Learning Technologies Tools and Sites

Richer than a document, simpler than video, SlideSpeech transforms the way ideas are shared. By reading the speaker notes in your own presentation using the latest text-to-speech technology, SlideSpeech ensures your message comes across loud and clear.

Spelling contest practice activities

"Create public and private rooms and share music, videos, and more, synchronized! Turn your room into a automated TV station, 24/7 radio station, or a simple hangout!"

Useful website to create, for example, some listening comprehension exercises from this complete Advertising & Commercial Archive with more than 2,000,000 ads. 

Toasted Cheese is a daily writing prompt site that publishes prompts on a monthly calendar. The whole month is laid out for you with a different prompt each day. Don't see anything you like on the current calendar? That's okay, click through the previous months to find old prompts. Periodically, Toasted Cheese holds writing contests which you can learn about by clicking on the links on the calendar. The writing contests are based on one or more of the prompts from the calendar.

The Imagination Prompt Generator randomly generates prompts for starting a fictional story. Imagination Prompt Generator is part of the Creativity Portal which offers ideas for free creative projects. Most of the project ideas in the kids section of the Creativity Portal are appropriate for elementary school and possibly middle school age students.

Cube Creators provide templates designed to break the writing process into six distinct parts. There are templates for writing biographies, mysteries, short stories, and a blank template that you can customize. Students enter the required information into the online template. When the template is completed, it can be printed with lines for cutting and folding to create an actual cube.

"StoryCorps has collected and archived more than 45,000 interviews with nearly 90,000 participants. Each conversation is recorded on a free CD to share, and is preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. StoryCorps is one of the largest oral history projects of its kind, and millions listen to our broadcasts on our Listen page and on public radio. "

"Welcome to the first ever intercultural podcast. 'absolutely intercultural!' is its name and, as far as we know, this is the first podcast in the world to deal with intercultural issues. We'll be releasing a new episode every second Friday evening, looking at all intercultural aspects of human intercultural communication. For example, we'll be hearing from students on foreign work placements, asking how teachers can make use of intercultural exercises and simulations in their classroom and sharing with you any intercultural gossip we come across. 'absolutely intercultural!' won't be so much about passing on information but more about starting an intercultural dialogue between the makers, and you, the contributors and listeners."

The lessons are free. Each lesson has 26 pages of printable activities / handouts. There is a new lesson every two days. The lessons alternate between pre-intermediate and intermediate (plus). All lessons are based on stories currently in the news - as the world's news breaks, teach it. All lessons are also downloadable PDF format. There are 30+ online quizzes for each lesson. Listening files can be downloaded in mp3 format or subscribed to via a podcast. Classroom handouts are readily reproducible. There are graded listenings with each lesson. Thousands of teachers and students say they love using the news lessons.

Freeplay offers free network synchronization to all BMI/ASCAP & SESAC, national network content broadcasts in exchange for music cue sheet compliance. (Domestic and International). Other commercial uses of Freeplay, are usually subject to fees and must be negotiated in advance. 

"ESL Reading Worksheets by www.elcivics.com Each worksheet includes a short paragraph about an everyday problem a character faces, a true-false exercise, a writing prompt, and a black and white image. They are presented in pdf format and should download quickly. I suggest reading the stories to the class before assigning the writing exercises. Estimated lesson time: 20 minutes."

"Instantly practice speaking with native speakers around the world. Start now!"

"Create. Share. Track. Online and mobile video presentations for sales, marketing, eLearning and more."