Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

…For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Monthly Archives: September 2010

September 6, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
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“People who have been trapped for extended periods”

Waiting for help: People who have been trapped for extended periods is a very interesting slideshow from The Washington Post. Here’s how they describe it:

The Chilean miners continue to wait for help to arrive. Christmas may come and go before they are freed. But they are not the first to be trapped. Here are other instances where individuals have been forced to wait in confined quarters for a long period of time.

I’m adding the link to The Best Sites For Learning About The Trapped Miners In Chile.

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September 5, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
2 Comments

“How do I write so much, you ask? Well, glad you asked”

How do I write so much, you ask? Well, glad you asked is the title of a blog post by Sebastian Marshall, and I think it’s worth reading by any blogger, or by any person who’s considering being a blogger.

He explains his strategy behind posting a lot. It’s worth reading his entire piece, but here’s an excerpt describing his understanding of what he says is an academic theory called “The Equal-Odds Rule.”

If you want to make excellent stuff, you need to make a lot of stuff.

If you want to make a lot of stuff, you’ll make a lot of cr-p.

If you want to make excellent stuff, you need to make a lot of cr-p.

And my personal opinion here -

And that’s okay, because you get judged by your best work, not your bad work.

I think it’s a good post, and I’m adding it to The Best Sources Of Advice For Teachers (And Others!) On How To Be Better Bloggers.

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September 5, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
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The Best Sites For Learning About Graphic Recording

As I’ve posted before, years ago I attended a few conferences that had these amazing people draw visual representations of what speakers were discussing at the time. They drew them on huge sheets of paper on the walls. I found myself mesmerized by these talented artists/thinkers, who were practicing what is called either graphic recording or graphic note-taking, and thought that readers might be interested in learning more about them.

“18 formats for handmade thinking in the classroom” is a Slideshare presentation that is the closest thing that I can see that applies some of the graphic recording strategies to the classroom.

There are some amazing video examples of this method that have made academic talks incredibly accessible, including one from Daniel Pink talking about his book, Drive. I’ve written a lot about Pink and his research on motivation.

You can see the graphic recording of Drive from RSA here.

You can see graphic note-taking examples from other RSA talks here.

RSA Animate has just published another incredible example of the genre, this time demonstrating graphic recording with a speech given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson, education expert and recipient of the RSA Benjamin Franklin award. The topic of his talk is “Changing Education Paradigms” and is not to be missed.

Sunni Brown is a well-known practitioner. You can see examples of her work here and a slideshow she created here.

Here are two short YouTube videos of graphic recorders showing and explaining their work.

The Center For Graphic Facilitation also has a blog where you can see examples.

321 Fast Draw has some pretty engaging graphic animations of books.

Please let me know if you have other examples I should include, or ideas on how to incorporate more of this method into the classroom.

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You might also want to explore the 500 other “The Best…” lists I’ve compiled.

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September 4, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
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The Best “Fun” Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too — 2010

The websites on this list were not designed with education in mind, but which can easily be used for learning purposes — particularly, though not exclusively, for English language development. I only hope that creators of “educational” content can learn from the qualities that make these sites so engaging.

You might also be interested in:

The Best “Fun” Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too — 2008

The Best “Fun” Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too — 2009

Part Two Of The Best “Fun” Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too — 2009

I’m not listing these sites in any order of preference.

Here are my picks for Part Two Of The Best “Fun” Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too — 2009:

ONLINE VIDEO GAMES:

I’ve written about how I use online video games as language-development activities with my students.

Here are some of particularly good ones that came out recently:

The Ballard of Ketinetto 7 (Here’s the walkthrough)

What’s For Dinner? is an excellent game to reinforce food vocabulary and to have a lot of fun. Unfortunately, it’s timed (and you’re not given a lot of it), so it’s possible Beginner ELL’s might feel a bit frustrated.

Heart Of Tota is a new online “point and click” video game. English Language Learners can use it through reading its “walkthrough” and through reading the words describing the items they click on and “save.”

Monster Basement is another one of those online video games that, with its Walkthrough, can be used as an excellent language-learning experience for English Language Learners. This one is fairly scary, though my students will love it.

PHOTOS:

There are plenty of ways that teachers can use engaging photos with both English Language Learners and mainstream students. You can read about some of them at The Best Ways To Use Photos In Lessons. Here are few fun images you might want to consider using:

Who Designed This?! The Funniest Construction Fails Of All Time

World’s Weirdest Hotels

World’s Greatest Public Bathrooms

VIDEOS:

I describe how I use videos in my classes in The Best Popular Movies/TV Shows For ESL/EFL list. And, since some of these videos are on YouTube, you might want to read The Best Ways To Access Educational YouTube Videos At School.

Here are a few fun videos you might want to consider using in class:

Pandas, Otters and Cats: 15 Classic Viral Animal Videos

OK Go – This Too Shall Pass – Rube Goldberg Machine version

Top 10 Funny Cat Videos on YouTube

Craftsman Music Experiment – Craftsman Labs

Top 10 Funny Dog Videos on YouTube

10 Amazing Magic Trick Videos on YouTube

10 of the Greatest Magic Tricks Ever

Top 10 Greatest Modern Magic Tricks

The LXD: In the Internet age, dance evolves …

VIRAL MARKETING:

I’ve written how I use viral marketing tools with my English Language Learner students. Here are some new ones that students have enjoyed:

With Get Munked, you can design a chipmunk, record your voice, and have it converted so you sound like Alvin. Paste the link on a student/teacher blog or website.

Dunkin Donuts lets you create your very own virtual donut and share it with others. Students can describe what they made and explain why they made it that way.

You can compose lyrics to a song being played by a beaver that fiddles, and see them displayed as captions while the music plays. You can then post your creation on a student/teacher website or blog for all the world to see — lucky them….

etrade’s “Talking Baby” commercials during the Super Bowl are famous annual events. Now you and your students can create their own talking babies by either using the text-to-speech feature or recording their own voices. Their creations can be posted on a student/teacher website.

The Arby’s restaurant chain will let you take any image off the Internet and then make it talk by either recording a message on a computer microphone or using the text-to-speech feature.

BONUS!

I don’t know how educational this site can be, but it’s fun because you can turn your own handwriting into font to use on your computer.

Feedback is always welcome.

If you found this post useful, you might want to consider subscribing to this blog for free.

You might also want to explore the 500 other “The Best…” lists I’ve compiled.

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September 4, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
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New Report: “Assimilation Today”

A new report has just been issued by the Center For American Progress. It’s called “Assimilation Today”

Here’s how Citizenship News describes it:

The Center for American Progress has put out a report on immigrant trends related to several accepted benchmarks of assimilation: attainment of citizenship, home ownership, English language proficiency, job status, and income.

Here are some highlights:

Immigrants, whether from higher or lower starting points of social and economic attainment, have been integrating at high rates since 1990.

Naturalization has increased …at a fast rate, from below 10 percent in 1990 to 56 percent by 2008, a substantial achievement given the constraints of federal citizenship law…

I’m adding it as a teacher resource to The Best Sites For Learning About Immigration In The United States.

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September 3, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
2 Comments

The Best Comic Strips For Students & Teachers — 2010 (And Earlier)

I enjoy comic strips, and they can be great teaching and learning tools.

I’ve been cutting them out for years, but thought I’d start collecting them online for an annual list. And I would love it, and I’m sure many readers would, too, if you would contribute links to the ones you’ve used in your classes — not limited to this year. I’ll then publish a “Part Two” of this list. It would be great if you could leave your suggestions by October 1st. By that time, I will have probably looked up more of the comics that I’ve been using over the years and found url addresses for them.

I’m also not just limiting the list to comics we use in the classroom. There are quite a few that offer critiques and wisdom about our schools (plus technology) that can make us teachers think and laugh, too.

Of course, teachers and students can also make their own comic strips. Check out The Best Ways To Make Comic Strips Online.

Here are my choices for The Best Comic Strips For Students & Teachers 2010 (And Earlier):

For Better Or For Worse:

“I’ve Forgot” This is why we need to be very careful with error correction

Pickles:

“Well, Yes and No” A great way to define ambiguity

Pearls Before Swine:

I Sit, You Sit, They Sit is for anyone who has ever had to conjugate verbs

Why You So Boring?

Grading Papers Shouldn’t Make You Cry

Missiles Are Quicker reminds me of how Arne Duncan wants to deal with some “underperforming” schools. It also relates to my post titled “Are Some School Reform Technocrats Using Failed Urban Renewal Projects As Their Blueprint?”

Your Mouth Says ‘Secure” But Your Facebook Friend Count Screams ‘Loser’

Sally Forth:

Is My Future Going To Be That Bleak?

I’m Trying To Mix Things Up A good lesson for all of us to keep in mind

Zits:

I Am So Over Adolescence Do we ever respond to our students this way?

I’m sure many of us have accumulated quite a few great comics. Please share them in the comments section!

If you found this post useful, you might want to look at the 500 other “The Best…” lists and consider subscribing to this blog for free.

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September 3, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Using Gestures In Teaching & Learning

Brain-based learning researcher Erick Jensen writes about research that shows the importance of gestures in teaching and learning at “When Clear Instruction And Visual Aids Are Not Enough.”

When I teach Beginning English Language Learners, I have students use gestures when using Total Physical Response (TPR), when learning verb tenses (having them point down for present, to the back for past, and in front for future), and also writing words in the “air” when learning new vocabulary. These seem to work very well.

I really haven’t, though, had students in mainstream classes intentionally use gestures.

How about you? How do you have students use gestures — in either the ESL/EFL classroom or in mainstream classes?

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September 3, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
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New Studies On Teens & Sleep

In The Best Resources For Helping Teens Learn About The Importance Of Sleep, I share research on teens and sleep and describe how I use them in my classroom).

Some new studies have just been published on the topic:

Researchers found that for each hour of lost sleep, levels of psychological distress rose by 5% in nearly 3,000 17-to-24-year-olds who were followed for 12 to 18 months. Overall, short sleepers were 14% more likely to report symptoms of psychological distress on a standard test, compared with people who got adequate sleep.

…teens who didn’t get enough z’s consumed more calories than their well-rested peers. The study of 240 adolescents, average age 18, revealed that teenagers who slept less than 8 hours a night on weeknights ate 2% more calories from fat per day and 3% more calories from carbs than teens who slept longer. They also tended to get their calories from snacks instead of healthful meals. Cumulatively, this behavior increases the risk of obesity and, in turn, the chances of developing cardiovascular disease later in life.

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September 3, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
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“Vote Easy” Is An Impressive Site

Vote Easy is a very accessible interactive that lets users identify their opinion on several key public policy issues, and then compares those positions with those of local candidates. It’s probably the best site of its kind that I’ve seen, and is certainly accessible to English Language Learners.

I’m going to add the site to The Best Websites For Learning About Civic Participation & Citizenship, and hope they update the site for each election or, even better, modify it so users can regularly inform themselves of the positions taken by politicians and compare it to their own.

Thanks to Innovative Interactivity for the tip.

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September 3, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
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“Even Geniuses Work Hard”

I’ve written a lot about the work of Carol Dweck and her research and recommendations about how to promote a “growth mindset” among students.

She has a very good article in this month’s issue of Educational Leadership. It’s titled “Even Geniuses Work Hard.” Here’s one part that I especially like:

Teachers should also emphasize that fast learning is not always the deepest and best learning and that students who take longer sometimes understand things at a deeper level. Students can learn about many historical figures who were not regarded as “fast” learners in childhood. Albert Einstein swore that he was slow to learn and that’s why he pondered the same questions year after year—with, as we know, excellent results.

Some teachers teach their students about the different mindsets directly. (To learn about a growth mindset curriculum that my colleagues and I have created, go to www.brainology.us.) Teachers may illustrate the concept of the growth mindset by having their students write about, and share with one another, something they used to be poor at and are now very good at.

In one class, for example, the students were astounded to learn that the school’s baseball star used to be inept at baseball and only became proficient after much practice. Such discussions encourage students not to be ashamed to struggle with something before they are good at it.

Done in the right context, this could be useful. I’ll let readers know how it goes when I try it.

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September 3, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
3 Comments

Unfortunate Change At Vocaroo

Vocaroo is just about everybody’s favorite audio recording service for using with students. It’s a super easy way for to record a message — of any length — and then place a link or an embed code on a student or teacher website. It’s the most simple ways for audio recording out there — no registration is required and you just click “record.”

Today, they announced that they will only keep recordings for six months — after that time they will be deleted (though you can download them to your own computer)

There are actually plenty of usable alternatives on The Best Sites To Practice Speaking English. All are very easy to use, but all require registration, and none are quite as simple as Vocaroo.

An Edublogs Pro blog ($40 a year) that allows audio comments is probably the closest equivalent that’s out there, I think. Is there another site out there that I’m missing?

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