#technologyassistedlearning

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Evaluating an ELT website

Hi people, today I am posting about my evalution of an ELT website which is named as follows; http://www.5minuteenglish.com/ . As the name already suggests, this website is designed to teach English to it’s users, aiming mainly teenagers and adults.

 Hope you’ll like my evaluation, feel free to comment on the parts you agree or disagree :) Enjoy!

1) Who authored the website? Is there any information about their qualifications or credentials? 

I ransacked the whole website and the internet, unfortunately, I couldn’t find any kind of information related to the author/s of the website.

2) What is the content of the website? 

In this website, you can find the sections that are listed below;

Grammar (describing the usage of words, various examples in sentences etc.),

Reading, (lots of texts with a great range of topics to choose from such as special occasions and TV shows, new vocabulary items are highlighted with its answers),

Vocabulary, (explaining the word formation, it’s root etc.., differences between the British & American versions of specific words etc.),

Listening lessons (real life dialogues, lists of new vocabulary items, true or false questions etc.) However, I have to note that some of the audio recordings are not clear and hard to understand for beginners.

Slangs and idioms. (Phrasal verbs and their use with different words, use of idioms based on various topics etc.)

Pronunciation (intonations, pronunciations for specific sounds in English, phonological rules etc.)

Within these lessons, there are mostly textual explanations and question-answer exercises. For listening lessons, there are also audio recordings. Besides that, there is a list of other websites, which may help language learners improve their language skills.

A listening exercise. Dialogues and the vocabulary list can be seen.

3) Who is the target audience?

EFL teenagers and adults are the main audience.

4) What is the purpose of the website?

This website is designed to make English language easier to learn by giving you short and easy explanations and exercises.

5) Is there a date that shows when the site has last been updated?

No there is not. However, the website seems to be updated frequently.

6) Accuracy of the information- Are there any errors?

Both the information and language are accurate. I didn’t encounter any errors.

7) Are there any broken links?

I have checked %90 of links in the “lessons” section and there are not any broken links. However, some images aren’t available. Also some of the links to the (additional) websites that were advised to be checked were broken.

8) Are the images of high quality and appealing to the target audience?

Images that are still working are of good quality, they are not 10/10 but good enough to be beneficial.

9) How can it be applied to EFL teaching?

This website can be especially useful for teachers, there are various activities with the answer keys ready and they are easy to download. They can be given as homework or can be used as revision exercises. You can also edit and reutilize some of the audio recordings and use them in your classroom activities. There is also a forum-like section in which learners can discuss the answers of specific questions. 

[thingymajigyy-blog]

Digital storytelling

Hi people, today’s post will be about digital storytelling. Below, you can find the steps of creating a digital story.

Find an idea

Write the draft/script

Find the fitting images to your story

Record voice over

Edit the photos and the voice

Add sound effects, titles, music etc. (optional)

Edit the transition(optional)

Export the product

(We skipped the optional ones in our digital story.)

This was my first experience with a digital story and I find the overall process really fun and simple, however, finding the tool that provides all the affordences we need was a bit challenging.

I would definitely give my students a task about digital storytelling.

I think it is one of best activities (if not the best), that supports the development of 4C’s simultaneously.

It encourages collaboration and communication(students exchanging ideas etc.) especially when given in pairs, stimulates brainstorming, creativity and critical thinking(drawing images and thinking out the plot etc.).

Here is our story. I worked with Ahmet Can KARATAŞ.

Hope you’ll like it, Enjoy! :))

P.S: Tools used: https://tr.kizoa.com