Group items tagged

"Relevant real-world content Each lesson is based in authentic content-the world-class news and information on CNN-and organized in sections that match the needs and interests of learners. This makes the learning experience personalized and relevant. No nonsensical sentences or made-up stories. New lessons every day Today's news becomes today's lessons on en.news, with new lessons published on a daily basis. That's like giving the world a new English textbook every day. For free. Unlimited learning for free Learning a language is a lifelong journey and on en.news, learners can return as often as they want to take as many lessons as they want. There's no "end of a book" or "end of a course" which means the learning never ends. Part of a daily routine en.news combines the habit of consuming news, checking sports scores and staying on top of the world of entertainment with the utility of learning English."

Newsy.com is a multi-source online video news site that monitors, analyzes and presents the world's news coverage. In an increasingly connected world, access to multiple sources of news is in demand by global citizens. News sources are abundant yet redundant. Newsy.com delivers context with convenience to help keep you better informed. Through short video segments available on the web and mobile devices, Newsy.com offers a way to accelerate your global understanding of a news story. Newsy.com takes a step back to show how the world's news organizations are reporting a story - providing an unprecedented global and macro point of view. You'll find CNN right next to Al Jazeera, the BBC right next to ABC. Newsy.com also covers major newspapers, news magazines as well as top blogs from around the world. Like FORA.tv, this site presents current news, but with the added feature of allowing students to compare various news sources.

"EDUCATOR TOOLKIT News & Media Literacy In today's 24/7 digital world, we have instant access to all kinds of information online. Educators need strategies to equip students with the core skills they need to think critically about today's media. We teach foundational skills in news and media literacy through our Digital Citizenship program, specifically through our Creative Credit & Copyright and Information Literacy topics. Built on more than 10 years of expertise and classroom testing, these lessons and related teaching materials give students the essential skills to be smart, savvy media consumers and creators. From lesson plans about fact-checking to clickbait headlines and fake news, we've covered everything. To learn more about our approach, read the Topic Backgrounder on news and media literacy."

This is an incredibly useful resource for language classes. In combination with news syndicates like ABC, Fox, AP, and AFP, Mapeas collects video news and locates it on a Google map. Students learn geography, read news in English or an FL, and can specify business, entertainment, science news, etc.

A social studies teacher shares American history images. May prove useful for content-based projects and the study of American culture. "American History Resource - The Denver Post Photo Blog "As a social studies teacher I am always looking for new resources to to bring into the classroom. We can no longer rely on notes and a text book as our primary learning tools. The internet has provided teachers with new resources and new opportunities to change the way history is taught and learned. Every month I come across new sources of photographs, documents, and videos that help to enhance the learning experience. One of my favorite recent discoveries has been the The Denver Post photo blog, or Plog as it is called. The Plog is a terrific resource of photographs and information about a wide variety of historical topics which I have covered here, here, and here in my other blog. From the Statue of Liberty, to the inauguration,then the Great Depression, and the Berlin Wall, the Denver Post's Photo Blog is one resource that I highly recommend you explore."

"OnSugar is a hosted publishing platform that is based on what we use to publish PopSugar, FabSugar, and the rest of Sugar. Key Platform Features: * 11 different post types: (text, gallery, layout, poll, look, quiz, quote, link, chat, video, & audio) * Free access to a hundreds of thousands of Getty Images® * Fun drag and drop layout tool. Create your look with thousands of fashion images from hundreds of online retailers through ShopStyle, e.g. ShopBop, J. Crew, Net-a-Porter, and others. * ShopSense: Make money by linking to products and retailers NEW * Build your audience of followers with automatic notifcation of new posts * Follow your favorite sites and view an aggregated feed of your followed sites * Post by email NEW * Automatic update of your Facebook and Twitter status NEW * Multiple sites per account * Multiple authors per site * Easy import from Blogger, Wordpress, & Typepad * Full domain support * Free Key Site Features: * Drafts/Timed Publishing * Search * Archives * Pages (e.g. About Me, Galleries, Videos, etc) * Widgets for highlighting content from your site or around the web (e.g. Popular Posts, Latest Comments, Latest Tweets, etc) * Completely customizable themes" Looks like an up-to-date blog tool that allows for lots of different social networking interfaces, and has drag-and-drop tools for layout and adding media. Somewhat commercial, but might appeal esp. to teens.

"Google added two fantastic new features to Google Slides. First, Google Slides now has a Q&A feature that lets your audience submit questions to you. Second, Google Slides now has a built-in laser pointer that you can use to call attention to parts of your slides. I've already received some questions about how to use these new features so I made the following short video." t/h R. Byrne This makes Google slides very versatile for online presentations.

Links to lesson plan and new Google time line.

"Videos are traditionally linear and directive. In the classroom, videos are designed to either dispense information or teach the viewer a new skill. However, great lessons are rarely passive. Using the annotations feature in YouTube, teachers can create videos that require participation. At its most basic, students are given four choices, and they select the correct answer. If an incorrect choice is made, students watch a new video that reteaches the concept. If the correct choice is made, the initial video links a new video that shows the next step, or the next problem. Going deeper, the first video can link to several choices, and each of those choices can link to several choices. " A nice tool to enhance the use of video -- annotations that link to other videos. It doesn't say if the links could also be to resources or other kinds of sites.

"Many people don't realize that The New York Times can be quite accessible for English Language Learners. Due to its focus on current events and news, using The Times to learn vocabulary and practice reading can be much more inviting and rewarding than a textbook. And NYTimes.com has some extra tools and features that are particularly useful for language learning. Here are 10 ideas for using The Times to teach and learn the English language."

News In Review sites that would specifically be accessible to English Language Learners would make a good companion to The Best news/current events websites for English Language Learners and to The Best Visually Engaging News Sites. Most of the sites on this list are similar to each other in format - they show slideshows of key images from the previous week and have short captions. I have noted, though, a couple of exceptions that provide audio or video.

"What if classroom learning was a little more active? Would university instruction be more effective if students spent some of their class time on active forms of learning like activities, discussions, or group work, instead of spending all of their class time listening? "A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences addressed this question by conducting the largest and most comprehensive review of the effect of active learning on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education. Their answer is a resounding yes. According to Scott Freeman, one of the authors of the new study, "The impact of these data should be like the Surgeon General's report on "Smoking and Health" in 1964-they should put to rest any debate about whether active learning is more effective than lecturing."" This is great news for teachers of EFL/ESL also.

"WordWriter is a new writing tool from BoomWriter. WordWriter allows teachers to create vocabulary lists that they want students to incorporate into a writing assignment. Assignments are distributed directly to students through the class lists that teachers create in their BoomWriter accounts. Students do not need email addresses to receive the assignments. Teachers can log-in at any time to see if and when a student has completed an assignment." "WordWriter assignments offer a good way to have students practice using new vocabulary words in context. Through the assignments you can have students demonstrate their understanding a word's meaning. You could also use WordWriter assignments to assess a student's ability to use the correct form of a verb. " T/H to R. Byrnes

"Back in the day-we usually referred to visible thinking as explicit thinking. But, as with many solid, worthwhile constructs, they are not readily adopted and so often reappear decades (or centuries!) later under a new name with new advocates and with a new dream that maybe this time things might stick and better the lives of students. "So it is with visible thinking. The basic idea is to uncover the implicit and inert thinking and to make that thinking discussable and perhaps available to others. For it is by objectifying knowledge that we can come to understand it." Talking through a project or the composition process is another way to make learning explicit. Explicit understanding of the process is part of Bloom's Taxonomy.

The examples will be somewhat old, which will change the results. Find new "fake news" stories from current information to really get your students thinking -- and searching.

"Learn English online with the help of this free website from the British Council with games, stories, listening activities and grammar exercises. You can search for your favourites, or have a look at the site map to find out where everything is. This is a BETA site and you will find lots of new listening activities and video content in Listen & Watch. We also have a new Grammar section and new IELTS exam practice materials. Click here to return to the 'old' LearnEnglish website. Double-click any word to see a dictionary definition. You can contact us if you have a question or want to report any problems. Become a member and you can add comments to the site and ask questions to get help with your English." This site has thematic/situationally based videos.

What is the new role for instructions in online learning environments? How will students communicate and interact? How will students be motivated? We are still wrestling with these questions.

News and information oriented to the Africa setting. Blog roll, news feed, etc., calendar-based.

7 tips for classroom management, including whispered corrections, hand motions, positive reinforcement strategies, creating routines, using physical proximity, etc. Good tips for the new teacher.

"Are you new to the internet? Are you wondering what is so important about being connected online? Maybe you would just like to know what's new and how it can benefit you. This introductory course will guide you through the basics, while providing up-to-date information on the latest online tools and technologies." A beginner's guide that doesn't talk down to you. Includes video lessons as well. Might be a good activity for a low intermediate class of students getting used to using computers and the Web.