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Textivate is an online facility for creating and sharing interactive browser-based activities. Text re-ordering, gap-fills, text re-construction, anagrams, matching, memory, hangman, flashcards, millionaire and lots more - all automatically generated based on any text and/or list of matching items that you put into the textivate text box. Much of the site is free to use, and subscribers can upload resources to share with their students or embed activities on a blog or website. It is browser-based, so it works on desktops, laptops, ipads etc. The activities are ideal for whole-class work with any interactive whiteboard. You can see video tutorials here: http://textivate.posthaven.com/video-tutorials To help you get started, browse the hundreds of public resources on the site, or click on "textivate now" to see the range of activities available.

"Languageisavirus.com exists to cure writer's block and inspire creativity. You can choose from a multitude of writing games, gizmos, generators, writing prompts and exercises, tips, experiments and manifestoes from infamous avante garde writers and how-to articles on fiction writing and poetry."

An online magazine of news, politics, and culture. Slate.com combines humor and insight in thoughtful analyses of current events and political news. Have your students read an article about a current event and write their thoughts and impressions.

Improve your listening skills and hear about the news. Listen-and-write.com is free listening practice. Comes with a listening test to determine your level.

"Online resource for FREE downloadable news lesson plans. Lessons include pre-reading activities, article text, vocabulary exercise, comprehension questions, dicussion questions and writing topics and encourage students to develop speaking skills and are perfect to complement your existing textbooks and lessons."

A superb site with lots of engaging activities for kids. They can play Hidden Pictures, read Animated Stories, make crafts, and share their Own Pages and Science Questions.

Podcasting for the ESL/EFL Classroom, a totally free, 5-week, hands-on, TESOL - Electronic Village Online (EVO) workshop aimed at English teachers from all over the world. Learn how to create, produce and publish your own podcasts for the ESL/EFL classes. http://evosessions.pbworks.com/w/page/48521330/Podcasting2012 

News in levels (http://www.newsinlevels.com/) offers news stories at different levels of difficulty. There are currently three full levels with a level zero for very beginners still being developed. Levels one and two have audio tracks with transcriptions, while level three has videos with transcriptions.

"https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2008350&password=M.11203C8EC09C639E1273BB316D61CE"

Ice Breaker Tags is a simple service for designing simple yet unique name tags. To use the service just enter your desired display name, upload an image to display on your name tag, and type your ice-breaker question or statement. If you need help developing a creative ice-breaker question or statement, Ice Breaker Tags offers some suggestions to get you going. You can print your name tag directly from Ice Breaker Tags.

"Are you ready to do some creative writing exercises? Story Spinner is a generator of millions of creative writing exercises. There's a handheld version you can buy so you will have writing exercises wherever you go. And there's a FREE online version on this page that you can use over and over and over again."

"What is Snappy Words visual English dictionary? It's an online interactive English dictionary and thesaurus that helps you find the meanings of words and draw connections to associated words. You can easily see the meaning of each by simply placing the mouse cursor over it. Why use Snappy Words visual dictionary? Easy to use dictionary and thesaurus. Learn how words associate in a visually interactive display. Get ideas to help write content for your blog, article, thesis or simply play with words! No registration required. No limit on number of searches. Look up as many words as you need anytime. No software installation needed. All you need is an internet connection and a browser (Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer and others). It's free and fun! How do I use it? Type words in the search box and click Go or simply hit Enter. Once the words branch off the main query, you can double click a node to find other related words. To explore the features: Place the mouse cursor over a word to view the meaning. Double click a node from the branch to view other related words. Scroll the mouse wheel over words to zoom in or out. This helps you see more associations or view words and meanings more clearly. Click and drag a word or branch to move it around and explore other branches. What dictionary does Snappy Words use? The Snappy Words interface queries the WordNet lexical database developed by Princeton University and made available for students and language researchers. This dictionary groups synonyms into synsets through lexical relations between terms. These meanings and semantic relationships are revealed graphically by the interactive web technology made available by Snappy Words."

Scholastic Story Starters is a great tool that students will enjoy using to create short, creative fiction stories. Scholastic Story Starters offers four story themes; fantasy, adventure, sci-fi, and scrambler. To create a story on Story Starters a students picks a theme, enter his or her name, chooses his or her grade, and spins the big wheels of prompts. The student can spin the wheels until he or she finds a prompt he or she likes. After the prompt is selected the student can write his or her story using the letter, postcard, notebook, or newspaper format provided by Scholastic Story Starters. When the story is finished it can be printed. 

InfuseLearning is the student response suite challenger to Poll Everywhere. It's a simple interface that's free to teachers and it doesn't require any advanced planning or setup. In real time teachers can send out questions, prompts or quizzes and have students respond in a variety of formats; true/false, multiple choice, open ended, even with a doodle. It also has an audio function that includes language translation, opening up more use possibilities.

Teaching with comics

Resource for writing stories which can give students opportunity to create different endings within story.

Sketch Star from Miniclip is a fun and free tool for creating animated comics. On Sketch Star students can create draw animations from scratch or use pre-made shapes and characters. Students build their animations frame by frame. Each frame appears in a timeline that can be altered by dragging and dropping the frames into different sequences. The length of time that each frame is displayed can be adjusted too. Completed projects can be saved online.