Online Resources for ESL

The main purpose of this is to provide all ESL learners with comprehensive exercises, tasks and useful links related to various skills and components of English language. 

Formative Assessment and Online Games

Teachers have created some at http://www.equizshow.com and found that other teachers in other places who also love online resources are posting quizzes that anyone can use. Here is one at http://www.equizshow.com/play/12895

Google Apps

Many people are catching on to Flubaroo http://www.flubaroo.com/. With Google forms you can make a quick multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank quiz. Once the students take the quiz (for practice or a grade), the teacher adds the correct answers as the key then runs the self-scoring tool. You can email the grades to students. The teacher can look at results per questions as well as student success. The teacher can quickly find out what needs to be retaught. 

Presentation Tools with Audio

Brainshark http://www.brainshark.com/
Emaze http://www.emaze.com/
Knovio  http://www.knovio.com (Upload a Power Point, then talk about it. Your face appears next to the PPT in the movie that is created.)
Powtoons for Education http://www.powtoon.com/edu-home/

Prezi for Education http://prezi.com/prezi-for-education/ (Sometimes described as Power Point on steroids. Going from one slide to the next is a journey up, around, in or out. The wonder of Prezi is that you can add audio to each slide.)
Educreations works on ipads as a whiteboard to capture voice and handwriting (like the SmartBoard Notebook 11 videorecording tool). Create your own videos.

Free Languages Games 

Languages Online
Engaging interactive tasks and printable worksheets that introduce, reinforce and recycle vocabulary. Activites are self-paced and self-correcting and include recordings by native speakers.

Download these free programs and create your own interactive games and activities. Follow the simple steps to add your own text, pictures or voice recordings. Suitable for all languages!

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/languagesonline/default.htm

Content Generator

Their programs allow anyone to generate their own e-Learning quizzes, games and applications through our custom software - no coding required.

http://www.contentgenerator.net/

Hot Potatoes

The Hot Potatoes suite includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web. Hot Potatoes is freeware, and you may use it for any purpose or project you like. It is not open-source. The Java version provides all the features found in the windows version, except: you can't upload to hotpotatoes.net and you can't export a SCORM object from Java Hot Potatoes.

http://hotpot.uvic.ca/

News

1. EuroNews – Fantastic site, they provide videos in one of several available languages and then there are transcripts directly below each video. The main homepage is here where you can select from various languages using the menu at the very top left of the page, the default is English.

Educational Videos (lectures and documentaries)

1. TEDVideos TED, as many of you know, records and publishes free educational lectures and talks online.  The talks are in many different languages, their search function allows you to search by language, and most of their videos have subtitles.

Random Video Collections

Here is where there’s more sheer quantity than anything else.  Two of the sites I’ve found so far do something very similar: they just take random videos from wherever (usually YouTube) and then the users do subtitles for them for free.  Fantastic sites, they’re adding new videos all the time, and, of course, the biggest benefit is that they’re completely free.  The other two sites are run by educational institutes.  You will, with all of them however, have to sift through them and pick out what you want to watch.

1. Amara aka  UniversalSubtitles.org – You can search and sort by language of the speakers and subtitle language using the search bar on the videos homepage, just pull the menu down and select your languages).  Again, these are just videos that people have found on YouTube and decided to do the subtitles for.  Note that you can sign up for an account and help subtitle videos of any language you speak.

2. Edustation.me’s Video Section – You’ll need to sign up for a free account to use this one, I believe.  Once you’ve done that, look at the menu at the top right and select the language that you’re learning where it says “Idioma para aprender”, then go to the homepage and click “videos”.  They have a ton of videos there with subtitles.

Video-based review activities

Blubbr is a neat quiz creation service that you can use to create video-based quizzes. Using Blubbr you can create interactive quizzes that are based on YouTube clips. Your quizzes can be about anything of your choosing. The structure of the quizzes has a viewer watch a short clip then answer a multiple choice question about the clip. Viewers know right away if they chose the correct answer or not. To create a quiz on Blubbr start by entering a topic for your quiz. After entering your topic enter a search for a video about that topic. Blubbr will generate a list of videos that you can select from to use in your quiz. When you find a video that works for you, trim the clip to a length that you like then write out your question and answer choices. Repeat the process for as many video clips as you like. Click here to try a short Blubbr quiz about the human heart.

Comics in the Classroom

Disclosure: Storyboard That is an advertiser on Free Technology for Teachers. 

Some of my favorite uses of comics include using them as story prompts, having students create them to tell personal stories, and to illustrate key ideas in a book as an alternative to writing a traditional book report.

Creating a storyboard can be a good way to organize a story and plan a video project.  

Apps to Help Students

Speak It is a Google Chrome extension that enables you to have the text on most webpages read to you. With Speak It installed just highlight the text on a the page you're viewing then right-click to activate Speak It. Then click the play button to have the text read to you. The voice is very digitized, but it is clear. Installing Speak It takes just a few seconds. To install it go to Speak It's page in the Chrome Web Store and click the install button. Restarting your browser is not required in order to activate Speak It. If you decide that you don't want to use Speak It any longer you can uninstall it by right-clicking on the Speak It icon in your browser and selecting uninstall.

New Features Come to Google Documents in the Form of Add-ons

Google Drive has supported 3rd party apps for quite a while now and many of those apps are quite helpful to students. Beginning today Google Documents and Google Sheets now contain a new way for students to add even more functionality through 3rd party services. Add-ons for  Google Docs and Sheets allow any Google Drive user to add new functions to their documents and spreadsheets. To access Add-ons just open a new Google Document and open the new "Add-ons" drop-down menu to browse for add-ons.

Good Alternatives to Google Image Search

The Morgue File photo collection contains thousands of images that anyone can use for free in academic or commercial presentations. The image collection can be searched by subject category, image size, color, or rating. You will find a mix of images that don't require attribution along with some that do require attribution so pay attention to the labels that come with each picture. Morgue File is more than just a source for free images. The Morgue File also features a "classroom" where visitors can learn photography techniques and get tips about image editing.

Every Stock Photo is a search engine for public domain and Creative Commons licensed pictures. When you search on Every Stock Photo it pulls images from dozens of sources across the web. If you click on an image in your search results you will be taken to a larger version of the image, a link to the source, and the attribution requirements for using that picture.

Pixabay is currently my go-to place to find and download quality public domain images. You can search on Pixabay by using keywords or you can simply browse through the library of images. When you find an image you can download it in the size that suits your needs. Registered users do not have to enter a captcha code to download images. Users who do not register can download images, but they do have to enter a captcha code before downloading each picture.

Each time that I visit it the Flickr Commons collection seems to have grown. The Commons contains images that have been contributed by more than five dozen libraries and museums around the world. The images are mostly historical in nature.

The Wikimedia Commons houses thousands of images that you and your students can re-use. Searching in the Wikimedia Commons isn't the most intuitive process which is why I don't recommend it for younger students. Search the Wikimedia Commons by keyword or browse it by category and topic. 

 Earlier this year the Wellcome Library made more than 100,000 drawings, photographs, paintings, and advertisements available to the world under Creative Commons licensing. The images available through the Wellcome Images library are primarily of a historic nature. You can browse the galleries or search for images by keyword.

Unsplash is a Tumblr-hosted site that adds ten new, free, high-resolution images every ten days. I scrolled through the site for quite a while today and found a lot of nice images. The downside to Unsplash is that the site does not have a search function.

You can find more than 85,000 free images through the Getty Museum's Open Content Program. You can download and re-use the images as long as you give proper attribution for the source of the image. Use the Getty Search Gateway to find images in the Getty Museum's Open Content Program. The Getty Search Gateway allows you to filter your search according to material type, topic, name, source, and location. Once you find an image, click the image's title to be taken to its landing page where you can learn more about it, get the required attribution information, and learn more about the history of your chosen image.

Creating Infographics

InfoGraphic making websites like Piktochart and easel.y offer templates and graphics for making InfoGraphics, students need to register with these sites to create. 

Websites References

The following websites and blogs have plenty of activities that will help our students achieve their goals:

http://efl-learners-online-resource.webs.com/

http://www.tonybates.ca/2011/10/30/online-resources-for-teaching-and-learning-english-as-a-second-language/

http://ebookyes.blogspot.com/2014/05/more-grammar-games-english-teaching.html

http://englisheducations6f.blogspot.com/2014/04/how-to-teach-english-as-foreign-language.html

http://www.englishteststore.net/

http://papers.xtremepapers.com/

ESL Resources to Reinforce Students´ Learning

Tips on Creating ESL Resources to Reinforce Students’ Learning Part 1

This post covers three aspects of creating your own ESL resources: benefits, sources of inspiration and process.

There are numerous websites and print based materials designed for ESL students; however, I am convinced that the ability to develop your own resources for your ESL classes is essential for every ESL teacher.

Why create your own resources?

Custom resources have a number of advantages for ESL learners. Well-designed and thought through worksheets and activities:

• ensure more structured lessons
• assist with a more focused delivery
• improve students’ memory retention
• reinforce learning
• contribute to learners’ assessment/portfolios
• provide variety
• encourage higher order thinking

For teachers who create them, custom resources:

• showcase their skills
• help achieve teaching goals
• develop their knowledge of resources
• contribute to their teaching portfolio
• help develop additional skills such as instructional design, word processing or ICT specific knowledge.

Sources of Inspiration

• newspaper/magazine articles
• online news
• junk mail/other advertising material
• work/school related texts
• official documents (contracts, letters from a local council, etc.)
• formal letters
• bills
• recipes
• emails
• podcasts
• manuals
• movies
• real estate brochures
• blog posts
• brochures
• infographics
• street signs
• job advertisements
• Pinterest (lots and lots of amazing photos)
• websites relevant to students’ needs (e.g. Yellow/White Pages, Library, Centrelink, Medicare, online shopping, job seeking, etc.)
• youtube/vimeo/videojug videos
• students’ own writing

What process is involved in designing ESL resources?

1. Check the Teacher’s Book/Module/Unit
2. Examine the unit/module material
3. Choose the focus for your activity (e.g. vocabulary, grammar, spelling, settlement information, skill, etc.)
4. Decide on the type of your activity
5. Develop your activity
6. Trial your activity with your students
7. Adjust your activity accordingly
8. Recycle

Tips on Creating ESL Resources to Reinforce Students’ Learning Part 2

This post covers the pedagogical aspects of creating your own ESL resources.

Things to Consider:

General:

• Audience (Who are your students? Young people? Children? Adults? Migrants? Job seekers? Etc.
• Purpose (What do you need/would like to achieve with the activity? Are you targeting a particular skill/grammar point, vocabulary use? Is the activity for a quiet/transition time? Explain the purpose of the activity to your students clearly.)
• Relevance (Is the activity relevant to your students? Is it relevant to your curriculum?)
• Variety (How can you present the target material differently from your mainstream course book?)
• Level (What level of English does the activity target? Are you using appropriate language or level of difficulty?)
• Cultural appropriateness (Is the activity culturally appropriate for your students?)
• Inclusivity (Will the activity work for all students in your class?)
• Multi-purpose use (How else can you use the activity?)
• Open ended nature (How can you link the activity with other activities?)
• Number of students (Is it for a group of students, pairs or individual work?)
• Steps involved in completing the activity (Do you clearly understand what students need to do to complete the activity? Check unfamiliar vocabulary first? Review grammar pattern/vocabulary? Make a connection with the previous material? Too many steps will take longer than expected to complete or make the teaching objective unachievable)
• Level of support required to complete your worksheet (Can your students do the activity with minimal/no supervision? Or, it’s a teacher guided activity?)
• Time required to complete the activity (Is it just a warmer where 10-15 minutes will be enough or maybe you would like to use your activity for focusing on something more substantial?)
• Effectiveness (The worksheet is the most useful when it reinforces and builds on what the learners already know. Avoid vague activities – for example, giving students a task to ‘Write down a few ideas about…’ or ‘research your topic’ without giving any guidance or structure.). It is a crucial point for all language learners.

Tips on Creating ESL Resources to Reinforce Students’ Learning Part 3

Design Considerations:

• Headings (Headings are a must on every piece of text or worksheet and should guide learners as to the content/topic/unit of the material. Be consistent with formatting so that your students can clearly distinguish between headings and subheadings and can use them as guides to tasks/reading and understanding the material.)
• Text (Do not block text – as it is harder to read when block text is used throughout the worksheet. For emphasis use bold print, not italics.)
• Text alignment (Do not fully justify text – it is best to left align text instead of centering. When text is centered, the spacing between words becomes uneven. As a result, the eye stops tracking and needs to readjust to the spacing.)
• White space (Don’t make your worksheet too dense – please leave some white space. It’s much easier to follow the activity with lots of white space.)
• Typeface (Make sure the text is easy to read – use simple fonts (e.g. Times Roman, Arial, Century Schoolbook, Trebuchet MS, etc. Use a bigger font size for low level learners or students with additional needs.)
• Visuals (Use graphics/images/clipart/photos where appropriate.)
• Footers and headers (If your learners are studying for a qualification, it is necessary to include the relevant unit/module of work and benchmarking criteria in the header/footer as the activity can be used for your students’ portfolios.)
• Level of customisation (If you adapt/customise worksheets/materials/texts from other sources, you must acknowledge that source. It is also worth checking if permission is required to use the material (images, text, etc.).)
• Dual Coding Theory (Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-coding_theory )

Tips on Creating ESL Resources to Reinforce Students’ Learning Part 4

This part is includes:

• Word processing features every ESL teacher needs to know how to use
• examples of activities
• other considerations

Word Processing Software features to know and use effectively:

• Fonts
• Shapes
• Page orientation
• Shape Fill
• Text Colour
• Table
• Headers/footers
• Text alignment
• Spacing
• Inserting pictures/drawing tools
• Text box
• Page Numbers
• Bullets and numbering
• Page layout

Other important considerations:

• consistency (With the format, language and layout)
• instructions (Give clear and easy to follow instruction written in everyday language)
• language (Use everyday words)
• examples (Provide examples of how to do the activity)
• clarity with the objective (Why do you want your students to do the activity? What are you trying to achieve?)
• logic (Consider the logical sequence of your activity within your other lesson activities)
• feedback (Where possible, turn your feedback into something students can learn from instead of just giving the correct answers, i.e. discussing other students’ answers; was it easy or difficult, why? Etc.)

The variety of activities that can be designed for an ESL class with the minimum investment of time are limitless. Here are some ideas:

1. Name 5
2. Word/idea hunt
3. Gap fill
4. Finish the sentence/story
5. Matching
6. Grouping
7. Spot the odd one
8. Editing
9. Making sentences
10. What was the question?
11. Sequencing
12. WebQuests
13. Word search
14. Anagrams
15. Crosswords
16. Quizzes
17. Spot the differences
18. What happens next?
19. Reconstructing text/sentences
20. Bingo games
21. True/False or multiple choice

Grammar Practice

Macbeth Act 5 Scene 5

Macbeth Act 3 Scene 3.47-71

Macbeth's Soliloquy: If it were done when 'tis done... (1.7.1-29)