I created a version of this list about eight months ago and called it The Best “Fun” Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too. Since that posting, though, I’ve decided to make the topic one of my annual “The Best…” lists, and so here is a new version encompassing sites that I’ve learned about since April.

To introduce this list, I’m just going to quote from the first one:

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

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

Here are my picks for The Best “Fun” Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too — 2008 (or, at least, for the last three quarters of 2008):

OPTICAL ILLUSIONS:

This year I’ve been helping my my students learn academic vocabulary.  One new word has been “interpretation” and its various forms.

I’ve shown students several optical illusions that can be found at this at this one. Then, they have short conversations with other students about what they see:

“What is your interpretation of what’s in the picture?”

“It seems to me that there’s a ……”

ONLINE VIDEO GAMES:

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

Here are a few that my students have particularly enjoyed:

Polleke’s Blue Room is an online video game with a Walkthrough (read my article to learn how to use both with students)

Ketinetto 2 is another one.

Feedback, of course, is 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.