Website Evaluation - Boggle's World

This week, I will be evaluating one of my favorite and most often used ESL sites, Boggle's World. It's funny, you never realize how popular or how much you depend on these sites until something happens to them. About a year ago, Boggle's World (BW) was hijacked by an "adult" site, and it sent shock waves throughout the numerous message boards for teachers in the ESL community. Here is one of many examples of that.

At that time, I was teaching English conversation, or "free talking" as they call it, to the teachers at my elementary school. They were really interested in learning traveller's English. Situations like "At the restaurant", "At immigration", and "At the hotel front desk" were what they wanted to practice for future trips overseas. BW has fantastic lesson plans catered for these situations. My job was so easy! My class met on Tuesday and Thursday at 4pm. At about 3:30 on those days, I would go to BW, click on the next situation, print it out and make copies. The teachers would come in. I would explain the situation, go over the meaning and pronunciation of a few difficult words and phrases, and then give them the BW dialogues to rehearse. I would then walk around the classroom and assist each group. After practicing several times, they would have to do the role play in front of the class. The team that got the best score would receive a small prize. They were happy. I was happy. They were learning and having fun.

But, one Thursday at 3:30, I clicked on BW and didn't see what I was expecting. I panicked. "이런! "What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?", I thought to myself. So, for the next month or so, I was forced to make my own material and find other sources, which, in the long run, was a good thing. But, it made me realize how great BW really is, and I am glad it's back up and running stronger than ever.

In addition to the situational dialogues, which are targeted for adults, BW also has tons of great activities and worksheets for children. The information is accessible through categorical links at the top of the page. Even though it's not specified on the site, it seems that the first row of links, from "BW ESL" to "ABCs" is for the younger guys. And the second row, from "ESL Science" to "ESL Jobs", is intended for older learners. Also, in the body of the page, there is a plethora of ESL lesson plans and worksheets which are effective for teaching grammar, writing, and speaking.

Although the material on this site is wonderful, I would change a lot about how it is displayed to the user. The body of the page seems to lack any kind of organization, which makes it a hit or miss when trying to find what you are looking for. Unless you are fortunate to stumble across what you want, you will never find it. The links and materials in the body are just thrown together, with no categories to guide you. Several times, colleagues have called me on the phone, asking where I got that great worksheet I showed them. I would tell them "Oh, just go to BW and it's right there." They would call me back and say "John, I can't find it." I would get on the internet and try to help them, but I couldn't find it again. The same document I just used two days ago! Oh, it's so frustrating. I believe if there were categories in place, it would be much more efficient for teachers.

Overall, I feel almost the same way I did about the Bat Cave. The content on the site gets an A+, but the overall design and organization has a lot of room for improvement. They are both sites that I use often, because I am used to how they are set up now. But, if I was a first time visitor, I don't think I would be a second time visitor.