Web site review: Langwitches

http://langwitches.org/index.htm 

Langwitches is a very interesting Web site and resource for teachers of foreign languages as well as ESOL teachers. 

In terms of its style and design, the Web site is fairly well designed with a simple navigation interface. Links at the top of the page bring us to pages on "projects & ideas," "links," "software," "tutorials," "standards" and "workshops." I did find some inconsistencies in the links, however. For example, after clicking on "projects & ideas," some of the items are marked as "coming soon..." (e.g., "iPod") despite the fact that they are readily accessible in the menu on the right-hand side of the page. I only mention this because it can lead to confusion and potentially missing out on information that is actually available on the site.

Apart from the stylistic aspects, langwitches.org is actually a useful resource for teachers. I find the "projects & ideas" and "links" sections to be the most helpful to me. The site outlines and defines a number of technological tools and Web-based activities that teachers can make use of in the foreign language or ESOL classroom such as blogging, podcasting, webquests, distance learning, using digital images/videos and much more. I like the idea of having a link in each section directing us to a site that lists which NETS standards each of these tools addresses, like on the blogging page, but unfortunately the link to most of them is broken, showing a "page not found" message. The "software" section shows a small number of tools that can be used and provides an active link for some of them. I also very much like the "standards" page because it is convenient to have technology standards handy in one place like this. A couple of workshops are also posted in the "workshops" section, but they have not been updated recently and there have not been any recent ones as far as I can tell.

Overall, I feel that langwitches.org has the potential to be a great resource for teachers if the inconsistencies are fixed and if the site is kept up-to-date. On the other hand, a link is posted on the site for the Langwitches blog which appears to be updated regularly. I look forward to reading the blog!