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John Larmer sees a sliding scale: "There is a sliding scale of authenticity for projects, which goes from "not authentic" to "somewhat authentic" to "fully authentic.""

"Why do many students have difficulty transitioning from ESL programs to the mainstream curriculum? One reason is that many of them don't understand what is expected in U.S. colleges and universities. To address this problem, I decided to create a video series that gives students the opportunity to practice with authentic examples of the courses they will soon enroll in. Also crucial would be devising accompanying materials that would help students learn from the examples provided. It's one thing to watch a YouTube lecture from Yale or MIT, but quite another to understand a class within the context of academic norms in the United States. " Excellent advice for getting EFL students ready to study online or in the U.S.

This is super cool -- kindergartners use primary resources, such as old movies and photos, from the Library of Congress to explore and analyze how the mail was delivered in the old days and compare it to present work practices and jobs. I really got a kick out of the kids' comments about the mail train and sorting mail. Great example of how content-based, authentic materials can inspire even very young learners.

"The U.S. Library of Congress offers a wealth of fantastic online resources for teachers and students. A quick jump into the teachers resource page will lead you to things like these primary source analysis guides that I have used with students in the past. The LOC also offers a couple of good iOS apps that are worth noting." Shows how various apps can be used with the teachers' resource pages at the U.S. Library of Congress. Great authentic materials for research papers and projects. H/T to R. Byrne

Truly free and non-commercial, the collections M. Sheehan lists include the Federal Registry (FREE, and non-commercial) with animations, primary docs, maps, etc.; Graphic Organizers from Vermilion Parish; The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, with primary sources and online exhibits to explore history; Chonicling America from the Library of Congress, which contains a database of newspapers from 100 years ago. These sites would be great for authentic materials and content-based tasks for teens/adults.

Insert a URL on this page and it will render a readability score. This could be helpful to determine readable authentic materials. However, I suspect most webpages all run pretty close to the same level. This would be interesting to experiment with.

An educator explains how he uses Twitter to inspire authentic conversations within his class and across the Twitterverse:: "Within days he found students tweeting at each other multiple times an evening, mentioning and "favoriting" their peers' thoughts, and providing ample material for classroom discussion. His students were being "more careful and reading more closely," Bronke noted. Conducting conversations online allowed him to track their comprehension as well. Because most of his students used Twitter for recreational purposes, they could also utilize their experiences in English class and include their class hashtags as they responded to tweets from One Direction and Tim Tebow. And as an added bonus: Bronke used his already-established education-oriented Twitter handle. This meant that the student comments he retweeted were often retweeted and "favorited" by teachers and scholars who wanted to support their ideas. These students learned that their voice mattered even outside of the classroom setting, and that engaging in real dialogue could be fun and worthwhile."

Some beautiful websites with video and photos. You'll have to explore for yourself what the copyright issues are. Some of the sites have good search categories for teachers, like "history" and "art." Using emotionally laden and content-rich digital images is a great way to start a writing project or a speaking class.

Free sources, like Jamendo, can give your students' videos more kick.