Skillswise

Today, I browsed my teacher’s, Sally’s blog, COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING, and I learnt a wonderful web site, Skillswise, which is a web site published by BBC. I found Skillswise is abundant in excellent contents about English grammar, writing, reading and even the definition of mathematical terminologies; therefore, I think it is an excellent web site for students eager to improve their own English, but, in fact, I found that the truth about why to establish Skillswise is quite another matter.

At first glance, I can tell that Skillswise has three main categories of contents: Words, Numbers, and Tutors. In addition, for each main category, there are a lot of relevant subjects; further, many guidelines or quizzes are provided under each subject; for example, in Words category, there are six relevant subjects, and one of the six subjects, say, the Listening, it contains many tips and hints to help you be a better listener.

Indeed, what Skillswise interests me the most is its Numbers category. The contents of Numbers are mainly concerned with basic algebra and geometry. Because I am a Taiwanese student, I believe it is a very good resource and a great opportunity to familiarize myself with the mathematical terminologies in English even though I have studied those terminologies in Chinese before.

Finally, when I read About Skillswise: What is Skillswise?, I am surprised at Skillswise is designed to focus on the Adult and Literacy and Numeracy Core Curriculums for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, which seems a newly issued curriculums for the United Kingdom, but Scotland is not included.

According to the description in About Skillswise: What is Skillswise?:

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“All materials on the site are aimed at students who are studying at Level 1 of the new curriculums for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as this is the level of the new national tests in England and Wales. This equates to Intermediate 1 in Scotland.”

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In addition, according to the entry, Education in England, of Wikipedia:

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“Level 1 equivalent to 4 GCSEs at D-E grades…”

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And, according to the entry, General Certificate of Secondary Education, of Wikipedia:

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“The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is the name of a set of English qualifications, taken by secondary school students at age of 14-16 (in some cases from 13) in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland (in Scotland, the equivalent is the Standard Grade).”

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Besides, in the entry, Education in England, of Wikipedia I can know that Level 1 is one of the seven levels of Vocation qualifications in the UK. Therefore, Skillswise focuses on how to assist the students who are at age of 14-16 and learn vocational subject such as business and technology. Here, it is what I am surprising at and why I admire BBC because BBC assist the UK education system and help the students by developing the learning materials on Skillswise and launching Skillswise program. IT IS REALLY REMARKABLE.

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References

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"Education in England." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 20 Apr 2008, 12:13 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 23 Apr 2008

＜http://en.wikipedia.org/w/

index.php?title=

Education_in_England&oldid=
206871328＞.

"General Certificate of Secondary Education." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 22 Apr 2008, 13:33 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 23 Apr 2008

＜http://en.wikipedia.org/w/

index.php?title=

General_Certificate_of_Secondary_Education&oldid=

207354205＞.