Karin’s award-winning web site is divided into two sections: one for students and one for teachers, although both parties are encouraged to investigate the other’s side. For students, Karin provides over seventy-five interactive quizzes, interactive lessons, discussion forums on a variety of topics, access to real time chat, and student e-mail exchange for virtual pen pals. For the teacher, Karin offers lesson plans, teaching ideas, discussion forums, and even employment opportunities. There is even a shopping page with many books and teaching aids. With all this “party land” has to offer, quite possibly its most amazing feature is that it’s FREE! Drop in for a lot of learning and a great time (party hats not included).
At the Many Things web site students can play word games such as Hangman, the Wordmeister, and Concentration. The Super Quiz Machine takes students through twenty questions with a range of difficulty, unless they opt for the easier Word Find and Jumble. There is a Magnet Board, in which the ESL student can arrange available words to form a sentence or even write a short poem. In the Listening Room, students can hear classic tunes such as “Buffalo Gals” and “Swanee River,” and later fill the blanks in the displayed lyrics. For the teacher, lesson ideas can be obtained from the Random Sentence Generator, which includes the five basic grammatical patterns and all of the possible verb tenses. There are many pages with useful phrases in a variety of everyday situations, such as ordering food in a restaurant or asking for directions. There are also sample pages from the authors’ textbook available for free downloading.
Over 280 slang words and phrases are presented within amusing sentences to give proper context and meaning. Teachers are encouraged to “go bananas” at this extensive and entertaining web site that makes learning English a “piece of cake.”
http://www.bekkoame.ne.jp/~nerm/efltopr.htm
An original page at this site is titled “Colorful Idioms.” Here the author has included many words and expressions that contain a color, displayed within a bar of that color. For example, definitions and examples of usage are provided for “pink elephants,” “green card,” and “out of the blue.” One of the links on this page will lead to a “Grammar Encyclopedia,” which is nicely organized and even includes a list of 110 commonly used irregular verbs. Under the “Nick-knacks” page one can find euphemisms, a homonym and homophone quiz, and a survey to find out what students want to learn. Of particular interest is a page dedicated to those students who are frustrated by not noticing immediate advances in English proficiency after only several hours of instruction. A table lists different ages and the corresponding hours the average person has heard their native language being spoken. For example, a thirty-year-old person has heard his or her language for 175,320 hours. After only several classes, how can they expect to be fluent in English?
http://www.edochan.com/teaching/indextitle.htm
Check out this site! Dozens of great games such as: Circle the Word Game, How Does She Look, How Many, Do Me a Favor, Map Game, the Hunt, the Price is Right, and many more! Activities cover all forms of language acquisition, especially oral communication. The games are designed to get students up out of their seats and communicating in English. The site provides all you need to know about each game—the appropriate level, the time it takes to play, the focus and materials needed. Let the games begin!
Whew! Let me catch my breath—I just came back from this whirlwind of a web site! If I had to choose one word to describe this electronic diamond in the Internet rough, it would be: “ROCKIN’!”
This cool site is for students who want to learn how real English is spoken in the street. After registering for a free membership, visitors at “Ebaby” have full access to chats, message boards, and are guaranteed e-mail replies from native speakers of English. After downloading Real Player and Real Audio, which are both free online and conveniently linked to “Ebaby,” students can actually listen to conversations under the “Eavesdropping” section and hear real American conversations. Students can also listen to popular music while reading the lyrics, which are often difficult to understand. Definitions for slang words mentioned in any of the dialogues can be found at the site, including many slang terms not defined in dictionaries. In the movie section students can see movie clips and also listen to discussions of films. The current topic features the cinematic masterpieces starring Steven Segal. If students choose, they can truly get involved in this web site by posting messages in the forums, making friends with e-pals, taking part in surveys and contests, and signing up for the weekly newsletter. This site is the leader for learning the fun way—the “Ebaby” way.
Get out the oven mitts before logging on to this web site because baby, it is HOT! What’s truly amazing is how they were able to fit all the features under a single roof.
If you don’t know the difference between “chill out,” “veg out,” “wig out,” or “zone out,” then you need some help from this up-to-date slang dictionary. While it may not include every slang word in existence, it defines some the most current expressions, such as “you go girl.” Interesting and comical pictures accompany the definitions. If you register with the web site, they will even send you a slang word-of-the-day. ESL students may have to share this section of the website with ESL teachers who need to decipher the conversations of their adolescent children.
At the Student Center, registered visitors are offered a personal “bag” in which they can store their favorite items, and are encouraged to turn the site into their own “super cool cyber pad.”
American history and geography can be studied while visiting Travel USA, the section that also provides useful travel information and other nifty facts. Other aspects of American culture can be explored by cruising through the Media Room, where ESL students can “practice English with fun articles, essays, and reviews.” Topics covered range from Madonna’s latest CD to the time-honored Turkey tradition.
Students can search for English schools and private teachers by area and educational advisers are available to help find a school (although I have not tested this feature). The site offers searches for translators and immigration services as well, but I was not able to get any results for any of the areas tested. An interesting feature is the foreign Consulate search within the United States.
The Bazaar offers online courses, grammar, video, tapes, CD-ROMs, and dictionaries for students who are interested in teaching themselves. This section also offers course material and teaching manuals for teachers of ESL.
In the Teachers’ Lounge, visitors can browse through Teaching Tips and Lesson Plan Exchange to get classroom ideas or even ask their own questions. In the Interlingo Journal, teachers can share experiences or submit articles. The one currently displayed is about an ambitious volunteer from North Carolina who teaches “guerilla ESL” from the local Laundromat.
Did I mention they have free email? Log on today or kick yourself tomorrow!
http://www.linguistic-funland.com
Kristina Pfaff’s Linguistic Funland is a bright spot on the web is a giant directory that has over 1,131 links in forty-four categories, including resources for language teaching and learning and linguistics study.
Upon arrival to the homepage, click on the “English: TESL/EFL/TESOL” link, and then click on “View the Site Map.” From this index visitors can easily choose a specific category in which to browse listed links: Activities-94 links!, Materials-63 links!, Training (Programs, Masters, and Certificates)-61 links!, Student Projects-15 links, Educational Software-26 links (including one for Old English as a second language!), Job Opportunities-31 links, Fun, Interesting and Cultural Sites-29 links, Professional Organizations-25 links.
In addition to the many ESL links, visitors are encouraged to explore the linguistic studies links. Many will find that language is accurately described by Kristina Pfaff when she states, “Language is Chaos! Language is Fun! Language is Way Cool!”
The “Lounge” originally conjured up images of avocado appliances, tiki torches, and fondue forks for me, so I must admit I was a little disappointed with the décor when I logged on to this site. Fortunately, this place makes up for whatever it lacks in stylish surroundings with its useful and amusing content.
In addition to the ESL web site standards such as job postings, pen-pal connections, and forum boards (In which one poor teacher has requested help on managing forty-five seventeen-year-olds), the interesting and entertaining “Teachers’ Tales” section allows ESL teachers to relate their most embarrassing and funny classroom anecdotes with the option to remain anonymous. These candid (and occasionally sordid) tales of frank teachers and clumsy students will leave you cringing and laughing at the same time.
The site creator and manager Neil Coghlan, who has received a Golden Web Award in 2001 and 2002 for his efforts, makes clear that his focus is on oral communication. To help get your students to flap their gums, Neil has provided free access to hundreds of communicative lesson plans, printer-friendly grammar worksheets, surveys, and flashcards. There are also board games, ideas for student pronunciation drills, and song lyrics available to help turn your class into a Broadway spectacle. Can you imagine your ESL students belting out hits by ABBA !?
Before leaving the “Lounge,” visitors should stop by the polls and exercise their democratic right to vote. One recent question asked visitors how long they planned on teaching ESL. Over 28% answered for more than five years and a whopping 53.6% proclaimed they would teach until the day they retire. As many Hogar Hispano ESL Program Volunteers know, retirement hasn’t kept them out of the classroom, but rather given them even more time to dedicate to their students.
Do you occasionally find yourself simply too busy to create a lesson plan? Are you tired of just “winging it?” If you’re nodding knowingly, then STOP THE INSANITY! Your slap-dash subjects and methodological maladies are over. Peter Snashall, a teacher in Thailand for over eight years, has constructed this useful website as a “resource for creating ESL/EFL lessons/courses as quickly as possible.” While lesson planning should normally be prepared beforehand and well thought out, a quick visit to “the Flow” could certainly ease last-minute scrambling.
One feature that assists teachers in obtaining a ready-to-use lesson plan is the well-organized format. “The Flow” can be searched by the level of English you teach (Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, or Intermediate), by the activity type (e.g. pronunciation, grammar, debates, vocabulary), or by themes (e.g. shopping, family, jobs, health, experiences, routines). Once you’ve selected a topic, an entire page opens up, listing guides, lessons and activities, lateral resources, and links to other sites.
An interesting exercise under the title “Complaints” relies on human nature to get students talking. First, students must as a class brainstorm on the annoying qualities of their neighbors. Students catch on quickly and are then given the opportunity to gripe about supervisors, siblings, friends, significant others, and even spouses! The ensuing role-play has one student playing the complainer and the defendant making excuses for his or her irritating actions. While I’m on the subject, I have two little complaints with this website that will inevitably cause controversy (that’s what complaining is all about, right!?): One, the pastels are weak; Two, the British orthography is wimpy. Despite these minor faults, I suggest you turn on your virtual faucets and let the ESL flow!
