Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

…For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Monthly Archives: March 2009

March 22, 2009
by Larry Ferlazzo
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New Additions To “The Best…” Lists

Here are some recent additions to various “The Best…” lists:

The Sacramento Bee has a scary map of unemployment in California. I’ve added it to The Best Sites To Learn About The Recession.

The New York Times has an audio slideshow about people looking for work in the state of Tennessee that I’m also adding to the Recession list.

Economic Reality Check is from CNN and provide short facts about different aspects of the recession.  This, too, has been added to the Recession list.

Mixtape is another site for Not “The Best,” But “A List” Of Music Sites.

The Toll In Iraq is an accessible interactive graphic on the casualty toll of American troops since the start of the war.  I’ve added it to The Best Web Resources On The Iraq War.

I’ve made added two few new sites to The Best Sites To Learn About The Tongan Volcano & Earthquake.  They are:

CBS has a “Photo Essay” on the eruption.

Volcanoes Blow Their Tops is a slideshow from ABC News.

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March 22, 2009
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Home Computer Family Literacy Project Expands

Regular readers of this blog are familiar with our school’s Family Literacy Project where we provide computers and home Internet access to immigrant families. This effort, as well as our after-school ESL Computer Lab, has been recognized by the International Reading Association.

Now the concept is expanding.

The Sacramento Mutual Housing Association (SMHA), one of the most respected affordable housing organizations in California (if not in the United States), is piloting a similar project in one of their developments.

They are hiring the bilingual aides who help in our school’s project to work with their immigrant residents to lead a on-site computer and English literacy program at the development’s computer lab.  Graduates of the program will then receive their own computer and be able to use the wireless network at the site.  English “homework” assignments will be similar to what present participants are required to do.

SMHA expects to provide forty home computers over the next year to families, with two household members from each family graduating from the training program.

I’ll write posts updating how the program progresses.

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March 22, 2009
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Technology’s Impact On Student Learning

Earlier this month, Doug Johnson wrote an intriguing post titled A Better Question. It’s definitely worth reading.

In it, he shares an observation from a Dell Computers staffperson, who said that instead of asking “Does technology improve student learning?” we should be asking, “Does technology support the practices that improve student learning?”

Doug then makes an astute observation of his own:

The direct link between information technologies and learning does not exist anymore than the direct link between a good stove and a good meal; a good automobile and a good vacation; a good word processor and a good book; or a good camera and good art.

All this relates to my own ambivalent feelings about the impact of technology on student achievement for mainstream students (there’s no question, I believe, about its benefit to English Language Learners — if used appropriately).  I’ve written about this several times, including in Does Using Technology Add Value To The Classroom?.  I get a sense that some people mistakenly view technology as a sort of “magic bullet” in education.

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March 22, 2009
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment

Rich Chart Live

Rich Chart Live is a new site to make pretty cool-looking animated charts and graphs.

It looks surprisingly to create them but, even with being able to say that, it’s still too complicated for me to use. I think, though, that this problem has more to do with my inability to use Excel or, in fact, any kind of numbers!

I’m not going to add it to The Best Tools To Make Simple Graphs Online because of that complexity (which may not make it accessible to English Language Learners), but I thought readers might find it useful, anyway.

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March 21, 2009
by Larry Ferlazzo
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WebListy Could Help Find New Sites

WebListy is a unique search engine. To quote The Make Use Of blog, “Weblisty lets you view the top… most trafficked websites in different countries for any topic.”

You type in your query, select the country, and click search.  The results include a screenshot as well as a text description.

I found quite a few new (to me) useful websites when, for example, I typed in “ESL” or “EFL” for various countries.

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March 21, 2009
by Larry Ferlazzo
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“Touch” Helps In Learning A Second Language

“The sense of touch allows us to make a better connection between sight and hearing and therefore helps adults to learn to read.”

That’s the beginning of a new article in Science Daily . It reports on a recent study and concludes that “these results, published March 16th in the journal PloS One, should improve learning methods, both for children learning to read and adults learning foreign languages.”

It’s an interesting concept, and it’s a part of the Picture Word Inductive Model, which is an instructional strategy I use a lot with Beginning English Language Learners. In PWIM, students touch the words as they learn them.

I have to admit that I didn’t really understand most of the article, but the parts I did understand were interesting.

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March 21, 2009
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Relationship-Building, Merit Pay, & Testing

You might be interested in a post I just wrote for In Practice, our group blog written by teachers in low-income communities.

It’s titled Relationship-Building, Merit Pay, & Testing.

It’s my commentary on what I consider to be a pretty confused piece written by David Brooks, a columnist for The New York Times (who I generally think is pretty thoughtful).

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March 20, 2009
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Another Reminder To Bloglines Subscribers

Bloglines appears to once again be having trouble picking-up some feeds from Edublogs. If, by some chance, Bloglines is telling you they are having a problem with a feed from this blog, just resubscribe using this feed and the problem should be fixed.

If you’re not having any problems with your Bloglines subscription, please just ignore this message.

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March 20, 2009
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment

A.nnotate Gets Added To A “The Best…” List

A.nnotate is the newest addition to The Best Applications For Annotating Websites.  You can read more at that list about why I feel a tool like this is so critical while working with students — I’m still amazed that there are so few easy-to-use web applications out there that let you easily make these kinds of virtual “post-it” notes.

Instead of describing A.nnotate in detail here, though, I’m going to suggest you read a very thorough description of it — with screenshots — at The Make Use Of blog.

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March 20, 2009
by Larry Ferlazzo
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New Karaoke Site

I recently posted about how Sims On Stage, a great online karaoke site for English Language Learners to practice the language, is closing down.

Now a new one has sprung-up to take its place.

Karaoke Party is a free online karaoke site that recently opened for business. Though I haven’t spent a lot of time checking it out, it seems very comparable to the others on this list.

I’m adding it to The Best Online Karaoke Sites For English Language Learners.

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March 20, 2009
by Larry Ferlazzo
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What Percent Might Be Worth A Look

What Percent lets you state a simple opinion, which people can then vote on by saying they agree or disagree with you.

I didn’t see any inappropriate content on the site, so I assume they keep a close eye on it.

It seems to me that this could be a very quick and simple activity English Language Learners could use for both writing and reading.

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March 20, 2009
by Larry Ferlazzo
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More Writing Resources

I’ve added several collections of model students essays to The Best Websites For K-12 Writing Instruction/Reinforcement.

Holt has a collection of student essays.

Scholastic has a wide variety of student model essays. Look under Projects By Subject near the bottom right of the page.

Houghton Mifflin has a decent collection of student essays, though I don’t think they’re as good as the other sites I’ve mentioned.

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March 19, 2009
by Larry Ferlazzo
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For Bloglines Subscribers

Bloglines appears to once again be having trouble picking-up some feeds from Edublogs. If, by some chance, Bloglines is telling you they are having a problem with a feed from this blog, just resubscribe using this feed and the problem should be fixed.

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March 19, 2009
by Larry Ferlazzo
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The Best Sites To Learn About The Tongan Volcano & Earthquake

After Hmong and Latinos, Pacific Islanders are probably the next largest group of English Language Learners at our school. The massive volcanic explosion and earthquake off the coast of Tonga is obviously of interest to them, and I took a few minutes to make a “The Best…” list about it.

Here are my choices for The Best Sites To Learn About The Tongan Earthquake:

Underwater Volcano Blows Near Tonga is a slideshow from The Wall Street Journal.

Underwater Eruptions Near Tonga is the title of a series of images at the Boston Globe’s Big Picture.

The CBBC Newround has a very accessible short article about the eruption.

Here’s a video of the eruption from MSNBC.

Ring Of Fire Volcano Blows is a short video report from Reuters.

Undersea Volcano Erupts is a video report from The Associated Press.

Tongan Inspection Team Heads to Undersea Volcano is the title of an article from International Herald Tribune. If you click on “Listen to Article” the site will provide audio support for the text.

CBS has a “Photo Essay” on the eruption.

Volcanoes Blow Their Tops is a slideshow from ABC News.

As always, feedback is welcome.

If you found this post useful, you might want to look at all the previous over 200 “The Best…” lists and also consider subscribing to this blog for free.

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March 19, 2009
by Larry Ferlazzo
3 Comments

The Best Resources For Learning How To Write Response To Literature Essays

Each year in our Intermediate English classes, we have students write three or four essays — Problem/Solution, Persuasive, Response To Literature, & Biography of an Historical Figure. So far, I’ve created a “The Best…” list on The Best Resources For Researching & Writing Biographies and you can find resources to support all these genres and more at The Best Websites For K-12 Writing Instruction/Reinforcement.

You can also find more links on my website under English Themes For Intermediate & Advanced.

Now it’s time for a “The Best…” list to support writing a response to literature essay.

I’m dividing this list into two parts — the first section contains links to sites that are suitable for English Language Learner student self access, and the section section includes resources more appropriate for teacher use and support.

Here are my choices for The Best Resources For Learning How To Write Response To Literature Essays:

FOR STUDENTS:

Here are some helpful Brainpop essays (unfortunately, a paid subscription is required to access most, though not all, of them. You can also get a free trial):

Similes and Metaphors

Paraphrasing

Dialogue

Citing Sources

Adjectives

Here’s a quiz on Figures Of Speech: Metaphor, Simile or Personification.

The National Grid For Learning has a series of great interactive exercises on similes. It’s a little tricky to navigate, though. You need to scroll down to the bottom of that page to several links. Just in case you can find the direct links, I’ve decided to put them here:

Starter activity

Main session part 1

Main session part 2

Plenary

Here’s a Super Simile Game

You can learn about Literary Elements and then take the quiz at this Thinkquest site.

Try to create similes in this not-very-easy game from the British Council.

Name That Literary Element is a game from Glencoe.

Mrs. Dowling’s Literature Terms is an accessible introduction to related academic vocabulary and includes quizzes.

Glencoe has a literary elements glossary that includes audio support and animations.

Figurative Language Interactive Activities

Students can use this online Literary Elements Map from Read Write Think to create a…literary elements map of a book they are reading.

Read Write Think also has an online Plot Diagram that might be helpful.

We usually have students pick one of the many Cinderella stories from various cultures and write a response to literature essay. As a “warm-up” to it (so to speak), there’s an ArtsEdge lesson that has students read three different “Cinderella” stories:

The Egyptian “Cinderella”

The Chinese “Cinderella”

The Native American “Cinderella”

Students then complete an online interactive Venn Diagram comparing the three stories.

We also have students read this animation of the popular version that provides audio support for the test. They can also read this animated version.

The Collegial Centre for Educational Materials Development (CCDMD) in Canada has quite a few nice “English Language Improvement” Resources, primarily for advanced English Language Learners. I particularly like College English Prep Online, which provides audio support for the text and provides instruction on topics like symbolism, setting, and imagery. Again, this would be most accessible to advanced ELL’s.

FOR TEACHERS:

eMints has a list of good lesson plans and hand-outs you can print on similes and metaphors.

Write Source has some decent materials on writing a response to literature essay,  including some model essays (you’ll have to scroll down the page to “grades 9-12″ to see them, and they are a bit advanced for ELL’s). They also have have some good graphic organizers.

You might also be interested in these other “The Best..” lists related to writing:

The Best Websites For K-12 Writing Instruction/Reinforcement
The Best Places Where Students Can Write Online
The Best Sites For Grammar Practice
Not “The Best,” But “A List” Of Mindmapping, Flow Chart Tools, & Graphic Organizers
The Best Resources For Researching & Writing Biographies

As always, feedback is welcome.

If you found this post useful, you might want to look at all the previous over 200 “The Best…” lists and also consider subscribing to this blog for free.

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