ESL Website Evaluation

Assalamualaikum! After browsing through countless of ESL websites, I finally found this simple-yet-very useful page, Really Learn English. Check this out!

This page was created by Ola Zur, who has been teaching and learning English for quite some years. The purpose of this site is to make the English language as easy and as simple as possible for everyone, regardless of your proficiency level as a student, and if you are an English teacher. That's right, this site can be used for both students and teachers!

1. You can get everything in this site, since all of the English components are put under one site. Going through the site, one can find various materials related to the topic one wishes to explore. For learners, there are vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation & speaking, writing, reading; you name it! Each section is further divided to smaller components so that it is easier for the user to immediately go to the chosen topic.  There are also videos & tips that you can watch, and products that you can download. As for the teachers, there is a special column called Teaching Center, where it provides tips and advice you need that will surely help you to teach your students. 

One advantage of this site is that it does not only teach, but also test the learner's understanding through the exercises provided after each of the lesson. Users can choose to try any, or even better, all of the activities in the site. The exercises come in various forms, like multiple choice questions (MCQs), open-ended questions, gap-fill exercises, and many more. Because this site aims to ensure that any learner is capable of answering the exercises provided, the questions are doable regardless of the learner's level of proficiency. So, worry not! Whether you are a beginner, intermediate or an advanced student, the exercises are surely worth for you to try! Also, immediate feedback is given after you have completed your activity, so that is really a bonus! Users get to know their scores which act as an indicator whether they have done well or not. High scores mean you understand the lesson given and if you don't understand any of the question, you can simply ask for hints. But, your marks will be deducted for every hint that you ask.

For instance, look at this Grammar exercise on Simple Past Tense;

A 100% mark is given if learner gets all of the answers correct.

When you click 'hint', the initial of the word (answer) will be given.

Marks will be deducted for every incorrect answer or hint that you ask.

2. To browse this site is just a click away. Learners can simply browse through different sections using the navigation bar on the left side of the page. Or, they can use the search box at the top of the page to find what they are looking for. Exploring a new website might be a hassle for some people. If you are a first-timer and don't know where to start, you can take a guided tour on this site. There is a brief explanation on what the site offers you for each of the lessons, and this will help you to use the site later. Just choose a sub-topic that learners want to learn by clicking any column under the topic. It is better if learners have planned what they want to revise so they can simply start clicking rather than wasting time trying to figure out what topic they would like to cover. One more thing, users have full excess on this site since it is free! They don't have to pay for membership or buy its contents - they are definitely free of charge. So, they can download and use the exercises anytime they want. If teachers or learners wish to purchase the e-books available in the site for further understanding, they can get them at a discounted price if  they buy the entire series together.   

When you have selected a section that you want to learn, for example reading, first and foremost, you will be asked to choose a topic of  your interest. Just click at the topic and you will start by watching a short video regarding the topic. This is an interesting way to get learners to know the topic before reading the article!

Next, spend a few minutes of your time to read the article. The video shown before definitely gives learners some idea about what the topic is all about!

Finally, complete the exercise given. Just follow the steps. It's that simple!

3. As I go through the website, it does remind me of what I did in class back then during school years. The activities here are like quizzes, because whenever you do the exercises you will get immediate feedback - your scores, response and answers; and whether you did good or not. But, unlike the quizzes in class, the activities here are in the form of interactive learning. Learners will become very engaged in the activities while they are trying to solve the exercises given. Another thing is, whenever there are quizzes in class students will be very excited to start the activities because they are having fun trying to answer the questions asked by the teacher and to score high marks. In this case, learners are answering the questions asked by the site and the more correct answers you get, the higher your scores will be. Furthermore, when I was a kid, I'm used to playing online games, because I find it more interesting and engaging; I can spend hours on it!

4. It is undeniable that this site presents learners with something that cannot be done in a textbook. The list of activities here are organized according to a particular topic, and you can do it over and over again. This site sure knows how to get learners to have fun with learning the language, and by fun, just look at the educational tools it uses - videos, flash cards. Even I myself spent hours at the site doing the activities because I was eager to try them - I keep coming back for more especially the videos! Of course, you can never get any of these in the book. It is definitely a bonus point to have a clear and simple explanation before you start the activity.

I find it very good that this site actually guides you throughout your learning process. You don't have to worry if you are not that good in a particular topic or if you have very little knowledge about it, this site will give you the explanation and enough examples before you start doing the exercises. It will make sure that you truly understand the topic because the most important thing is that you can understand the language and later apply what you have learned. 

5. Learning through website is absolutely different from learning in school. The experience that you get - the 'feel' is not the same. When you are learning through the website, you are in the virtual world as you only have your computer in front of you and you are immersed in your own world. From my perspective, the theory of language learning that can be associated from the use of this website is the Constructivism Theory.

Constructivism - the term refers to the idea that learners construct the knowledge for themselves. Constructing means learning; as learners are using the website, they are actually learning the language by themselves. Learners are responsible of their own learning - they choose what they want to learn, click the button and the learning process begins. Learning using a website is an active process since learners use the sensory input, knowledge that they get from the site and construct meaning from it. It is a process that requires learners' active participation. It is a unique process and it differs from one individual to one another. 

6. Really Learn English is indeed a good site for language learning. There are many tips given - to the students, and also teachers, about so many topics. Not to forget, this site also provides useful articles for further reading and additional information to its users. This site has successfully made language learning more interesting, fun, and engaging! Besides the activities, learners can keep in touch with this site via other medium. If  you have any question about this site, you can just leave an email or read the Q&As usually asked to this site. You can also read other English blogs that have connection with this site like Size Bite English. All in all, this site has pretty much everything you need. You can learn different topics in just one site since it does not focus on one component only. Pronunciation, speaking, reading materials - everything is here.

7. Yes, I will definitely use this application in the future. I really love this site mainly because it is user- friendly. It provides excellent activities that I can use in my classroom later when I become a teacher. I like how this site incorporates the use of technology because it is something different than the conventional way of learning using the textbook. It has an awesome interface - simple but packed with information and everything is well-organized; users will have no problem searching for the content and of course, what I love the most is because this site does not restrict to one component only and last but not least, it works for both teachers and students. I'm sure that my future students will fall in love with this site as much as I do, and you will never know if you don't try it!

In-Class Task 1

1. Assalamualaikum and hai! My name is Syamimi binti Saiful Anwar. You can call me Mimi. I'm from Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor. My previous school was MRSM Kuala Kubu Bharu. I have four siblings, and I'm the second child in my family. I love to watch movies and listen to music.

2. I think I can rate myself as a computer savvy. I do know the basic computer skills like how to use the Microsoft (word, powerpoint, excel, publisher, etc) to do work and also the tips and tricks, and using the Internet (search engines) to help me find everything I need. I'm able to use whatever that are installed in my laptop so I think no problem with it.

3. Microsoft Office, IBM SPSS, Antivirus, i-Tunes, computer drivers, OS, internet browser, media players (windows, VLC, KMPlayer, GOM), windows movie maker, Adobe, Dropbox, CD, DVD, hard disk, cpu, etc.

4. I have experienced learning via the computer using i-Learn in student portal (online learning). We need to post any topic regarding the subject in the class group. From there, we get to interact with each other and give our own opinion. It's a good way of learning because even though we cannot see each other face to face, we can still discuss and learn. Another benefit of online learning is that we can always refer back all of the posts there.

5. Unfortunately I did not get the chance to use technology in my lessons during the teaching practicum since the classroom has no projector or computer. In order to do so I will have to take my students to Bilik APD which is far from the class and that will take me some time because my school is quite big. Time constraint was one of the reasons I did not get to incorporate the use of technology in my classroom.

6. In my opinion the use of computer/technology in language teaching is important since nowadays we live in the world where everything uses technology. Students nowadays spend more time using the technology and you can just search for anything in the Internet. Everything you want to know is at the end of your fingertip. Also, it will save you a lot of time and make your life easier.

7. My expectations from this course are that I will be able to learn more about the use of technological aids and later use the knowledge to help me in my teaching and make learning more interactive and interesting. I really hope when I get to be an educator later on, I am able to apply what I have learned in my teaching so that my students will enjoy the lesson.

8. The topic chosen for my Academic Exercise (AE) is Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) Trainee Teacher's Motivational Strategies in English Second Language (ESL) Classroom. My supervisor is Puan Melissa Malik. The reason why I choose this topic is mainly because we have just finished our practicum and I really would like to know how my friends motive their students to learn, to enjoy learning the language, and the motivational strategies that they used in their classroom. I have already started doing my AE during our break until now, and alhamdulillah so far everything is going well as what I have planned. I plan to constantly do my AE so that I can get my work done before we sit for our finals and I do hope that I can graduate on time. InsyaAllah.