I'm not a teacher myself, except insofar as all good parents are their children's first teachers. Still I have opinions and I sometimes offer them up - sometimes after they are solicited, but more often when they are not.

Last year, I recommended this site (among others) in an email to my children's teachers and to the principal of their school. I also briefly mentioned different ways that it might be used. I will make the same recommendation again this year. (New teachers, but also a new school. I also recommended several puzzle sites, science how-to sites, among others.)

Having always considered language development of paramount importance, I read several books to my kids -- from Winnie the Pooh and The Phantom Tollbooth to I, Robot and and The Call of the Wild. http://www.geocities.com/elbillaf/amys_list.html

Nowadays, they pretty much read on their own and I often miss reading to them. It was a great time of closeness for us. But their independence has its benefits as well. My oldest did 6 or 8 issues of a "newspaper" (actually a newsletter, I think) to her 6th grade class last year. And now my youngest is writing a family "newspaper" once a week.

As I mentioned in some other thread (maybe that was on another board), I also play wordgames, card games (got thrashed just in poker by my eldest just last night), and do puzzles with them.

Without question, vocabulary is an important component of "language skills."
While I have always been one of those logic/math/science guys, I recognize that language development is the more critical skill.

Back to teachers using the site, though. No idea if my recommendations will take root. New ideas can take a while to percolate into the consciousness (of individuals and of groups). Teachers, like everyone else, are bombarded with recommendations some of which are probably useless wastes of time, and others of which might be of some utility were they easier and less time-consuming to become familiar with. BTW, I think teachers could "use the site" without being regular posters on here. Using the site might just mean getting the word a day or what have you. I'm sure they're often far to busy rounding up greased pigs to get involved in theoretical discussions.

As for students using the site directly - well, it may not be entirely appropriate for them. (I mean, I wouldn't mind my kids using it, but I think some parents would, and the school errs on the side of conservativism here - as I think they should.) At home I don't monitor their internet usage very closely. At school they're only allowed to go to certain sites and they're very closely watched.

I'm not optimistic that the teachers will spend a lot of time here. Still, I'll mention it.

k