Great technology tools for English language teachers

A virtual filing cabinet. Evernote has revolutionized my life.  It's similar to Microsoft's program OneNote, but is cloud-based and FREE!  It allows you to tag web pages you find helpful or interesting.  You can also create your own notes.  I use it for lesson planning and keep all of my class agendas on Evernote.  Because it's accesible online as well, I feel a little safer knowing I can access it from another computer, not just my hard drive or thumb drive.  There's also a "missing manual" for Evernote that you can download here.  Here's a screenshot of my categories.

Jing is a screen capture site which allows you take a 'picture' of any screen or portion of screen that you want.  I find this incredibly useful when I make handouts for my students because it lets me incorporate graphics or webpages in a quick and convenient way.  It can also be used to create videos.  I've seen other instructors using it to record feedback to students on their work.

If you haven't yet heard of Pinterest, it might be a good idea to climb out from underneath the rock over your head.  However, even if you are on Pinterest, you may not be aware of the vast array of educational resources.  Larry Ferlazzo has some great boards, and you can check out my education board and my writing board as well.  

I found Prezi because my new computer doesn't have Microsoft Office and I was looking for free presentation software.  The bonus was how cool Prezi is - the idea is like powerpoint, but the presentations have the feel of a graphic organizer (which, of courses, I LOVE!)  I'm so excited to jazz up presentations a bit in my classes.  Its presentations have the feel of a Mac, and its also free!  See a presentation that I made to introduce myself to my students.

I've come across VoiceThread frequently at conferences I attend.  While I haven't used it in class yet, I'm definitely waiting to.  It would be a great site for ESL students to practice speaking.  It's a great way to create a centralized, interactive discussion on-line around a specific topic.

Wiggio is a tool which facilitates groupwork.  It offers conference calls, calendars, to-do lists and other tools to help groups work together online.

Here are links to other technological resources educators use as well:

• 20 New Tools for Digital Classrooms

Online dictionaries for language learning

While dictionaries have always been crucial in the process of language learning, online dictionaries are introducing a whole new world of accesible information!  Complete with forums, idioms, thesauri, and even encyclopedias in a variety of languages, these sites are a one-stop shop!

Here are a couple of my favorite that are particularly useful for English language learners:

The Free Dictionary

My favorite feature of The Free Dictionary is it's industry specific dictionaries - it has medical, legal, and financial dictionaries.

Word Reference

Don't let it's plainness fool you - this is a powerful tool!  With dictionaries in 15 languages, this is great for a multilingual class.  It's language forums are also very useful in dialogging about word meanings with native speakers.

Recommended website: Larry Ferlazzo's websites of the Day

This guy's blog is absolutely fabulous!  He posts about everything in ESL, but particularly about top websites.  One particularly helpful page is the "Most Popular" tab - he posts everything from 'The best websites for learning about MLK" to "Helping students develop self-control."  Larry's won quite a few awards and is an ESL teacher in California.  He also runs an English website for English language learners.

Best flashcard resources for ESL students

Flashcards are a great tool for language learning, and can be used in far more interactive ways than simply flip and recall.  Why spend money on pre-made flashcards if you have paper and a printer?  There are some GREAT websites that offer free flashcards for English language learners.  Here are a few:

ESLFlashcards.com.  All flashcards are free and come in 3 sizes.  Art looks like clip-art.   The site offers over 2900 flashcards!

ESL Flashcards for Kids.  Flashcards come in different sizes, with and without the word describing the picture.

ESL Kidstuff Flashcards.  Over 1500 flashcards in 80 categories.

Kidsparkz.  Offers photo flashcards too.

Kizclub.  This is my all time FAVORITE printables site.  Their flashcards are no exception!

Best English language grammar reference sites

So just because you teach English may not mean that you understand it, especially if you are a native speaker and don't have special training in teaching English.  Here are some great sites to look up all sorts of  rules and guidelines for the English language:

About.com: ESL:  includes charts, quizzes and other related resources which review and introduce grammar.

The Basic Elements of English:  Guide to better understanding parts of speech, sentences, punctuation and word use.

Grammar Bytes:  Contains a wide variety of terms, exercises, handouts, presentations, tips and rules addressing English grammar.

Guide to Grammar and Writing:  Breaks down topics by word/sentences, paragraph, and essay levels

Oxford Dictionaries Online:  Good for teacher and student alike, this includes a dictionary, a guide for better writing, and puzzles and games.

Purdue OWL Writing Lab:  Containing a HUGE variety of resources for writing teachers, this site is packed with information for teachers, tutors, and students.

WordReference:  a multilingual (15 languages!), interactive, online dictionary.  The best thing about this site is the forums where you can ask specific questions about word use, etc.

Why use graphic organizers with English Language Learners

Teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) in the US has its own unique dynamics with regards to content, standards, and testing.  Given this context, many ESL teachers are teaching far more than just English language – they can play the role of social worker, lawyer, parent (not to mention the never-ending paper-pusher!).  I’ve even known ESL teachers who bring breakfast for their students because they knew no food was available at home.  Kudos to all of you doing this meaningful and needed work!

Here are some excellent resources that will help you do your job even better:

Colorin Colorado

PACKED with information, this bilingual (Spanish) site offers research-based guidance for ESL teachers in the form of webcasts, articles, and materials.  Take a look at some of the topics they address for educators:

And here’s an overview of their research topics:

They also offer an email newsletter.  This is by far the most informative and comprehensive ESL website I’ve seen.

National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquistion (NCELA)

Sponsored by the US Department of Education, NCELA provides access to current standards, grants, funding, and opportunities for professional development.  While some may argue that government offices are affected too much by politics and bureaucracy to provide accurate information (and have a darn good point!), it is still a reality that this dictates much of the environment that affects the field of ESL teaching in the US.  Its helpful to understand the system to be able to work most effectively in it.

Teaching Tolerance

In many cases, ESL teachers are often advocates for and defenders of policies, practices, and attitudes that support an environment of mutual respect between cultures.  While I take issue with the word ‘tolerance’ (I would hope for more than just ‘tolerance’ in our schools, but that’s another issue), this site offers a wide variety of lesson plans, articles, and tools for teachers looking to help their schools develop a culturally responsive environment in the classroom.

Top resources for American public school ESL educators

Teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) in the US has its own unique dynamics with regards to content, standards, and testing.  Given this context, many ESL teachers are teaching far more than just English language – they can play the role of social worker, lawyer, parent (not to mention the never-ending paper-pusher!).  I’ve even known ESL teachers who bring breakfast for their students because they knew no food was available at home.  Kudos to all of you doing this meaningful and needed work!

Here are some excellent resources that will help you do your job even better:

Colorin Colorado

PACKED with information, this bilingual (Spanish) site offers research-based guidance for ESL teachers in the form of webcasts, articles, and materials.  Take a look at some of the topics they address for educators:

And here’s an overview of their research topics:

They also offer an email newsletter.  This is by far the most informative and comprehensive ESL website I’ve seen.

National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquistion (NCELA)

Sponsored by the US Department of Education, NCELA provides access to current standards, grants, funding, and opportunities for professional development.  While some may argue that government offices are affected too much by politics and bureaucracy to provide accurate information (and have a darn good point!), it is still a reality that this dictates much of the environment that affects the field of ESL teaching in the US.  Its helpful to understand the system to be able to work most effectively in it.

Teaching Tolerance

In many cases, ESL teachers are often advocates for and defenders of policies, practices, and attitudes that support an environment of mutual respect between cultures.  While I take issue with the word ‘tolerance’ (I would hope for more than just ‘tolerance’ in our schools, but that’s another issue), this site offers a wide variety of lesson plans, articles, and tools for teachers looking to help their schools develop a culturally responsive environment in the classroom.

Top sites for teaching and practicing English vocabulary

Teaching vocabulary can definitely get a little boring and repetitive, here are some great sites to help keep interest high and activities varied:

The Flatmates by BBC Learning English



The Flatmates is a pithy, entertaining series of four characters - students will love following the episodes.  What's great about this series is that each episode comes with materials, ideas, and worksheets for teachers, as well as quizzes and vocabulary lists.  This would be a particularly great resource for teachers with access to the internet, but lacking on extra teaching materials - everything you need for a whole series of lessons is on the website!

VocabSushi

By far, this is the best vocabulary website I've seen.  It's well thought-out and easy to navigate, with a variety of vocabulary sets for different levels, purposes, and ages.  Some of it's greatest features:

• Diagnostic test that measures your ability and places you at a specific level.
• Audio files with word pronunciation
• Progress reports on the words you are learning
• Recent news articles to read which contains the words being studied
• Ability to print sentence completion or matching worksheets.

Really, the only downside to this website is that it's not free :(.

Free Rice

Though simpler than Vocab Sushi, it's a great FREE way to practice vocab at a specific level as it also guages the level you are at in vocab and teaches words from there.  Another great perk is that for every answer you get right, Free Rice donates 10 grains of rice to the World Food Programme.

WordReference Online Language Dictionaries

Word references offer English dictionaries in 13 languages, plus a monolingual dictionary.  What I LOVE LOVE LOVE about this site is all the extra usage tips it provides to give the words contextual meaning.  It offers forums for native speaker / L2 learner interaction, as well as multiple forms of usage for each word.  While the interface looks fairly simple, the breadth and depth of tools on are fantastic.