graphics. |
http://www.free-english.com/ english/Games.aspx |
Ideal for kids but not a lot of content on this very commercial site. | |
| E
L Easton
All levels
|
A collection of links to other grammar ESOL learner and teacher sites; grammar explanations and quizzes; Test Your English; Some interactive tests; some immediate feedback | http://eleaston.com | Links (some dead) for teachers as well as learners including links for teachers for things to do when not teaching (The Independent Teacher) | |
| back to top | ||||
|
R |
The Learning Resources site with CNN San Francisco bureau
Intermediate to advanced ESL |
Readings are provided in full and abridged versions. There is also an outline provided. Students can read, watch, and listen to the story. There are also numerous comprehension activities for students. | http://literacynet.org/cnnsf/ | This site is very interactive and provides immediate feedback. My students really like the independence of this site, and they also enjoy the many topics provided for them. I like this site because my students are very TOEFL oriented and this site provides 'TOEFL-like" practice for them. I've also had them read and create an outline of the reading, and then had them compare it to the one provided.Similarly, I've provided them the outline and asked them to fill in the blanks. |
Dafne Gonzalez
May, 2004
