The questions are good, though the game is a little weird. You’re given three answer choices. Each answer is color-coded, and in order to choose an answer, you have to “whack” the correctly-colored figure that keeps popping up.

I’ve placed the link on my website under Word and Video Games.

I’ve placed the link under the Grammar section on my website.

The site has both online and printable activities about….verbs.

I’m adding the link to my website under Verbs.

I’m writing a post about it here, though, because it has a number of exercises that offer a slightly unique twist that some students might like. When they take some of the interactive tests, like this one on animals, there’s a place for them to type their name in. Then, after it’s completed and had the computer check their answers, they can print out the sheet — with their name on it — and keep it for future study.

Yeah, I know, it’s not that big of a deal to be able to type a name on the sheet. However, having it printed out with their name on it and then being able to show their teacher and parents can indeed be a benefit to some students. It might seem a bit more “legitimate” than just writing their name on it.

Movie Segments To Assess Grammar Goals is a blog by Claudio Azevedo from Brazil. The blog shares grammar exercises connected to…movie segments. He has online video clips embedded in the blog along with the exercises. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely his blog’s host, blogspot, is going to make it through many school content filters, but it would be easy enough to get the videos through Netflix or upload them to a site like Edubogs TV so they can be seen at school. I’m adding his blog to The Best Sites For Grammar Practice. Thanks to Life Is A Feast for the tip.

Milpitas Chat shares a number of good online ESL lessons related to Women’s History.  I’m adding the link to The Best Sites For Learning About Women’s History. Thanks to U.S. Citizenship Podcast for the tip.

It has over 2400 grammar activities, and teachers can create a free account so that they can track student progress.

You can read a more extensive description of each page here.

I’d also encourage you to read articles I’ve written that describe how, in my opinion, computers can be most effectively used with English Language Learners and other students.

I have approximately twenty separate pages on my website.  Links become obsolete pretty quickly on the Internet, so I verify links on my site about twice each year.  My “system” is to verify links on one page each week and, then, when I’ve gone through all of them, start again.

I thought it might be useful  to create a “The Best…” list highlighting what I think are the most useful sections of my site. After all, nine-thousand links can be an intimidating number to both students and teachers alike.

Here are my choices of The Best Sections On My Website (not in order of preference):

I have less than one hundred links under Favorite Sites. These are the ones that I think — out of the 9,000 — are the best for English Language Learners. You can’t go wrong with any of them. Most are best for Beginning and Early Intermediate ELL’s, though many are also suitable for Intermediates.

I also like the substantial Citizenship section. You can find many accessible links related to government and civics that are very helpful to students at any language level preparing to take the U.S. Citizenship test.

You can find links to literally thousands of “talking stories” for Beginning English Language Learners under Stories.

Writing is another good section for Beginning ELL’s.

The links under Health are appropriate for any level of ELL, though a small number might not be suitable for very young students.

Word and Video Games is filled with English-learning games for all levels. You might want to read about how I use the online video games that are listed there as a language learning activity.

You can find a ton of tools and examples of how students can easily create their own online projects at Examples of Student Work.

Students enjoy a lot of online Geography games.

There are also a lot useful links on the Teacher Page.

I began to create a The Best Websites page adapting all of my “The Best…” lists.  However, I found that it was just as easy for my students to access them directly from my blog, especially since I had them all organized in one place.  After putting versions of twenty of the lists on my website, I just couldn’t bring myself to do 170 more.

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.

A number of our ELL students who have gone on to community college have been telling us they wish we had put more time into direct grammar instruction.  Now, I can’t say for sure exactly what our other teachers have been doing related to grammar in their classes.  And I’m not necessarily convinced that some of the community college classes aren’t making a mistake by placing so much of an emphasis on grammar.

However, I am reflecting on if I should make any changes in how I help my students develop grammar skills.

One very small change I am making is having students spend a little more time on grammar practice when we go to the computer lab — but spending it strategically on common challenges I have identified through their writing.

In the process of reflection, I’ve identified which grammar sites that I think are most engaging and useful to students, and thought I would share them in another “The Best…” list.

You can also find these links, and links to others that didn’t make this list, on my website under Beginner Grammar and Intermediate Grammar.

Here are my choices — not in order of preference — for The Best Sites For Grammar Practice (and that I think are accessible to English Language Learners). I’ve divided them into two sections — sites that are best for Beginning and Early Intermediate English Language Learners and ones more appropriate for Intermediate and Advanced:

BEGINNERS & EARLY INTERMEDIATE

Grammar Gold has a number of different exercises and provides audio support for its text.

Grammar Practice Park is a similar Harcourt site.

BBC Schools Bitesize 1 and Bitesize 2 also has many exercises and games.

Road To Grammar Jr. has many interactive grammar quizzes.

I think the use of Oxford University Press’ series of Phrase Builder exercises can help develop grammar, as well as listening, skills.  Here are links to several of them:

Phrase Builder
Phrase Bank
Intermediate Phrase Bank
Upper Intermediate Phrase Bank

Ventures Arcade from Cambridge has some excellent reinforcing exercises for grammar.  Their more advanced editions won’t be out until January, so for right now only exercises for Beginners and Early Intermediate are available.

Touchstone from Cambridge also has similar activities.

INTERMEDIATE & ADVANCED

Grammarman offers online comics, with audio support for the text, that teach grammar topics.

Road To Grammar (different from the “Jr.” version) has a number of interactive quizzes.

Touchstone from Cambridge also has good activities if you go to books “3″ and “4.”

Classzone’s Grammar Arcade has many engaging games that reinforce grammar concepts.  The link is a little strange — sometimes when you click on it you first get directed to Classzone’s main page.  If that happens, just click on “California” and then click on “Go.”

Brainpop has a large collection of movies related to grammar.  They’re closed-captioned, and also have quizzes.  However, you do have to pay for a subscription.  You can get a free trial, though.  This is only one of two sites that I have reviewed on this blog that charges and that I recommend.

The English Department in Valencia has a huge collection of simple grammar activities.

The British Council has a ton of grammar games.

I’m adding the Virtual Grammar Lab to this list.  It has over 2400 grammar activities, and teachers can create a free account so that they can track student progress.

Center For Education and Training’s Flashed ESL site.

Animated Grammar tutorials from Great Source.

Movie Segments To Assess Grammar Goals is a blog by Claudio Azevedo from Brazil. The blog shares grammar exercises connected to…movie segments. He has online video clips embedded in the blog along with the exercises. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely his blog’s host, blogspot, is going to make it through many school content filters, but it would be easy enough to get the videos through Netflix or upload them to a site like Edubogs TV so they can be seen at school.

As always, feedback is welcome — both about sites and your thoughts about how to help students best learn grammar concepts.

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.

I think it’s helpful to anyone who teaches Hmong English Language Learners.  This presentation also shows that it’s useful for teachers to get a similar understanding of how the “rules” governing student native languages can affect their learning of English.

It now has questions related to grammar, geography, art, foreign language and math, too.

Besides the social contribution students make by the playing the game, I particularly like it because the questions change depending on the success of the player — if they’re doing well, the questions get harder; if they’re getting a lot wrong, the questions get easier.

Free Rice was listed in The Best Online Learning Games — 2007.  You can also find it on my Best Websites page, which is designed for student self-access.