September 24, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment
I have a section on my Teacher’s page called Civics/Citizenship For ESL where I’ve recently added links to several sites with examples of lesson plans for that topic.
In addition, students can look at the Citizenship section on my English Themes For Beginners page for online activities that they can do.
September 23, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Consumer Consequences is a very well designed game/survey tool to help people understand the ecological consequences of their lifestyle.
It’s much more involved than the Carbon Footprint Calculators that I’ve posted about in the past. And the language is much more challenging, too. It’s probably only accessible to advanced English Language Learners.
But it’s worth language learners struggling through it. The information they gain can help them gain insights about their daily decisions.
I’ve placed the link on my World History page under Towards the Twenty-First Century.
September 23, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Play Kid Games has a nice Computer Word Game that is a simple “drag-and-drop” exercise teaching basic computer parts. It provides audio, visual, and text support, and is certainly accessible to very beginning English Language Learners.
I’ve placed it at the bottom of the Computer category on my English Themes for Beginners page.
September 22, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
I couldn’t narrow it down to a “Top Ten” of the best posts from this blog this month. So here are the “Top Twelve:”
* Home Computers & English Language Learning
* A Zillion More Talking Stories
* What Do You Do In The Computer Lab?
* HippoCampus For History, Government & Math
September 22, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
One World Classrooms has some pretty neat virtual tours of areas around the world, including the Amazon, the Galapagos, and Africa.
The tours are very accessible to English Language Learners. You have to register to get a password to enter the site, but it’s free.
I’ve placed the link on my Geography page under Sites That Cover Many Areas.
September 21, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment
I wrote last week about Scriblink, an online virtual whiteboard that can be a cool tool for students working in groups. It is neat, but one problem I’ve found with it is that you can’t copy and paste on it — you can only type, write, or draw (which, of course, is pretty neat in itself).
I’ve discovered another online virtual whiteboard application called Skrbl which does allow copying and pasting. I’m still exploring how the two compare in other ways.
I’ve placed the link on my Examples of Student Work page under Student Collaborative Stories.
September 21, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Dylan: Send Someone A Message is a viral marketing site promoting a Bob Dylan “greatest hits” album that’s coming out in October.
In it, you can create a “burma-shave” kind of message on ten sheets a young Bob Dylan shows one after another. You then email it to a friend. If you’re using it in class you can post the link on a blog or online journal.
It’s sort of neat, especially if you’re a Dylan fan. It’s an opportunity for English Language Learners to write (in a strange way, to be sure). But it would be a nice combination with the study of a Dylan song or two, like “Blowin’ In the Wind.”
I’ve placed the link on my Examples of Student Work page under, what else, but Student Messages From Bob Dylan.
September 21, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment
Lucy Gray has an excellent blog and sends out a “Friday 5″ list each week of links on a particular topic. This week I’m a guest “lister” and shared my picks for the best seven (obviously, I’m an English and not a Math teacher) sites on the web for teaching English Language Learners.
The Peace Corps training manuals for teaching English is one of the seven, and unfortunately they’re having troubles with their site right now. Here’s an alternative link to get them.
I’ve been a long-time subscriber to Lucy’s Friday 5 list, and I would encourage others to do the same.
September 21, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment
Home Computers and English Language Learning is another short article I’ve written at TechLearning’s request. It expands on some blog posts I wrote last week about the latest news about our home computer project.
It’ll be published sometime in the future, but they are okay with me posting it on my website in advance.
September 20, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
National Geographic has a series of visually attractive and simply written “Brainteasers” about various topics. This post will highlight the one they have on Ancient Egypt. You find the link on my World History page at the bottom of The First Civilized People section.
This Brainteaser, as their other ones, would be accessible to intermediate English Language Learners. They’re basically well-designed easy quizzes.
I’ve added several more of these activities to various other parts of my webpages. You can also access all of them through this Ancient Egypt site, and they are worth checking-out.
September 19, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
If you still have questions about what the upcoming ESL Carnival might look like, you can see the new issue of the Carnival of Education.
September 19, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Talklets is a new application that provides text-to-speech capability to websites. You have to pay a relatively small fee to use it on your own website available to the public, or if you want to install a version on your own computer so it will function on websites you visit that don’t have Talklet.
However, if you download the free version it will work on a select number of sites, including the BBC and Wikipedia.
I have the link on my Teachers Page under Talking Text Software.
There are obvious advantages to English Language Learners to be able to have audio support to what they read. However, with the completely free text-to-speech software programs that are available, and that are listed on my Teacher’s Page, I don’t think it’s worth purchasing the individual Talklet subscription.
However, I could see that teachers might find it helpful to have this sort of program on their own website, so it might be worth considering purchasing it for that particular use.
September 19, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Play Kids Games has Many Alphabet Games that I’ve recently added to my English For Beginners pages under the Alphabet (ABC’s) section.
In these games, suitable for beginning English Language Learners, students can learn the alphabet using bees, moles, tunnel-blasters, fish…. I think you get th idea.
September 18, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Mango Languages is an interesting site that has just begun. It provides free self-directed and bilingual online language courses, including ones for English for Spanish-speakers and English for Polish-speakers.
You have to register, but it literally takes seconds to do so. I don’t think it’s the best web application out there to help Spanish-speakers learn English, but it’s probably worth a visit.
I have the link on my Bilingual Exercises page under Spanish.
September 18, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
I posted earlier about the new Google Docs Presentation application, and how I didn’t see much difference between it and other online programs out there.
Well, I have discovered one significant difference.
Google Docs has a nifty real-time collaboration function. Not only can multiple people work on the same presentation simultaneously with changes immediately visible, it has a chat window where collaborators can communicate, too.
This could obviously be very helpful on group projects.
September 18, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Many of you may be familiar with the site Learning Vocabulary Can Be Fun. It has countless games to learn vocabulary — “cloze” quizzes to learn them in context, word scrambles, hangman, crosswords, and many more.
I highlighted it as one of the best learning game sites on the Internet in a recent article I wrote for TechLearning.
It just got even better with a number of new additions.
You can find it in several places on my webpages, including on my English Themes For Beginners under Favorite Sites.
Even though I have it on my Beginners page, it is also very helpful to native English speakers at all grade levels.
September 18, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
In news that will appear in every tech blog on the planet this morning, Google Docs now includes the ability to create a PowerPoint-like presentation. You can read more about it in the Lifehacker blog.
You can find the Google Docs link in several sections of my Examples of Student Work page, including Student Slide Shows.
There are so many other online web applications where you can easily upload PowerPoint presentations or actually create them within a browser application, I’m not sure that Google’s service will really be much better.
However, if you have your students now using Google Docs for other services, it might now be a little less confusing for them since they won’t have to go to another site.
September 18, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
I’ve placed a new link to many good music clozes (fill-in-the-blanks). The link on my site is titled Flash Music Clozes and is another good activity from KidsFlash. You can find it near the bottom of the Music section on my English For Beginners page.
These clozes are probably more appropriate for Intermediate English Language Learners. They’re set-up in an intriguing way. They have the lyrics and music to modern songs, and there are blanks scattered throughout the lyrics. You have to type what you think is the correct word in a box on the bottom. If it’s correct, the word will magically appear in the appropriate blank.
September 17, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
2 Comments
Jottit is a brand-new service that was the talk of the tech blogs today. It’s an extraordinarily simple and easy way to create a webpage.
All you do is start typing — you don’t even have to register. You can create a password that you, or anyone else you want to be able to write in it, can use, and then you’re given your own url.
You can’t do anything fancy with it, but it could certainly be used by English Language Learners in a number of ways. A teacher could create many webpages with passwords and assign one to a student or student group. The student, or a group of students, could then use it to create a project of some sort.
I’ve placed the link in various places on my Examples of Student Work page.
September 17, 2007
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment
There’s less than two weeks until the September 30th deadline arrives to submit blog posts to the ESL Carnival.
Many have already sent the link to a blog post into me. If you haven’t, you can either use this submission form or email it to MrFerlazzo@aol.com.
