Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

Learning how to drive, and car information in general, is clearly a high-interest topic among many of my students. So, in keeping with my philosophy that the best way to teach English is to find something students are interested in, and then they have to use English to access it, I’ve developed a “The Best…” list on the topic.

I’ve tried to stay away from the many teen-driving sites that are just packed with advertisements.

Here are my choices for The Best Online Resources For Drivers Education & Car Information (that are accessible to English Language Learners). These are not in any order of preference:

The Language Guide “talking” dictionary of car-related vocabulary is a good place to start for Beginning English Language Learners.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles has a great Flash-based test students can take to prepare for their drivers test.

Here’s a simple practice drivers test to take.

Here’s a less attractive, but still useful, sample online drivers test from the State of Virginia.

The State of New York has short explanations of driving rules followed by online quizzes.

Driving Skills For Life from Ford has a ton of excellent online drivers education activities.

Ello has a listening game for English Language Learners related to car trouble and another one on traffic signs.

Here are a series of flash cards designed to teach about traffic signs.

Here are two other drivers education games — one related to the California test and the other to traffic signs.

The Los Angeles Times has an interactive graphic on how cameras at traffic lights work — a valuable safety lesson that can also save students a hefty fine. Here are more accessible resources about these red light cameras from the California Distance Learning Project (CDLP).  And here’s one more interactive about them.

The CDLP also has activities for English Language Learners on cellphone safety, polluting cars, and carjackings.

Wake-Up English has good listening activities on traffic accidents, buying a car, and driving.

Marshall Adult Education has two online activities for teaching English Language Learners about road signs.

Here are another two activities for learning about road signs.

Impact Teen Drivers has a number of interactive resources on its site that are accessible to Intermediate English Language Learners.

Ride Like a Friend also has a rule-setting feature that teenagers can use to reflect on how they want their passengers to behave, and another survey on annoying car habits students can complete.

Here’s a listening exercise about buying a car.

What’s My Score has a good guide to Buying A Car.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles has its own YouTube channel that has numerous accessible videos, including a series on the “Top Ten Reasons For Failing The Driving Test.” In order to make it usable in most schools, of course, you’d have to upload them to a site like Edublogs TV.

La Sierra High School has a good online curriculum on driver training that can be used by teachers of English Language Learners.

Highway 55 is a “safe driving game” that students will enjoy and, I hope, learn something about driving safely.

The New York Times has an online game designed to reinforce why it’s not good to text while you’re driving.

Joe McVeigh left a comment with an excellent resource of podcasts relating to driving that are specifically designed for English Language Learners. Check-out ESL Pod.

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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