The recession is affecting the lives of my students everyday, so they don’t need to be informed that there is one.  However, they do need to understand the global ramifications of it. Here are some new additions to The Best Sites To Learn About The Recession that do that in a visual way that is accessible to ELL’s: 

FinViz shows the stock market in a vivid color-code.

The Economy Tracker from CNN shows the latest economic data on a map, and combines that with personal stories of those affected.