Web 1.0 Websites Evaluation

In this post I'll be analysing Web 1.0 Websites you may conside useful for your EFL classes.

What are Web 1.0 Websites?

First of all you should know the difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. The first one, started developing in the 90s. Users can only access information in websites such as encyclopedias, online libraries, news articles, podcasts, videos and printable worksheets. So the role of the user was to retrieve, read and interpret data. In the 2000s, the user began to interact with the web by adding comments, creating, uploading own material, and sharing. Before plunging into research, you should bear in mind the topic you would like to teach using the web 1.0 websites and the level of the group of students. Supposing we want to deal with food with 7th graders, I found very interesting webpages for them. Here's a list of different types of websites:

Encyclopedias:

• Kids Britannica
   https://kids.britannica.com

• Wiki Kidz Search https://wiki.kidzsearch.com/ 

Articles Library:

• Kids Health https://kidshealth.org
  

Video Library

• Food Hero
  https://foodhero.org/kids-section

• Healthy Active Kidshttp://www.healthyactivekids.com.au/other-resources/online-videos 

• Mes English http://tv.mes-english.com/ 

Book Libraries

• Reading A-Z
  https://www.readinga-z.com/book.php?id=297 

Games and Printable Worksheets

• Healthy Active Kids
  https://www.healthyactivekids.com.au/

• Fun English Games
    http://www.funenglishgames.com/worksheets.html 

• Learning English Kids - British Council
  https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/

• Vocabulary Practice
   https://www.vocabulary.cl

WEBSITES EVALUATION

I recommend you choose the websites taking into account the guidelines suggested by Dudeney & Hockly (2007) How to Teach English with Technology (p.34). Let's do it with the websites above!

Accuracy

All websites are reliable in the sense that most of them are created by people expert on the field such as teachers (as in Mes English and FunEnglishGames) In fact, in the case of Kids Britannica they clarify that " [their] content is gathered from great intellects across the globe - including leading educators, Pulitzer Prize winners, and Nobel laurents."  In the case of Kids Health, it a page develop by Nemours, a nonprofit children's health system founded by Neil Izenberg (a physician). 

Currency

All websites are up-to-date. At the bottom of each website we can see that it has been updated this year (2019)

Content

In many cases the sources are labelled in group age of students and their level, so it shows that there was some analysis and trial before uploading them onto the web for the public. What is more, as the screenshots show, most of them are visual-attractive for young learners and self-explanatory that's to say their format make it easy to navigate them. Most of the content is free, except for Kids Britannica in which you have to subscribe and pay a membership in order to get full or further sources. 

Functionality

None of the hyperlinks lead to dead links. All of them are active. In the case of websites containing games, they require the user to enable or download Adobe Flash Player.


References:
Hockly, N., & Dudeney, G. (2007) Chapter 3 “Using websites”. In How to Teach English with Technology. Essex: Pearson.

INSPIRE. INFORM. EDUCATE. (n.d.). Retrieved July 2, 2019, from https://kids.britannica.com/about