'Image taken from page 329 of 'California of the South. Its physical geography, climate ... and health-resorts, being a complete guide-book to Southern California ... Third edition, rewritten, etc'' photo (c) 2013, The British Library - license: http://www.flickr.com/commons/usage/

I live and teach in California, so am obviously interested in resources about the state. Assisting my students become familiar with their new home is an important part of my classes.

I know there are many teachers from California who read this blog, and I thought they in particular might be interested in this newest “The Best…” list. I also know there is a lot of interest in the state from other places — both in the U.S. and around the world, so thought that others might find a list like this useful.

I’ve tried to make this list fairly broad (including sites about California history, geography,current events, and culture) and accessible to English Language Learners.

Here are my choices for The Best Websites To Learn About California:

Calisphere is from the University of California, and has over 150,000 accessible items related to California history and culture.

McGraw-Hill has an online companion to a textbook called California Vistas: Our Golden State. You can go to different chapters using the menu on the upper right hand corner of the screen. It’s a pretty thorough site.

Christina Niven’s EL Civics For ESL Students is a good site.. I particularly like her California overview and her lessons on four major California cities. They’re great for English Language Learner students.

The Los Angeles Times has an impressive photo section on their website. I’m adding their California Galleries to this list.

“California Vs. The World” is a neat infographic that provides some scale to descriptions of the state.

As always, feedback is welcome.

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