Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

Here are more additions to The Best Sites Where ELL’s Can Learn About The Super Bowl:

The East Valley Tribune has a slideshow on the History Of The Super Bowl.

Here’s a slideshow of fans and cheerleaders of the Steelers and Cardinals getting ready to support their teams.

CNBC has a slideshow on the economic effects of the Super Bowl.

MSNBC has a slideshow on Fans Enjoying The Super Bowl.

MSNBC also has a slideshow on the Super Bowl Rings that players in the game receive.

MSNBC also shows some of the most famous Super Bowl commercials from past games.

The Ninth Edition Of The EFL/ESL/ELL Blog Carnival has now been posted!

David Deubelbeiss, founder of EFL Classroom 2.0, has done his usual excellent job of presenting a wide-range of posts on English Language learning.

In addition, he’s set-up a Voice Thread there for people to leave audio comments about the Carnival and its posts.

The next EFL/ESL/ELL Blog Carnival will be posted on April 1st, with submissions due the day before. Nik Peachey will be hosting it at his Quick Shout blog.

You can contribute posts from your blog using this easy submission form.

Let me know if you’d like to host a future edition of the Carnival. You can see all prior editions here.

The Underground Railroad: Escape From Slavery is from Scholastic, and is an exceptionally accessible resource about the Underground Railroad.

All the text is spoken,and it has an additional tool that lets users look-up definitions to words they don’t understand.

I’ve placed the link on my website under The Nation Grows and Divides.

USA Today has a very good collection of interactive graphics on weather and climate topics.

This one on global warming is just one example.

I’ve placed the entire collection on the Science page of my website, but I’m also placing some direct links under Natural Disasters.

The National Zoo at the Smithsonian has a great collection of E-Cards. Not only are there a lot to choose from, but finished cards are hosted by zoo’s server and appear to stay there indefinitely.

I especially like their series of cute animal images for Valentine’s Day. I’ve added them to The Best Sites To Learn About Valentine’s Day.

Brainpop has an excellent introduction to American Football that I’m adding to The Best Sites Where ELL’s Can Learn About The Super Bowl.

Plus, it appears to be free for viewing without a subscription — at least for now.

I’ve posted several times in the past about how much I like Brainpop for my English Language Learner students, and that it’s one of the very, very few web applications out there that I think is worth paying for.

Brainpop has a Black History Month collection that’s pretty impressive. Again, you have to subscribe in order to view them, but you can sign-up for a free trial offer. Plus, two of the movies in this particular collection are free for viewing without signing-up.

I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Teach About African-American History.

I just learned about a site called Remix America from the Free Technology For Teachers blog.

You might want to read Richard Byrne’s post about it to learn more, but it basically allows you to take historical clips and make your own “remix” of them.

I have to say I have questions about how much value is added to student learning by the remixing part of the site (at least for English Language Learners) — it seems to me more trouble than it’s worth (though the site does seem to try to make it as easy as possible).

However, the site does have a good collection of useful videos. If Remix America isn’t blocked by school district content filters, those short videos could be very useful. And you don’t have to register or sign-in to view them. You only have to register if you want to create remixes.

Super Bowl Entertainment is a slideshow from TIME Magazine about the history of half-time shows during the Super Bowl.

I’m adding it to The Best Sites Where ELL’s Can Learn About The Super Bowl.

Career Builder has created a web tool called Anonymous Tip Giver. I’m not too thrilled with its intent — to send anonymous suggestions to better via an audio message — but it can be adapted for use as an English language learning activity.

You first choose one of several strange-looking characters to deliver your message, and then can type in your message and choose the voice in which you want it spoken. You can also decide to record your own message with an 800 telephone number if you choose. Next, you can send it to the intended recipient anonymously, add your own name and email, or just get the url of your completed message to post on a student or teacher website/blog.

There are plenty of sites with easier and better speaking opportunities, or sites where students can use a text-to-speech feature, on various of my “The Best…” lists.  This site is just another option if you’ve got a few minutes to “kill” in the computer lab and want to have students do something a little different.

Creative Kids Central has some nice interactive activities related to classical music. I especially like a talking story that’s accessible to English Language Learners.

I’ve placed the link on my website under Music and Art.

I ranked what I thought were the thirty-one Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education — 2008.

I also invited readers to vote and see if they agreed with me. Here are the results (you can read descriptions of each web tool by going to my list):

1. Synthasite

2. Moblyng

3. Nile Guide

4. Flowgram

5. Book Goo

6. Graspr

7. Jog The Web

8. Posterous

9. Tikatok, Awesome Highlighter, and My Jugaad (three-way tie)

10. Edublogs.TV, Digital Vaults, Quikmaps, Tokbox (four-way tie)

I’m adding the Verizon Foundation’s Thinkfinity resources on Black History Month to The Best Sites To Teach About African-American History list.

They’ve brought together a good collection of useful links.

Friday is one of the days my Intermediate English class spends a period in the computer lab, and I thought it would be a good opportunity for them to spend a few minutes learning about the Super Bowl (which is being played on Sunday).

Here are my picks for The Best Sites Where ELL’s Can Learn About The Super Bowl:

The great site ELLO (which is on The Best Listening Sites For English Language Learners list) has a number of Super Bowl-related online activities on their page called Super Bowl Sunday.

ESL Pod also has a short report on Super Bowl Sunday, though it doesn’t have audio.

Anticipating The Super Bowl is an entertaining slideshow from The Washington Post.

The New York Times has an interactive where editors make the case for each of their teams, and then viewers can vote on who they think will win. The audio is too advanced for most ELL’s, but the ability to vote makes it somewhat engaging.

Here’s an Associated Press video on how footballs are made for the game.

The New York Times has a neat feature that talks about the ads played during the game. You can see some of the most famous ones at the site.

It would require some teacher interpretation, but the Associated Press has an interactive comparing the two quarterbacks playing on Sunday.

Follow four fans traveling to the game at this interactive from a California newspaper.

Super Bowl Entertainment is a slideshow from TIME Magazine about the history of half-time shows during the Super Bowl.

Brainpop has an excellent introduction to American Football. Plus, it appears to be free for viewing without a subscription — at least for now.

The East Valley Tribune has a slideshow on the History Of The Super Bowl.

Here’s a slideshow of fans and cheerleaders of the Steelers and Cardinals getting ready to support their teams.

CNBC has a slideshow on the economic effects of the Super Bowl.

MSNBC has a slideshow on Fans Enjoying The Super Bowl.

MSNBC also has a slideshow on the Super Bowl Rings that players in the game receive.

MSNBC shows some of the most famous Super Bowl commercials from past games.

Cardinals, Steelers Battle It Out In The Super Bowl, a slideshow from The Wall Street Journal.

Also from The Wall Street Journal, a Super Bowl Ad Poll. Watch the ads from today’s game and vote for which ones you think were the best.

Steelers Win A Record-Setting Super Bowl is a series of images from the Sacramento Bee.

For The Steelers, A Curtain Call and The Drama Besides The Game are two slideshows from The New York TImes.

Here’s a website full of lesson plans — Using Super Bowl Ads In The Classroom.

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.

I had included a site called “You Are” in The Best Places Where Students Can Write Online.  It was in private testing, but now it’s open to the public.

You can only type in 140 characters per entry, but “You Are” stands-out because it lets you easily send the url of an image as well. Having that ability enhances its use with English Language Learners, who can use the tool to also describe photos.

Here’s a listing of the most popular posts in this blog during the month of January:

THE TOP TEN “THE BEST…” LISTS:

1. The Best Sites For Learning About The Presidential Inauguration

2. The Best Places To Get Royalty-Free Music & Sound Effects

3. The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education — 2008

4. The Best Websites For Learning About Martin Luther King

5. The Best Sites To Learn About Street Gangs

6. The Best Sites That Use Movie Trailers To Teach English

7. The Best Sites To Learn About U.S. Presidential Elections

8. The Best Year-End Collections Of Images — 2008

9. The Best Resources About President’s Day

10. The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education — 2007

THE TOP TEN POSTS THAT WERE NOT “THE BEST…” LISTS:

1. All “The Best…” Lists

2. Inaugural Words — A Very Useful Interactive From The NY Times

3. Charter Schools As Immigrant Havens

4. Dictionary Added To Best Reference Sites

5. Free Rider 2

6. What Did You Learn In 2008

7. The Weirdest Text-To-Speech Site — Ever!

8. Two Excellent Sites For Beginning Readers

9. Vote For 2008’s Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education

10. “WhosTalkin?” Is An Intriguing Application

TOP TRAFFIC SOURCES TO THIS BLOG (not including sources like Stumbleupon, Delicious, Twitter, etc):

1. EFL Classroom 2.0

2. Classroom 2.0

3. Elmwood Technology

4. The Edublog Awards

5. EL Civics

6. English Companion Ning

7. Welcome to NCS-Tech

8. I Want To Teach Forever

9. The English Blog

10. Free Technology For Teachers

Career Aisle is from the South Carolina PBS Station, and has many short, and accessible, videos on different careers. There are a number of other activities and resources related to jobs there, too.

The site is accessible to Intermediate English Language Learners.

I’ve placed the link on my website under Jobs and Careers.

All, or at least most, of the links in this “The Best…” list are also included in The Best Sites For Learning About New Year Celebrations.

I just thought it would be helpful to teachers and others to put all of the Chinese New Year ones in its own separate list, too.  It makes it a little more simple for my students when we have a lesson on the holiday.

Here are my choices for The Best Resources For Chinese New Year:

Read this British Council talking story about the Chinese New Year.

The History Channel has an excellent site on the Chinese New Year.

The Honolulu Advertiser has a slideshow on recent local Chinese New Year celebrations.

PBS Kids has a series of Chinese New Year games students can play.

Watch a slideshow of a Chinese New Year parade in San Francisco.

Send a Chinese New Year’s eCard from Blue Mountain or a New Year’s greeting from American Greetings. You can post links to student-created cards on teacher/student webpages.

Chinese New Year Resources From Topmarks has a number of accessible materials available.

Here are some new Chinese New Year resources for ELL’s from the British Council:

The Great Race, a “talking story.”

See what animal you are based on your birthdate.

Listen to, and read, a song about Chinese New Year.

Apples 4 The Teacher has a nice interactive that students can use to learn what animal is influencing their life because of the year you were born.

Here’s a similar interactive from the Museum of East Asian Art.

Here are images and videos from the San Francisco Chronicle about a Chinese New Year mini-parade in Chinatown.

EL Civics has developed a Chinese New Year Lesson specifically for English Language Learners.

A New York Times slideshow and a video on the Chinese New Year celebration.

The China Daily has several new slideshows, too, including the Celebration of the Year Of The Ox Around China and Royal Rituals Practiced Ahead of Lunar New Year.

The S.F. Chronicle has a special page filled with slideshows and videos about present and past Chinese New Year celebrations.

The Lunar New Year is the title of a series of photos from The Sacramento Bee.

The Boston Globe’s Big Picture has a great group of photos on Chinese New Year: Welcoming The Ox.

Year Of The Ox is the title of a Wall Street Journal slideshow.

TIME Magazine also has a Chinese New Year slideshow.

MSNBC has a video showing global celebrations of the Chinese New Year.

Ushering In The Year Of The Ox is a slideshow from Radio Free Asia.

The Kent schools in the United Kingdom have many educational Chinese New Year resources.

ESL Holiday Lessons has an online lesson on the holiday designed for English Language Learners.

Reuters has a slideshow on the celebration.

Chinese New Year is the simple title of a variety of listening exercises from ELLO.

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.

I just received a message from Mr. Nussbaum saying his excellent site is back up! 

Here is what he wrote:

I am trying to get the word around as fast as possible, MrNussbaum.com is up and running again (thankfully). The site was hacked on January 19th, at which point I was forced to make an emergency domain transfer to a new server. As you may know, the transfer of a new domain can take up to eight days, and this is precisely what happened. Who would have thought these hackers would take advantage of an educational website? No shame whatsoever. Anyway, the stress for me is over for now and I am back online.

Type in a “tag” that you’re looking for, and Thagoo will provide you with a list of websites that people have “tagged” with that same description in social bookmarking sites (though it’s unclear which ones).

I tried “ESL” and got a very lengthy list back, some which I hadn’t heard about previously.

I’m adding the site to The Best Places To Get Blog, Website, , Book, Movie, & Music Recommendations.