Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

Valentine’s Day is approaching, so I thought another “The Best…” list might be in order.

So here are my choices for The Best Sites To Learn About Valentine’s Day (that are accessible to English Language Learners, of course). They’re not in any order of preference, though:

Ello has a nice listening game about Valentine’s Day Gift Hints.

Heads Up English has a good listening and reading activity about the holiday.

MES Games has a nice activity to develop Valentine’s Day vocabulary.

Here’s a short Valentine’s Day reading along with comprehension questions.

Valentine’s Day Around The World is the title of several listening exercises from ELLO.

Make A Valentine with Starfall.

Check-out the History Channel’s Valentine’s Day site.

Go to Carol Martin’s site for a variety of excellent Valentine’s Day activities designed for ESL/EFL students.

Many Things has a series of vocabulary activities for Valentine’s Day words. Go to the menu and choose any of several interactive ways students can learn the words.

Here’s a cloze (gap-fill) on the history of Valentine’s Day from Isabel Perez.

Here’s another cloze from Learn English Feel Good.

Here are two crossword puzzles for English Language Learners about the holiday.

Here’s an interactive graphic about Valentine’s Day from the Orange County Register.

EL Civics has a good Valentine’s Day Lesson for ESL Students.

Take a Valentine’s Day quiz.

Lanternfish has a number Valentine’s Day handouts.

Students can send several different types of Valentine’s Day eCards (all three of these sites will provide a url to the card that can be linked to a student or teacher website):

* A virtual Valentine’s Day cake.

* An eCard from the Virtual Museum of Canada.

* A card from Blue Mountain.

I like the National Zoo series of cute animal images for Valentine’s Day.  They can be sent as E-Cards.

The National Wildlife Federation has quite a collection of free Valentine’s Day E-Cards you can send. Students can send them and get the url address of what they’ve composed. The card appears to be hosted on the Federation’s server indefinitely, so the url can be posted on a student or teacher website or blog.

MSNBC has an intriguing article about the worst gifts to give on Valentine’s Day. The language will be difficult for English Language Learners, but teachers could simplify it. It also includes a poll in simple English where students could vote (of course, you could also just take one in your class).

MSNBC also has an article on “business” of Valentine’s Day. Again, the language would be challenging, but the topic could be engaging. The Cleveland Plain-Dealer has a much more accessible graphic on the same subject.

Reader Linda Denker suggested a good free “talking story” from Mighty Book called Punny Valentine, and I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Learn About Valentine’s Day.  As Linda points out, it’s particularly cute because of its use of old Valentines Day cards.  The only caveat, however, is that all the puns in the story might make it quite difficult for English Language Learners.

Watch this video about Valentine’s Day gifts you can buy for your dog.

Love Ever After is a slideshow from TIME Magazine where couples who have been married fifty years share their secrets for making love last.

Green Love By Numbers is a British-oriented interactive from the Guardian newspaper. It has excellent information about the effect of Valentine’s Day activities on the environment. However, all the figures are in UK money and metric units, which might not make sense to ELL’s in the United States.

The BBC has a “catch the falling letters game” where you have to unscramble Valentine’s Day related words before the letters hit the ground.

The BBC also has a small collection of Valentine’s Day E-Cards that can be created, sent and then posted. It also has a fun Interactive Matchmaker where people can match their Chinese and Zodiac horoscopes to see if they’re compatible. There’s reading required, and my students love these kinds of things.

Students can send an Outshouts Singing Valentine’s Day video without having to register for the site. Just search for a video song, record an introductory message with the computer mike, and email it and post its url address on a teacher or student blog/website. However, it’s possible that some songs/videos with inappropriate classroom content might be accessible, so close supervision will be required.

Love Around The World is a great slideshow from MSNBC showing examples of…love around the world.

The Wall Street Journal has a video news report about a lonely penguin in the London Zoo — the only one without a partner — and all the Valentine’s Day cards she is receiving.

MSNBC has an online video on Hindu protests in India against Valentine’s Day. Here’s a slideshow on the same story.

CBS News has a whole page filled with slideshows and videos related to Valentine’s Day.

Here’s a Valentine’s Day slideshow from ABC News.

ABC News also has an article about how most candies given in the U.S. for Valentine’s Day are made in Mexico. It’s probably not very accessible to ELL’s, but a teacher could modify it or an excerpt.

Here’s a video on the history of Hershey’s chocolate kisses.

Here’s an excellent Internet Scavenger Hunter Hunt for ELL’s called a Valentine Treasure Hunt.

CBBC Newsround has a very accessible description and history of Valentine’s Day.

Additional suggestions are welcome.

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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