Helpful ESL Resources

Since we don't have a specific focus for this week's blog (such as listening), I decided to search for what I really need- lesson plans! I do not have any textbooks or any idea what the first step would be to make a plan, other than choosing your topic. I will definitely need some in the beginning to guide me through my teaching process. Below are 5 resources I found:

1) Teachers' Corner

Teachers' Corner has some great lesson plans

http://www.theteacherscorner.net/lesson-plans/reading/index.htm

It has lesson plans for a variety of subjects (ex. Writing, Math, Social Studies, etc.), thematic units, seasonal items, printable worksheets, and more.

2) TEFL.net

http://www.tefl.net/esl-lesson-plans/

This resource also has  ESL lesson plans. It has a tool that makes your own worksheets, all you have to do is type in what you're looking for and the site builds one for you. Pretty neat! This site also contains authentic reading material and teaching tips. All very useful.

3) Super Teacher Worksheets

 http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/comprehension.html

This resource is suggested for Grades 1-4, which fits into my context perfectly. This page is mostly focused on reading comprehension, but they do have writing and grammar exercises to explore. I love how this resource includes famous children's characters such as "Dr. Seuss" but also contains current, cultural characters of today such as "Barack Obama."

4) Real English

http://www.real-english.com/ 

This resource has ESL video exercises. The term "real English" is recommending that one should learn "real English" in the "real world." The videos show every day people on the street, doing daily activities that any of my learners would do. The videos come from a mix of resources: some are original Real English videos and others are You Tube. The below link is a great example of a video for a beginner, "What's your favorite color?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Rw-KjV4HrI

 

5) ESL Resource Center

 http://eslus.com/eslcenter.htm

This source is easy to navigate and covers important focuses: Grammar, Reading & Writing, Vocab & Idioms, Spelling, Pronunciation, Listening. It also contains games, random articles, clocks and calculators (which are all handy while learning English). 

Any other recommendations would be greatly appreciated! 

Speaking Resources for Beginning ESL Students

Hi all, 

I just wrote about "obstacles to teaching speaking" on our discussion forum. Horwitz had mentioned many important points including: authentic speaking vs. "display" speaking, how error correction/lack of correction can impact one's oral proficiency, anxiety both for the student and teacher, and the difficulties in grading speaking. All the more reason to find great resources that can help us overcome these challenges in the classroom! Below are five that I found. 

1) ESL GOLD

http://www.eslgold.com/speaking.html

 This one focuses on "speaking situations" which I think is extremely important. You can never predict what kind of situation you'll be in and should be prepared for it. Scenarios, phrases for conversation, etc. There's a great selection of topics here. This site also provides articles, videos, and quizzes so students can self-test themselves. Most of the units have audio links and you can also choose the level you're at or want to work on (beginnning-advanced).

2) ESLgo.com

 http://www.eslgo.com/resources/sa.html

This site is pretty basic. It contains role-play lesson plans. Ideas on what to have your students talk about (ex. like and dislikes). As a teacher I would use this resource for ideas on role-play activities and have them present to the class. I think my students would have a lot of fun with it.

3) You Tube: ESL- Show and Tell 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkFMewAsLfU

This video is of an instructor in his Grade 1 class, so very similar to my context. Show & Tell would be a fun, simple way, to work on my students' speaking skills. I really like his teaching techniques. He has a "grab-bag" and each student comes up to pick something out of it (so they do not know what they'll have to talk about). Students like the mystery of it and the attention up in front of the class. As the teacher notes, "it forces them to speak real English."

4) Spoken Skills

 http://www.spokenskills.com/student-activities.cfm

 This resource is dedicated to speaking. It also contains a learning lab. I like how they separate consonants from vowels (something I would want to cover with my students), include every day English (authentic material!), and English for specific purposes.

The best part about this resource is that the student can record him/herself. The student listens first to the recorded speech, then practices by recording what they had just heard. A great tool!

5) BBC Learning English

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/

This resource focuses on pronunciation and gives useful tips. It includes pairs of words that have the same letters but make different sounds,  Example: "Book" and "Do." Students would have to click on the two separate words to hear the differences. In my Micro-Teaching Activity I had given my students the names "Craig" and "Greg" as options to an answer. In this case the words have different letters but make the same sounds. It would be in cases like that where I would want to use this site to help my students learn distinctions.

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

ESL Reading & Writing Resources

Hi all,

This week I spent some time searching for reading & writing resources for my beginner ESL classroom. I found some great sites I would like to share. Below is the list, along with brief descriptions 

1) Writing Resource

http://esl.about.com/od/writinglessonplans/Writing_Lesson_Plans_for_English_Learners_at_All_Levels.htm

I had heard of "About.com" before, mainly as a fact/information source. However while browsing the internet for useful resources, it popped up as having ESL tools and lesson plans.  At first I doubted it would have beneficial lesson plans, but I was wrong. About.com turned out to be very useful! It has creative writing activities for ESL beginners and writing workshops for all levels. 

2) Reading Resource

http://www.esl-storybooks.com/esl-storybooks.php

ESL-Storybooks.com is an easy site to navigate and has some great materials. It has a collection of ESL stories for children to read. Each Storybook E Book includes a student workbook and teacher's guide. They also include a glossary of new words and vocabulary. This website also contains tips for teaching ESL to children and games that will keep students interested.

3) Reading & Writing Resource (Combined)

http://www.everythingesl.net/lessons/

Everything ESL has read alouds, books for the classroom, websites and sample lesson plans. They break everything up into thematic units which is fun and helpful while thinking of ideas.

4) Reading Resource

http://www.literacy.uconn.edu/eslhome.htm

This site has a lot of online literature, booklists for young children and lesson plan ideas for certain books. I really enjoyed this site because it has lesson plans designed for some of the most classic children's books such as "The Magic Schoolbus" and the "Arthur" books.

I found a link on this site "Edhelper.com" that has reading comprehension lessons that are easy to print out. Here is an example:

http://www.edhelper.com/DailyThemes_October_27.html

5) Reading Resource

http://www.eslreading.org/about/abouteslreading.html

ESL Reading contains original stories and simplified versions of classic texts. It's nice that they have full PDF printer-friendly short stories. Most of the texts are accompanied by glossaries and activities. All texts are simplified and graded according to the specific ESL level. This site also has some fun listening activities and video clips.

6) Reading & Listening Resource

http://www.esl-library.com/index.cfm?pageid=7&lang=en&step=2&section=25

This resource is wonderful for all 4 focus areas (reading, writing, speaking, listening). They have some great beginner lessons, which would be perfect for my teaching context.

7) Writing Resource

http://www.esl-galaxy.com/writing.html

ESL Galaxy contains writing exercises, worksheets to print, and lesson plans.

 

 

Listening Resources (for ESL Beginners)

Hi all,

I spent some time today browsing for some beneficial listening resources/activities I could use in my teaching context. I would like to list them, provide the link, and include a brief description. In my opinion some are better than others, but it's interesting to compare & contrast.

1) Resource: ESL Lab

Listening Activity #1: http://esl-lab.com/selfintro/selfintrord1.htm

Listening Activity #2: http://esl-lab.com/eslbasic/shopping-prices-1.htm

Description: I really enjoyed ESL Lab. The site is easy to navigate and has some great activities I would use in my class. 

The first activity is focused on getting to know someone, or describing yourself. Very appropriate for beginners. There is a "Pre-Listening activity", a 30 second listening clip where my students would afterwards answer multiple choice comprehension questions, an opportunity to listen again with the script provided (key vocab words are highlighted), and a "Post-Listening" where students practice introducing themselves to others. Students would also listen and have to introduce a partner to the class. I like the role of production that's emphasized, as well as repetition.

The second activity is a bit simpler. Students listen to an audio clip and have to match up the "prices" they hear. They're then given  a research assigment where they are given prices and have to find something that's worth that amount. Straightforward, and to the point. 

2) Resource: You Tube

Listening Activty #1:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ-tVaSj6o8

Listening Activity #2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y4pCJXzycM&NR=1&feature=fvwp

Description: You Tube has a wide variety of listening activities. It was a challenge to select the best audio clips.

Even though the first video I selected is for "Intermediate ESL learners," I included it to analyze the differences in technique. This activity is a lot more visual than the ESL Lab ones. Students watch a car go down roads, and they need to comprehend directions. It would be great for learners that are more visual.  When a new vocabulary word come up, they are notified.  Students are given additional work at the end.

The second video I believe had a bit of TPR in it.  It's a children's video, much more appropriate for my context. The listening activity is a song about "location" prepositions. After the song, the teacher then demonstrates with her own hands. 

3) Resource: English Listening World

Listening Activity #1: http://www.english-listening-world.com/phrasal-verb.html#Nervoustimesstory

Description: English Listening World is another useful site I stumbled upon. Most of the listening activities are listening to stories. 

The activity I included above has to do with phrasal expressions and "nervous times." The audio clip gives a background on the main character before starting the story. A very useful and smart technique. Students are given a vocabulary list with definitions. The script is included below and the keywords are in bold. There is a quiz at an end and also a "slower version" if the teacher or student prefers that kind of pace. 

After analyzing these resources, I find myself liking the sites that categorize what you would like to teach. ESL Listening World has a "phrasal expressions" section, a "grammar" section, an "idioms" section and more. Even though You Tube is a popular resource, I found myself steering away from it. It was a bit overwhelming to search and find an exact unit I wanted. ESL Lab was well structured and seemed to be a bit more detailed, providing Pre-Listening, Listening, and Post-Listening work. 

Questions for you all:

1) Did any of you attempt to use You Tube and feel overwhelmed/limited?

2) Do you think listening to a short clip/story and then answering questions is the best way to evaluate a students' comprehension? I ran into a lot of activities like that...

Teaching Children to Read, Listen & Write Better in English

   A teacher can do many things with a blog to enhance the teaching/learning process. I plan on making this blog an integral part of my class. Before I discuss how this blog will be utilized, I will describe my teaching context.

   My classroom itself will be situated in a large public elementary school, located in Austin, Texas. Class size is approximately 15-20 students. The school has sufficient funding; its new computer lab is one of the most prized resources. My learners are in the 2nd Grade, so the majority of them are 7 or 8 years old. They have been educated before this (Kindergarten & 1st Grade) and their native language is Spanish. The students have been placed in my ESL classroom because they share a common goal of becoming proficient in English. Most of them have been exposed to the language before but still struggle with Reading, Writing, and Listening Comprehension. Their parents and previous ESL teachers have brought them to their current level.

   These 2nd Graders need to learn English for multiple reasons: basic living, schooling (both now and in the future), future employment, etc. Their families have moved to Austin for various reasons and are now permanent residents. Due to these reasons stated above, most of my learners have assimilative/integrative motivation so they can blend into the American culture and socially participate.

How will this blog promote successful language learning in my classroom?

1) 3 Areas of Focus: Reading, Writing, and Listening Comprehension

2) Links to useful online learning resources for my students

Ex. interactive grammar quizzes, vocab. activities, listening sites, and readings related

to what we're learning in class

3) Student Involvement (Students will be required to visit this site weekly. They will receive assignments on it but also be given opportunities to provide feedback/input about the class blog.)

4) I will post important class announcements on it.

5) I will provide "good examples" of any techniques/rules we discuss.

6) I will be flexible and post any additional, fun resources I find. 

Ex. If I find an interesting resource about the American culture, I will include it so my students can benefit from it.

I hope this introductory posting has given you all an idea about how I intend to use this blog As for comments, any comments I will take as constructive criticism. I personally do not have any teaching experience, so I would love to hear some real-life examples or approaches that have or haven't worked in your classrooms. I am excited to see where this takes me...