NeoQuest English Plaza:
Have a Good Time with English

http://www.neoqst.co.kr

Reviewed by
Park Min Keun
<realmoney@hanmail.net>
An Jung En
<bokgilee@hanmail.net>

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I. Introduction

This site is an English professional site in Korean. It was created by interpreters from Hanguk University of Foreign Studies. This site is made for English study, so it publishes on-line English lessons and it issues an English book named English Plaza. Most of all, a difference from other English sites is this site not only publishes English lectures but also offers a place to exchange information to users. So any person who has an interest in English can express his or her opinion.
 

II. Description of the Site

1. Lessons
This section is for English lectures. This part is not organized by English ability. The makers say that we are all beginners of English, so classification by English ability is meaninglessness. This part is separated by six titles: English Guide, Multimedia English, English Conversation & Life, Culture, Economy and Teen Street. So you can study practical English. You can learn bout English grammar in the English Guide part, about the American Presidential Election in the Culture part, and English slang in the Culture part. Also, there is an up-date schedule so you can take a new lesson regularly.

2. Associations
This part is for friendships among people who have similar interests. There are six titles: English, Computers & Internet, Friendship, Culture, Second Foreign Language, and Regional Meeting parts. So you can join any club you want, and learn about that topic, and talk with other members. When you visit any club, you will see the schedule first. It makes you feel that you are a valuable member so you think that you want to participate in and develop that club. And you can make a new club if you have more than nine people who agree with each other about some subject. All clubs are managed only by members of each community.

3. Notice Boards
This part, Notice Boards, is for the whole site. There are twelve notice boards. So you can talk with other users about English on the Q&A notice board, and you can write questions about purchasing on the NeoMall notice board. There is also a Greeting notice board, so you can introduce yourself to other users. There is an Advertisement notice board, too, but you can't write ads that are too commercial. Also, you can get information about English academies and study abroad.

4. Chat Rooms
This part is just for chatting with other users. When you first make a new chatting room, you can choose the number of people and title of your room. And whenever you enter a chatting room, you must chose your color among nine hart. The site maker says there are most people from 11 am to 6 pm, so if you want to talk with other people on this site, connect at this time.

5. Archives
There are three big archives: Newsletter archives, Internet archives and Document archives. The Newsletter archives is a place that gathers past newsletters, a kind of e-mail for English study that this site sends to its users. The Internet archives and The Document archives are for English study. There there are computer programs and Internet sites in the Internet archives and there are documents like English movie scripts, such as American Beauty and Notting Hill, in the Document archives.

6. Neo Books
Neo book is the name of the books that are made up of this site's lessons. There are five book. For example, the third book of them, If you know verbs, you can revive dead English, is made by the part of Think Like Native Speakers in the lesson section. This section advertises their books for sale.

7. Neo Directory
This is a place for finding many useful Web sites. There are seventeen main titles, and there are many subtitles under each main title. The sites at the top are the most popular sites. So you can get much information about various fields. For example, if you visit Computer TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language)  in the Test part, you can get information about the CBT (computer-based TOEFL), such as differences from the PBT (paper-based TOEFL), item type and sample tests. And you can register a new site by clicking the green word at top right

8. Interpretation Graduate School
This is a very useless part for most users. This part just reports about Hanguk University of Foreign Studies, which all of the managers graduated from, so this section is for useful only interpreters. So if you are not an interpreter, you can't write on this part, just read.

9. Neo Mall
This section is for selling and buying English books: There are specific explanations of books. There are many kinds of English books from comics to dictionaries. Also there are English cassette tapes, CDs, American movie tapes and caption machines. And all of the goods are graded by six level such as grammar, listening, reading, etc. So you can choose books you want to use to study English. Above all, you can buy all these books at discount prices. For example, you can buy Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture for 35,100 won, a discount of 3,900 won.

10. Neo Games
 This section includes English quizzes games. They are very exiting, and we loved them. There are three main titles: Multimedia School, English Typing Exercises and Scholarship Quiz. There are some difference, but they all work in almost the same way. All parts are English quizzes with video and sound. For example, if you visit Audio School in Multimedia School, you can play a quiz listening to an English native speaker speak. And there are awards, so if you have a good score in each part, your name is added to the screen.
 

III. Conclusion

In conclusion, NeoQuest is for people who enjoy English, not only people who speak English well. Of course, you have to enter if you want to enjoy it. There is no charge or difficulty to enter. While we are just enjoying and surfing this site, we will know that English is not so difficult a thing, and we can acquire much common sense about English naturally.