I am sorry to be late in this posting. The flu is ravaging my classroom, and of course, I had to catch it.
The website I evaluated is called Kiz School. The address is http://kizschool.com/index.html. It is an online learning and teaching website for ESL/EFL children approx ages 3-14. The graphics are not so young that adults learning the language would be embarrassed to use it however. The site is a subscription site so I wasn't able to view everything, but they do show enough that I feel confident discussing the site. A very cool thing is that the site can be viewed in the learner's home language. Most countries' languages are available. Once you choose the country's language the text immediately changes to that language. When you put your cursor over any part of the text that part of the text reverts to English while the rest of the site remains in the native language. So, older students and adults could do a lot of self teaching. There are multiple levels. Each level has between 9 and 11 units. Each level has a placement test to help the teacher or the learner decide where to begin. Every unit has video tutorials, interactive games, and animated PPT lessons. There are also printable worksheets and flash cards. All of these allow many opportunities for practice There is an advertised self grading component, but I wasn't able to view it without subscribing to the site.The site moves the learner from simple identification words with pictures of the object (cat, dog, etc.) to phrases, and through to informational small books on things like Fire Safety. There are lesson plans available for teacher and parents.There are also the tutorials which appear helpful. The website is very attractive, with bright primary colors that will appeal to children, but as I said earlier, not so childish that an older learner would be turned off. I think this would be a very effective site for teaching and learning English. It is a simple site to navigate and the layout is easy to follow, although I wasn't able to access all of the areas. What I did see was very simple to use. I especially like the fact that the learner can read the information in his/her native tongue. This would make following the directions so much easier for the older learner or adult to move forward at his/her own pace. It's an excellent site. I wish it weren't a subscription site, but otherwise I really don't see any other needed improvements.
This website is appealing to students. My 4 yr old son hopped up on my lap when I was looking at the website and he was engaged! After looking at everyone's websites, it's a shame how many educational websites are paid subscriptions now. But, I do see the point of needing people to update and create materials for the website.
ReplyDeleteI think the translation of the directions for the website is a great feature. Most of the time just Spanish is available, but that doesn't help all of the other languages. I have 8 different languages in my ELL classroom.
Another website that is a great resource for bilingual reading is http://en.childrenslibrary.org/
It has lots of popular books that are translated into many different languages.
I agree too, this is a great Website for ESL/EFL students, teachers, and parents. I appreciate the web designer's effort of providing various learners' home languages. I noticed that they use Google translate for that. This results on a little bit of word-to-word translation. I checked the Indonesian version, and I found some strange translation. However, it is still understandable. I can imagine how happy some kindergarten and primary English teachers around where I live in Indonesia when they find this website. I will share this website with them, Julie. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteOh, Nathan, thank you for the bilingual reading website. It's really cool! My daughter likes it very much.
I agree, they even have tests. I have a friend who started his own school and is just using the stuff from kiz school. they also have a discount now - 15% look at http://kizschool.com/discounts.html bc of it being going back to school time now.
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