Activities for ESL Students
Introduction
Megan's second review of an ESL website is of the website, Activities for ESL Students. The site is a very basic one with a design comprised of one main page with three columns of links to quizzes and exercises. The index page is without graphics, but (thanks to a variety of blocks of color) is not boring. The top of the page boasts "Over 1,000 quizzes, exercises, and puzzles" to help visitors learn English as a Second Language. A visitor immediately believes this claim, too: directly under it are so many links to quizzes, exercises, and puzzles, the visitor has to scroll down to view them all.
Navigation
This website has excellent navigability. It was initially easy to find the website: it came up within the first few results of a google search. It also has a simple url, that helps the visitor to easily remember how to return. The site itself is comprised almost entirely of links. Each link is clearly marked in simple terms that would be easily readable for those who speak little English. Moving about within the site is very straightforward and simple. The only drawback concerning navigation within the site is that the index page requires visitors to click a link to actaully get into the content of the website. This goes against Spiderpro'sadvice stating: "Use the first screen." Aside from this minor discrepancy, the site had great navigability.
Content
After having been intrigued by the claim of over 1,000 exercises, I was disappointed by the lack of thorough content within the site. Although I did not count each and every exercise and quiz, it is easy to believe that there are 1,000 or more. The content of those quizzes, numerous as they may be, though, is limited. They are arranged by various levels of difficulty. Each game and exercise, though, is based on a different scale of difficulty. Some merely have "easy, medium, and difficult." Others expand on that and add to the mix "easy with pictures." Within the games, though, all basic areas of content are not covered. Grammar and vocabulary are stressed throughout the website. Both are enforced with a variety of quizzes, exercises, and games. Links to help with vocabulary are numerous and help with special-topic vocabulary, such as idioms, places, and phrases. Although grammar and vocabulary appeared to be represented thoroughly, I could not find a single link to any listening or speaking exercises.
Summary
In addition to the content discussed, the site offers extra content: a section to help ESL teachers with lesson plans and an extensive collection of bilingual quizzes. The bilingual quiz section was very thorough and was a nice addition to the site that most ESL sites, oddly enough, do not have. This addition slightly improved the site's rating.
Rating
3 out of 5 Spinning Plates
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