Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

One of the trickiest things for me to teach (and to learn!) about Geography is keeping things straight between latitude and longitude. Because of that difficulty, I’ve decided to create another “The Best…” list. You might also be interested in The Best Websites For Learning & Teaching Geography.

Here are my choices for The Best Sites For Teaching About Latitude & Longitude (that are, of course, accessible to English Language Learners).  These are not listed in any order of preference:

The Saskatoon Public Schools Online Learning Center has a nice interactive on latitude and longitude.

The Calgary Academy has a great online interactive on the topic that provides audio support for the text. You first have to register for the site, though.  Just click “Start Activity.”

Here’s a free Brainpop movie on the topic.

Kids Geo has a fun latitude and longitude reinforcing game.

Try-out this Pearson “drag-and-drop” activity.

Here’s a game to test and practice understanding of the concept.

And here’s another simple game.

You can also find these links, and links to other map-reading activities, on my website under Introduction to Maps.

As always, feedback and additional suggestions are welcome.

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.

This “The Best…” list is a bit different from other ones.

I’ve already created a bunch of lists related to World War II, and I compiled extensive online lessons for my U.S. History class last year. So, in this “Part One” post, I will primarily be sharing links to those links and lessons.

Sometime in the future I’ll be more carefully reviewing all those lists and coming up with a much shorter one that just shares “The Best Of The Best” drawn from this larger collection.

Of course, another criteria is that the resources have to be accessible to English Language Learners.

So, with that explanation, here are my choices for The Best Online Resources For Teaching & Learning About World War II (Part One):

Before I share links to all of my related lists, I do want to include a link to a great multimedia interactive timeline for World War Two that the British newspaper The Guardian published today. Seeing it was what gave me the idea of putting together this post.

Here are links to the three lessons related to World War II that I used in class. Each lessons contains numerous resources. All the resources are accessible except for the ones connecting to Brainpop movies. You need a paid subscription to view them (you can also get a free trial):

World War Two Begins

Internment Of Japanese-Americans

The End Of World War II

Here are links to additional “The Best…” lists, all which contain multiple resources:

The Best Sites For Learning About Pearl Harbor

The Best Sites For Learning About The Holocaust

The Best Resources For Learning About The Warsaw Uprising

The Best Resources For Learning About The Atomic Bombings Of Japan

Feedback, as always, is welcome.

If you found this post useful, you might want to look at the 350 other “The Best…” lists and consider subscribing to this blog for free.

Brainpop has an updated movie on the swine flu that appears to be free — at least for now.

Brainpop Jr. also has one on washing hands.

I’m adding both to The Best Sites For Learning About The Swine Flu Outbreak.

Brainpop ESL launches today, and it’s free for now. They have one complete module available — for beginners, with a promise of more to come.

I like Brainpop a lot, and believe that it’s well worth the money for teachers of World History and United States History. Since they added closed-captioning to their animations last year, their movies became especially accessible to English Language Learners. I’ve included them on a number of “The Best…” lists. In fact, I’ve defended Brainpop from attacks in Is Brainpop Bad For Students?

I’m not teaching any Social Studies classes this year, and I felt I couldn’t make the case for our school to renew its  subscription. In my mind, at least, their movies covering other subjects just didn’t feel like they brought enough added-value to student understanding to be worth the cost (however, I could possibly see science teachers feeling differently).  My students and I liked them, but there just seemed to be enough other free or lower-cost alternatives out there.

I have to say I feel the same way about their new ESL animations.  I’ve got a number of critiques about it,  including the lack of ability for users to record their voices and compare it to how it’s pronounced correctly.   I’ll have my ESL students check them out since they’re free for now, but I believe there are plenty of lower-cost or free alternatives that bring equal — and in many cases, greater — interactive language learning opportunities.

For alternatives, check-out U.S.A Learns, the number one ranked site on both The Best Sites For K-12 Beginning English Language Learners and The Best Sites For K-12 Intermediate English Language Learners list, all the other sites on those lists.  You might also want to read The Best Sites Where Students Can Work Independently & Let Teachers Check On Progress.

As always, though, I’m open to hearing alternative points of view.

One of the first “The Best…” lists I created was The Best Eleven Websites For Students To Learn About Computers.  I included two-or-three sites about online safety that were accessible to English Language Learners on that list.  Since that time, though, quite a few additional resources have become available, so I thought it was time to make a list entirely devoted to that topic.

You can also find these links, along with many others, on my website under Computers.

Unfortunately, most of the sites on this list — except for the first one — might be considered a bit too “childish” by teenage and adult English Language Learners.  I didn’t include others that might be more mature, but they had people speaking too fast or didn’t offer audio support for complex text.

Here are my choices for The Best Sites For Learning Online Safety (and are accessible to English Language Learners):

Think U Know has a good animated and audio Cyber Cafe that older ELL’s would like.

The Northwest Learning Grid has a collection of games teaching online safety.

The Welcome To The Web section on Staying Safe is very good.

Brainpop has a free movie on Internet Safety. Brainpop also has a Digital Citizenship page that periodically has other related movies available at no cost.

Privacy Playground uses “cyberpigs” to teach online safety in an animated adventure.

Netty’s World comes from Australia, and is a series of animations about online safety.

Sid’s Online Safety Guide is pretty exhaustive.

Safe Kids has a decent online safety quiz.

If you still need more cybersafety resources, the place to go is a page at New Jersey’s Belmar Elementary School’s website. Kevin O’Donnell has put together an exhaustive group of links together.

As always, suggestions and feedback are welcome.

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.

Earlier this month, I wrote an article titled Teaching Secrets: How to Use Leftover Class Time Wisely that was published by Teacher Magazine. It appeared a week ago as part of a series coordinated by the Teacher Leaders Network. That functions as a sort of “Part One” on this topic. In order to view the whole article, you have to register for the Education Week site. It’s free, though, and only takes less than a minute. You’ll see where it says “Free Registration” just below the beginning portion of the article that you can see.

I’d strongly encourage readers to check-out that piece, where I share a few of the ideas shared by readers of this blog in a previous post. I also share some of my own and frame them in a bit of a community organizing context.

In this “Part Two” post, I’d like to more completely share reader suggestions and also include some links to additional resources that you might find useful.

This is the latest post in my “What Do You Do?” series. Previous ones have included:

What Do You Do When You’re Having A Bad Day At School?
What Do You Do To Keep Students (And You!) Focused Near The End Of The Year?
What Do You Do On The Last Day Of Class (Part Two)?
What Do You Do When You Have A Few Minutes Left In Class? — Part

The next question I’ll be tackling is “What Do You Do On The First Day of Class?”

I’m eager to hear what readers do.  I’ll, of course, highlight your ideas (with credit) in the post.

Please share how you handle your first day of class each year.  You can leave a comment at my original call for contributions (the experiences that have already been shared are great, and you can see them there).   The “deadline” for comments will be August 15th.

Now, back to the primary topic of this post — What Do You Do When You Have A Few Minutes Left In Class?

I’d like to give a framework for this post by quoting what I wrote in the Teacher Magazine article:

“My thoughts … fall into seven categories: Review, Summarize, Relate, Reflect, Intellectually Challenge, Technologically Engage, and (a student favorite) Chill.”

In this post, though, I’m adding an eighth one — Read.

1) REVIEW:

A common plan is to use the extra time for review.

Angela Cunningham:

I teach Geography, so the last 5-10 minutes of class time is always well spent reviewing maps. We grab atlases and compete to see who can find a random country the fastest. The first one with their finger on the country and their hand in the air wins. It’s easy and requires no advanced preparation, but has long-lasting results.

R. Turneron

I teach 3 subjects, but this doesn’t matter because they all need the review. I like to review the day’s topic with real-world applications. When I taught Area the application was painting. If you want to paint the classroom three colors what are the colors and a close approximation of the amount paint you would need? Some are still trying to figure out the amount of paint!

Karenne Sylvester

I have several options (to keep things from getting stale

1. Vocabulary Review – students go back through their books- previous units or through my conversation control sheets and look for highlighted words and make example sentences.

2. Vocabulary Review – students take two words from their lessons today and tell me how they anticipate activating these new words in English conversations during the coming week.

3. Feedback – how are we doing? What have we learned so far/ in the lesson today / how can we apply this knowledge to our real lives?

Amyon

I love to play the Princeton Review Vocabulary Minute for my students. There are always 4-5 words that go with the theme of the song. Whether it is a greek/latin/french root, or a list of synonyms, the students like to sing along and try to remember the words and meanings at the end (for a small treat, usually… cap eraser or m&m). Sometimes, for the really good ones that we play over and over, I’ll catch the kids singing them on their own, or even asking me to play them.

Mister Teacher

I teach 3rd grade math, so on days when we have a few minutes left (rare), we play little math games that don’t require cards, pieces, or any kind of equipment. “Math around the World,” or a “Multiplication Bee” or something like that. The kids enjoy it because it’s a game, and it helps to drill their basic facts.

Paula Mc

As a third grade teacher teaching South Carolina History and ELA I use the last 5 min. for a review of South Carolina Facts. Each week my students have 10 SC social studies facts that they have to know by Friday. So each day I review. I also take that time to read to my student.

2) SUMMARIZE:

Summarizing the day’s lesson is another good activity.  I’d highly recommend Rick Wormeli’s book Summarization In Any Subject: 50 Techniques to Improve Student Learning,

3) RELATE:

Using the time to get to know students is another excellent idea.

Gladys Baya

I teach classes of over 30 teens and usually assign some homework, so if I finish everything I’d planned before the bell goes off, I usually encourage them to start working on their homework so that they don’t need to go about it at home. If they have tests on other subjects after my lesson, they usually request permission to use that time for reviewing, and I let them. While they do whatever they’ve chosen to do, I walk around and try and start some casual conversation with those of them I haven’t had much chance to interact during the lesson, especially if they seem not to be using their time in any fruitful way… it’s just light-hearted chat on any topic of their interest, not on the point of the lesson!

adventurelearning

Reminds me of 2 years ago when I was teaching biology.. In last few minutes, I ask my student about their activities in campus or home…also about their boy/girlfriend.. I make a last minutes as relax as possible cause I want to also be their friend..

4) REFLECT:

Taking time to think about what students are learning actually “means” to them and their lives is a good way to spend a few minutes, too.

Edna

One of the thinking routines from Project Zero http://tinyurl.com/dgr79f (highly recommended reading !)
eg Connect Extend Challenge. How does today’s learning connect to what you already knew? How did it extend your thinking further? What challenges/questions do you still have?

5) INTELLECTUALLY CHALLENGE:

Using short mysteries or “lateral thinking” puzzles was also mentioned (as well as a number of other ways to stimulate students’ minds). Here are two good sources for lateral thinking puzzles:

Realistic Lateral Thinking Puzzles

Lateral Thinking Problems

Kelly Hines:

I have a book of 5 minute mysteries. We read aloud and students use their inductive and deductive reasoning skills to try to solve the mystery.
I also have all of the review games that I’ve developed over the year for our interactive whiteboard. They are always readily on hand to open up and use to go back over previous units of study.
There are also some fun vanity license plates to decipher here (http://www-chaos.umd.edu/misc/). The kids love the challenge!

Lianne:

I play critical thinking games or read out brain teasers. I also have a student submitted (pre read) joke/riddle box.

Derek Smith

The kids love it when we get out the Brain Quest, or Trivial Pursuit Cards. Another good time filler we do is math facts around the world style.

P.ALES

I can always capture their interest with a SCIENCE DEMO of the DAY (related to the topic presented). Occasionally with 5-10 minutes left we close our books and brainstorm new vocabulary or even play a quick game of vocabulary challenge. Whatever I choose it keeps them going to the very end.

Here’s a teacher with a lot of options that cross all categories, but I’m putting all her ideas here:

Barb

I teach fifth grade. Here are some of the things I do when I have five minutes of class time:

1) Pick sticks (random selection) for one minute speeches for table points. Some of the topics include such things as, tell all the uses you can think of for chewing gum. They aren’t allowed to say what the topic is, the class has to guess. Another might be, convince the class that you would be a good president. I have over 100 topics on laminated papers prepared, so they never have the same topic in a year.

2) Spelling sparkle to review spelling words.

3)Watch a segment from http://www.thefutureschannel.com (all clips are five minutes or less) professionals showing their job and relating how math and science help them in their profession. (Free)

4) Watch a clip from Brainpop.com. My school purchased a membership for me, but you can have a trial with an email account for one week without purchasing. Excellent learning tool.

6) TECHNOLOGICALLY ENGAGE:

Technology can be a useful tool — inside the classroom or in the computer lab.  Some specific resources for these area can be found in these lists:

For Online Learning Games That Can Be Played Or Created Quickly please go to my “The Best” list and look under “Games” or look at these:

The Best online Learning Games– 2007
The Best Online Video Games For Learning Language & Content Knowledge
The Best “Fun” Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too
The Best Websites For Creating Online Learning Games
The Best Online Learning Games — 2008
The Best Sites For Making Crossword Puzzles & Hangman Games
The Best Fun Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too — 2008
The Best Online Games Students Can Play In Private Virtual “Rooms”
The Best “Cause-Related” Online Learning Games
The Best “I Spy” (Hidden Object) Games For Vocabulary Development
The Best Collections Of Online Educational Games
The Best Places To Read & Write “Choose Your Own Adventure” Stories
The Best Places To Find Online Video Games For Language-Learning

For Examples Of Ways Students Can Create Online Content In Minutes:

The Best Ways To Create Online Content Easily & Quickly — 2008

The Best Ways To Create Online Content Easily & Quickly — 2009

Here are some other ways teachers use technology during “leftover” time:

deyenbergon:

If I’m working with computers I get the students to “post” a highlight, lesson learned, or question on http://www.wallwisher.com/ In the classroom I love bubble basic facts practice on the Smartboard, throwing the koush(that’s definitely spelled wrong) at the circles to reveal the fact, and then the answer.

kirish43

I teach project based differentiated instruction so there are always diverse projects going on-but an idea I love to try and work in is using the classroom blog site.

This next teacher also has several different ideas she uses, but since the one she listed first related to computers, I’m placing her whole comment in this section:

Beth Diaz

We work on a quick Renaissance program called Math Facts in a Flash to practice math facts on computer. I read aloud math brainteasers and make up my own. I challenge students to come up with long “incredible Equations” for the number of the school day-How many days have we been in school? I read aloud from whatever read aloud chapter book we have going at the moment.  Or since I teach second grade all boys, we may take a one minute organize your desk or locker break.

7) “CHILL”

Just giving students a few minutes of free time to chat is something I do very occasionally, and others do, too.

Hadass

I teach high school, so if it is only 5-10 minutes, I let them chill. Everybody needs some downtime, and many schools have eliminated breaks during the morning and afternoon.

But it doesn’t just have to be a few minutes to chat — singing is another alternative..

TeacherC

I love to bring out instruments (if I have any) and sing songs. Sometimes the songs are related to content, other times, they are fun songs that we sing as a class.

erik

I teach 7th grade go and most of students get done at varying times, so on most days I send them to my free time page. It has tons of quasi education fun stuff for them to do. It keeps the fast workers occupied and allows the slower ones time to finish up.

8)READ:

Karen McMillan

I have a few things I might do if I have some extra time at the end of a class. My favorite is to read to them. Even seventh graders love to hear a story. On Friday, while we were waiting for the parents to arrive for our field trip, I started reading “The Phantom Tollbooth” to them. Within thirty seconds of starting, you could hear a pin drop in my classroom!

Of course, the fact that it’s so much fun for me to read out loud and do the voices and put on a little performance, has absolutely nothing to do with it.

Jenny

As a first grade teacher I’ve always got a book or two ready to read. Other options include various ways to practice math facts, playing spelling sparkle, or telling a story that we each add on one by one.

Thanks to everybody who contributed! And feel free to leave more ideas in the comment section of this post…

Learning about inventors and inventions can be connected to many different subject areas, and offers lots of opportunities for English-language development.  Plus, students often find it pretty engaging.

This “The Best…” list is divided into several sections.

The first focuses on sites that offer straightforward and accessible text or online videos on the history of inventions and biographies of inventors.

Next, comes interactives that students can use to learn a little more about specific inventions.

The third section includes sites that students can actively use to participate in the inventive process and develop some of their own ideas.

The final part shares some sites that are just plain fun (and educational!).

Here are my choices for The Best Sites Where Students Can Learn About Inventions:

INVENTION HISTORY:

The History of Invention comes from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and is very accessible to ELL’s.

Fact Monster also provides information on many types of inventions, though it’s not as accessible as the CBC site.

Zoom Inventions and Inventors has a lot of very accessible information.

Here’s a video about American Inventors.

The Library of Congress has a feature on Thomas Edison.

Learn about Technology in the Year 1900.

Watch this video about the Wright Brothers.

How Stuff Works has quite a few short videos on inventions.

You can learn a lot at Invention Facts And Myths.

Take a look at some Ancient Inventions.

Learn about Benjamin Franklin’s inventions. Audio support is provided for the text.

The History Channel has a number of short video clips on different inventions.

The Voice of America has a report on the history of the Internet, including audio support for the text.

Here’s a relatively accessible description of how television was invented.

You can read a very accessible biography of Leonardo da Vinci here.

Here are Top 10 Ancient Inventions You Think Are Modern and 10 More Ancient Inventions You Think Are Modern.

12 Greatest Low-Tech Inventions

The INDEX Award winners for this year have just been announced. It’s a Danish-based effort that provides large cash prizes for “designs to improve life.” You can also read more about it at this San Francisco Chronicle article.  It’s really a neat idea, and a great site. If you click on any of the categories at the top of the Index page — Body, Home, Work, Play, Community — it will bring you to very short multimedia presentations on each invention, and they’re very accessible to English Language Learners.

Inventors And Their Inventions is a TIME Magazine slideshow.

INTERACTIVES:

This interactive from Prentice-Hall focuses on a few early U.S. inventors.

Play a “choose your own adventure” game when you pretend to be Thomas Edison. Click on “Inventing”.

Read about Thomas Edison and answer the questions.

This Brainpop movie on Thomas Edison (it requires a subscription, but offers a free trial) includes quizzes.

Watch these early films made by Edison.

How Edison Are You? is a pretty “non-linear” site about Thomas Edison. There’s a timeline and many images of his inventions.  It’s a bit tricky to navigate, and not super-accessible to English Language Learners because of it, but this resource is a nice complement to all the other Edison sites.

Watch this video about the Wright Brothers and answer the questions.

Pretend that you’re flying in the first airplane made by the Wright Brothers.

See how many questions you can answer correctly in the Wright Brothers Game.

Read about Alexander Graham Bell and answer the questions.

Here’s an interactive about James Watt, the inventor of the steam engine.

Print-out and complete this cloze (fill-in-the-gap) about the Wright Brothers.

Here’s a downloadable worksheet on strange inventions from ESL Printables. They have a second one, too.

Here’s a U.S. Invention Timeline.

And here’s yet another Invention Timeline.

Here’s an animation of the first printing press.

Check-out Devices Of Wonder from the Getty Museum.

Play this Library of Congress game and guess which inventions are which…

Inventive Kids offers a number of informative games for students to play.

Learn about a cardboard box solar cooker that won an invention contest. Audio support is provided for the text.

Universal Leonardo has a bunch of great online interactive experiences students can have with Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings and experiments.

CREATE:

Rube Goldberg made complex machines for performing simple tasks. You can see a video of one of a Rube Goldberg machine here and create your own online version of one here.

Invent your own “gadget” at Kids.com.

Invent something at the Invention Factory.

FUN:

Take a look at 30 Of The World’s Strangest Inventions.

Play invention games at the Invention Playhouse.

You can do a lot of fun stuff at the Cyberchase Inventors’ Workshop. You have to register, but it’s quick and easy to do so.

“30 Dumb Inventions” is a slideshow from LIFE.

This one doesn’t necessarily fit in any of my four categories, but here’s a bunch of PowerPoint presentations on inventors and inventions.

Feel free to share additional suggestions.

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.

Brainpop, which I have written about positively a number of times, is developing a special ESL program.

They are looking for ESL teachers to preview it and help shape it. You can read more on how to participate here.

If you apply, and are selected, you will get a free subscription to the service once it launches.

Here are some more additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The Swine Flu Outbreak:

Brainpop has a new animated movie on the Swine Flu — it appears to be available without a paid subscription (thanks to Sara Crawford for the tip).

The Los Angeles Times has an animated map illustrating the outbreak.

Scholastic News has a short and accessible article about the disease.
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I certainly don’t want to sound alarmist and, in all truth, I don’t feel particularly alarmed about the Swine Flu outbreak in Mexico City (perhaps I’m wrong?).  However, there’s no question that there’s a lot of coverage about it in the media. And since many of our students are from Mexico and have lots of family there, I thought I’d quickly put together a short list of sites where they and other English Language Learners could find-out more information about what’s going on.

I’ll probably add to it if the story continues…

Here are my picks for The Best Sites For Learning About The Swine Flue Outbreak (and are accessible to English Language Learners):

The Wall Street Journal has a slideshow titled Mexico Takes Precautions Against Flu.

The Journal also has a video titled Mexico Races To Stop Deadly Flu.

Swine Flu is a slideshow from Yahoo News.

Mexico City Gripped In Swine Flu Fear is a video from MSNBC.

Flu: how the latest strain spread around the world is an excellent interactive just published by the Guardian newspaper.

Here’s a story, slideshow, and video about Sacramento’s first case of the swine flu.

Questions About Swine Flu is a good video from the New York Times.

Experts Worried By Flu In Mexico is a very accessible summary of events by CBBC Newsround.

Swine Flu Outbreak In Mexico is a slideshow from The Guardian newspaper in Great Britain.

The Houston Chronicle has a slideshow called Swine Flu Scare.

The BBC has a simple question and answer page on the swine flu. So does the Wall Street Journal.

MSNBC has an even better question/answer page — it’s a slideshow.

A Race To Contain Swine Flu is a slideshow from The Wall Street Journal.

The Associated Press has a similar question/answer page.

Fighting The Flu is an interactive from CBS News.

CBS News has a short video report on the outbreak.

ABC News has a video report called Swine Flu Outbreak.

Understanding Swine Flu is a graphic and map from The New York TImes.

Global Response To Swine Flu is a slideshow from The New York Times.

CNN has several good resources, including an Explainer that give a short overview of the disease; asimple map showing its spread; and a slideshow.

Swine Flu Hits Mexico is a TIME Magazine slideshow.

Deadly Flu Outbreak in Mexico is a slideshow from The San Jose Mercury News.

Swine Flu Around the Globe in an interactive from the Associated Press.

Here’s a good, simple image that explains the disease and is from The Orange County Register.

CBS has an updated interactive on the swine flu.

Agence France Presse has an interactive graphic on the swine flu.

The Wall Street Journal has developed their own map showing the spread of the disease.

Swine Flu Infections Spread is a series of photos from The Sacramento Bee.

There’s a Google Maps “mashup” showing the geographical locations of disease reports. (Thanks to Google Maps Mania)

National Public Radio also has a map of the outbreak.

NPR has a slideshow, too, called Bracing Against The Flu Worldwide.

The Swine Epidemic Grows is a series of photos from The Sacramento Bee.

Breaking News English has a resource that provides audio support for the text. It’s called Swine Flu Deaths Expected To Rise.

Swine Flu: The Affected Nations is from The Guardian.

Flowing Data has a good graphic showing how Viruses Can Transform Into Swine Flu.

There’s been a lot of talk about the worldwide Influenza Pandemic in 1918. Here are some accessible resources related to that time:

The Baltimore Sun has a multimedia page on the 1918 Influenza Pandemic.

Lessons From A Past Pandemic is an audio slideshow from The New York Times.

The Guardian has an interactive showing how the pandemic affected London.

Here’s a map and timeline of the 1918 Pandemic from PBS.

A History Of The Flu is a slideshow from Newsweek.

LIFE Magazine has a great slideshow on the 1918 Flu Pandemic.

Major Outbreaks and Pandemics is a pretty impressive multimedia historical timeline from The Wall Street Journal.

More Cases of Swine Flu Emerge is a slideshow from the Wall Street Journal.

“Centre Of The Cell” is a very engaging and accessible interactive simulation about the outbreak of a flu epidemic in London. Users have to make decisions about what actions should be taken to get the outbreak under control. It’s like a “Choose Your Own Adventure” game — with potential “deadly” consequences.

Containment Efforts is a slideshow from The Wall Street Journal.

The BBC has a good and regularly updated map of the outbreak (thanks to The English Blog for the tip).

The CBBC Newsround has added quite a few very accessible materials on the swine flu. You can see a commercial/public service announcement about the flu that is being played in the UK at the same site.

A Guide To Understanding Germs is a great graphic on hand-washing. It comes from the Sun-Sentinel newspaper in south Florida.

On The Front Lines Of Swine Flu is a new slideshow from The Wall Street Journal.

Pandemic Panic is a new lesson plan from the New York Times. It would require modification to make it accessible to ELL’s, but it also comes with a companion lesson plan for younger students that might be more accessible.

MSNBC has an article titled Amid swine flu outbreak, racism goes viral
Anti-immigrant hatred spreads on talk radio, Web sites. Excerpts would be good for classroom discussion.

Education World has a good printable and some lesson plans titled Kids Can Lower Their Flu Risk.

The Centers For Disease Control has some nice multilingual printables called Stop the Spread of Germs that Make You and Others Sick!. (Thanks to ESL Teachers’ Blog of Substance for the tip).

Killer Flu is an online video game that is not accessible to ELL’s (it doesn’t even seem accessible to me!), but it is interesting. You can read more about it at Water Cooler Games.

Battening Down is a slideshow from The Wall Street Journal.

Thermal Scanners Hunt For Swine Flu is a slideshow from TIME Magazine.

Brainpop has a new animated movie on the Swine Flu — it appears to be available without a paid subscription (thanks to Sara Crawford for the tip).

The Los Angeles Times has an animated map illustrating the outbreak.

Scholastic News has a short and accessible article about the disease.

Here’s an Animated Swine Flu Map.

Immigration foes link flu to Mexican threat claims is an Associated Press story that can be modified for classroom discussion.

Another good interactive graphic on the flu from Agence Presse France.

United States and Mexico Battle Swine Flu is a Voice of America Special English report that provides audio support for the text.

A Visual Guide to Flu Pandemics is a good visual historical representation of pandemics through the years. Thanks to Alec Couros for the tip.

Flu Fears Dissipating In Mexico City is an online video from MSNBC.

The BBC has a slideshow called Public Health Campaigns: A Fine Line Between Informing And Alarming.

Here’s a nice infographic from the Telegraph called Interactive graphic of how swine flu works, how you can help to protect yourself and the six stages of a pandemic. (Thanks to the English Blog for the tip)

Flu Virus Continues Spread is a new slideshow from The Wall Street Journal.

Soccer In The Time of Swine Flu is a slideshow from TIME Magazine.

Even as Fears of Flu Ebb, Mexicans Feel Stigma is an article from The New York Times. Excerpts could be modified for ELL’s.

The Scrub Club is, to quote The School Library Journal, a Web site that offers an effective and fun way for kids to learn about the importance of hand washing to protect them against influenza.  Some games are included.  It would probably be appropriate for younger ELL’s only.

Prevention Precautions is a slideshow from The Wall Street Journal.

Should Schools Close Over Swine Flu? is a video from MSNBC.

USA Today has several really good interactive graphics about the flu.

The Boston Globe’s Big Picture has a series of photos on the 2009 Swine Flu Outbreak.

Mexico Prepares To Reawaken is a Wall Street Journal slideshow.

In Pictures: Public Health Campaigns is a slideshow from the BBC. It talks about the “fine line between informing and alarming people” according to The English Blog.

The Swine Flu AKA The Pig Flu is a simple interactive quiz created by teacher Created by Amélie Silvert. Thanks to Ressources Pour Le College for the tip.

Swine Flu In Sacramento is s slideshow from The Sacramento Bee.

Here’s another swine flu map.

Swine flu: the worst affected nations is an interactive from the Guardian.

Measures To Combat A Pandemic is an interactive from Agence France Presse.

Swine Flu: Fighting A Global Pandemic is an interactive from Agence France Presse. It’s an “Interactive graphic comparing swine flu to other global pandemics, AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, in terms of the number of victims and the amount spent on prevention and treatment of the diseases.”

The Financial Times has developed a fascinating interactive which demonstrates how fast a disease can spread around the world because of air travel.

The Wall Street Journal just posted a new week-by-week Flu Tracker.

Here’s an interactive health assessment to check if you might have the H1N1 flu (swine flu).

Obama Declares H1N1 National Emergency is the title of a very accessible lesson from Breaking New English.

Here’s a video report from MSNBC one the flu vaccine.

Brainpop has an updated movie on the swine flu that appears to be free — at least for now.

Brainpop Jr. also has one on washing hands.

“Watching the H1N1 flu pandemic” is a series of images from the Boston Globe’s Big Picture.

Swine flu vaccination is a series of photos from the Sacramento Bee showing…swine flu vaccinations.

Here are links to some multilingual student-created resources:

Hmong/English by Hlee

Hmong/English by Tong

Hmong/English by Tae

English/Hmong by Ying

English/Hmong by Joua

English/Hmong by Pov yaj

English/Hmong by Pao

English/Hmong by Zang

Hmong/English by Kia

Hmong/English by Steve

Hmong/English by Mai Yia

Spanish/English by Daniel

English by Richard

English by Myriam

Spanish by Ericka

Hmong/English by Kao

English/Spanish by Edgar

English/Spanish by Esteban

English/Marshallese by Calynda

We really didn’t have much time, and will be making more later in the week. Students will be sharing them with their families and other students.

As always, feedback is welcome.

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.

Thanks to Mary-Kay Goindi (via Twitter) I learned that Holocaust Remembrance Day is this Tuesday. It marks the anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising. There will be a National Ceremony in Capital Rotunda on Thursday with President Obama speaking.

In light of these events, I thought I’d quickly put together a “The Best…” list of sites I’ve used with my students to help them learn about the Holocaust.

You might also find The Best Web Resources On Darfur useful.

Here are my choices for The Best Sites For Learning About The Holocaust (and are accessible to English Language Learners):

Here’s a very accessible short history of the Holocaust.

How Stuff Works has an excellent collection of short and accessible online videos about the Holocaust.

Holocaust Remembrance Day is actually recognized internationally on January 27th. Here is a Breaking News English lesson that provides audio support for the text on that day.

That lesson, designed for English Language Learners, is followed by an online exercise.

The United States Memorial Holocaust Museum has many resources. Life In The Shadows: Hidden Children and the Holocaust and Life After The Holocaust are multimedia presentations that are particularly accessible to English Language Learners.  You can find all their online exhibitions here.

Flight and Rescue is another multimedia (including closed captions) online exhibition of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.  It describes the flight of 2,000 Polish Jews to safety.

Encountering Auschwitz is a closed-captioned movie on that concentration camp.

Give Me Your Children: Voices From The Lodz Ghetto is another accessible presentation from the Holocaust Museum.

The Story Of Anne Frank is a “talking book” created by students.

Hilter’s Rage is another student-created site about the Holocaust.

Kristallnacht In Words and Photographs is a slideshow from TIME Magazine about “the day the Holocaust began.”

The History Channel has an excellent site on the Holocaust.

The BBC has a good animation about concentration camps, particularly Auschwitz, but it’s probably only accessible to advanced ELL’s.

Darfur is not the only place in the world where genocide is happening today. Genocide in the Congo also comes from the Holocaust Museum and has,  among other elements,  a journal written by Angelina Jolie.  She also provides audio of the text.

Buchenwald: Horror and Liberation, 1945 is a slideshow from LIFE.

Remembering The Holocaust is a slideshow from The Wall Street Journal.

Brainpop has two good movies –one on the Holocaust and the other on Anne Frank.  Unfortunately, you have to purchase a subscription to view them, but they do offer a free trial.

Here are some materials on non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews from the Holocaust:

Irena Sendler was a Pole who is credited with saving 2,500 Jewish children.

The Teachers Guide to the Holocaust has materials on many “rescuers.”

I’ve also shown clips from movies portraying Jewish resistance to the Holocaust. Here are some Youtube links to them, though I’d encourage you to get the movies and show lengthier segments:

Defiance is the recent movie starring Daniel Craig.

Uprising, about resistance in the Warsaw ghetto.

Grey Zone, about an uprising at a concentration camp.

If you don’t want to rent the movies, and your school blocks YouTube, you can learn other ways to show these clips at school at The Best Ways To Access Educational YouTube Videos At School.

And here is one last teacher resource — The Museum of Tolerance has a lot of resources on the Holocaust for teachers.

Also, David Truss left a comment to both share a post from his blog reflecting on his visit to the Holocaust Museum in Israel, and to suggest a poem be added to this list:

“In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;

And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;

And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;

And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up.”

Pastor Martin Niemöller

Another suggestion in the comments section came from Edna, who recommended I include the Educational Materials from the Holocaust Museum in Israel.

The New York Times Learning Network also has several good lessons on the Holocaust.

As always, feedback is welcome.

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.

With President Obama visiting Mexico today and Mexico’s drug war on the top of the agenda, I thought a quick “The Best…” list on the crisis in Mexico would be timely and useful.

Late last year I spent a little time in my Intermediate English class on what was going on there and it resulted in a lot of multicultural exchange going on. Previously,  when leaders of the Hmong community were indicted here in Sacramento for planning a coup in Laos, non-Hmong English Language Learners in our classes were fascinated to learn about the Hmong stories.  Non-Latino ELL students were equally as interested in learning about this Mexican crisis.

Here are my picks for The Best Sites To Learn About Mexico’s Drug War (and, of course, are accessible to English Language Learners):

Mexico Under Siege is the title of a special feature from the Los Angeles Times about the ongoing drug war happening in Mexico. It’s a pretty impressive production.  It includes an interactive map that shows what is going on in the communities where a number of my student’s families had lived and, in many cases, still do so.

Here’s another interactive map — this one from The New York Times — showing The Reach of Mexico’s Drug Cartels.

MSN has an excellent interactive on Drug Trafficking in Mexico.

Mexico’s Growing Drug Violence Worries U.S. is from the Voice of America.  You can also click on a video on the same page.  The article is a transcript of the video narration.

Mexico At War is special multimedia presentation from The Washington Post.

Mexico’s Drug War is from The Boston Globe’s Big Picture.

Mexico’s Drug Wars is a series of photos from The Denver Post.

Guns Without Borders is a slideshow from The New York Times about the huge quantity of guns from the United States that are finding their way into the hands of the Mexican drug cartels.

American Guns In Juarez is a New York Times video exploring the same issue. This video has some graphic scenes.

Here’s a CBS video report on President Obama’s visit that highlights 90% of the weapons used by the drug cartels were purchased legally in the United States.

Drug War In Mexico is a series of photographs from The Sacramento Bee.

Drug, Violence In Mexican Border Town is a slideshow from CNN.

The BBC has an audio slideshow on Mexican Drug Violence.

In Juarez, The Military Tackles Murders is a slideshow from The Washington Post.

War Without Borders is an audio slideshow from The New York Times.

Mexico Under Seige is a slideshow from MSNBC.

Mexico At War is a Washington Post interactive that includes a photo gallery, map, and online video.

The Associated Press has a new interactive on the Mexican Drug Cartels.

In Mexico, the Violence Continues is a slideshow from The New York Times.

The Wall Street Journal has an interactive titled Amid Rising Violence, Mexicans Fight Back.

For students who are not from Mexico (and for those who are) here are some accessible links for them to learn some basic information about the country:

Apples 4 The Teacher has a “talking book” about Mexico.

There’s also The Mexico For Kids site.

Brainpop, Jr. has a movie about Mexico, though you need to have a paid subscription to view it.

As always, feedback is welcome.

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.

Cinco de Mayo, May 5th, commemorates the defeat of the French by the Mexican Army in 1862. It’s a national holiday in Mexico, and is celebrated by Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans in the United States.

Finding high-interest materials for students to read, and activating prior knowledge, are both good instructional strategies, so in that spirit I offer another “The Best…” list.

All of these sites are accessible to English Language Learners.

Here are my choices for The Best Sites For Teaching & Learning About Cinco de Mayo:

The Orange County Register has a good interactive graphic about the day.

EL Civics has a good Cinco de Mayo Lesson designed for English Language Learners.

Here’s a short essay with reading comprehension questions, also designed for ELL’s.

The History Channel has a Cinco de Mayo feature.

Here’s a video presentation of a Cinco de Mayo Celebration by the San Jose Mercury News.

This is a simple historical explanation by Social Studies for Kids.

Holiday Zone has a surprisingly good lesson plan for the day.

How Stuff Works has a presentation on How Cinco de Mayo Works.

Glencoe has an online slideshow on the day’s history.

Here are some images and descriptions of food for a Cinco de Mayo celebration.

For students who are not from Mexico (and for those who are) here are some accessible links for them to learn some basic information about the country:

Apples 4 The Teacher has a “talking book” about Mexico.

There’s also The Mexico For Kids site.

Brainpop, Jr. has a movie about Mexico, though you need to have a paid subscription to view it.

MSNBC has a short article on President Obama’s celebration of the holiday.

Here’s an Associated Press video of the President’s celebration.

Yahoo News has a Cinco de Mayo slideshow.

A Brief History of Cinco de Mayo is a TIME Magazine slideshow.

Read Write Think has a number of good resources, including lesson plans, related to the holiday.

Here’s a slideshow of an elementary school celebration in Indianapolis.

The Detroit News has a slideshow about a local Cinco de Mayo Parade.

The local San Antonio newspaper has a great online slideshow about Cinco de Mayo.

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.

If I’m teaching a Geography class to English Language Learners, or a straight English class to Beginning or Intermediate English Language Learners, I will teach a series of units that begin with Planets and Space; then go to the Earth and its continents; next to our country; then to our state; next to our city; and then, finally, to our neighborhood.

The Essential Question that guides this series is “Where Do We Live?”

I thought readers of this blog might be interested in several “The Best” lists sharing the websites I use to support these studies, and so I’m starting off with The Best Sites For Learning About Planets & Space.

You’ll also be able to find all these sites, and many others that did not make this list, on my website under Planets and Space.

As in all my lists, the criteria for a site to be here include that it must be accessible to English Language Learners and providing engaging content: I haven’t listed these sites in any order of preference.

Here they are:

Solar System Song from the British Council

The Starchild site from NASA has several excellent pages that provide images, text, and audio support. They include ones on the Solar System, the Universe, what they call Space Stuff. and short biographies of space pioneers.

A neat interactive exercise where students can Design A Satellite.

The Language Guide page on Space-related words.

iPlanetarium has a nice interactive guide to the Solar System that gives basic information in an engaging way.

NASA’s multimedia presentation on the International Space Station provides excellent info.

Speaking of the International Space Station, this MSNBC video showing images of the recently-completed Station is pretty amazing. Lastly, The New York Times has a nice interactive timeline called “Assembling The International Space Station.” USA Today has a similar graphic.

Interactive Universe, from the History Channel, is a great place to learn more about the planets, the solar sytem, and, yes, the rest of the…Universe.

Space Walk, from “Life In Space,” lets you simulate being an astronaut repairing the International Space Station.

The BBC has a good series of videos reviewing NASA’s Fifty Years In Space.

The BBC also has a good Solar System Jigsaw Puzzle.

NASA has developed its own multimedia presentation celebrating its Fiftieth Anniversary. It’s quite engaging, and has closed captioning, but its navigation can be a little confusing.

National Geographic has an interactive slideshow/timeline called Fifty Highlights Of Space Travel.

The New York Times has an interactive graphic about the future of space travel, as well as a slideshow on the same subject.

Learn more about space travel at McDougal Littell’s Animated History of The Space Program. Be sure to click on the lower left hand corner to see the words that are spoken, and use the menu on the upper right to explore all the great activities.

How Stuff Works has a bunch of short videos on space travel.

Brainpop has a couple of excellent movies, but you have to pay for a subscription (usually) to view them. You can also get a free trial easily. The movies are on the Apollo Project and the International Space Station.

I’ve had students use Imagination Cubed to easily draw the solar system online and post their work on my website or their own blog.

I have to admit I’ve had students in my classes who I would occasionally like to send to Mars, but NASA has a neat activity where you really can send them there! As NASA’s site says “This is your chance to go to Mars! Fill in your information below and your name will be included with others on a microchip on the Mars Science Laboratory rover heading to Mars in 2011!”  Students can then print-out the official certificate, and explore the site to learn more about the Mars Mission (thanks to iLearn Technology for the tip).

Enchanted Learning has a couple of decent astronaut clozes that have to be printed out (or, as I have students in my U.S. History class do, just copy and paste into their blog)  — one on  John Glenn and the other on  Sally Ride.

Here’s a good textbook exercise on the first Moon Landing.

NASA At Home & City is a terrific interactive where NASA shows the practical implications of how space travel has affected out lives.

U.S. Citizenship Podcast just wrote about an an excellent Voice of America Special English series on The History of The U.S. Space Program. These are great for English Language Learners — the language is simple and there’s audio support for the text.

Planet Quest is a pretty amazing multimedia timeline of space exploration that begins at 500 B.C. In addition, it provides audio support for the text. I’m tentatively adding it to this list. The reason I’m only doing so “tentatively” is because even though it’s a wonderful site, the vocabulary is a bit advanced — perhaps too advanced for many English Language Learners.

If you found this list helpful, you might want to see the other two hundred-plus ones, too.

You might also want to consider subscribing to this blog for free.

April is “Financial Literacy Month” (which is news to me).  In recognition of it, Brainpop is offering a series of their financial-related movies for free during April.

You can find them at Brainpop Spotlight: Financial Literacy.

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

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

Read Write Think has an accessible overview of literary elements.

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.

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.

Cesar Chavez Day is recognized as a holiday by eight states in the U.S., and falls on March 31st — his birthday (or a Monday/Friday that is closest to a weekend). Of course, it’s certainly appropriate to teach about his life at any time during the year, too. I thought I’d take this opportunity, though, to publish a “The Best…” list that might be helpful to teachers.

Here are my picks as The Best Sites For Learning About Cesar Chavez (that are accessible to English Language Learners). They aren’t in any order of preference:

El Civics has a good Cesar Chavez Lesson.

Here’s a short reading about him with comprehension questions.

Voice of America Special English has a short text with audio support describing his life. It has a similar presentation on the famous Grape Boycott sponsored by the United Farm Workers Union (and where I happened to get my start working in social justice).

The Library of Congress has some nice accessible features on Chavez.

The United Farm Workers Union itself has a great resource page on Chavez, including videos and E-Cards.

The Cesar Chavez Foundation has a lot of multimedia and Cesar Chavez Toolkits available.

The California Department of Education has a Model Curriculum and Resources For Teachers
on Chavez that you may find useful.

Viva la Causa is a DVD and lesson plan packet available for free from Teaching Tolerance.

Enchanted Learning has a cloze (fill-in-the-gap) biography that can be printed-out.

Glencoe has a short video and additional materials.

Here’s an online lesson for English Language Learners on Chavez from Famous People Lessons.

The National Museum of American History has a great activity related to Chavez and the banning of the terrible short-handled hoe. Students can create their own online virtual museum exhibit.

Brainpop has a Cesar Chavez movie but, unless it’s in the free category for this month, you’ll need to either pay for a subscription or sign-up for a free trial.

The Sacramento Bee has a slideshow on a Cesar Chavez Day march.

The San Francisco Chronicle has a slideshow about a Cesar Chavez March in that city.

You might also want to see The Best Resources For Hispanic Heritage Month.

Suggestions are always welcome.

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.

Ninety-nine point nine percent of the resources that I write about, and an equal number that I use, are offered free-of-charge.  I sometimes wonder about the “revenue models” of all these free tools, but, to be frank,  I figure that’s their problem.

However, there are a few sites that I think are worth paying for, and thought I’d bring those together on one “The Best…” list.

I’m also interested in hearing what other resources readers think should be added to this list.

Here are my picks for The Best Web Resources Worth Paying For…:

I’ve never made any secret about my positive feelings about Edublogs. It’s a great free blogging platform for educators for many reasons, including the fact that lots of school content filters make it accessible at school sites, it’s very easy to use, the customer service is exceptional, and the Edublogs community offers good connections. You can become an Edublogs Supporter for $39.95 a year, and, as a result, receive a ton of benefits, including getting ads turned-off in 30 student blogs and more “plug-ins.” You can go to the link to learn more.  If you want to personally blog, or if you want to use blogging in the classroom, it’s definitely worth the cost.

Brainpop has made several of my Social Studies-related “The Best…” lists and, if you are teaching U.S. or World History (especially to English Language Learners), I would say it’s definitely worth purchasing a subscription. They have a wide selection, and their addition of closed captioning last year really puts it “over the top.” You can see all the free movies they offer here. To gain access to their entire collection, the cost is $600 yearly for a classroom of thirty or so students to use it at the same time, or $200 for being able to have three students at a time (one of those three, of course, can displayed by a computer projector).

Raz-Kids provides a large number of “talking books” at multiple levels that speak-the-text at the same time the words are highlighted. There’s a wide range of fiction and expository text, and is suitable for Beginning and Intermediate readers. It costs $60 annually for one classroom of students.  It’s on my The Best Sites Where Students Can Work Independently & Let Teachers Check On Progress list.  If you’re teaching Beginning or Early Intermediate English Language Learners, this is definitely a site worth considering paying for.

Reading A-Z is a sister site of Raz-Kids, and offers a ton of leveled, and, for the most part, engaging short books that can be printed-out and duplicated. These books have been great assets when I’ve taught Beginning and Early Intermediate ELL’s — it’s an easy and inexpensive way to get class-sets of multiple texts. It costs $85 per year to access the site for your own classroom.

I highlighted English Raven in The Best Resource Sites For ESL/EFL Teachers list last year.  Of all the sites on the web that offer classroom materials to help teach English Language Learners, English Raven has been one of the best in providing me with a lot of useful resources and ideas.  Many of its resources are free and, if you want access to all of them, it only costs $15 each year.

US Citizenship is an online self-access course created by Charles LaRue at the Metro North Adult Education Program in Minnesota. It’s very accessible and engaging — my students have really liked it. It costs $30 per year, but for that small amount your whole class can use the site.  This site tied for the number one ranking on my The Best Websites For Learning About Civic Participation & Citizenship list.

I Know That has tons of engaging learning exercises and game. It costs $200 to sign-up for a classroom. Not only can you then monitor student progress, but they also can avoid all the annoying ads on the site.  This site works very well for our students and their families to use as part of our home literacy project because of that monitoring ability. However, since the site’s resources can also be used for free, I’d only recommend paying for it if you require the ability to monitor student progress.

edHelper deserves to be on this list, too.  A subscription to all K-8 materials cost $20 per year, and it’s $40 per year if you want to access the high school materials, too.  edHelper has a wealth of printable materials accessible to English Language Learners on just about every subject imaginable.  To be truthful, I feel like I have to spend some time improving the quality of most of the materials I use from the site, but, I tell ya’, it sure beats creating it from scratch.

As always, feedback is welcome.

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.

We’re using cigarettes and smoking as another “model” topic in helping our Intermediate English Language Learners learn to write a persuasive essay.

I thought readers of this blog be interested in the sites our students are using for their research. You can find many other health related links on my website under Health. You might also be interested in:

The Best Life Expectancy Calculators

The Best health sites for English language learners

Here are my picks for The Best Sites For ELL’s To Learn About The Dangers Of Smoking:

Smoking Kills and Smoking May Be Banned In Cars are two articles with audio support and follow-up activities from the excellent California Distance Learning Project. They are specifically designed for English Language Learners.

ELLO has a listening “game” related to a person who stopped smoking. This activity, too, is for ELL’s.

How To Stop Smoking is a “talking news story” for ELL’s from Many Things.

Stop Smoking is quiz that’s also from Many Things.

Brainpop has a good movie on Smoking, but you need to have a paid subscription in order to view it (though you can also get a free trial).

Smoking: The Facts is an interactive tutorial from Medline Plus.

You Make Me Sick is a game from the BBC on smoking. They also have an interactive quiz.

Bonko’s Body Quiz is a smoking interactive from PBS Kids.

Here’s another listening exercise — this time on smoking statistics.

Quitting Smoking is a closed-captioned video from the National Institute Of Heath.

Breaking News English has a lesson on smoking that includes audio support for the text.

1-Language has a report on smoking that provides audio support for the text.

Here are some online videos from The Truth that are designed to encourage young people not to smoke.

Aspire is another site designed to encourage teenagers not to smoke. Its videos are closed-captioned.

An interactive on How Tobacco Damages Your Body from Northwest Community Hospital (accessible to Intermediate ELL’s).

An animation from The Centers For Disease Control on The Health Consequences of Smoking on the Human Body (accessible to high Intermediate ELL’s).

TIME Magazine has just published an infographic titled Leading Cause of Death. It’s a pretty amazing piece of work chocked full with data about smoking cigarettes.

In fact, it may be a bit too “chock full.” It’s pretty “busy,” which might make it less accessible to ELL’s.

A lesson plan & Internet Scavenger Hunt from PBS on smoking that would be good for ELL’s as long as it was modified a bit.

Additional suggestions are always welcome.

I’d like to thank Ressources Pour Le College for several of these links.

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.

Brainpop has an excellent introduction to American Football that I’m adding to The Best Sites Where ELL’s Can Learn About The Super Bowl.

Plus, it appears to be free for viewing without a subscription — at least for now.