Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

One of the classes I’m teaching this year is United States History.  In thinking ahead, I’ve been preparing some lessons about the Iraq War, and have been shocked at how few resources I’ve found out there that have been specifically prepared for English Language Learners, or are even somewhat accessible.

I thought I’d create a “The Best…” list sharing what I have found.  Many of them have some features that are accessible and other parts that are not because either the vocabulary is too advanced or people speak too fast in the audio.  Some of the information isn’t quite up-to-date on a number of the sites.  For the most recent accessible news stories, you might want to check the resources on The Best News/Current Events Websites For English Language Learners — 2007.

Here are my picks for The Best Web Resources On The Iraq War (that are helpful to teaching English Language Learners, of course):

Reuters Bearing Witness: Five Years Of The Iraq War is an impressive compilation of maps, photo and video footage (some of it pretty graphic), and information from the Reuters News Service.

The Iraq War Timeline is an excellent interactive timeline of the war including video footage.

The Fight For Iraq, which is particularly useful for viewing the war in a historical context.

Iraq 5 Years In from the New York Times is another excellent timeline.

The Toll of War from National Public Radio shows both military and civilian casualties over the course of the war.

CBS News Five Years at War is not as engaging as some of the others I’ve listed, but is notable because it also highlights opposition to the war here in the United States.

Five Years Of War In Iraq is a slideshow from the Council on Foreign Relations.

The CBBC Newsround has a special section on Iraq that has a wealth of materials accessible to English Language Learners, though some of them are a bit dated.

Iraq: Five Years In is a continually updated multimedia timeline and history of the U.S. war in Iraq by The New York Times.

Rethinking Schools has a special section on Teaching About The War which, while their materials and ideas may require a fair amount of modification for accessibility, is still worth a look for ideas.

Here’s an Associated Press infographic showing how a roadside bomb, which has killed so many U.S. soldiers, works.

The British newspaper The Guardian has an accessible interactive called The U.S. Military Presence In Iraq. With relatively simple English text, images, and graphs, it traces the number and actions of U.S. troops in that country.

Six Years In Iraq is a slideshow from TIME Magazine.

I’ve just added a series of photos from the Sacramento Bee called Iraq War Anniversary to this list.

An interactive called Iraq: The Road Ahead is the newest addition to this list.

MSNBC has a multimedia piece called Invasion Iraq: Six Years Later.

Iraq: After Saddam Photo Diary comes from CBS News.

The Toll In Iraq is an accessible interactive graphic on the casualty toll of American troops since the start of the war.

Documenting The Return of US War Dead is a series of images from The Boston Globe’s The Big Picture documenting the return of the bodies of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was the first such event allowed to be covered by the media in eighteen years.

Iraq War Stories is a multi-year retrospective of the Iraq War from the Guardian newspaper.

U.S. troops withdraw from Iraqi cities is a series of photos from The Sacramento Bee.

U.S. Combat Troops Pull Out of Iraqi Cities is a slideshow from the Washington Post.

U.S. Forces Withdraw From Iraq Cities is a slideshow from MSNBC.

Iraq: US troops withdraw from cities is an interactive graphic from Agence France Presse.

I’d certainly be interested in hearing suggestions, so please feel free to leave them in the comments section.

If you found this post useful, you might want to look at previous “The Best…” lists and also consider subscribing to this blog for free.

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