Reviewed by Federica Maggioni

Target group of learners

This website declares to be specifically designed for ESL learners who want to improve and increase their knowledge of English
vocabulary through online games. The featured activities are suitable for children, teenagers and adults with basic computer literacy
and sound reading and writing skills.

Review
Although the site developers present their products as specifically targeting an ESL clientele, on the left hand side of the homepage
there are some unusual games that feature Foreign Languages, Latin, Literature and Typing. Another interesting aspect about the site is
that it has a link to the Vocabulary of the World where speakers of languages such as Spanish, Italian, French, German, Greek,
Russian and Turkish can receive instructions in their native language or play matching and translation activities.

One of the main purposes of the website is to support ESL/EFL students in preparing for formal examinations like TOEFL. To this aim,
the ESL Resources page directs learners to essay samples and to the Time4Writing site. The latter is one of many sister sites
including Time4Learning and Science4Us which are especially recommended for homeschooling and online tutoring.

Although Vocabulary.co.il is relatively easy to navigate, the advertisements on the top and left side bar can be somewhat distracting
and the links to external sites can disorient the novice user. Sorting through the list of Free Vocabulary Learning Games in search of a
suitable activity can also result time consuming as each link opens up new options requiring further exploration and analysis.
Nevertheless, a positive aspect of the free games lies in the fact that they are grouped by grade level and their titles provide helpful
hints to predict their content. Moreover, the Vocabulary Resources link on the bottom bar brings to a page with a multitude of
additional spelling, pronunciation and vocabulary building programs, as well as other informative articles and software reviews.

Vocabulary.co.il was created in 2006 by Jacob Richman, who is also the developer of other educational websites concerned with
learning languages like English, Spanish and Hebrew. The vocabulary site is run by the family owned company Vkidz which provides a
range of instructional materials and courses on different online platforms. It is possible to get in touch with the site creators by filling
out a contact form or through their regularly updated blog and facebook page. Although Vkidz is a business-oriented enterprise, there
are no evident corporate interferences or biases on their sites.

On the basis of recent EAL and Foreign Languages studies (e.g. Ashraf, Motlagh & Salami 2014; Kalyuga, Mantai & Marrone 2013)
demonstrating the potential of online games to support L2 lexis acquisition and retention, I would recommend the Vocabulary.co.il
website to ESL/EFL learners who enjoy word games and feel motivated by CALL approaches.

Lesson idea
Depending on the currently targeted vocabulary items and parts of speech, I would provide students with a list of self-explanatory
games to be played in their downtime or at home. In class, I would use less intuitive activities to introduce specific word-related
concepts (e.g. etymology, oxymoron, idioms) and then employ the new vocabulary and relative metalanguage in meaningful contexts.

References
Ashraf, H Motlagh, FG & Salami, M 2014, The Impact of Online Games on Learning English Vocabulary by Iranian (Low-intermediate) EFL
Learners, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 98, pp. 286-291.

Kalyuga, M Mantai, L & Marrone, M 2013, Efficient Vocabulary Learning Through Online Activities, Procedia - Social and Behavioral
Sciences, vol. 83, pp. 35-38.

http://www.vocabulary.co.il