Kelli Sandman-Hurley worked with the San Diego Public Library to develop some webquests (though I have to admit that I’m probably not entirely clear on the differences between a webquest and an Internet “scavenger hunt”) that I think are the most “English Language Learner accessible” ones I’ve ever seen.

(Note: Please take a look at the comments section of this post, where Bernie Dodge, who has done more than anybody to develop and popularize Webquests,  clarifies their definition.  Whatever you call it, though, this exercise is an excellent one for English Language Learners.)

They’re still refining it, but it’s certainly usable now. They have separate ones on workplace literacy, health literacy, and family literacy.

I’ll certainly have my students trying out the one on workplace literacy during our summer-school economics class.

There’s one slightly tricky thing to remember, though, when you’re using it. The way it’s set-up now students will need to keep two “windows” open and visible on their screen during parts of the activity. There are instructions for what to do on sites linked to the webquest, but sometimes they’re too lengthy for students to just remember. But it will be easy enough to show students how to set-up their window configuration so they can read the instructions on the webquest site at the same time they are interacting with another one.

Kelli’s also developing a teacher manual to go along with the Webquest. You can find contact information on the Webquest site.