Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

I’m teaching an Economics class to English Language Learners this summer, so thought it would be helpful to my students, and readers of this blog, and me to make my next “The Best…” list related to that class.

My class will be primarily comprised of Intermediate English Language Learners (with a few Early Intermediates, too), so this list is only going to include sites that are accessible to that level (though most would certainly be useful to advanced and native-English speakers). I’ll be making a future list of The Best Sites For Learning Basic Money Skills & Vocabulary that will be focusing on sites for Beginning English Language Learners.

At the end of this post (but not included in the ranked list) I also share two additional sites that I think are excellent ones, but are probably only accessible to high-Intermediate or advanced English Language Learners.

I will rank sites according to which ones I think are best on this list, unlike the last few ones I’ve posted. There are a large number of financial literacy sites out there, but I have to say that I was surprised at how many of them I just didn’t think were very good.

As is the case with all of the sites on my lists, you can also find links to them on my website. Now, all these links are in various sections on my website, though I am slowly but surely adding versions of these “The Best…” lists to a separate page designed for student self-access.

By the way, this is sort of a “sister” list to The Best Websites For Students Exploring Jobs & Careers and my next list, The Best Sites To Learn Life Skills.

Here are my picks for The Best Sites For Learning Practical Money Skills:

Number nine is actually comprised of a number of links to economic games, and most are related to running a small business. You can operate a lemonade stand here and here, a coffee shop here, and an ice cream stand here (along with playing a few other financial games).

Hands On Banking from Wells Fargo is number eight. Most of it provides audio support for the text, and there are different levels of learning modules ranging from fourth grade to adults. I would have ranked it much higher if it was a little more interactive.

Financial Fitness For Life has a lot of similarities to Hands On Banking, and has a little more interactivity. I’ve ranked it at number seven.

Get Real is number six. It’s a game about being on your own for the first time.

I’m placing Savings Quest at fifth place. It takes you on a step-by-step engaging process on how to budget money. It would be ideal if the audio reflected the text, but it doesn’t always match-up.

Hot Shot Business from Disney is number four. It’s a small business creation site that has made some other “The Best…” lists I’ve published.

Banking On Our Future is number three on my list. You have to register for it, but it’s free, quick, and easy. It’s a very complete, and accessible, financial literacy site.

Brain Pop Economics Movies is number two, and is the only site on the list that you have to pay in order to access. Brain Pop has also made a few of my other lists. I think it’s worth the money,and you can sign-up for a free trial.

And now, for my number one rated site for learning economics and practical money skills…it’s The Everyday Life Project, which has also made other “The Best…” lists. It’s free, though you have to register for it (it’s very easy to do so). It has excellent interactive exercises on many money-related issues.

(I’m adding Spend Well to this list.)

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, there are two other sites that I consider excellent. However, I think the English required to use them is just a little too high-level for many Intermediate English Language Learners.

The two sites are What’s Up In Finance? and, one I really like, Moneyopolis.

Fee free to give feedback or make other suggestions in the comment section.

If you’ve found this post helpful, you might want to consider subscribing to this blog for free.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS