Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

With St. Patrick’s Day (March 17th) and April Fool’s Day (April 1st) coming so close together, I thought that it would be good to combine the two in a “The Best…” list.

I don’t mean to be a “party-pooper,” but I have to say that I believe that April Fool’s Day can often be “celebrated” in a way that can seem somewhat cruel.  However, I think it’s important that English Language Learners be aware of it and also learn how to participate in a fun and respectful way.

Here are my picks for The Best Sites For Learning About St. Patrick’s Day and April Fool’s Day (and are accessible to English Language Learners — by the way, these aren’t listed in any order of preference):

ST. PATRICK’S DAY:

Heads Up English has a good article about the holiday with audio support for the text.

There’s a good St. Patrick’s Day Lesson at EL Civics.

5 Minute English has a short article and comprehension questions about the holiday.

Here’s another short article with questions designed for English Language Learners.

MES Games has a vocabulary building activity for St. Patrick’s-related words.

Of course, The History Channel has a great site on the holiday.

Language Lab has a good “text completion” activity for the day.

Learn English Feel Good has a vocabulary quiz.

Here’s a student-written history of St. Patrick’s Day.

Activities For ESL Students has a St. Patrick’s Day Quiz.

Renee Maufroid has created a good “Hangman” game about the holiday.

Watch a movie about St. Patrick’s Day.

Here are a ton of photos from the huge St. Patrick’s Day Parade that takes place in New York City each year.

You can send an E-Card from the BBC and post the link on a student/teacher website. You can do the same at Blue Mountain and American Greetings. All three appear to host the cards indefinitely on their site.

Ressources Pour Le College has a good St. Patrick’s Day Scavenger Hunt designed for English Language Learners.

ESL Holiday Lessons has a page on St. Patrick’s Day that provides audio support for the text.

Read and listen to a “talking book” about Ireland at Apples 4 The Teacher.

CBS News has a special St. Patrick’s Day page with photos, videos and slideshows.

The BBC has an interactive book on the holiday.

National Geographic has some facts on the holiday.

Woodlands Junior School in Great Britain has some short and and accessible info on St. Patricks’ Day.

The San Francisco Chronicle has photos of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations throughout Northern California.

The Boston Globe has images of Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

A Brief History of St. Patrick’s Day, a slideshow from TIME Magazine

A slideshow of Denver’s St. Patrick’s Day parade. Here’s another set of images from the same parade.

A slideshow of a similar parade in Utah.

A video of a celebration of the day in Ireland from Reuters.

The New York Times has a slideshow about the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City.

Here’s an article and a short slideshow from the Sacramento Bee about St. Patrick’s Day festivities. Here’s a video, too.

Look at images of green food for St. Patrick’s Day from the New York Daily News.

Yahoo News has a slideshow about St. Patrick’s Day.

St. Patrick’s Day Pride is a slideshow from The Wall Street Journal.

Sky News has pictures of St. Patrick’s Day Parties Around The World.

St. Patrick’s Day is a series of images from the Sacramento Bee.

Here’s another Sacramento Bee slideshow.

And if you want to learn more about Ireland, here are links to several other resources specifically designed with English Language Learners in mind (several are interactive):

Ireland
Irish Politics
Irish History
Irish History Quiz
Cork, Ireland
Cork, Ireland Quiz
Talking About Ireland
Talking About Ireland Quiz
More Talking About Ireland
Dublin, Ireland

MSNBC has a slideshow about Dublin, Ireland.

APRIL FOOL”S DAY:

Heads Up English has a good overview of the holiday and provides audio support for the text.

You can find a short article with reading comprehension questions about April Fool’s Day at 5 Minute English.

Learn English Feel Good has a vocabulary quiz about the day.

A short article with comprehension questions can be found at Second Nature Online English.

Here’s a relatively simple history of April Fool’s Day.

Watch a movie about April Fool’s Day.

ESL Holiday Lessons has a lesson on April Fool’s Day that provides audio support for the text.

I’d certainly be interested in hearing other 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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