Website review

Well, I thought this was due Friday and with our moving to a new house I didn't have a chance to look at the assinment until now.  I know we didn't have to use the form format but I felt it was nicely set up so I chose to use it.  Well, anyway....here it is. 

 I chose to do the website review on usalearns.org.  This is a website sponsored by the federal government to help non native English speakers learn the language.  Its main purpose is to assist English language learners read, speak, listen and build vocabulary.
 
The website is interactive and self-paced.  The user choses which activities to do within the lesson.  Once all the activities are successfully completed they can go on to the next lesson.  There are lessons for beginners, intermediate and more advanced learners.  There are 20 units within the beginner’s lesson and each unit holds 20-30 mini lessons to complete.  It is quite comprehensive and there are no external documents within this website.

 For self motivated learners it meets the daily needs of the students in a multifaceted way, targeting spelling, vocabulary, pronunciation, reading, etc.  It gives the student various ways of meeting their goal of learning English with real life scenarios. Real life application is what most students seek out when they want to learn a new language.  They want to learn things that are going to be helpful in their daily lives.  This website meets that need. 

 This website gives ELL’s the practical use of English rather than academic.  Topics such as family, money, school, medical, food give the students language skills they can use immediately

 There is a practice portion to each lesson with feedback given in the form of a % success rate.  It will also tell the students if they have completed the lesson or unit as a glance.  It does this by partially or fully coloring in a box next to the objective.  After all the lessons are complete then there is an assessment that can be taken.  It too is given a % success rate.  As the student goes along, whether in lessons or assessment, the correct answer is given if the student misses it.  This immediate feedback is beneficial to the students.  

I think it is very easy to use and is intuitive.  The students should be able to navigate the site with little complication.  The layout is uncluttered and the website is nicely laid out.  I think the site meets the needs of ELL’s.  It is easy to use and the directions are simple.  The use of pictures to help connect the written to the visual is a nice touch.  However, it would be nice to incorporate video into the lessons.  There are audio clips but video could have a great impact on the students.

Software/Website Title: WWW.usalearns.org

 

Website URL: http://www.usalearns.org/index/welcome.cfm?CFID=18632521&CFTOKEN=57025197&jsessionid=3c30f5c9f7e41e3f91e0837806e2f694d255

 Grade/Age Level: high school through adult but could be used for younger children.  It features adults scenarios so children may not be as engaged because of it.