I had this interesting site sent to me today; http://www.englishcafe.com/.
“Like the best Cafés around the world, EnglishCafé is an enclave for vibrant and respectful exchange of knowledge, ideas and entertainment. We value the diversity of people, the unique experiences they bring, and the cultures from which their voices rise.
English does not belong to any group of people. English is a language that is malleable enough for the entire world to use. For this reason, we can learn from each other and about each other through this language. We can indeed advance our careers with English knowledge and make ourselves more marketable in the global economy. It is with a spirit of openness and desire to understand that we built EnglishCafé. We invite you to come in, gain or share knowledge, and join in a world-wide conversation about words and culture.”
They asked me to look at it as it is in beta stage currently. I immediately was drawn to how easily I could navigate around the site looking for the answers I might need to find as a user. Also I got drawn in through out the day looking at places where I could contribute answers to other users that were asking questions.
There is an area where any registered user can post a question such as “what is the difference between Miss and Ms.” This might seem a simple question to first-language English speakers, but for those learning it is confusing. As our organization becomes more diversity aware we realize more and more how difficult it might be to explain how so many English words, such as “fare” & “fair”, may sound the same but are spelt so differently and mean vary different things as well.
My colleague who is getting her certificate as an English as a Second Language instructor said there are many sites out there that do assist with this, but her first reaction was very positive as well.
Another aspect I liked about the site was it’s collaborative nature in posting a question to the community and the community responding back with answers. Each new member responding often elaborates on the previous answer and so the user posing the question get’s quite in depth responses.
I look forward to seeing how well this site is received by users and how it progresses into the future.