That's del.icio.us

Hi everybody!
Here’s another week…and here’s another thing I didn’t know about web 2.0: del.icio.us!
I had no idea that it was possible to create an online “favourite list”, that’s very useful, handly, and I really appreciate the fact of having the chance to see my favourite websites wherever I want, and those of my “network” too!
Actually, I have no idea of hundreds of tools available on the Internet, but I’m sure that, thanks to this course, I’ll discover something more week by week!

I’m surely not so narrow – minded about the web as I was just a couple of weeks ago, but I must say that if I feel a bit upset about all these new tools I’m getting in touch with: they obviously make my life easier, but there are a lot of things I have to learn about them, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to use them properly!
However, I’m here to do the best I can, and I hope everything will work!

I had a look at all the favourites of the members of my network: they all found very interesting links to websites about various aspects of language learning. As we were supposed to do, I focused on a single website chosen by each member of my group, and here’s my remarks:

• English at home (elenavi’s favourite)
  This website is really friendly, complete and user-friendly thanks to the toolbar on the right side of the page. The most interesting section is the one dedicated to “speaking interaction”, with a number of useful sentences and expressions for each kind of situation. There are also avdices about what native speakers would say in each context of situation.
  Moreover, I tried the “Test yourself” section: I answered to 10 questions about modals and I got a score of 7 out of 10! In fact, I’m not so fond with modal verbs, and that’s why I chose them to assess myself!
  That’s really helpful, I think I’ll try other exercises as soon as I have some freetime!


• BBC Learning English (marina_fu’s favourite)
  That’s a very useful and complete guide to the English language learning experience; moreover, being a BBC website it’s very professional, effective, updated and well-structured.
  In my opinion, the most interesting part of the website is the “quizzes and exams” section: it is full of interesting tools available to test yourself, such as crosswords, examskills or tests for the listening skills. As for grammar, I really liked the “grammar challenge” section, with helpful advices to face tricky grammatical structures.


• Wordreference (Silvia_Lovato’s favourite)
  What can I say about it? I use it all the time, that’s a fantastic tool available on the web in order to find translations of words in various languages, such as English, Italian, French and Spanish.
  It is the most famouse, friendly-use and fast online dictionary.


• Fullbright IT and US exchange (urbanimarty’s favourite)
  That’s a very interesting website about exchanges between Italy and United States. Thet offer great opportunities for those who study English and want to improve their language skills by living for a period in an English speaking country.
  It is not exactly a website about langauge; however, it is interesting and it gives important information for those who are interested in doing such an experience abroad.


• Free English exercises (veronica_bozzato’s favourite)
  That’s a website which collects hundreds of exercises available to improve many aspects of English, such as grammar, vocabulary, verbs or listening skills. The layout of the pages is well-structured, they’re divided into several levels and topics so that the whole section is very effective. However, I tried to do some exercises about modals at the advanced level (the highest one) and I must admit that they were pretty simple, maybe too simple. Anyway, the interesting thing is that you can choose exactly what you want to be assesed on: for instance, there were exercises available on each single modal verb. That’s a very good opportunity in order to find exercises about specific topics!
  
  That’s all for the moment, hope you enjoyed my experience surfing on your favourites!Lola