Here are two new additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The Spring Season:
Spring Is Here is a Wall Street Journal slideshow.
10 Ways to Teach the Joys of Spring is from The New York Times Learning Network.
March 25, 2013
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Here are two new additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The Spring Season:
Spring Is Here is a Wall Street Journal slideshow.
10 Ways to Teach the Joys of Spring is from The New York Times Learning Network.
February 15, 2013
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
I’ve recently updated The Best Websites For Developing Academic English Skills & Vocabulary.
Additional suggestions are welcome…
January 5, 2013
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment
I thought it might be useful to readers if I brought together all my vocabulary-related “Best…” lists together in one post. Some may need to be updated, but even if you find some dead links, the vast majority should still be active:
The Best Sites Where ELL’s Can Learn Vocabulary
The Best Websites For Developing Academic English Skills & Vocabulary
The Best “I Spy” (Hidden Object) Games For Vocabulary Development
Of course, as Robert Pondiscio points out, the best way to develop vocabulary is to read….
October 19, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment
One of my more popular “The Best…” lists is The Best Ways To Use Photos In Lessons. Though that list includes several online tools, I recently realized I hadn’t included many that I use and have previously posted about. So, I thought I’d bring them all together in a new list.
You might also want to explore The Best Sites For Beginning iPhone Users Like Me for even more online photo tools.
Here are my choices for The Best Online Tools For Using Photos In Lessons:
I’m a big proponent of the Picture Word Inductive Model as a strategy for English Language Learners to develop reading and writing skills (I describe it in detail in this month’s ASCD Educational Leadership in my article, Get Organized Around Assets). It begins with the teacher labeling items in thematic photos with the help of students. The webtool Thinglink could be a great deal to help ELL’s maximize the advantages of this instructional strategy. Thinglink lets you upload or grab an image or video off the web and annotate items with the image or video super-easily. It basically looks like a photo in the Picture Word Inductive Model, just online. Thinglink’s recently announced for educators and students that you can now annotate fifty images free, and the cost for far more is next-to-nothing.
Here’s an image I annotated in the PWIM style (you can embed images, too) Just put your cursor on the photo (if you’re reading this on an RSS Reader, you’ll have to click through to the actual blog post):

Students can pick photos online or upload ones that are reinforcing the theme we’re studying, and label the items. In fact, you can even choose to have your photos/videos be able to be annotated by others, too!
“ImageSpike” Seems — Almost — Just Like “Thinglink”
Szoter doesn’t require registration, you can upload or grab images off the web (just insert its url address), and the final product looks just like an image would look like using the Picture Word Inductive Model.
Pic-Lits lets users pick an image from selection and then “drag-and-drop” words onto the image. The user’s creation can then be saved with a link posted, or it can be embedded. It has some elements that might make it particularly useful to English Language Learners. The words you can choose from are labeled by their parts of speech, and once you drop the word on the image you can see all the different verb conjugations and choose one. You can write a poem or describe the picture. You also have the option of writing whatever words you want if you don’t want to be limited by the words available to drag-and-drop.
Five Card Flickr Story lets you pick five photos from a group of pre-selected images from Flickr and then write a story about them. It saves your selection and story, and provides you with a link to it. No registration is required.
I take photos (and have students take photos) using iPhone apps that let you provide an accompanying audio commentary.
The best app for this kind of excellent speaking practice exercise is Fotobabble. The web version is already on The Best Sites To Practice Speaking English list, and I’m adding the phone app there, too (here are several examples where I’ve used both the web and iPhone version in class). You take a photo, provide an up-to-one minute commentary, and then can share it several ways. You can email it to yourself, too, where you are provided a link to it on the Fotobabble site. You’re given the opportunity to re-record if you don’t like how it sounds on the first try, and you can make other changes to it, too. It also provides the option to embed, as I have done with this quick experiment (a photo of one of our dogs, Lola):
Another option is an app called Picle. It only gives you ten seconds of commentary, but you can choose to have it record at the same time you’re taking the photo or afterwards. It doesn’t offer an embed option, but you can link to it on the Picle website. It also doesn’t appear to give you an opportunity to re-record if you’re not satisfied with your first try. Here’s a sample – again of Lola.
enpixa is a similar iPhone app. It’s free, and you can add a thirty second recording.
Skqueak is a new free iPhone app I like a lot that lets you easily provide audio for photos. There are several other apps in this post that do something similar. However, I suspect that Skqueak is going to give them a run for their money. It’s very simple to use, it appears to have a very extended recording time (though I’m not sure what the time limit is exactly) and, most importantly, it makes it extremely easy to create sort of a seamless audio slideshow. None of the other similar apps have such an ability, or at least one that is as easy to use.
Here’s a short example:
Phreetings lets you search for an image (it appears to use Flickr, but I can’t be sure), drag and drop it on a virtual card, and then write something below it (it looks like you can write a lot there). You’re then given the url to copy and paste. During our study of natural disasters, for example, I can see my students finding an image labeled “Katrina” and writing a short report on what they’ve learned so far about the hurricane.
Bubblr is a super-easy tool to use for adding “speech bubbles” to online photos. ImgOps lets you do the same thing.
The Art of Storytelling is a site from the Delaware Art Museum that allows you pick a painting (they don’t use photos, but the site is so good I decided to inlude it in this list anyway), write a short story about it, record it with your computer microphone, and email the url address for posting on a student website or blog. It’s extraordinarily simple, and extraordinarily accessible to any level of English Language Learner. No registration is required.
Dubbler joins the list of several free Smartphone apps that let you record a sixty second audio caption for a photo.
Wave joins the list of several free Smartphone apps that let you record an audio caption for a photo.
Feelit joins the ever-growing list of Smartphone apps that let you record audio along with your photos.
Feedback, as always, is welcome. Please contribute your own suggestions on using photos in the classroom.
If you found this post useful, you might want to look at the 960 other “The Best…” lists and consider subscribing to this blog for free.
October 13, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Here are two new additions to The Best Sites For Images Of Fall Foliage (& For Teaching About The Season):
Autumn 2012: Celebration of the season is a photo gallery from The Boston Globe.
Fall Is In The Air is a photo gallery from The Atlantic.
October 8, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Kate Kinsella is well-known for her research on helping students learn and use academic vocabulary. The California Department of Education has put a series of her videos and materials on their website.
The videos don’t at all capture her dynamism that you see in person, but downloadable “apply the concepts” materials are worth their weight in gold! And, they’re free.
I’m adding this resource to The Best Websites For Developing Academic English Skills & Vocabulary.
October 7, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
PictoLang provides a series of interactives designed for English Language Learners (and learners of other languages) to gain basic vocabulary knowledge.
I’m adding it to The Best Sites Where ELL’s Can Learn Vocabulary.
Thanks to The Center for Applied Second Language Studies (CASLS) for the tip.
August 16, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
This year, it seems like the fashionable web tool to develop is one that will annotate images. I’ve posted about several of them at
The Best Ways To Use Photos In Lessons, and there are others that didn’t make that list.
However, today, the incomparable Richard Byrne discovered what might be the best one of them all. It’s called Szoter. You can read about it at Richard’s blog and see a video there (however, at the time of this posting, Vimeo appears to be off-line completely).
Using the online version of Szoter doesn’t require registration, you can upload or grab images off the web (just insert its url address), and the final product looks just like an image would look like using the Picture Word Inductive Model (see my previously mentioned “The Best” list or my book to learn more about that instructional strategy). You can link to it or embed it, as I have done here (as long as you leave some white space around the image, the labels will still show up when you embed it):

Students are going to love using this!
July 30, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
#ELLCHAT takes place every Monday evening. This chat was about making vocabulary instruction meaningful, and I’ve made a quick “Storify” of the information and resources shared.
I’m also adding this to The Best Sites Where ELL’s Can Learn Vocabulary.
May 9, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
The British Council has just unveiled a new site called Learn English Teens. It’s targeting English Language Learners who are….teenagers.
Learn English Teens has some particularly good games. I’m adding that page to The Best Learning Games For Intermediate English Language Learners.
Learn English Teens also has some good vocabulary activities. I’m adding them to The Best Sites Where ELL’s Can Learn Vocabulary.
March 8, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment
Making Faces is a cool interactive that teaches “feeling” vocabulary by having users create models of faces reflecting those emotions. It can be a little tricky sometimes, but it also provides hints.
I posted about the site a few years ago, but it disappeared and has now reappeared at a new url address.
I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Learn “Feelings” Words.
February 16, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Awesome Stories is on several of my “The Best…” lists — it has extremely accessible articles and multimedia on just about every topic imaginable.
And it just got even better…
They’ve begun adding a “Visual Vocabulary Builder” to many of their stories to help with comprehension. Here’s an example of one to support their story on the “back story” of The War Horse, the new Steven Spielberg movie.
And, while I’m at it, I’m adding Awesome Stories to The Best Beginner, Intermediate & Advanced English Language Learner Sites.
January 26, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Many teachers of English Language Learners know about The Language Guide, which is an excellent picture dictionary on the Web that has audio, too (it also has versions for other languages).
I’ve used it for years, but didn’t realize until a student pointed it out to me this month that each page has an “options” feature which provides listening and speaking quizzes. I’m not sure how long that option has been there — perhaps I’ve just missed it for years…
It’s just another reason why it’s on The Best Beginner, Intermediate & Advanced English Language Learner Sites list.
January 15, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Here are two new excellent additions to The Best Beginner, Intermediate & Advanced English Language Learner Sites:
November 15, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
3 Comments
Graph Words is a new very simple visual thesaurus. It’s not as fancy as some of the other similar applications out there, but I think some of them are actually pretty confusing to English Language Learners.
I’m adding it to The Best Reference Websites For English Language Learners.
Thanks to Richard Byrne for the tip.
July 31, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
I’ve just updated The Best Sites For Learning How To Tell Time and made these additions. They are collections of multiple interactives related to telling time:
June 30, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
4 Comments
Renowned ESL/EFL teacher, researcher and author Paul Nation is particularly known for his work on teaching vocabulary to English Language Learners.
Just by chance I found a site where it seems he’s giving an online course on Teaching ESL/EFL Vocabulary. As far as I can tell, it’s free and open to anyone — if someone knows differently, please let me know.
It’s just started, so it may be a great learning opportunity.
June 11, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Here are the newest additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The Summer:
Summer Is Nearly Here is the title of a series of photos from The Atlantic.
The East Coast heats up is a Washington Post slideshow.
Heat gripping half of US expected to last for days is from The Sacramento Bee.
January 15, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
I’ve previously written about the interactives created by teacher Mrs. Haquet from Frenchfrog’s Little English Pond. I just realized, however, that I have not included her extraordinary creations in The Best Sites Where ELL’s Can Learn Vocabulary.
All of her great vocabulary games can be found here.
Here interactive books can be found here.
I’m adding both links to the best vocabulary list.
December 30, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
The “Special Holiday Emergency Desk” is a wonderful application to reinforce vocabulary with English Language Learners, and it’s also a lot of fun for anybody else.
You type in the word for just about anything, and a virtual artist “draws” it for you. It’s an almost seamless use of Google Image search that converts any image into a version that appears like it’s been drawn.
It fits right in with similar apps I have on The Best “When I Say Jump” Online Sites For Practicing English, which I think is one of my favorite “The Best…” lists.