Website : Learn English Today
Question 1
This website is focusing on grammar teaching and learning. It has different sections and each section provides a particular theme such as Improve your knowledge of English, Develop your business skills, Idioms and Proverbs, Famous Quotations, English Newspapers and Radio - TV, Games and Other Resources.
The exercises that can be accessed from the website are Verb Tenses exercises, Other Verb Forms Exercises, Meaning and Use of Certain Verbs exercises, Grammar and Vocabulary exercises.
There are also exercises in the form of games such as Crosswords, Jumbled Sentences, Quizzes, Missing Words, and Matching Exercises.
Some feedback given are immediate while some are not. For example, in Vocabulary Quiz, the multiple – choice exercises are given and the students need to choose the right vocabulary to complete a sentence by clicking the answer and the feedback is given immediately. After clicking the answer, a feedback box will appear. If the answer is wrong, the box will ask the students to try again until the student clicks the right answer and the score is given right there and then.
On the other hand, in another exercise, for example, Present Simple exercise, the students are required to fill in the gaps by writing the correct answers in the blank spaces and the correct answers can be checked after the students are done, by clicking the check button.
Question 2
Firstly, when the visitors or learners are on the homepage of the website, they need to choose from 8 options provided. Each option have different activities for the visitors. If the visitors were looking for notes and exercises for grammar they can head over to the "Improve Your Knowledge in English" section. It covers various grammar topics and they can choose any topic they want to do first. Interestingly, in each grammar topic, it has notes and two sets of exercises, online and printable exercises. It will be very helpful especially for teachers because the materials can be printed and used in the classroom. "Graded Word Games" section is very helpful if learners were looking for activities with different level of difficulties. The visitors can choose the exercises level that suit their proficiency level, ranges from easy, medium, more difficult to challenging. If the visitors were looking for interesting language games, they can click on the "Relax with English Fun Activities" section. Then, the visitors will be directed to a variety of language games to choose from.
Other than grammar and language games, the website also has "Idioms and Proverbs" section as well as "Famous Quotations" section. The visitors just need to click on the sections and they will be directed to numerous list of idioms, proverbs and quotations.
"Develop your business skill" section is suitable for the visitors who want an exposure to the use of English language in the business setting. They can choose from Business vocabulary list, Business conversation, Business vocabulary exercises, Business idioms, and Business word games.The visitors can further learn about English in the business setting by clicking on the "More Business English section". There, they will be presented with various list of business components such as "Business Letters and Emails", "Resumes", etc, and they will be directed to the related website by clicking on the option that they wish to learn more.
Not only restricted to exercises on grammar, the visitors can also find other materials such as videos, newspapers, blogs, pod cast, even exam preparation tips and exercises, in this website. The visitors can click on the section "English newspaper and radio - TV" and "Other resources" if they wanted more information and learning materials to help them improve their English proficiency level.
Question 3
How I wish I found this website when I was doing my practicum. I like it very much. It is everything I wanted to do with my students. My students loved games related lesson and if possible, they wanted every lesson to involve games. I remembered an English BINGO game (which I created from scratch) that I played with my students. They had fun and genuinely participated during the lesson. At the end of the lesson I asked the students if they enjoyed the lesson and they said "Of course we enjoyed it. We know how hard you prepared it for us and indeed, it was fun". The fact that they learned something from me, loved the activity and appreciated it, shows that my hard work really paid off. Besides the English BINGO game, we also played crossword puzzles, spelling games, charades and other language interactive activity like story telling and role - playing. The 'Graded word games' and 'Relax with English fun activities' would be wonderfully loved by my students. Other than that, I am an ESL learner myself. This website, especially the input on the grammar section reminds me on how I used to search from one website to another to find the easiest way to understand the rules of English grammar. When I was a school student, I had limited vocabulary and my English teacher used to ask us to keep a vocabulary book, which we would write any new English word that we encountered everyday and the "English Vocabulary" section brings back all those memories. This website will be very helpful for independent learners because it provides a diversity of English language activities and information that will be enjoyed by the learners.
Question 4
Yes, of course this website presents learners with something that cannot be done in the textbook or workbook. It is like a one stop centre, everything that you need that are related to English language learning, you can it find here. From grammar, writing, reading, listening and speaking, all are available in this website.The notes, the exercises and the activities provided in this websites would have saved my sleepless nights searching for my teaching materials during my practicum. We, the teachers, are encouraged to use other sources than the textbook provided by the school, and this website has a lot to offer to the English learners. Not only it is useful to the students, it will be a great resource material for the teachers as well. The materials provided are interactive, fun and at the same time have clear language objectives to be achieved. Other than that, the arrangement of the topics is very organized and user - friendly, the font used is clear, the animation is interesting and able to catch the students' attention and the immediate feedback enables the students to identify their mistakes and avoid fossilization. The website also provides external links to other websites to help the learners get more information related to the topic of learning English. There are also links that will direct the learners to Newspapers online, blog, podcast, and Radio & TV. This website is a lot more interesting for students than just a plain textbook or workbook.
Question 5
In my opinion, the website allows the students to manage their own learning style because it comes with options. With options, they can freely access any topic that they want to learn and adjust it to their level of proficiency. They are able to experience a student - centered learning process and it is similar to Constructivism learning theory. Constructivism views learning as an active process and students learn by constructing their own understanding and knowledge through experience. In this website, the learners are exposed to different types of tasks, exercises, notes and links to various ESL website. The students can choose anything that they want to learn from the website and construct their own understanding by connecting the new information with the previous knowledge that they have.
Question 6
Yes, definitely this website has the potentials for language learning. According to Levy (1997) CALL is defined as "the search for and study of applications of the computer in language teaching and learning". Firstly, this website is focusing on the learning of English language, especially grammar. Thus, the fact that it is a website and the language learning is happening in a virtual world fits the definition of CALL. Secondly, the materials provided in this website enable the students to learn on their own. It promotes student - centered learning approach and individualized learning. Students can access the notes, exercises and other learning materials on their own and the immediate feedback for exercises helps students to revise and reinforce on lesson that has been learned in the classroom. It can serve as additional information on what has been taught by the teacher. Thirdly, this website allows the students to access other links that are related to language learning. From notes, exercises, newspaper to Radio & TV, all can be accessed and used for language teaching and learning purposes. The interactive learning activities offered by this website definitely has the potentials for language learning.
Question 7
Of course I would like to use the application in my future work. Did I mention that I like this website very much? It covers mostly everything that I would like to use in my English class. Even I, as an English learner myself, enjoy every activities and informational links provided by the website. As a teacher, the printable exercises would be very helpful to be used as students' worksheet in the classroom. Teachers can directly print out the worksheet and distribute it in the class. Other than that, the language games and fun activities are another ways to attract students' attention towards language learning. If the games and activities were included in the lesson, it would make the classroom more lively and students can actively participate in classroom activities. The inclusion of language games and fun activities would avoid the lesson from becoming teacher - centered and make the classroom environment more approachable and comfortable for the students to learn. Furthermore, if teachers wanted to relate to real life situation in language learning, they can make use of "Develop your business skills" section. It is very informative and helpful exposure to the students on the use of English language in a real life situation. Later on, the knowledge and information provided can be used in their life when the students are looking for a job or encountered with similar situations in their life. It makes the lesson applicable and valuable because they can relate it with their real life.
7.4/10
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