Analysing Websites

These websites and videos have been chosen as potential resources for a “Warmer, Web, What’s next” lesson plan (theme, age group and objectives listed below) as suggested by Dudeney & Hockly (2007). The websites and videos have been divided into two groups: ELT and authentic websites. Furthermore, they have been evaluated using the guidelines suggested by the same authors: accuracy, currency, content and functionality.

Theme: Ancient Civilizations

Age group & language level: 15-year-old, B1-level students, state-run school

Objectives: By the end of the unit, students will be able to:

• Find and summarize key aspects of a chosen ancient civilization such as location in space and time, leaders, achievements and lifestyle.

• Ask about key aspects of a chosen civilization.

• Describe key aspects of a chosen civilisation in the past.

• Design a visual summary of key aspects of a chosen civilization.

• Compare the civilization chosen to that of another group using comparative structures.

ELT WEBSITES

Accuracy: This resource was created by the BBC, which according to their home page creates “world-class programmes and content which inform, educate and entertain millions of people in the UK and around the world” (BBC, n/d). Furthermore, according to BBC's Bitesize webpage (n.d.), its content is created by teachers and subject experts. Consequently, the information appears to be reliable and factually correct as it offers precise facts that have been checked.

Currency: The content appears to be up-to-date since its last update was in 2025.

Content: The website is both interesting and easy-to-navigate for it supports the text with pictures and cartoons that provide context and it also shows a table of contents on the left of the screen which learners can use to quickly “jump to” the information they need. The website also offers resources like a quiz and an interactive map in which learners can click on a city to learn more about it.

Functionality: The website works well and there are no broken links. However, there are two games that are IP-restricted and which learners might not be able to play. Apart from that, the website doesn’t use large files, so it is quickly loaded, which Dudeney & Hockly (2007) explain is of paramount importante for correct functionality. Finally, it is worth mentioning that the webpage is conveniently organised with the information and the activities divided in sections and with the table of contents to quickly moved between them.

Accuracy: The resource is a quiz made by an anonymous user in the website ESLvideo.com, which is part of the web 2.0, defined by Dudeney & Hockly (2007) as a “vast collection of websites and services which are more social in nature, inviting people to share what they find, what they do and what they learn in a wide variety of contexts” (p. 150). Nevertheless, the embedded video which serves as the source of information for the quiz was made by National Geographic, which according to their website (n.d.) is devoted to the understanding of the world and to scientific discovery.

Currency: Although the quiz doesn’t feature the publication date, the featured video was published in 2018. Therefore, it appears to be up-to-date for a video about ancient history.

Content: The site is very simple: the video and the quiz on a white background. Although the layout of the site doesn’t appear interesting nor stimulating, the video compensates for those drawbacks with pictures, sculptures and photographs of Roman ruins that provide context for the narration of the history of Rome. Lastly, it is worth mentioning that the site features a transcription of the video which may help learners understand it.

Functionality: The site works well, there are no broken links and the quiz provides an instant correction of the answers. However, as it makes use of a five-minute Youtube video, it may not be ideal for devices with slow internet connection since it can take a lot of time to load. 

Accuracy: This website was created by Kidskonnect, which according to their website (n.d.) is a “growing library of premium quality educational materials, printable worksheets and teaching resources”. Since the website is specialised in teaching materials, we could say that it is content reliable. Furthermore, the website offers a “references” list to show the sources of information.

Currency: The website was last updated in 2025, so it appears to be up-to-date.

Content: The website does not appear very interesting nor stimulating as it lacks any sort of visual support. It only offers information in the form of text against a white background. However, at the end the website features a list of “frequently asked questions” about the Olmec civilization which learners may find useful as a sort of summary of the reading activity.

Functionality: The website works well; there are links to other topics connected to the Olmec civilization such as the Mayans and the Aztecs. Plus, there is a table of contents that learners can use to quickly navigate the website and, since there are no pictures nor large files that need to be loaded, the website can be loaded quickly on any device. In addition, the webpage is organised in a simple manner: subheadings and bullet points divide the information in small chunks that are easier to read than whole paragraphs.

Accuracy: The Youtube video was created by Happy Learning which, according to their website (n.d.) “… is part of the Nemesio Diez Foundation, which works to improve people’s quality of life through education, health, sports, and culture.” Although the creator is not an expert on history, they are specialised in creating ELT materials. In addition, although the Youtube website is part of the web 2.0 (Dudeney & Hockly, 2007), the social part of the webpage (which would be found in the comments section) is disabled.

Currency: The video was uploaded in 2019, so it seems to be up to date. Plus, the Youtube channel keeps uploading videos daily.

Content: The video appears to be both interesting and stimulating for learners: it shows lots of pictures, cartoons and graphs to help understand and give context to the topic discussed: ancient Egypt. It also features background music connected to the topic and an eager narrator that can hold the viewers’ attention. Lastly, it is worth mentioning that subtitles for the video can be activated and that, in the description of the video, there is a transcription of it.

Functionality: There are links in the description of the video that are working. The video is four minutes long, which may not be ideal for devices with slow internet connections, although the quality of the video can be reduced for it to play faster.

AUTHENTIC WEBSITES

Accuracy: This website was created by National Geographic, which is an organisation devoted to the exploration of the world and to scientific research (National Geographic, n.d.). Since it is an expert in the subject matter, we could state that the website is both content reliable and factually correct.

Currency: The website appears to be up-to-date, with its last update being in 2025.

Content: The site is both stimulating and interesting for learners. Though it features a great amount of text, there are many subheadings that divide the text, plus there are many pictures that support it visually and there is a “Fast facts” section at the end that summarizes some of the most interesting facts about ancient Egypt.

Functionality: The site works well overall. However, there are many high-definition pictures, which may take a long time to load on devices with slow internet connections. There are also links to some important historical characters of ancient Egypt such as Cleaopatra and there is a dynamic gallery of the different styles of pyramids that can be found in the country. Finally, the organisation of the webpage is simple and straightforward: subheadings and paragraphs with pictures as visual aid to the information provided.

Accuracy: Livius.org is one of the Web 2.0 websites, with its distinctive characteristics being: to have a more social nature and to allow people to share what they find (Dudeney & Hockly, 2007). The webpage features Jona Lendering, a Dutch historian, as its author. Plus, as it has been checked and corrected several times by other users, it could be said that the webpage is reliable.

Currency: The webpage was created in 2004, but since than it has been updated several times, the last one being 2020.

Content: The content might not appear very stimulating nor interesting for learners because it features long texts with some subheadings and a few pictures. The text appears to be more suitable for advanced learners of English. However, the content seems to be very useful as there are lots of hyperlinks to related topics, characters and events that could be useful for learners.

Functionality: The webpage is very straightforward in its organisation: title, subheading and text with some small images. Hence, it is ideal for working in mobile devices or with slow internet connections. In addition, the webpage features a table of contents that offers easy navigation of the page. However, some links are broken, and some pictures do not seem to load, which can hinder the usage of the webpage.

Accuracy: This webpage is part of the Ducksters website and, according to Ducksters (2025), the site was created to offer “an informative place for people to learn, explore, and use the internet for research while having fun”. Although it doesn’t feature the author, it provides a link to “works cited”, where it lists all the works used to write the webpage. Overall, the webpage seems reliable.

Currency: The webpage’s newest works cited are from 2007. Plus, the website’s last update was in 2025. Taking this information into account, we could affirm that the website is up-to-date.

Content: The site could be interesting and stimulating to learners as it features short paragraphs with many subheadings to make it easy to read. Furthermore, it presents many pictures to contextualize the text, plus a “fun facts” section, a quiz, and a recorded reading of the page to listen to. It also features links to related topics and characters.

Functionality: The webpage is very simple as it only presents text, some small pictures and links to related topics, to the quiz, and an audio track of the recorded reading of the page. Despite this simplicity, the organisation of the webpage is very useful for language learners as every topic is within its own section of the webpage, with pictures to support the text. All the links seem to be working properly and it appears to be very useful for classroom settings, as it doesn’t feature heavy files and it could be easily loaded in mobile devices.

Accuracy: The webpage is part of the Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM) website. As it states in the MPM (n.d.) website, it is “one of the most innovative and respected natural history museums in the world”, so we could affirm that the webpage is reliable and factually correct.

Currency: There is a cited work from 2006 in the webpage, plus its last update was in 2022. Taking this into account, we could say that the webpage is up-to-date.

Content: Although the webpage features short paragraphs with subheadings, which may be easier for learners to read, it lacks visual support or activities that make the webpage more interactive. The webpage consists mainly of text against a white background, except for an interactive map showing the expansion of the Roman Empire in different moments of history.

Functionality: The site appears to work well since there are no broken links and there are no large files to load when opening the webpage. Since there are no audio files nor pictures to load, we could affirm that the webpage is simple but functional. As regards organisation, the webpage is neatly ordered with subheadings and small chunks of text, which language learners may find useful.

REFERENCES

BBC (n.d.). Learn More About What We Do. https://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc

BBC (n.d.). What is Bitesize? https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z6x992p 

Ducksters (2025). About Ducksters. https://www.ducksters.com/about.php

Dudeney, G. & Hockly, N. (2007). How to Teach English with Technology. Pearson.

Kidskonnect (n.d.). About Us. https://kidskonnect.com/about/

Milwaukee Public Museum (n.d.). Introducing Our Museum’s New Name and Logo, Launching in 2027. Milwaukee Public Museum. https://www.mpm.edu/future/brand

National Geographic (n.d.). What We Do. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/society/our-story/