Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

I just sent out my free monthly email newsletter.

I’ve been sending it out for three years, and have about six hundred subscribers now. You can see all the past issues here, and subscribe to it here.

The Future Is Ours is the title of a very eloquent editorial that appeared in the New York Times today. It reviewed many of the challenges facing immigrants to the United States today. One line said:

“They” are “us,” a cohort of newcomers who will be filling the demographic void left as the baby boomers start fading away.

Unfortunately, it really didn’t offer any specific ideas of what should be done to respond to those challenges.  That was disappointing, but I also have to wonder — even if it had — would it really have any impact nowadays?

I’m adding “Opposing Views” to The Best Sites For Students To Create & Participate In Online Debates.   Opposing Views highlights key questions (political, scientific, etc). It then, in a fairly succinct “bullet” format, has an “expert” share pro and con arguments. Users of the site can also leave their own comments.  The language and lay-out of the site is fairly accessible to Intermediate English Language Learners.  After reading the arguments, users can easily leave their own comments on the issue.

I’m adding these resources to The Best Online Resources For Helping Students Learn To Write Persuasive Essays:

I like this persuasive essay outline generator a lot.

ESL Bee has a number of sample persuasive essays written by ESL students.

Here’s a Fact and Opinion game.

Try another Fact and Opinion Game.

Here are lots of fact and opinion activities.

PBS’ Arthur has a simple Facts and Opinions game.

Lost Landscapes of San Francisco is a series of restored film clips of San Francisco — some from more than 100 years ago. I’ve added it to The Best Sites To Learn About San Francisco.

Curious Robotic Animals is a slideshow from LIFE about robots designed to look and act like animals. I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Learn About Robots.

Armistice Day Remembrances is a series of photos from The Boston Globe’s Big Picture. I’m adding it to The Best Websites To Learn About Veterans Day.

The Robo-Penguin is a slideshow from TIME Magazine. I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Learn About Robots.

Inventors And Their Inventions is a TIME Magazine slideshow. I’m adding it to The Best Sites Where Students Can Learn About Inventions.

U.N. Creates Nelson Mandela Day is a new lesson from Breaking News English. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About Nelson Mandela.

Thanksgiving Room Escape is a fun online video game that provides English-language-learning opportunities. Here’s its walkthrough. I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Teach and Learn About Thanksgiving.

This is another short post that I periodically write specifically for teachers of the International Baccalaureate Theory of Knowledge (TOK) class. I know more and more of them are subscribing to this blog. As regular readers know, in addition to my Intermediate English class and my mainstream ninth-graders, this year I’m teaching a TOK class.

I just added quite a few History and Ethics resources to the sidebar of my Theory of Knowledge class blog.  They join link collections on Math, Arts, Reason, Language, Emotion, Perception, Oral Presentations, and the TOK Essay.

The Wall Street Journal has an interactive titled Amid Rising Violence, Mexicans Fight Back. I’ve added it to The Best Sites To Learn About Mexico’s Drug War.

Amber Garbe, Lee Vang and Kao Lee Lor-Her — all Wisconsin teachers — worked with their Hmong students and their families to create neat downloadable bilingual books. I’m adding the link to The Best Websites To Learn About The Hmong.

The Wall’s Rise and Fall is an interactive from the Wall Street Journal. The Berlin Wall, 20 years gone is a series of images from the Big Picture. Both are about the Berlin Wall, and I’m adding them to The Best Sites To Learn About Walls That Separate Us.

It’s hard to believe people actually live in these bizarre homes is a collection of photos that I’ve added to The Best Images Of Weird, Cool & Neat-Looking Buildings (& Ways To Design Your Own).

Here are some instructions from Microsoft on how to use PowerPoint to create “Choose Your Own Adventure” stories. It’s not accessible to ELL’s, but teachers can use it as a guide. I’ve added it to The Best Places To Read & Write “Choose Your Own Adventure” Stories.. Thanks to Steven Anderson for the tip.

I’ve added these next four links to The Best Websites To Learn About Veterans Day:

America honors its veterans is a slideshow from MSNBC. Here’s a video from MSNBC, too.

War Remembrance Day Around the World is a slideshow from ABC.

St. Louis WWII veterans remembered 60 years later with Honor Flight is an audio slideshow from St. Louis Today.

My Testbook looks like a great addition to The Best Sites That Students Can Use Independently And Let Teachers Check On Progress. It lets students study math, science and English. Thanks to Steven Roberge for the tip.

19 Weirdest Houses Around the World has been added to The Best Images Of Weird, Cool & Neat-Looking Buildings (& Ways To Design Your Own).

How To Use Twitter Lists has been added to The Best Resources For Beginning To Learn What Twitter Is All About.

Academic Vocabulary Games has been added to The Best Websites For Developing Academic English Skills & Vocabulary. Thanks to Diana Dell for the tip.

Learning About Learning has been added to The Best Resource Sites For ESL/EFL Teachers. It’s not specifically for ESL/EFL teachers, but it has an enormous amount of resources about teaching in general. Eventually, I’ll put together a “The Best…” list of broader resources for teachers. Thanks, again, to Diana Dell for the tip.

Smart Bean has just published an interview with me about our book Building Parent Engagement In Schools. They’ve titled the piece Engaging With Your Child’s School: Q&A with Larry Ferlazzo.

Here’s how Smart Bean describes itself:

SmartBean is a site for parents that aims to help parents make day to day decisions on practical aspects of parenting largely related to K-12 education and formal/informal learning. It aggregates and presents current education news, research and commentary relevant to parents and in a digestable form. It provides links to educational websites and other resources, and also highlights educational products, books, software and other products aimed at holistic development of children in a changing world. Although its primary focus is on empowering parents, several teachers and educators have found articles and links that are relevant to their work.

Here are two additions to The Best Websites For Learning About Halloween:

Days Of The Dead is a series of images from The Boston Globe’s Big Picture.

Day of the Dead is a group of photos from The Sacramento Bee.

Bill Ferriter has written several posts with great tips for teachers who are having their students write blogs. I’m adding the link to The Best Sources For Advice On Student Blogging.

Here are 63 printable Storyboard templates. I’m adding the link to The Best Digital Storytelling Resources. Thanks to Skip Zalneraitis for the tip.

Here are some more additions to The Best Websites For Learning About Halloween:

Happy Halloween is a series of images from The Sacramento Bee.

Holidays for Dressing Up, and for Remembering is a slideshow from The Wall Street Journal.

Ghostscape 2: The Cabin is an online video game that is probably too scary for very young children, but adolescents should love it. The walkthrough isn’t posted yet, but should be soon at this site. It has a lot of language development opportunities.

You can look through a ton of old Halloween advertisements here.

I’ve added that link to The Best Websites For Learning About Halloween.

Thanks to The English Blog for the tip. You can also find a slideshow sharing more recent Halloween-related ads there.

Sorry, I just discovered that the Hidden Word Game I just posted about is no longer available, so I’ve deleted that post. I wrote it a couple of weeks ago. Things change fast!

Here are some more additions to The Best Websites For Learning About Halloween:

Halloween 2009 is a neat resource from National Geographic (thanks to Interesting Pile for the tip)

114 Cool Pumpkin Art Carvings

Detroit Fights Devil’s Night is a TIME Magazine slideshow about a tragic tradition of arson in Detroit.

ESL Courses has good resources on Halloween and on The Day Of The Dead.

Happy Halloween Escape is an online video game that has potential as a language development activity, especially if it’s used with a walkthrough.

Here are new additions to The Best Websites For Learning About Halloween:

LIFE on Halloween is a slideshow from LIFE.

Cutest Doggie Costumes is another LIFE slideshow.

Here are some additions to The Best Websites For Learning About Halloween:

10 Stunning Pumpkin Carvings is a nice series of photos.

24 Inspirational Pumpkin Carvings comes from the Los Angeles Times.

(Good news! They’re back online. Voting for The Best Ways To Create Online Content Easily & Quickly — 2009 closes in two weeks!)

As readers know, I have polls for people to vote on whether or not they agree with the way I rank various year-end polls, including:

The Best Online Learning Games — 2009

The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education — 2009

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

However, the application I use to create the polls, “Poll Monkey,” is down at the moment so the polls don’t show-up. With luck, it’s just a temporary glitch on their part , but there’s no way of telling right now. I’ll let people know when, and if, Poll Monkey is back online and my polls return.

Of course, the list of sites, their descriptions, and my rankings are still available.

I just learned about Audience Sounds from Nik Peachey. It has a nice collection of sound effects that are easy to navigate, listen to, and download. In addition to using them in student or teacher “creations,” another way I’ve used these kinds of sound effects is as a way to build student vocabulary. We first review what each sound effect is called; then the class is divided into small groups with each group having a small whiteboard; next, I play one sound effect; next, I give the class thirty seconds to write down what sound effect it is. People show their boards, and the teams that get it correct win a point.

Students enjoy it a lot.

I’m adding Audience Sounds to The Best Places To Get Royalty-Free Music & Sound Effects.