Ready for a good time

Week 7 has been quite interesting and mind-boggling.

We've done some different activities:
- Reading articles about learner autonomy
- Writing one-computer lesson plan
- Looking for a partner(s)

The last one reminds me about old good times when we had a Prom. And it seemed that the most popular boys and girls were already engaged))) Now the situation is just like that.

Of course I'm kidding) I hope that everybody has found parner(s) for peer reading and ready for a good time!

Beginning the CHANGE

This term in my University is almost finished. Some final tests, exams and my students are going to their summer holidays. But I'm not going to relax. I'm ready to begin to implement a technology-related change in my classes. 

Firstly, I need to refine my project plan. I'm still thinking about it and I will share my ideas as soon as they will be in a form of draft project.

Secondly, I need to take into account all the points: resources that I plan to use, rubrics and follow-up activities. 

Thirdly, I have to pass my draft report  by Wednesday week 8, and the final report by noon on Friday week 9.


I started working on it and I'm in the process now.


I'd like to share a lesson plan I've made implementing a technology-related change in my classes.

Environmental Protection Lesson Plan

Students: pre-intermediate level, 15-18-year-olds

Time: 2 sessions (90 min each)

Video: 1,5 min “Give Earth a hand” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep9MFiWXR8M

Values: environmental protection consciousness, responsibility

Objectives: to acquaint students with environmental protection problems and solutions – to make a video project

Building language awareness: challenging vocabulary (Wordle clouds), passive grammar structures, modal verbs in context

Building cultural awareness: these problems are not national but universal and people must unite to solve them

Teacher’s Tips: potential challenges are using topical vocabulary and relevant grammar structures. To overcome this we should use lex-gram schemes or tables

Lesson Sequence

Pre-viewing task:

Ask your students the following questions:

What do you want to be happy?

Can you do without it?

What can’t you do without it?

Viewing:

Show your students 1,5 min Youtube video “Give Earth a hand”

Discussion

After watching discuss these questions with students:

1. What do people really need nowadays?
2. Are all those things friendly to the environment?
3. What are real values for you personally?

Tell students to post the results in twitter and get the feedback

Building the topical vocabulary

1.    Students work in small groups and make Wordle clouds. Think about the following words and expressions to be mentioned:

Air

Pollution

Water

Earth

Rainforest-destruction

Global-warming

Overpopulation

Species-disappearance

Ozon-layer-depletion

Greenhouse-effect

Fresh-air

Purifying-systems

Planting-trees-and-flowers

Food-without-destruction

Being-green

Environmental-protection

Greenpeace

Smog

Nature

Wildlife

Universal-concern

Green-tourism

Recycling

Hazardous-waste

2.    Students divide the vocabulary into groups: environment-friendly and harmful to the nature.

3.    Students state the problem and find the solution to the problem (using the voc).

4.    Group work (3-4 students each)

Using the Internet search (Google, Yandex, Yahoo)  students find articles on the following problems:

-         Air pollution

-         Global warming and climate changes

-         Overpopulation

-         Hazardous waste

-         Water pollution

-         Etc.

Students study the problem and make short presentations in groups.

5.    Using Skype, Twitter, ICQ, etc. students talk to their mates from other countries to find out what types of pollution are the same and peculiar in different countries? How developed countries can help each other to overcome the problems (the USA, China Russia, etc.)?

 6.    Students share the information discussed in their blogs to use in further projects.

 7.    Home assignment: video project promoting ways of solution of the problems presented.

Passing by the second half of our path

We are in the the middle of our course! The week 5 is over. We are getting closer and closer to final projects. 


Feel enthusiastic?


Actually, I haven't thought how much we learnt until I saw Yap Thin Peng's post on Nicenet. Here it is:


FROM: Yap Thin Peng   (05/11/12 10:21 AM PST)   [ Send a personal message to Yap Thin Peng]
SUBJECT: RE: Step # 5 : Writing Skills & Blog

Hi Robert

Correct me if I am wrong. 
First, allow me to make a summary of what I have learnt up to week 5.

a)   Google sites (https://sites.google.com/site/webskillsuo/home + wikis)
b)   Search engines
c)   Reflective blog (Blogger.com)
d)   Virtual Classroom ( Nicenet.org)
e)   Blogger (Blogger.com)
f)   Social Bookmarking site (Delicious.com)
g)   Google docs
h)   JupiterGrades   
i)   Rubrics (Rubistar.com)
j)   PBL with WebQuest as an example

Did I miss out anything?


All in all, we have learnt a great amount of things, we brainstormed and shared lots of wonderful ideas. I feel proud of myself and it's a great honor to work in the team like ours.  

READING, WRITING, VOCABULARY

Week 4 is almost over and I feel tired but satisfied. Web skills on line courses make me more disciplined and responsible for the stuff I'm doing. I've realized  that I should post messages to the conference threads and blog on the first and second half of the week.

My colleagues' posts inspire me to work harder. I've caught myself on thinking about new technologies, problems and needs of EFL/ESL teacher. I've started to form my final project and I must say that's a great feeling to be part of the international teaching community.

As far as we discussed Reading, Writing and Vocabulary skills this week I've read some wonderful articles about these teaching issues. I could recommend them to you!

READING


You Can Do It: 6 Easy Steps to Creating a Perfect Reading Unit with ANY Text
http://busyteacher.org/11089-6-easy-steps-create-perfect-reading-unit-any-text.html


Goodbye, Boring Reading Classes: Using Reader’s Theatre To Spice Up The Reading Class
http://busyteacher.org/10497-goodbye-boring-reading-classes-use-readers-theatre.html



WRITING


How To Teach Writing: 6 Methods For Generating Writing Ideas
http://busyteacher.org/4650-how-to-teach-writing-6-methods-for-generating.html


Getting Kids Ready to Write: 4 Easy Strategies for ESL Teachers
http://busyteacher.org/11013-getting-kids-ready-to-write-4-easy-strategies.html



VOCABULARY

10 Out of the Ordinary Places Your Students can Pick up New Vocabulary
http://busyteacher.org/11075-10-places-students-can-pick-up-vocabulary.html


The Power of Words: 5 Easy Tools to Help Your Students Learn Vocabulary
http://busyteacher.org/11014-5-tools-help-students-learn-vocabulary.html

How to Write an International CV?

What is CV?

A CV or Curriculum Vitae is:

·                  Your Life History

·                  Your Job History

·                  Your Achievements

·                  Your Skills

Why should I have a CV ?

A CV or curriculum vitae is a marketing tool. With your CV you will be able to promote yourself. Imagine the CV as being a brochure that will list the benefits of a particular service. The service being your time and skills! When writing a CV look at it from your employers point of view. Would you stand out against the competition (the other candidates) and would the manager want to talk to you for a possible job? You have to ask yourself these questions when writing your CV or curriculum vitae.

Networking and interviewing are essential for your job hunt and your CV is just the first step in the job search. However, a CV will be your first contact with potential employers and will open the door. If you are invited for an interview, you would then be in a position to explain and expand on what is in your CV.

A CV is an essential tool in your job search. When applying for a vacancy, you generally first have to send your CV to present yourself to the prospective employer.

How to Write a CV

 In the CV heading you can write your general information:

·                  Name

·                  Surname

·                  Local address

·                  E-mail address

·                  Phone number

(If applying for an overseas job, please remember to include your international dialling code.) Include your mobile/cell phone number if you are going to relocate soon.

CV Skills Summary

The Skills Summary section of your CV includes your main skills. You should only include keywords in his section, do not go into lengthy descriptions of your skills. The skill summary is also called personal profile.

CV Objective

The CV Objective, sometimes also referred to as CV Personal Profile states "What is the next step in my career?" This should be a short, concise statement that informs the employer what kind of position you are looking for. The type of position, the role (managerial, supervisor, contractor) should be included as well.

If you are job hunting it is a good idea to have several CV's with different profiles or objectives. For example, you can have a CV for a sales supervisor and the other for a shop floor manager. Your 'sales supervisor' CV can highlight achievements in this area, and the CV would be tuned to that particular in terms of job descriptions and achievements.

Education on your CV

List all of your qualifications in this section. Include all of your education including certifications from non-academic institutions, especially those that are related to the job vacancy. If you have more work experience than qualifications, put your work experience before your qualifications.

A CV is your first point of contact with an employer. From the employer's perspective, it's the only available information with which to assess your skills and suitability for a job.

How To Write a CV

So your CV has to be tailored for that employer. All jobs are different, and so are all employers. It's important that your CV speaks directly to the job, addresses criteria, and above all else is relevant to the position.

The CV needs to be interesting, as well as clear and concise. It should make a good first impression. You can fit a lot of information into a paragraph.

Making Your CV More Interesting

There are standard CV formats, most of which cover basic information requirements, but to stand out, a CV needs to distinguish the applicant. The idea is to create an identity for the employer to see.

One of the best ways of doing this is to show what you've accomplished in your work. This is very similar to listing skills, which is a common format in many CVs, but here it means showing what you've done with those skills.

Everyone has a storehouse of what they've done, things they've achieved on the job. What's important is to be able to quantify those things as a work value measurement. The employer needs to see results which relate to the job.

Remembering that this CV is being targeted to a specific job, you need to show a potential employer that your previous work has been both productive and impressive.

What is a Targeted CV?

Think about your previous work, and how it relates to your CV.

Say you were on a production line, and you managed to come up with a way of speeding up production by eliminating some wasteful or unnecessary part of the process. Or, if you were in a government job, if you found a quicker way of processing applications.

Note that this all equates to a clearly defined situation. It took 20 minutes on the production line, now it takes 15. Applications used to take three days, now they take one.

If you're in a money-making job, prove you know how to make money, when listing what you've done. If you can say 'My section took in million in revenue in the course of our project' you're saying something that means a lot to your employer. If you can say 'My register takes in ,000 plus per day,' it's a quantification of your level of responsibility and your experience.

The whole idea here is that your CV is a very interesting document to anyone reading it. There are clear indications of what you've done, how you did it, and these are tangible proof of your skills.

Compare this to a colorless, drab, statement like 'Worked on production line' or 'Processed applications' and there's a bit of a difference.

Note that without these identifying characteristics, your application can get lost in the crowd quite easily, and quite understandably. What's to distinguish one process worker from another?

Because that's exactly what the employer has to do. Somehow, with only the CVs to guide them, employers have to try to find the best people for the job.

Every word on a CV is valuable.

You have to produce an advertisement for yourself and your skills. Like any advertisement, presentation matters. How you describe your experience and skills is crucial.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Do not ever falsify information, or give any misleading information to an employer under any circumstances whatever.

It's illegal, it's self destructive, and it's just plain stupid.

Don't even think about it.

You can say goodbye to any job like that. It's certain death.

Don't put yourself in a position where your statements can't be trusted. Only give verifiable information, and do not exaggerate.

In some cases you may be going for a promotion or a position which is above your previous levels of experience. In these cases, your prior work record, and your hard facts, are far more important.

Remember that you're competing with other people. Quality of information is what really matters on any CV. Keep it real, at all times.

Source: http://www.cvtips.com

See my international CV as an example:

Maria Mironova
99 Gorkogo St., – apt. 99

Blagoveschensk, Russia, 675011
Cell phone: 8924-6999999 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            8924-6999999      end_of_the_skype_highlighting
mironova_mariya@inbox.ru

PERSONAL DETAILS

Full name: Mironova Maria Vladimirovna, Mrs.
Nationality: Russian (born in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Russian Federation)
DOB: 03/23/1984

PROFILE

My area of profession is teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL). On the one hand, it is a mind-boggling experience that gives me a perfect opportunity to reveal my managerial skills. While teaching I can show my creativity and satisfy my students’ curiosity. On the other hand, it is a difficult work which requires a considerable amount of patience. My job is a real challenge so it makes me energetic and ready to make quick decisions. For more than four years of teaching I changed courses from linguistic disciplines like interpreting and translating, to EFL for journalists, social workers and engineers. My current courses include EFL for undergraduate and M.A. students of the School of Economics, as well as Business English for undergraduate students of management specialization. I try to use different teaching techniques including brainstorming, round tables and role plays.

SKILLS BASE

·                        Familiarity with both the research field and the teaching work

·                        Proven leadership and human management skills

·                        Time-efficient, systematic working methodology

·                        Rapid adaptability to new problem-solving and new locations

·                        Languages: Russian, English, German, and Chinese

·                        IT: Word, Excel, Windows, Photoshop, Movie Maker, Power Point, etc.

EDUCATION
Post-graduate, German languages, Amur State University, 2010

Concentrations: Cognitive Linguistics, Psycholinguistics

Dissertation: Cultural specificity of color names in idioms (on the material of modern American literature)

M.A., English-German Interpreting, Amur State University, 2006

Concentrations: Linguistics, Theory of Translation

Thesis: National specificity of color names in English and Chinese

SPECIAL COURSES

Innovative approaches in teaching ESL, FEELTA, 2010

Techniques of University teaching and improving teaching skills, Amur State University, 2008

IDL 103 – Security, Civil Liberties and Terrorism, The Stanford Institute for International Studies, 2004

Chinese language, School of Eastern Languages, 2004

EXPERIENCE
Amur State University

Assistant professor

2006 – present time

Newspaper “Life” (“Zhizn”), site  www.life.ru

Reporter

2009-2010

News agency “Port Amur”, site  www.portamur.ru

Reporter

2009

Public opinion investigation agency “Monitoring”

Interviewer

2003-2004

Newspaper Moskovskiy Komsomolets on Amur 

Freelance journalist

2001 – 2003

PRESENTATIONS
Mironova, Maria (2010). Color metaphorization in cognitive science. Paper presented at the VIII International FEELTA Conference: From Broadcasting to Narrowcasting: Global Englishes, Local Contexts.

SHORT LIST OF RELEVANT PUBLICATIONS

type of publication	title	publisher	publication year
book	“Colorful English” course book for ESL learners	Amur State University	2010
conference working paper	“Color metaphorization in cognitive science”	Far Eastern English Teachers Association (FEELTA)	2010
online article	“Realization of color names "white" and "black" in modern American literature (cultural approach)” http://conference.kemsu.ru/GetDocsFile?id=19911&table=papers_file&type=0&conn=confDB	Kemerovo State University	2010
journal article	“Polysemantics of adjectives “white” and “black” in  English and Chinese” original article “Полисемантич­ность прилага­тельных  «белый» и «черный» (на примере фразеоло­гических единиц английского и ки­тайского языков)”	Blagoveschesk State Pedagogical University	2010
journal article	“Color names in cultural world per­ception of modern Americans” original article “Цветообозначения в культурной кар­тине мира совре­менных американ­цев”	Amur State University	2009
journal article	“The aspect of devel­opment of general typology of idioms in cognitive aspect of phraseology” original article “Разра­ботка свод­ной типо­логии фразеоло­гических единиц”	Far Eastern State University	2009
journal article	“Classification of color adjectives in English and Russian” original article “Классификация прилагательных цвета (на примере цветообозначений русского и англий­ского языков)”	Amur State University	2009
journal article	“Metaphorization of color idioms in fiction literature” original article “Метафоризация фразеологизмов с компонентом «цвет» в художест-венной картине мира”	Rostov-on-Don State University	2009
journal article	“Ethnical peculiarity of color terms in the context of English and Chinese cultures” original article “Этноспецифич­ность цветообо­значе­ний в контек­сте английской и китай­ской культур”	Amur State University	2008
journal article	“Cultural peculiarity of color terms in cognitive aspect (on the material of Eng­lish and Chinese idioms)” original article “Культурная спе­ци­фика цве­тообо­зна­че­ний в когни­тив­ном аспекте (на ма­териале фра­зео­логиз­мов анг­лий­ского и китай­ского язы­ков)”	Amur State University	2008

REFERENCES
References available upon request. 

So Much More Than Just A Teacher

The third week is over and I feel satisfied but a little bit exhausted. New experiences like stacks on Delicious.com, discussions threads, heaps of CALL readings and EFL sites' search make me overloaded with useful information which I need to digest.

I've just found a poster about teachers I want to share with you. Print this out and put it up in your Teacher's Room - it's guaranteed to keep you motivated every working day! Every time you feel exhausted - look at the poster and remember how many great roles are playing every single day!

Awesome ESL/EFL sites

Awesome EFL/ESL sites

Multi-purpose English

BusyTeacher.org

It is an essential resource for the EFL/ESL teacher. Why not take some time to explore other tools that we have to offer including free worksheets, flashcards, ideas for vocabulary, and teaching ideas, just to name a few. You will never know there was so much available to you so close to home.

BrightHub.com

This site offers a bounty of information to the ESL teacher. Here you can read articles about teaching ESL as well as find lesson plans for different times of the year. Are you out of ideas for games, vocabulary or activities for your students? Get some inspiration here.

EnglishClub.com

Welcome to English Club online, helping you learn English or teach English. You'll find everything from lessons for learners to jobs for teachers, including fun pages like games, videos, quizzes and chat - all free!

EnglishPage.com

This website, hosted by an organization called "Language Dynamics," provides a wide range of traditional language exercises & activities to expand vocabulary, improve grammar and listening (fill-in-the blank, vocabulary lists, etc.) The site is free to use, but does generate a lot of popup ads.

Reading English

PinkMonkey.com

If you teach literature in any of your ESL classes, PinkMonkey.com has seemingly limitless resources for you. Here you can find book notes and activities for you and your students for free. With over 460 books listed, you will never need another set of Cliff’s Notes again.

World-English.org/improve_reading_skills.htm

This page contains links to some of the best and most interesting free reading activities and tests on the internet. They are arranged according to the levels: easy, intermediate and advanced. And when you've done those you might want to test your aptitude for speed reading by doing the test here. All of the below reading links are based on interesting stories and are  highly recommended for anyone wanting to improve their reading skills in preparation for English exams such as Cambridge PET, FCE and CAE!

Englishclub.com/reading

Welcome to EnglishClub.com Reading for ESL learners. This is where you'll find help to improve your reading skills. Reading is the third of the four language skills, which are: 1. Listening 2. Speaking 3. Reading 4. Writing.

Eslus.com/LESSONS/READING/READ.HTM

This site includes: Mini-stories with cloze exercises, Speed reading exercises, Extensive reading, Science reading and Text Adventures 

Zozanga.com/readingskills.htm

Make a habit of reading regularly. Read as many English books, newspapers and magazines as you can find. Again this should be fun so make sure the texts you choose are not too too difficult for you. If the book or article you are reading is a chore, then find something easier. You could even try reading graded books written especially for ESL learners.

Writing English

DianaHacker.com/student.html

This is the official site for the series of writing style handbooks written by Diana Hacker. The student site provides companion websites for each book. The websites offer a sample paper in each style (e.g. MLA or APA), and lists of directions for in-text citations and post-text lists of references. The site is user-friendly.

Grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/#

Guide to Grammar & Writing

This site, associated with the Capital Community College Foundation in Hartford, Connecticut, provides mini-lessons on various aspects of grammar and writing, complemented by activities that one can complete online. 

  

ThisIbelieve.org

This I Believe essays and listening (NPR) 

National Public Radio runs a series called "This I Believe," where individuals are invited to write and read out loud 500-word essays about their beliefs and values. Those essays which have been broadcast on the radio feature audio recordings that can be streamed on the web as one reads the transcript. This material provides listening practice as well as models for expressing one's ideas in writing and with expressive intonation in speaking. 

Owl.English.Purdue.edu/owl/resource/678/01/

OWL (Online Writing Lab) ESL Resources. A comprehensive writing site with many useful links. This link takes the user to the "English as a Second Language" section, where one can link back to the full OWL site if desired. Overall, more appropriate for freshman composition, but also has sections on research paper writing, citation formats, business writing and plagiarism.

Marquette.edu/wac

Writing Across the Curriculum at Marquette University is full of useful information about how writers make decisions about organization, content, wording and citations based on specific audience expectations. Users can link to an academic paper checklist to review before turning a paper in, and even find extensive information about typical expectations for papers in a variety of major departments in any university. 

Speaking English

EnglishBaby.com

EnglishBaby! is a site dedicated to teaching common slang based on its usage in pop-culture, particularly in internet and print media stories about the lives of celebrities in the U.S. music and movie industries. One can sign up for an email with idioms and slang terms to arrive weekly. A large proportion of the terms selected are in common usage, though some are only appropriate in extremely casual settings. Chats and discussion forums are also available.

DailyESL.com

Conversation Starters for English Students

One of the best ways to improve communication skills is to become familiar with the language by reading, building vocabulary, and discussing what you study in daily conversations. Too often, ESL/EFL students spend time reading about topics that they normally wouldn't use in daily conversation. This site presents short conversation starters or readings that you can study and then try to apply in everyday situations.

Learn-english-today.com/index.html

This site, managed by an individual teacher, offers a nice list of idioms grouped by theme, rather than just alphabetically. In its idioms section, most idioms offered are in high-frequency use in everyday and classroom speech—much higher than most idiom lists. The classroom exercises section offers both descriptions of how different grammar forms work and traditional fill-in-the-blank exercises with answer keys. The wordgames section offers some reasonable vocabulary activities for those who like puzzles. 

schandlbooks.com/AmericanSlang.html

American Slang. This page provides lists of common idioms & slang terms used by speakers in many different age, regional and socio-economic groups. There are no sound files on the site. 

EZSlang.com

Free activities to help you develop more natural conversation. Reduce your accent, speak more naturally, and understand conversational speech. EZSlang is designed to help you reach these goals rather than sounding like an English textbook . Enjoy!


ManyThings.org/pp

American English Pronunciation Practice. This site provides a series of audio recordings of minimal pair words, followed by quizzes for listening recognition.

iteslj.org/questions/

What is the point of language study if it is not to speak the language in question? Give your ESL students something to talk about with this compilation of discussion questions you can use in class. Click on the topic you are planning on studying and find more than enough questions to keep your class in conversation for as long as you want to let them talk.

Dictionary.com

Neither you nor your students wants to carry around a ten-pound English reference dictionary, but you likely already carry something that gives you internet access. If so, bookmark dictionary.com for easy reference. This site will give you definitions of English words as well as thesaurus entries and a word of the day. There are also many other

helpful resources this site offers.

elfs.com/ELFsX.html

This site comes out of UCLA's University Extension program, and focuses on practical English. There are some nice segments of this site with interactive activities on idioms and listening, plus the site offers a few pronunciation tongue twisters. The "build a story" section, for example, focuses on grammar as users select gramatically accurate phrases to describe animations. More materials are available when one registers for free membership.

chinswing.com/pages/firststeps.aspx

Chinswing (Creating Conversations) 

It is not an educational site, though a number of language educators use it. Instead, this site enables users to record audio clips to initiate or participate in a thread of discussion on a given topic. Thus learners of English can listen to a wide variety of speakers of English from all over the world on a wide variety of topics.

ec.hku.hk/vocabulary/tutorial/tutorial_list.asp?subject=English&subject_ID=1&sub_subject_ID=8&sub_subject=Idiomatic_English

Professional Word Web-Idioms.  This site, developed at the University of Hong Kong, provides paragraphs densely populated with idioms commonly used in academic settings. Users can click on any idiom to hear it (the speaker offers a British English accent), to get a paraphrase of its meaning, and some offer additional examples of the idiom or more information about the idiom. 

Grammar English

Englishgrammar.org

Every ESL teacher has to teach grammar, even if that is not one of your course names. This site lists the grammar rules of English alphabetically, and they are easily accessible. Not only that, they provide PDF files of lessons on these rules that you can use with your students.

UsingEnglish.com

Looking for something a little more intangible than simple definitions? Check out the dictionary of idioms available from usingenglish.com. There are hundreds of idioms listed on this site as well as phrasal verbs and other grammatical irregularities your students may need help with.

Ets.org/toefl

If you are a teacher of English, the odds are that you probably have not taken the TOEFL. Your students, on the other hand, will be working towards a proficient score on that test to prove their English skills. Familiarize yourself with the test and what your students will have to know to succeed on it with the information here on the official TOEFL site.

a4esl.org/q/f/

Interactive Vocabulary & Grammar quizzes.  This site sponsored by TESL Internet Journal provides links to many grammar and vocabulary quizzes. Flash plug-in is required. 

grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/#

Guide to Grammar & Writing. This site, associated with the Capital Community College Foundation in Hartford, Connecticut, provides mini-lessons on various aspects of grammar and writing, complemented by activities that one can complete online. 

Listening English

EnglishListening.com

Some of the materials on this listening website are available for free. It contains a number of listening segments at the beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels. Each listening clip has information about the speaker, plus comprehension questions and a transcript.

efl.net/caol.htm

ComAudio Online. This site provides a number of ways to focus listening on a sound file - poems, songs, proverbs and other non-interactive speech. The close activities with songs work smoothly. 

ThisIbelieve.org

This I Believe essays and listening (NPR) 

National Public Radio runs a series called "This I Believe," where individuals are invited to write and read out loud 500-word essays about their beliefs and values. Those essays which have been broadcast on the radio feature audio recordings that can be streamed on the web as one reads the transcript. This material provides listening practice as well as models for expressing one's ideas in writing and with expressive intonation in speaking. 

elllo.org/english/home.htm

English Listening Lesson Library Online. This site, though punctuated by many ads, offers a fair amount of listening content, with a number of naturalistic speech hesitations, repairs and overlap. Activities accompany lessons. Listening ranges from transcribed audio conversations, to short video clips, lectures and test-like listening passages.

Esl-Lab.com

Language learning materials that have been used by students and teachers around the world in more than 100 countries. You can find listening quizzes, vocabulary lessons and learning tips here. This has been especially fulfilling in that people have had free access to these learning activities online.

Video English

EnglishCentral.com

English Central provides sentence-by-sentence access to video clips on popular culture, movies, news, and more. Each video is viewable one sentence or so at a time, with a script of that line. Users can record themselves saying each line, and are scored according to a software program's measure of the accuracy of each sound in each word.

ESLvideo.com

While you are at it, why not make up your own quizzes from your favorite videos on YouTube? With ESLvideo.com you can create your own quizzes and even have your students search by teacher to find them. If you are looking for comprehension activities that are ready to go, this site also has videos and quizzes from other teachers sorted by fluency level that your students can access anywhere and anytime.

English-Trailers.com/index.php

This site links users to movie commercials, or movie trailers, from an Apple Computer site and from official movie sites, and complements the trailers with a variety of English language learning activities and a forum for discussing the movies online. The "Conversation Catalysts" section of the site helps students build original dialogues based on language found in the trailers. Summaries and scripts are offered, and a glossary of words with meaning-in-context is provided. While login is not required, registered users (with free registration) can access more resources on the site, and can maintain records of their scores on quizzes and fill-in-the-blank cloze exercises based on trailers.

EnglishBee.net

English video lessons and interactive exercises. You can practice and learn how to use these structure and vocabulary courses. You can improve your grammar, words and reading. Online training system with courses in English Grammar and Vocabulary from the beginner level to advanced.

Business English

BusinessEnglishSite.com

This comprehensive site is designed more with students in mind, and hosts a wide range of activities for them to go on and complete in order to improve their own language skills. But don’t be turned off by this right away, as there is still a lot of very useful information here. For those who are stuck with ways of helping their own class practice, then it is the perfect opportunity to gather some ideas from. Have a look through the exercises, and see how you can customize them to suit your own classes.

BreakingNewsEnglish.com

For those of us who happen to be somewhat stuck for materials to read in the class, this website can be a lifesaver. Discussing current events within the classroom can undoubtedly lead to a lot of heated debate and whilst it ought to be kept in check, it will undoubtedly encourage the students to speak their mind and practice their English more thoroughly. Regularly updated, this website is something every teacher should keep bookmarked!

ESLLibrary.com

Much like the previous website, this particular one will cater towards both students and teachers and is another excellent place to pick up the likes of lesson plans and other ideas. It is possible to sign up with this website in order to get the likes of flashcards and other resources pertaining to English teaching. Definitely worth a look if one is seeking out some solid learning materials for students.

BogglesWorldESL.com

Another great site which has a huge amount of information on it. There is a section where a lot of different activities are displayed and one can pick and choose from these. Of course, they are just ideas and when stumbling upon websites like this, it is important to tailor one’s classes to suit the students themselves. This site also has sections for other types of learners, should the teacher require information of various kinds for teaching different age groups.

ESLGold.com

Another rich resource, not only for people who are teachers but students can also gain a lot of benefit from this website as well. This is a list of different exercises which the student can participate in and, as teachers are sometimes like magpies, it would often be a good move to have a look through the exercises yourself and see how they can be taken and applied to classroom situation.

ESLAmerica.us
Whilst business English tends to focus more on conversation, sometimes students might need to go over various grammatical structures in order to reinforce them in the mind. This website provides links to various different grammatical exercises which can incredibly helpful to teachers who might need a little bit of inspiration within this field. A lot of people do not enjoy grammar and find it difficult; therefore this website will give simple guidelines in its instruction.


UsingEnglish.com

Another extra website which will provide many different ready-made Business English lesson plans and other sources of information. One can never have too many of these on a favourite’s list, so it is important to keep everything organized and pick from what is needed for the next class.

English for Kids

ESL-Kids.com

You can find FREE flashcards, worksheets, games and songs for your little ESL students right here. This site has a unique worksheet and activities generator for creating your own worksheets using words and pictures from themes such as shapes, weather, family and Halloween.

LearnEnglishKids.britishcouncil.org/en

LearnEnglish Kids has lots of free online games,songs, stories and activities for children to have fun and learn English too.

Pumkin.com

Pumkin Online English is an online English language learning service for children aged 3-10. Pumkin Online English is a complete English learning course that enables children to master all the key English skills.

KinderSite.org

Kindersite Project for ALL preschool and Kindergarten age children and English learners.

The Kindersite has 1,000s of links to the best games, songs and stories for young children.

English-4kids.com

Lessons, worksheets, games and PowerPoint presentations.

Rong-chang.com/kids

Short stories, videos, phonics and lesson plans for your little English learners.

English for Fun

ESLpartyland.com

Are you looking for some out of the ordinary materials to use in your classroom? This site includes materials for teaching with film and video, the internet and music.

StudyEnglishToday.net

Here you will find free online english lessons and english grammar, english tests, a collection of english idioms with their meanings, a list of common errors in english usage with the correct explanation and examples, english alphabet with pictures of animals and sound files, games and activities for ESL/EFL learners. Includes also poetry, lyrics, information and useful links for learning and teaching English.

ToLearnEnglish.com/english-games.php

470 games! A great database of free English games to practice one's English!

FunEasyEnglish.com

Easy English lessons: surveys, travel, drive USA, and lots more. Homework and your personal teacher are provided.