Skip to main content

Home/ NAU CALL/ Contents contributed and discussions participated by Kristen More

Contents contributed and discussions participated by Kristen More

Kristen More

Dvolver - 1 views

  •  
    This is another digital storytelling website where you can make your own movie. You get to pick the scene, the characters, and the music, and then once you have a scene, you can write dialogue for the characters. It's easy to be really silly or really funny with this, so it would be a fun activity for students to practice writing.
  •  
    Not that I could find, so it's a better writing/reading activity than listening/speaking. It's kind of hilarious, though.
Kristen More

Idiom Connection - 0 views

  •  
    This website is an extensive list of idioms in English, organized by letter they begin with. At the bottom of each page, there's a quiz. Although the quizzes are pretty basic, I find that this website is a good resource because there are many activities that can be based on the content found here.
Kristen More

ESL Games World - 0 views

  •  
    This website has many games for grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary, as well as games that teachers can use to get all classmates involved at once (e.g., Jeopardy). The games are meant to be supplementary. Some disadvantages to the website are that the pronunciation exercises require that students be familiar with the IPA, that the exercises are largely drills, and that there are many ads on the website that could be distracting. However, if students need additional practice with a specific grammatical, vocabulary, or pronunciation item, then this website could be useful.
Kristen More

Fiction Press - 0 views

  •  
    This website is great for reading material. It's a compilation of original poetry and fiction (ranging from flash fiction to short stories to novels). There is also an essay section. Because much of it is unedited, you might need to read through a few to find good quality, but if you're teaching reading/writing, this could be a good resource to have students look at different pieces and compare them. There's also an option to review pieces, so there can be some level of interaction. Do note, however, that content is rated for maturity by the authors, so that can vary.
Kristen More

Word Reference - 0 views

  •  
    This is my favorite online dictionary for L2 purposes. It contains several translation dictionaries between English and Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, and several other languages. It also has conjugation charts (when you look up words), translations for phrases, and forums. The website also has plenty of examples. I have used this website for years when working in Spanish, and I have found the forums particularly useful when trying to translate something tricky. Also, when searching for a multi-word phrase, I recommend using quotation marks.
Kristen More

StumbleUpon - 0 views

shared by Kristen More on 27 Jan 13 - Cached
  •  
    StumbleUpon is a website that was not created with language learners in mind, but it can be a useful tool in the language classroom. You can sign up for free, and then you pick interests, such as English, humor, cats, politics, etc. When you hit "Stumble," you get new pages generated based on your interests. There are articles, videos, memes, blogs, pages dedicated to motivating writers, and so on, and most of the content is in English. Though not everything is authentic, there are pages on here that would be useful for reading, listening, and writing especially. The website is fun to use and based on students interests, which should increase student motivation. One activity that can be done with it is to ask students to share with the class (in person or perhaps on a discussion board) one or more websites that they stumbled upon. It would get students to use English to describe what they came across. One downfall for the classroom, though, is that you never know what you will get, so the content may not always be useful or level appropriate. Content is sometimes also more appropriate for teenage or older users.
Kristen More

Apple - iTunes - Podcasts - 1 views

shared by Kristen More on 27 Jan 13 - Cached
  •  
    iTunes has a plethora of podcasts available for free, many of which are for language purposes. Podcasts are audio shows, so to speak, which are uploaded in an episodic fashion. I browsed through some of the language podcasts, including ElementalEnglish.com's "English Pronunciation and Language Lessons," the VOA's "American Stories--Voice of America," and BBC World Service's "English at Work." In the podcast descriptions, the authors usually list language level, and the speakers tend to modify their input so listeners can understand. These types of podcasts are useful for listening practice and for supplementary material in the classroom. There are other podcasts available as well, ranging from Mugglenet's MuggleCast (a Harry Potter themed podcast) to podcasts dedicated to comedians. These podcasts can be useful in the language classroom, as they present more authentic listening material, especially for more advanced learners. Podcasts are a great way for students to engage in their interests while practicing listening, with just one potential set-back: the set up. To access the podcasts, students must download iTunes (if they do not already have it) or it needs to be downloaded onto school computers. From there, one can access the Apple Store (though podcasts are mostly free), and then they can browse the selection. It can be tricky at times to find a good one, but once you do, the podcast can be downloaded onto mp3 players, so students can listen to them on the go, if they want. Note: Because the iTunes store is accessed through iTunes, I could not put a URL. The one above does, however, provide more information on what goes into making a podcast.
Kristen More

Phonetics: The Sounds of English and Spanish - The University of Iowa - 4 views

  •  
    This website is an interactive guide to the sounds of American English, German, and Spanish. It's American English guide is comprehensive, including a step by step guide on how to produce each sound. In addition, flash animation is used to demonstrate how to position one's mouth in order to produce the sounds of American English. This tool is useful for students who are curious about pronunciation or who are struggling with a particular sound that they would like to improve. Although the technical terms are defined, this tool can still be confusing for students and should not be taken as a guaranteed solution for improving pronunciation. It can, however, be used as supplementary material.
Kristen More

Words With Friends - 0 views

  •  
    Words With Friends is a game that is an online (unofficial) version of Scrabble. Players create words using the tiles they have, and the goal is to play words with high point values strategically in order to obtain more points than the opponent. In a language classroom setting, this game seems most appropriate for high-intermediate to advanced learners, as it definitely helps if players have strong vocabularies. With that in mind, the game can be useful as a vocabulary builder, though it can take some patience on the part of the student because there is no built in dictionary. Another limitation is that the game is currently limited to smart phones and Facebook, so some students may need to sign up for the latter or work in pairs in order for any Words With Friends activity to work.
Kristen More

Live Mocha - 1 views

shared by Kristen More on 19 Jan 13 - Cached
  •  
    Live Mocha is an online multi-language community that can be used in a number of ways: Members can write and/or video chat to speakers of their target language, complete practice exercises in all skill areas, and record themselves speaking so other members can review submissions and offer suggestions (if they do not want to do a live video chat). As a teacher, I believe this website is a great resource, especially to supplement in-class materials. Students can sign up (membership is free) and communicate regularly with native speakers of their target language. For a reading and writing class, this website would be a fairly easy one to use in order to set up pen pals. For a listening and speaking class, the role plays and video dialogues could be useful.
1 - 10 of 10
Showing 20 items per page