The Path of Philosophy (Kyoto, Japan)

Introduction

For this webquest, you will be searching for websites that have language learning activities for English as a Second Language (ESL) or English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners like yourself. Later, you will write short descriptions and your evaluation for two or more websites and the activities we can find there. Finally, your will e-mail your descriptions and evaluations to the instructor for inclusion in a class reference list.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find something useful for your English studies and which might help your classmates and other ESL/EFL learners.

The task includes finding websites that:

• have one or more language learning activities;
• can be used by ESL/EFL learners like yourself;
• do not contain any vulgar language or other material that may offend anyone; and
  
• are useful and/or entertaining.

The first part of the task includes the following steps:

1. First you should open up an new browser window and use one of the popular search engines (Yahoo, Google or AltaVista) to search for ESL/EFL language learning activities. You might want to review some search tips at Dogpile.
2. When you find a website that has language learning activities, look around and then try out one or two.

1. If you would like to include this in the class reference list, copy the URL for the website and paste it into an e-mail message. Write a short description (20 - 25 words) and your evaluation (30 - 50 words).
   
2. You can send this e-mail to your instructor now or wait until you have found another website you would like to include.

The following rubric will be used to evaluate your performance on this webquest.

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Accomplished 3	Exemplary 4	Score
Website and Activity Descriptions	Limited vocabulary and sentence structures. Some parts may be difficult to understand.	Better command of vocabulary and sentence structure but still lacks clarity or flow.	Use of more advanced vocabulary and sentence structure. Ideas are clear and flow together nicely.	Clear concise descriptions that reflect a more advanced command of the language.
Website and Activity Evaluation	Some stylistic problems as well as lacking in depth and consideration.	Somewhat well-written but lacking in depth or careful consideration.	Well-written evaluation that reflects cosideration and attention to detail.	Well-written evaluation that reflects careful consideration and attention to detail.
E-mail Message Quality	Major problems with content, style or both.	Some small problems with content, style or both.	Both the style and content of the e-mail message are satisfactory.	Both the style and content of the e-mail message reflect consideration and  care.
Overall Completion of the Webquest	Some components missing or reflecting a lack of effort.	Some components were turned in late or in an untidy manner.	Most components of the webquest task were completed on time and in a professional manner.	All components of the webquest task were completed on time and in a professional manner.

Upon completion of this task, you should have a better understanding of the available online activities for ESL/EFL learners. The class reference list will be a valuable resource for you, your classmates and future classes.

This webquest was designed in partial fulfillment of requirements for the L630 Course Development for Online Educators course through Indiana University.

The WebQuest template was altered using Netscape Composer.