Anastasia Gaeta Website Task for May 19th, 2011: Online Resources
1) http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/esl/policy/classroom.pdf - A Guide for Teachers
This site is useful for teachers with little experience with ELLs or as a refresher
for those with more experience. I like how it clearly outlines who falls into the ELL category, the description of the stages of adjustment as well as cultural differences. It also covers assessment, planning and offers practical tips, such as incorporating wait time for student answers and developing a homework club. I also found an interesting quote in this guide: “Functioning all day in a second language is exhausting and demanding. Homework can take these students two to three times longer to complete.” (p. 24). There is also a useful chart that describes what teachers should look for when determining proficiency levels. I found this site to be clear and useful for all teachers of ELLs.
2) http://everythingesl.net/ - Lesson Plans, Teaching Tips and Resources
This is a fantastic website. I really enjoyed seeing the lesson plans for various topics, for instance “Multicultural Holidays Through Student Artwork”, as well as how well-written and detailed the lesson plans are. The “Teaching Tips” section is also very helpful and has strategies for teaching vocabulary, activities for new students, writing a letter of introduction, as well as many other practical items for teachers to use. The “Resource Picks” has links to sites that offer books, cd-roms, websites and/or activities.
3) http://www.bergen.edu/pages1/pages/2183.aspx - ESL sites
This website features numerous links and is divided into sections (all skills and levels, grammar, listening, pronunciation, reading, vocabulary, etc.) There is something for all ESL learners to use and learn from. I particularly liked the “ESL Listening Podcasts” as finding listening exercises for students to use can sometimes be difficult. Other notable links include “Train Your Accent”, “Learning Vocabulary Can Be Fun” and “English Corner Reading.” This is a website that I will definitely access in the future.
4) http://a4esl.org/ - Online Activities for Students
This site has different levels of grammar, vocabulary and crossword puzzle activities,
as well as Podcasts and YouTube blogs. There is also a small teacher section. What I especially liked about this site (and had never seen before) was the section of bilingual quizzes. From Arabic-English to Zulu-English, there were various quizzes to test students on different topics of vocabulary, such as numbers, weather, countries, family, etc. Incorporating the student’s native language can help consolidate the English vocabulary and grammar structures he/she is learning, as well as provide a sense of confidence.
5) http://esl-lab.com/index.htm - Listening Activities for Students
This is another great website. It’s easy to find grammar activities online and also in books, but providing students with an opportunity to practise their oral and listening skills is also very important. The activities are divided into levels (easy, medium, difficult) and feature adult and children’s voices. I like that the conversations centre around everyday topics and situations, such as an answering machine, grocery shopping and store returns, to name a few. Once you click on a conversation, the website lists the level again, topic, person(s) speaking and length of the conversation. This prepares the student for what he/she is going to be listening to. There is a pre-listening activity, listening activity with a comprehension quiz, various vocabulary activities that focus on the conversation, post-listening activities and an online investigation dealing with the topic of the conversation. This is a very useful website.