EFL WEB EXPLORER: Writing Fun

An interactive writing help site that includes downloads to save for off-line use.

http://www.writingfun.com/

Tech explorer: Ning

Ning is a powerful tool to set up social networks and online communities. It is also a good tool for blended-learning. I would recommend you to go to the Online Classes space and visit the possibilities offered by the online courses. It is also worth checking the tools they have used to develop their learning projects (there is a list on the left side bar). URL: http://onlineclasses.ning.com/

COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE IN ELE

A “community of practice”  is basically a group of teachers who meet on-line to exchange information and help each other with their technological problems. They experience new tools together and discuss their pedagogical advantages. It is for sure one of the most helpful fields where teachers wanting to apply CALL techniques should always get involved. Have a look at the slide-show  Dr. Esperanza Roman showed at Expo-ELE Comillas 2008 about the topic.

SOME TEACHING IDEAS

I have been surfing the web…as usual. That’s where most of my teaching ideas come from today.

I came across a  blog written by a University teacher, Mindy Mc Adams, on Teaching On line Journalism. Her last post, Journalism students’ blogging assignment is really inspiring for the EFL class. She has prepared an assignment for her students which involve 12 weeks’ writing practice. Some ideas that I will follow next year for my Web 2.0. course addressed to intermediate-adavanced students. It is worth reading the comments other colleagues left in order to arrange the task and mark it.

TEACHERS’ CORNER: An anthropological introduction to YouTube

EFL WEB EXPLORER (6): IMPROVE YOUR LISTENING ON THE INTERNET (1)

An excellent site with videos to do listening comprehension practice is Video Jug. Life explained on film.

It is an amazing site with all kind of How-to’s videos. The videos are good practice for any kind of sudents, with the exception of absolute beginners. Besides, the films are wonderfully edited and you can get their script. They don’t speak fast and the videos cover all kind of everyday activities.

For all these reasons it is a good resource both for students and for teachers to use in class. They may be used with the projector. You can get the script before the class and make some adjustments for a listening comprehension practice which you can make into a printout.

The videos on food are an excellent resource for vocabulary and describing process.

I strongly recommend to see and use these videos.

Angeles Hernandez
Escuela Oficial de Idiomas de Santander
CALL and ICT Language Learning

EFL WEB EXPLORER (5)

Just a good site to teach or learn pronunciation. Phonetics Focus is a wonderland for phonetic practice: games, flashcards, charts, etc.

EFL WEB EXPLORER (4)

Today I will comment on one of this comprehensive sites you can go to whenever you look for something new to learn. Usingenglish.com was opened in 2002 and is written by a group of teachers. The reference section includes a good glossary of idioms, phrasal verbs, irregular verbs and grammar terms.  

Students includes tests and polls and articles on English usage. At the English ESL forum, they answer your questions about English usage.

Testing is a good source for English tests and quizzes, questions bank and selected online tests.

Forum.

Teachers is a good section with articles on teaching uses and resources written by other ESL teachers.

EFL WEB EXPLORER (2)

My second post will be to describe a site which concentrates on EFL/ESL language tests. The site’s name is English-test.net. On this web you can find a good range of free language tests which  are distributed by levels (elementary, intermediate and advanced). The site offers preparatory tests for different EFL examniations like TOEIC ,  TOEFL,   GMAT ,  SAT,   GRE ,  MCAT,   PCAT,   ASVAB . There are also  worksheets, lesson plans, esl stories, a download section to work off-line, and a list of about a dozen glossaries and vocabularies with their correspondent tests, PDF prints and flashcards.  

SOME WEBS TO PRACTISE VOCABULARY AND SPELLING (2)

I’d like to share a great tool for practicing spelling and learning new words, that I’ve just come across.

At spellingcity.com you can practice and enhance both your vocabulary and spelling, by listening to lists of words which are pronounced alone or in a sentence and spelt out.

This free tool, which can be used as a refresher on the overhead projector or at a language lab for individual work ,  contains over 30,000 words including plurals, contractions, past and future tenses. You must register to make the most of it. Then you can make your own word list to do sound and sentence practice, some tests and play computer games. It uses a real person’s voice to represent the individual words after which they give you a whole sentence.

- The pick a game section let you practice games with your own word lists or other peoples’ lists. You can play Word Search, HangMouse, Unscramble, Audio Word Match, Which Word?, Missing Letter or Unscramble Sentence

Angeles Hernandez
Computer Assisted Language Learning: Theoretical backup and practical issues