Web Site Review  

Web site title:  The English Professor

Authority:  This particular website is sponsored by “Quebec ring/ESL,” and is owned by a private individual, Patrick Kinch, a teacher with over twenty years of experience, mostly in elementary ESL, with some high school, and adult school experience.  He is also the part-time Webmaster who is continually trying to improve his own skills (He is currently enrolled in a program for attaining such skills, as noted on his FAQs page), but readily admits the format could use more visual appeal.  I think he has done a fair job of presenting and organizing the information on the site, with plenty of legitimate, live links to other useful websites, created by teachers as well.  There was no mention of how often the site gets updated, but email comments were solicited at end of the home page. 

Accuracy:  The information contained no noticeable errors in grammar, spelling, or other typological errors.  The charts contained many hyperlinks leading to general suggestions, general topics, and specific games for the debutant learner and also for the ESL teacher (in this case, elementary context).  The author, Patrick Kinch, uses his experience as an ESL instructor and enthusiasm for using the internet as an effective language learning tool (especially for those who must use “distance learning”) in order to guide the website’s design, purpose, and information/links.  Every link is clearly labeled and author clearly stated, though contact information is not always present.

Objectivity:  The purpose of the website is clearly stated on the FAQs page, developed as a resource for ESL learners (again, primarily elementary level students), and also for ESL teachers.  The main purpose is to provide lots of games and activities for the elementary ESL learner to practice basic vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.  Exercises were suitable for elementary learners and parents were assured that websites were checked for appropriacy.  In general, the advertising is kept to a minimum, limited to an endorsement for “Azimuts,” a set of resource workbooks for elementary school students with lots of illustrated vocabulary.  There appears to be no advertisements with completely unrelated material (e.g., an ad for weight loss on an ESL site).  The author maintains no obvious bias.

Currency:  I was unable to locate information about when and how often the site is updated to reflect new links/changes etc. 

Coverage:  All of the links were viable and readily useful for the language teacher/learner (e.g., LessonPlansPage.com), but not all were devoted to just ESL or to language teaching/learning in general.  However, some links were better than others.  A linked page to activities created by Charles I. Kelly, used HotPotatoes in order to create many of the activities: Food matching, Nouns I, II matching, etc.  These activities were not really interactive, preferring instead to give simple yes/no responses to student input.  On the actual website itself, there was a handy chart organizing all the information that was available on the site.  For instance, Level 1 learners could choose from the following in order to practice English skills: alphabet, vocabulary, phonics, writing, fairy tales, reading, stories, basic grammar, Mother’s Day, Our school/town/city is best.  Level 2 learners could look forward to practicing: grammar, tongue twisters, riddles, reading, homonyms, idioms, proverbs, poetry, writing, and picture stories.  There were other sections devoted to listening, e-pals, French/Bilingual students, free clickart/animation, etc.  Teachers did not have a wealth of links, but could potentially use the free downloads section or list of organizations.  Tools included were not comprehensive, but probably adequate for an elementary student’s needs, comprising of the following: translator, thesaurus, quotations, pronunciation guide, dictionaries, encyclopedia, maps, atlas, and an ask section.  The games section was somewhat limited with: hangman, cardtrick, virtual pet, word games, Waldo, puzzles, memory, tic-tac-toe, among others.  However, much practice is provided with basic grammar and vocabulary concepts throughout the games and other sections overall.

Please email me, if questions, comments, suggestions.