zeynep_baser

Zeynep BAŞER
1548353 - FLE
WWW.MANYTHINGS.ORG

Part 1 : Description of the product
‘www.manythings.org’ is a free study site for ESL and also EFL students with Computer Assisted Language Learning activities. It was created by Charles L. Kelly and Lawrence E. Kelly. It has been published in 2002. The creaters describe it as a site that an English language learner can find enjoyable study activities.There are grammar and vocabulary quizzes, vocabulary games and puzzles, proverbs, slang expressions, tongue twisters, sentence machine, reading and listening materials and other computer assisted language learning activities. Even though the primary focus is for ESL, native English speakers may also find some interesting things on this site. This site is non-commercial and has no advertising.
It is a website recommended to the language learners by their teachers. One can learn new words and expressions , work on grammar, develop reading and listening skills by using computer-based materials. Moreover, the visitors of the site may enjoy the site and spend good time while studying English thanks to the provided tools.
Some pages require free Flash Player plug-in, at least version 4, 6 or newer one, and JavaScript. Apart from these, anything is required. It is easy to use this website and free. There is no need to install or download any part of it. It does not require to be a member, as well.
As for how one can use the site, it is really easy. One can choose the title that they want to study on the left part of the site . Moreover, they can find the list of activities on the top of the each page. Then, they choose which exercise and topic s/he prefers to go on. For examle, when one decide to study on listening and choose this title, s/he encounters the choices such as Listen and Read along, English Listening Room, Listen and Answer, Dictation Quiz, and lastly Related Section in which one can find other things to listen. Thanks to the first one ‘Listen and Read along, one can read the text while s/he listen it. Beside it, s/he can see the previous part of the listening passage on the left and the later one on the right of the now-playing part. The sound has really high quality and clear. The listener can understand and follow the items easily.
On the right part of the site, one can see the titles such as What’s New, Video, Popular Part. In the part ‘What’s New’, one can click on ‘daily page’, and can reach to the proverb of the day, quiz for the day, and listening. When s/he chooses ‘Video’, s/he comes across a link that they can watch a video related to the 70 pages of the site. Thanks to this video, one can have a idea about this site quickly. As for the part ‘ Popular’, one can go to the most popular parts of the site easily without spending time by looking for them. In short, it is clear that the creators of the site have tried to do their best in order to make it easier. In addition to this, the site gives instructions related to how one can manage each activities.
Besides all of these things, I believe that it would be better if somethings are changed. Most of them are related to the appearance of the site. I think it should be more attractive and have more energetic colours rather than gray and pale colours. Also, they have links to the good dictionaries ‘Babylon and Longman’, but one can reach to them just by using the title ‘Daily Page’. I think it would be better if they put a link named ‘Dictionaries’ on the left or right part of the site separately. Lastly, I believe that the menu for the site on the top of the page is unnecessary because they already have a menu column on the left throughout all the pages. If they are also improved, the site would be more useful and attractive for the users of it.

Part 2: Critical review of the site in terms of language learning
Because the site has been designed for the ESL and even EFL learners, it has several tools useful for language learning. It enhances language learning. I can critize it in terms of using it in classroom by teacher and in terms of self-learning. Fist of all, how can a language teacher use this site in the classroom ? In order to use this site during language course, the school should have some technologies in the class such as computer, projector, sound system and internet connection because you can not download anything in the website, and you need certainly internet connection. If all of these can be provided, then, language teacher can use the tools of the site and provide an enjoyable lesson. For example, they can play vocabulary games, matching vocabulary with pictures. They can even use different matching activities for the same vocabulary exercise. For example, they are given words and they choose the suitable picture or all the words and pictures are given and then they match everthing. I believe that using this items will be really enjoyable, beneficial and motivating especially for young learners. Teacher can also study on grammar by using quizes.They can choose which topic they want to study. The site has a variety of the grammar exercises, as well. Some of them have time limits. They should finish the exercise in a certain time. There are exercises that they can type, and there are multiple choice tests. The teacher also can use sentence machine in the class. To illustrate, they can organize the sentences by using the given words. If the teacher wants to focus on pronunciation, there are minimal pairs part that will be helpful to have an awareness of the difference between the sounds. Another useful item that the teacher can make use of in the classroom is listening part. For instance, there is a listening room in which they can listen to the text and fill in the blanks while listening. Also, there is a dictation quiz that teacher can make students listen to the sentences and wait for their writing what they have understood, and then shows the correct answer. Morerover, there are several activities based on the documents of Voice of America, including fill in the blanks, matching items, and spelling activity ( finding words by using some clues) .In short, I believe that English teachers can make their course more motivating and beneficial by using those different activities.

As for its use for self-learning, I believe that www.manythings.org will be even more useful and easier to use than it is for classroom. Although most of the schools do not have technology to use this site in Turkey, a large percent of learners can have computer and internet connection at home or internet cafe. They can use the site easily. The learners can practice grammar that they have learned on the net. To illsutrate, if the student learned comparisons, s/he can go to the grammar part and find activities related to comparisons. Some sentences are given and the tool wants the learner to use the given adjectives in their comparative or superlative forms. Moreover, they can learn new words or they can do some exercises on the words that they have learned. They can even have a good time while studying thanks to the puzzles and the pictures used in the activities. They can learn some slangs expressions , proverbs or idoms in English on their own and study on them. They can learn some songs, jokes, tongue twisters , which will be enjoyable for the learners that are really intereted in English. Briefly, I can say that learner can develop their language knowledge by studying on listening, reading, grammar, vocabulary while their interest to language increase thanks to the enjoyable items.
Besides all of these things, some issues also should be emphased as a conclusion.Technology is developing and getting more and more widespread in education area, so websites and other computer-based tools should be followed and analyzed to make use of them. This website is just one of them. The important point is to be able to use them correctly. Teachers should be careful while choosing such kind of tools. They should not ignore level of the learner and interest of them. Moreover, they should guide correctly the students who can reach several materials on the net in todays’world. I believe that this site will be really useful to increase and quicken learning if it is used on the right way.