Kids Web Japan

Kids Web Japan
The website I chose for the evaluation assignment is http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/.com. The URL for this site is http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/.com. Kids Web Japan is sponsored by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and operated by a Japanese nongovernmental organization. This site is appropriate for elementary age students. This site it is visually appealing with beautiful photographs and cute and colorful pictures which definitely appeal to my students. Most importantly, this website is age appropriate and informative for my third graders.

Part 1: How does it look?
Does the page take a long time to load? No, because I have DSL .
Are there big pictures on the page? Yes.
Is the spelling correct on the page? Yes.
Is the author's name and e-mail address on the page? The company name and email address are available.
Is there a picture on the page that you can use to choose links? Yes, a very important features when it comes to elementary students.
Is there information in columns on the page? Yes, there are boxes that link to various activities and/or further information.
If you go to another page, is there a way to get back to the first page? Yes.
Is there a date that tells you when the page was made? No.
If there are photographs, do they look real? There are both pictures and drawings.
If there are sounds, do they sound real? Absolutely, you can even learn to speak Japanese!

Part 2:
What did you learn? Does the title of the page tell you what it is about? Yes.
Is there an introduction on the page telling you what is included? Yes.
Are the facts on the page what you were looking for? Yes.
Would you have gotten more information from an encyclopedia? This website provides information which is much easier for third graders to comprehend.
Would the information have been better in the encyclopedia? Not necessarily, as I mentioned, the website uses appropriate language, therefore, making it easier to understand for my students.
Does the author of the page say some things you disagree with? No.
Does the page lead you to some other good information (links)? It provides links to other appropriate sources of information.
Does the page include information you know is wrong? Not that I observed!
Do the pictures and photographs on the page help you learn? Yes, twenty-two third graders definitely range in vocabulary and comprehension. From a teaching perspective, having pictures makes it much easier for those struggling readers to identify and understand.

Part 3: Summary Looking at all of the questions and answers above, write a paragraph telling why this Web site is helpful (or not helpful).
Kids Web Japan makes teaching and learning about Japan exciting and informative. Most importantly, it is teacher friendly. The content is age appropriate and has varying degrees in abilities. Japan is a sophisticated unit to teach third graders. Having Kids Web Japan enables learning to be enriched and enhanced to all learning abilities and styles. The website is divided into three main categories: Play (What’s Cool; Virtual Culture; Folk Legends; Games and Quiz), Learn (Explore Japan; Manga; Hi-tech and Language), and Try (Travel; Meet the Kids and Cookbook). I learn with my students. When we explore the Japanese language the site provides a question and answer. Then students have the opportunity to learn the language. Simply by clicking on the Katakana chart they can learn how to say the words. They click on a character to hear the sound and can replay it as often as wanted or needed. I utilize this site when teaching Japan and strongly recommend using it to my colleagues.