Peer Review

English Conversations

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Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: This web site has a good deal of very useful content. There are story readings,
conversations, interviews, and a few other types of readings. The site is set
up to have students listen and interact with the language that is being used.
Even in some of the stories there are two voices with one asking questions as
the story is read. Everything is read in English and there are two different
types of dialects. The site is based in Japan so there are a few people for
whom English is not their first language, however the main reader is a US
citizen from Michigan. There are several links to other sites having the same
type of content to allow the students to expand on what they are learning.

There are images that go along with the stories and conversations as well as a
transcript for everything that is on the site. This is a great overall site
with a lot of different types of readings and it is very easy to use. There are
also stories posted for the users to read through that have something similar
to objectives listed in the beginning that they should be looking for.
Type of Material:: Podcasts
Identify Major Learning Goals:: Listening practice
Target Student Population:: ESL/EFL learners
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: Mid-beginning English

Rating:
Strengths:: The purpose of this site is very evident from looking at the front page. The
site looks to give the students a great deal of exposure to the English language
in many different forms. There is also an about page that provides the
background of the site and why it was assembled. There is an enormous amount of
depth to the material with archives from the past year. The material is very
organized as it is broken down into categories that are listed in a menu on the
right hand side. The external links lead the user to sites that are very
similar in content.
Concerns:: There is a place to comment on the stories and conversations but otherwise not a
lot of interaction between the people who run the site and the users of the
site.

Rating:
Strengths:: With the range of material on the site, it can be easily utilized in a
classroom. If the teacher is looking for the students to merely listen to a
reading and then discuss or answer questions, that type of material is provided.
If the teacher wants to use a conversation piece and possibly take out one of
the voices and have the students fill in that voice themselves, this feature is
also available. There are also assignments that could be created from the
reading material and many different ways that the materials can be used. The
main learning goal that this site looks to provide a range of exposure to
different genres of the English language rather than having everything in the
same general form. It should be very easy for a teacher to make use of this
site.
Concerns:: It would be useful to have a way to contact the authors to discuss the materials
they provide.

Rating:
Strengths:: The site is laid out in such a manner that it is very easy to use. The titles
and buttons are very easy to understand. There is also a search feature and a
menu with the recordings broken down into categories to make it easy to find
what you are looking for. There is a great deal of flexibility in the material
that is provided and its use is likewise flexible in nature. The recordings are
only in one format, but it is a general format that should work on all
computers. The presentations are read in an interesting manner and many of the
pieces (including some of the stories) are conversational which makes for
enjoyable listening.