Jul 15 2008
The Best Websites For Learning About Natural Disasters
We teach a thematic unit on Natural Disasters in our ninth-grade English curriculum. These classes include both native-English speakers and advanced English Language Learners. Since it’s the first unit we teach in the fall semester, I thought it would be good to use that topic for another “The Best…” list.
In order to make it on this list, the sites have to be accessible to English Language Learners and also provide engaging content.
You can find these links, along with many others, on my website under Natural Disasters.
Here are my picks for The Best Websites For Learning About Natural Disasters (not in any order of preference):
Curriculum Bits has a series of excellent animations that provide audio support for the text. They have ones on Earthquakes, Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Tsunamis, and Volcanoes.
National Geographic’s Forces Of Nature has excellent interactives and images related to the film of the same name.
Channel One Natural Disasters has interactives, animations, and quizzes about all sorts of natural disasters.
The organization 2Learn has excellent sites on two of the most recent major natural disasters that have hit the world — the Chinese earthquake and the Burma Cyclone.
National Geographic has a second good section on Natural Disasters including videos, slideshows, and interactives.
There are two online games that students can play and help prevent disasters. One is Disaster Watch, and a more complicated one is Stop Disasters.
Brainpop has several excellent closed-captions movies about various natural disasters. You have to pay for a subscription (and it’s well worth the price), but you can also get a free trial.
Of course, here in California we’re particularly concerned about earthquakes. The San Francisco Chronicle has a fantastic resource on the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.
The CBBC Newsround has a very accessible guide to Hurricane Katrina. National Geographic also has some excellent resources on what happened in New Orleans. You can see powerful images at In Katrina’s Wake.
This next site might not be on most people’s list, but it’s high up for anyone who lives and/or works here in Sacramento. Now that New Orleans has been flooded, and supposedly had its levees reinforced and strengthened, Sacramento has become the American city that is most likely to be hit by a major flood. If you’d like to see what that might look like, go the video animations our local PBS affiliate has developed. There might be a delay in new posts here if this event ever occurs.
Shake, Rattle and Slide is an exceptional interactive from the University of Illinois Extension focused on volcanoes, earthquakes and glaciers. It provides audio support for the text, and is very accessible to English Language Learners. There are number of neat online activities on the site,
As usual, feedback is welcome.
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2 responses so far
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Thanks Larry for these links. Ironically we have just completed a unit on natural disasters. I had found most of these sites but there are a couple that are new to me – I have bookmarked those for next time!
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I’m planning a multi-genre unit on natural disasters featuring mostly non-fiction, but I’d like to reinforce fiction elements as well. Are there any short fictional pieces or poems you’d recommend? I teach 8th grade English. Thank you!
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