Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

…For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Monthly Archives: August 2007

August 23, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment

Start a Business

Hot Shot Business is a site from Disney that has students simulate starting various businesses.  It has good animation (from Disney, what else would you expect?) and provides text with audio support that makes it accessible to English Language Learners.

I think it provides some good education on economics issues, and my students have enjoyed using it.

I’ve put the link on my English Themes for Beginners and Early Intermediate page under the Economics category.

(I had a slight problem with yesterday’s post, Ford Foundation Report.  As a result, some, but I don’t think all, RSS readers and email subscribers received it.  If you didn’t, just click on the link.)

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August 22, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Great Blog

I’ve been subscribing for awhile to Phyllis Anker’s blog, called Phyllis’ Favorites.  She highlights websites helpful to teachers and librarians at all levels, and she really spots some gems.

I’d encourage people to go by and take a “look-see” at her blog sometime.

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August 22, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Ford Foundation Report

A couple of years ago I worked with some colleagues to produce a report for the Ford Foundation called Don’t Just Do Something, Sit There.

It came out of my community organizing work, but it’s certainly applicable to teaching.  The focus of the report is how to assist people to think more creatively, conceptually, and strategically.  In other words, how to help people learn instead of just training them.

I thought readers of this blog might find it useful.

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August 21, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
3 Comments

Trackstar

Tom Turner  just posted about Trackstar, a very simple way for teachers (and students) to create online scavenger hunts.

This web application, I think, would work especially well with English Language Learners.

Tom’s post described it very well, so instead of “reinventing the wheel” I’m just going to suggest you read his post about it.

Even though these hunts aren’t full-fledged Webquests, I placed the link under Webquests on my Teacher’s Page because I couldn’t think of anyplace else to put it.

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August 21, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Ghost Hotel & Law and Order Games

I’ve recently placed two more new video game-like links on my website. 

In the Ghost Hotel game the player has just gained entrance into a very strange place.  You then visit the different parts of the hotel by making making various choices.  It has audio and text support, and would be accessible to High Beginner English Language Learners.

Law and Order is a more complex game and, in fact, may be a little too complex.  It’s based on the television program of the same name, and has a lot of audio (though often not accompanied by text) and written instructions.  The player has to solve the crime.

The other games I’ve placed on my website have seemed to work well with my students.  Law and Order is another experiment to see how far I can push it.

These games and others are under the Word Games category on my Intermediate English page.

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August 20, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Edublogs Makeover

Many of you may be familiar with the “makeover” Edublogs gave itself last month.  It has a lot of neat new features.   The link is also listed on my Teacher’s Page under Blogs — Classroom and Teacher.

One that I like is a list on its home page sharing the most visited blogs.  It changes every twenty minutes.  It’s a good source for finding new ones that have a lot to offer.  Just yesterday I learned about T-Notes, written by Anthony Powell in Delaware. 

Check-out Edublogs and T-Notes when you get a chance. 

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August 20, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Passwords

This post is a little different from the usual ones I write.  However, I just read in the Webware blog about a new online application that allows you to safely and (relatively) securely store and use passwords.

I never thought I needed something like this until I recently messed-up on a site I was using to submit a workshop proposal, couldn’t remember the password, and couldn’t get them to send me an email with a reminder.

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August 20, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment

Fliptrack Example

Yesterday, I posted about Fliptrack, a web application that allows you to create a music video.

Today, Dave Deubel from EFL Classroom shared an example he made and a critique of the service that I think people would find useful.

I think Animoto, the other service I wrote about, might be a little better for English Language Learners once they make their projected changes next month.

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August 20, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat in Cambodia has been in the news this week.  Scientists have figured out the city had a population of a million people and was geographically as large as Los Angeles.

I’ve added some new links related to Angkor War on my World History page under The Middle Ages section.  The texts should be accessible to Intermediate English Language Learners, and the images can be helpful to all levels.

The links are are to a Scott Foresman interactive on Angkor Wat; an Angkor Wat Slideshow from the New York Times; and Angkor Wat in Pictures from the BBC.

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August 19, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment

Create A Music Video

Fliptrack lets you select songs out of their collection and either upload your photos or select them off the Internet with a url.  Then, with some special effects, you have a music video!

This web application can be used by English Language Learners for language development in several ways.  One of the special effects that can be added to the videos is text, so students can embed their writing into the video itself.

Students can email the url of their video to a teacher for posting on a webpage or blog, and then write a description of it or explain why they chose the photos and music.

There is an ability to leave comments on each video, too, so students could further practice their writing by giving classmates positive feedback.

And, of course, students can take notes about each other’s videos and have an in-class discussion about everyone’s videos.  As readers of this blog and my articles know, I have strong feelings about the importance of using technology to develop and deepen face-to-face relationships.

I’ve placed the link on my Examples of Student Work page under Student Music Videos.

Just after I wrote this post, another similar service called Animoto just began.  They don’t have the ability to use images from online sources now, but say they will in a month.  I’ve placed a link to Animoto on my Examples of Student Work page, too.

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August 19, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Paint It!

Paint It! is another great activity from the British Council.  You’re given written and verbal instructions about painting certain objects in a boy’s bedroom, and then have to paint them with a ”virtual” paintbrush.  Students can learn the words for colors and household items.

I’ve placed the link to this site under the Colors category on my English Themes For Beginners and Early Intermediate page.

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August 18, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
2 Comments

Daily Activities

Learning Line, from Colorado Public Television, is the latest addition to the Favorite Sites section on my English Themes For Beginners page.

Once you click on the link, next click on the “Activities” section.  Then you can choose from five different categories, including Health, Employment and Basic Communication.

Each of these five sections have many good audio and text activities for all levels of English Language Learners.  They are designed to help students learn basic living skills.

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August 17, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Economics Games

In an earlier post I talked about the Social Studies page on my website that I had originally designed for native or very advanced English speakers.  In that post I highlighted some sections on that page that would probably be accessible to English Language Learners.

When we finished up doing a unit on Jobs and Money in my Economics class for English Language Learners (a mix of high-beginners and intermediates) in June I showed the students that page’s section on Economics.  That category has a mix of economics-related games.

They loved it, and had little trouble finding activities they could easily access.  Not only did they have fun, but they also learned a lot.

You might want to check them out to see if your students might have a similar experience.

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August 16, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Handbag Ideas

A couple of days ago I posted about a “Design Your Own Handbag” web application.  The Tech ELT picked-up on it and came up with some creative more creative ways to use it for language development.  You might want to check them out.

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August 16, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Create Online Slideshows

I’ve posted in the past about web applications to create online slideshows, and have many links to these sites under Student Slide-Shows on my Examples of Student Work page.

I just added a new one called PreZentit.  This is a little different from the others because it’s supposed to allow multiple people to work on the same PowerPoint-like presentation at the same time.  This would obviously come in handy if students were working on a group project.

The Mashable blog also recently wrote about over thirty different online slideshow presentation tools.

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August 16, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Flickr Tag Browser

I learned about the Flickr Tag Browser from Susan Gaer, an instructor at Santa Ana College, through an ESL listserv.  It’s sort of a combination vocabulary-builder and “mind-map” creator.  I think it’s an exceptional find for English Language Learners.

You type in a word or two in the center.  For example, I typed in “Ancient Egypt.” Immediately, thirty-six excellent pictures from Flickr with that same “tag” came on my screen, with an option to see 1,500 more!

But that wasn’t the best part.  At the same time the images appeared, the labels of about forty other related “tags” showed-up in a circle surrounding the photos.  These included words like Pyramid, Cairo, Giza, Valley of the Kings, desert, etc.

Clicking on any of those labels then brings it into the center along with Flickr images with that same tag.

English Language Learners at all levels would find this useful for vocabulary development.  It’s also an ideal model of a graphic organizer.

Even though I only found appropriate images, as Barry Bakin mentioned in a subsequent email on the same listserv, it’s important to be aware that it’s always possible that some might slip in that should be passed over quickly.

I’ve placed the link on my English For Beginners page under Vocabulary.

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August 15, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Storytelling Resources

Alan Levine at CogDogBlog has developed a nice page of online storytelling resources.  You can find most (and probably more) of these same tools on my Examples of Student Work page.

However, Alan’s page is much better organized and attractive.  It’s geared towards providing ideas and information to teachers.  Mine is more focused on students directly using the page.

The other great thing about Alan’s page is that he tells the the same story about his dog using many of the tools.  Looking at the many versions really gives you an excellent idea of the differences between the applications.

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August 15, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
3 Comments

International Reading Association Award

Reading Today, the journal of the International Reading Association, recently came out with an article announcing that I was named the Grand Prize Winner of the 2007 International Reading Association Presidential Award For Reading and Technology.

Thanks to all of you who have sent me congratulations.

Reading Today is not available online, and many of you have asked me how they can read what they wrote about our program.  I haven’t received my copy in the mail yet (I guess the West Coast gets it later than people in the East), so I’m not sure exactly what the article says.

However, I’ve just posted on my website what they told me they thought they were going to write.  I’ll make any corrections once I’ve seen the actual issue. 

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