English Learning sites


PART I:

Among general large sites, I¡¯ve chosen ¡°Karin¡¯s ESL Party Land" and ¡°BBC English" to compare. By and large, the former contains richer materials and links for both ESL students and teachers, as it was made up originally for studying English. On the other hand, the later has less content for learning English, as it is just a part of BBC web sites, which is mainly for reporting news.

Considering the way to categorize and display the materials, I would say ¡°BBC English¡± is better. In fact, I couldn¡¯t find any difficulties to follow the directions and find out the information in both sites. However, ¡°BBC English¡± site is more consistently structured as a whole in terms of using catchy colors and photos and categorizing the content properly. On the other hand, of ¡°Karin¡¯s ESL Party Land,¡± image icons for the site map seem to be isolated and scattered, so it could distract viewers, even though each image is related to the topic. Moreover, the font size in the upper bar showing a category is too small to read especially the letters of ¡°Discussion¡± and ¡°Message center.¡±

As to the content itself, ¡°Karin¡¯s ESL Party Land¡± seems to be more interactive, keeping various quizzes and active discussion forums, but I think ¡°Karin¡¯s ESL Party Land¡± is more focusing on teachers. It offers many kinds of in-class activities and specified lesson plans. In addition, because students¡¯ and teachers¡¯ pages are being linked each other, it is easy for a teacher to look at how students are learning and practicing their English, and for students to preview how teachers are preparing for the class. This is good for both a student and a teacher, because I believe that teaching and learning should go together. Both need to understand each other¡¯s side.

On the other hand, ¡°BBC English sites¡± seem to make the most of use mess media such as radio and TV using window media player. As it is originally news sites, it is trying to make the English learning site related to the current issues and recent entertainment. Comparing ¡°Karin¡¯s ESL Party Land,¡± it is more depending on audio materials, which makes the site livelier. As an ESL student, I prefer ¡°BBC English site,¡± which is like a content based English learning site instead of simply giving lectures. I think most of Asians have hard time to improve their listening skills while their grammar and vocabulary are not so bad. I¡¯m not an exception.

In conclusion, ¡°BBC English¡± is more attractive to me as an ESL student, because of its look, contents related to current issues and audial programs. This web site is good for intermediate and advanced ESL students to practice their English, not learn and study something new. However, because I¡¯m going to participate in practicum teaching programs in junior high school next month, ¡°Karin¡¯s ESL Party Land¡± seems to be very useful for in-class English activities.



Among writing sites, I will compare ¡°Literacy Education Online, St. Could State" with ¡°Advanced Composition for Non-Native Speakers of English .¡±

The former seems to focus on giving lectures about how to write something, rather than interact with viewers (students). In other words, it is just like a reference book displayed on a computer monitor. It sounds boring, but it categorizes contents neatly and put the title like ¡°I want to ¡¦,¡± or ¡°I have a problem with..,¡± which make the learning site personal. I think it is good idea to make the expressions in a learning site personal so that students can be involved in the content easily, even though there¡¯s no interactive program like a quiz. The site looks like a searching engine by a natural language, while ¡°Advanced Composition for Non-Native Speakers of English¡± is more like a searching engine by a category. This web site is for both native and non-native students for writing.

The latter is trying to appeal to students using interactive quizzes and showing students¡¯ examples. On the right side, there is a category which is simple and neat. It allots some part to introduce good reference books and materials, which seems to be quite commercial. In general, it is easy for ESL students to follow directions and navigate the information. However, I feel like this web site targets on ESL students whose mother tongue is Spanish or Portuguese. As you see, most examples are from Latin American students, and questions of the quiz often mention about Latin places and cultures. As an Asian ESL student, this doesn¡¯t look familiar with me. What I¡¯m interested in is interactive quizzes attached after grammar explanations, and before the quiz you have to write down your nationality and your name, which makes the student taking the quizzes more serious.

When it comes to which site is preferable, I prefer ¡°Literacy Education Online, St. Cloud State,¡± because its contents are richer and there is more information I need in it. I guess the web site has set up based on a lot of university students¡¯ writing works and their mistakes.

Among four sites which I¡¯ve analyzed and compared, I would keep using ¡°BBC English¡± site to improve my English. I¡¯m poor at listening and understanding English, so I need to train my listening skills through audial programs in ¡°BBC English¡± site. Moreover, it is fun to study English with current materials such as world news, sports, and entertainment.

PART II:

Name of the site	URL	Brief Description
BBC English	www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/index.shtml	Practice your English in the News, with Music, and through Sport. You need to install the window media player.
Comenius English Learning Center	www.comenius.com	Reading interesting fables, you can build up your vocabulary. Listening to a conversation, you can study idioms as well.
Advanced Composition for Non-Native Speakers of English	www.ebaack.com	ESL students, from beginners to advanced learners, can develop their writing skills. This provides lessons (how to write), quizzes, and students¡¯ examples.
Activities for ESL students	a4esl.org	More than 1,000 quizzes are prepared for every level. Quizzes are various depending on browser requirements (HTML, Java, Flash)
English Blues	www.collegeem.qc.ca/cemdept/anglais/trouindx.htm	Through interactive quizzes depending on a level, have a fun with studying grammar.