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FEATURE
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Next in a series of short articles looking at web resources useful for teachers and learners of English. As a rough guide, each site is marked out of 25 in terms of content, design and ease-of-use. QI QI.com is the website of the UK comedy programme QI (short for Quite Interesting). In the TV show, a panel of comedians wrestle with questions such as "How do otters kill crocodiles?" This is a quiz show with a difference – points are scored not for answering correctly but for providing the most entertaining answer. For a flavour of the TV programme, you can view clips on the BBC site. The website and the TV show set out to encourage us to think and to challenge received wisdom. As the website says "QI tries to rid the world of the flotsam of nonsense and old wives' tales that can build up in your mind." For more on QI's philosophy, see http://www.qi.com/about/philosophy.php. At the heart of the site is the Talk section. It's more or less an online version of the TV programme. The forums are enjoyable to read – there's no specialist jargon, just entertaining and friendly discussion. The QI Vault provides web links directing you to a range of informative sites. There are a couple of puzzles and indications that this section of the site will include more material in the future. The QI Online Shop allows you to browse books visually, a nice touch that does rather well in recreating a real bookshop. If you are in Oxford you can visit the bricks and mortar version of this virtual bookshop which can be found in the QI Building. QI isn't specifically aimed at language learners but it's certainly worth pointing advanced students in the site's direction. The website's use of humour makes for good reading and just like speaking activities in the classroom, the emphasis behind QI is not on finding the correct answer but about generating meaningful interaction. So if you're looking for inspiration for discussion topics that will stir your students into action, QI is an excellent source.
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