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Simple English Wiki is in the same format of the Wikipedia we know and love, but entries are written in a somewhat simplified manner, making them more accessible to ELLs. It also encourages article creation and editing, without the much higher linguistic/stylistic standards of the mainstream Wiki. I've recommended this to ELLs before as a resource, and I've modeled searches on it in class to show that they really can digest the material.

Our class wiki. During the semester, you will create and maintain one entry for the wiki.

"Memorize anything with AnkiDroid! HELP FOR UPGRADING FROM 1.x: https://code.google.com/p/ankidroid/wiki/Upgrading AnkiDroid lets you learn flashcards very efficiently by showing them just before you will forget. It is fully compatible with the spaced repetition software Anki (including synchronization), which is available for Windows, Linux and MacOS. Study all sorts of things wherever and whenever you want." Many of you may have seen an Anki icon on your desktop in the PIE or another place on campus, but it's definitely worth noting that there's a mobile app that works very well. I'm an Android user so I've posted a direct link to the app there, but it is also on iOS. What's really nice about AnkiDroid is that you can create decks of flashcards (with some nice bells and whistles, including sound, if you choose) on your desktop/laptop, which is a little more convenient, and then download the deck on your mobile device. An instructor can make a deck for a class (or an institution) and any student with the mobile app and the name of the deck can find it and download it. I've personally used AnkiDroid for learning Korean, independently as well as creating decks to supplement a class I was taking. I feel like the mobile app works better for reviewing cards than the desktop program, because reviewing flashcards fits in those perfect little chunks of free time when you're riding the bus/subway or waiting for class to start, and these days you (or students) will always have your phone with you, but probably won't always have your desktop with you at those times.

Wordle isn't necessarily ESL focused, but it does do fun things with language. Teachers can use this application to create vocabulary word splashes that are visually appealing to students, or teachers can let students play with their own words. For example, students can input an essay and world will pick out the most frequent words and put them into a cool design. It's a simple and easy way to manipulate language.

Jena, I'm glad you posted this. I think that this has some great potential for introducing vocabulary in the pre- or -post phases of a lesson for different skills or content classes. I like that you can choose different fonts, # of words that can be displayed and the direction of displayed words. You can also embed this into blogs and wikis. For a good blog post on using word clouds in the classroom, you might want to check out Nic Peachey's post on this subject: http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/2008/09/using-word-clouds-in-efl-esl.html As an aside, in my opinion this guy is perhaps one of the most active technology/CALL ESL people on the web. I get a lot of great ideas from reading his blog posts and other resources.

This is very interesting.. It can be used by teachers of vocabulary and writing.. I like the fact that it can be used ina number of ways. Thanks Jena