Group items tagged

Thousands of free activities for educators, parents, and students, aligned with Common core goals and standards. Includes history, aret, music, languages, college boards, mind mapping, math games, technology etc.

"MyShelter Foundation aims to brighten up one million homes around the world by the end of 2017. See how we started the movement in Manila. Still living in darkness." The directions for making the lights out of discarded plastic bottles are on the site. A good project for primary grade kids. If they don't want to mount them in their own homes, they might make a little house to demonstrate how the Liter of Light works.

"UsingEnglish.com provides a large collection of English as a Second Language (ESL) tools & resources for students, teachers, learners and academics. Browse our grammar glossary and references of irregular verbs, phrasal verbs and idioms, ESL forums, articles, teacher handouts and printables, and find useful links and information on English. Topics cover the spectrum of ESL, EFL, ESOL, and EAP subject areas."

Nik's newsletter is a great resource for teachers to find good tools and tips for use.

This is a site much like Babbel used to be--you can study using excises, or choose a conversation partner, or just explore aspects of the culture. I didn't have time to get into it futher, but it might be a nice way to get some basics and converse with a real person. It looks as if the chat is both text and audi/webcam. You can log in with Facebook and use that as a way to connect with others.

Reading for K-6 kids is divided into activities by age group.

Requires a paid subscription after the free trial, currently $59/year. Designed for native speakers.

How a school develops language in a multi-lingual classroom in Chicago. Teacher ensures everyone has a job and tries to build a community where students have pride in their work, know and follow rules. She uses translation (she understands Spanish and Russian). Demonstrates some techniques to build vocabulary and interact with a reading text while listening.

This is a site for young learners/young adult learners who might be doing e-pals -- or for the teacher who wants to use conversation in the classroom, perhaps as a good warm-up activity while students are arriving and settling down to their class work.

This may be of interest to middle school students.

Online Journal

Lots of interactive games on the word/grammar level. Try a few -- click to play, no sign-in.