'New Orleans' photo (c) 2008, Corey Balazowich - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/

A “The Best…” list about New Orleans is timely for two reasons. One, obviously, is because of Hurricane Gustav. The other is because the first unit we teach in our ninth-grade mainstream English classes is on Natural Disasters and the second is on New Orleans.

You might also want to check-out The Best Sites To Learn About Mardi Gras & Carnivals and The Best Short Video Clips About Hurricane Katrina.

You might also want to look at The Best Websites For Learning About Natural Disasters.

As usual, I’ve only included resources that are accessible to English Language Learners.

Here are my choices for The Best Websites For Teaching & Learning About New Orleans (not ranked in any particular order of preference):

The New York Times recently posted a slideshow about the famous and historical Zulu Krewe Mardis Gras.

The Times-Picayune is also an excellent site for accessible interactive graphics, slideshows, and videos about anything related to New Orleans.

The BBC has a special report on Katrina.

The New York Times has made several interactive slideshows about New Orleans over the past three years, including about Life Since Katrina.

A.D. New Orleans After The Deluge is an amazing and extensive retelling of Katrina in comic book form.

A Brief History of Mardi Gras is a new slideshow from TIME Magazine.

Here’s a quiz about Louisiana specifically developed for English Language Learners.

ESL Pod has a simple explanation of Mardi Gras.

ESL Holiday Lessons has a simple Mardi Gras quiz.

EL Civics has a Mardi Gras Lesson.

Here’s a downloadable PowerPoint on Mardi Gras.

Finally, I would not say this is one of the “best” sites out there, but you might be interested in an audio slideshow I very quickly put together after my family and I visited New Orleans a few months ago.

Saints Go Marching In
is a slideshow from The New York Times.

GOOD Magazine had a contest inviting readers to contribute infographics about New Orleans. You can see all the submissions here.

Open Sound New Orleans is a fun Google Maps “mashup” with sounds from different areas of the city — ranging from music to birds.

Post-Katrina, Graffiti Said It All is a slideshow from NPR.

Katrina: Five Years Later is a special multimedia feature from CNN.

Hurricane Protection in Louisiana is a slideshow from The New York Times.

5 Years Ago: Hurricane Katrina is another interactive.

Hurricane Katrina Aftermath is a good infographic.

Remembering Katrina, Five Years Ago is a series of photos from The Big Picture.

Destroy This Memory is a slideshow from TIME Magazine.

A Katrina Photographer Returns to New Orleans is another TIME slideshow.

A sobering look back five years after Hurricane Katrina comes from the LA Times.

Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans, Then and Now is a great collection of resources from The New York Times Learning Network.

The Christian Science Monitor has published an excellent slideshow on New Orleans.

Travel To New Orleans is a nice video exercise.

Vast Defenses Now Shielding New Orleans is a New York Times article and map.

Healing Histories is a nice interactive about New Orleans recovering from Hurricane Katrina.

Five myths about Hurricane Katrina is from The Washington Post.

Celebrating, in Spite of the Risk is from The New York Times.

 

 

 

 

Swipe the photos and see Hurricane Katrina disaster dissolve into present-day recovery

Hurricane Katrina’s 9th anniversary will be remembered with plays, rallies and more is from NOLA.

Today is the ninth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is from The Washington Post.

Hurricane Katrina: The Anniversary is from CBS News.

The Atlantic just wrote an article about what sounds like a great movie about it — called Low and Behold. Interestingly, it was actually made ten years ago.

Here’s the movie’s site, and here is it’s trailer and a clip. According the The Atlantic article, the clip is one of the pivotal scenes in the movie, and I can see why.

U.S. weather disasters that topped $1 billion is from The Washington Post.

10 Years After Katrina is an interactive from The New York Times.

After Katrina: New Orleans then and now – interactive photographs is from The Guardian.

Aerial images show the slow return of the Lower Ninth Ward is from The Washington Post.

Quote Of The Day: When The Mexican Army Fed Katrina Victims

As usual, feedback and additional suggestions are always welcome.

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