1. Paw Park- Kangaroo Confusion Game
http://www.earobics.com/gamegoo/games/pawpark/pawpark.html
The link I will be evaluating for blog 3 will be the paw park game on the Gamer Goo website. Basically how this game works is that you have different kangaroos wearing t-shirts bearing capitalized and lower cased letters. The objective of the game is to have the capital form of the letter match with its lower case counterpart, or vice-versa. So at the start of the game, you are given a kangaroo with a letter on its shirt and you have to match it with the correct lower or capital letter. You are given four different answer choices to choose from and you must choose the right one to advance. This is a type of game that helps English language learners learn the alphabet and the lower and capital forms of the letters. It is a great way to practice recognizing the letters and it also sounds out the letter for the learner to hear, so they know how to properly say the letter. The game also provides colorful, playful images that are fun, but appear to be geared more towards children starting to learn their first language. There is also music that is cheerful and gives a fun atmosphere, and a narrator that helps explain the rules of the game and gives guidance. It is definitely a fun way to learn the alphabet while getting good practice, so it is a worthy try for anyone starting to learn the English Language. This is one of many games that English Language Learners can play to get the practice they need while having fun play them. Included in this game are word/letter recognition, pronunciation, and introduction to spelling and writing.
Evaluated by Samuel Martinez
2. Giggle Poetry: The #1 Fun Poetry Site for Kids on the Web
I remember growing up and in school, I would always here my friends talk about how they didn't like poetry because it was so hard! I can recall to my first few poem assignments back in elementary school. We did a Japanese haiku poem sometime during 4th or 5th grade and I thought it was a lot of fun! But some of my other friends didn't... Even when I was taking literature classes here at UT, I would hear my fellow peers talk about how they didn't like poetry either!
Giggle poetry is a nice site for children who are learning to write poems and want to publish something online. They offer a HUGE selection of student-written poems from all grade levels in elementary school You have students from first grade to fifth grade submitting poems. I find this to be a good resource for other students to read poems and gain inspiration. Since they are written by students, ELL's and native English speakers will have that comprehensible input (i+1). They'll be able to identify more with what poems are about if they are the same age as the author.
The website is very easy to navigate and has THOUSANDS of poems – from many everyday topics like teachers and principals to excuses to school activities to homework and much more. All the topics can be easily related to students of all ages.
In addition, it has interviews with professional writers and poets where students can learn about what it's like to be a poet. What others' inspirations are and just information about their childhood experiences. There are also a lot of fun activities and games that do with poems. They have these fun things called fill-in-the-blank poems, where there is a poem with words missing and users can add in whatever words they like.
I think it's a great website to help upcoming poem writers. It provides a lot of information and examples on writing poems. Also, it's very colorful and cartoon oriented, so it caters to children of all ages.
Evaluated by Thaison Nguyen
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