TotalESL.com is a not-for-profit information sharing site for schools, teachers, parents and students involved in English as a Second Language (ESL/EFL) throughout the Middle East, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Launched on July 13 by Michael G. Hines, an education consultant in Asia, to counter the numerous sites that are little more than advertising gimmicks, the site is completely free, visually appealing, user-friendly and highly functional.
TotalESL.com has over 10 databases with 50 search features. Users can upload, post and search every country covered by the site for schools, jobs, teachers/tutors, resumes, yellow pages (English-friendly businesses), general information topics, classifieds and lesson plans. There is no paid advertising on the site and links are provided only to associations, non-profit organizations or publishers to promote education and understanding of English in the countries served.
In addition, the site has benefits for English language learners to interact with each other, find teachers and organizations, as well as receive discounts and services from online educational companies. Hines hopes that with time people across the region will share the information they may have concerning EFL/ESL that would be useful to others. After just a few weeks of going live, the site already has several hundred registered users with more signing up daily.
For the future, Hines hopes to start a “User Featured Articles” section where ESL/EFL individuals can post articles that they write. The feature will also allow for feedback from users regarding the articles. In addition, Hines is on the lookout for individuals who can supply reliable information to be included in the general information database. Finally, there will be small changes in the features currently available. For example, a hyperlink will be added to a map page so that users can locate cities they may not recognize in the jobs or school section.
(Hines welcomes correspondence and suggestions concerning the site. Contact him at [email protected].)
