NAU CALL

This is a useful resource for teachers who want to use Skype in the classroom. The short annotations help seekers decide which lins are most relevant for them. There are resources for teachers looking for classrooms to connect with, for individual learners looking for conversation partners, and much more. I can see this as a go-to source for K-12 and higher ed teachers who need to communicate often (it's free) with people who live far away (it's internet-based).

This was part of a handout given at a presentation in the Electronic Village at TESOL. This application takes queries of one or more words submitted to its query box.It provides a list of patterns in which the query word is conventionally used. In the case of multi-word queries, patterns in which the query words conventionally co-occur.

I came across this corpus while looking for corpora that are tagged for speech acts. I haven't had a chance to explore it too much yet, but it looks like it definitely has some potential pedagogical applications.

This website has a large collection of audio stories for ESL students. While the rate of speech appears to be slow, the vocabulary does not seem appropriate for lower-proficiency learners. For intermediate and higher learners, the site might be applicable for classroom activities and/or extensive listening.

Wiffiti is a way to create interactive boards for your class. You set up a "board" with a question or instructions and learners can submit their responses or comments either via an automatically generated URL or through Twitter (by using a hashtag you preselect).

This is mentioned in the Loucky article we are reading this week and is worth checking out; don't get distracted by the late 90s layout of the site.

Pulse is the RSS reader we looked at in class this week. It's (fairly) intuitive and accessible on computers (via a browser) as well as mobile devices.

Something a little different to talk about in your listening and speaking classes, an App for Dance free at iTunes (Clips at YouTube). Volume 1: http://bit.ly/fcvYmV (Carmen DeLavallade, Deborah Jowitt, Regina Larkin, Christine Redpath and Megan Williams) Volume 2: http://bit.ly/ygu9R9 (Molissa Fenley, Margie Gillis, Miki Orihara & Stephen Pier, Risa Steinberg and Christine Wright) Volume 3: http://bit.ly/NdZiVA (David Leventhal, Jason McDole, Barbara Mahler and Christine Wright) From their site: "Dances for an iPhone is an App that features short dance movies by Richard Daniels for a stellar roster of dance artists… The Baryshnikov Arts Center named Mr. Daniels an artist in residence in 2009 (and 2011) in order to create these pieces… For more on Richard Daniels: http://www.DancesforaniPhone.com/… All are short, 3-5 minutes in length."

Not sure if someone's already posted this, but this is a great tool for getting an idea about text difficulty for reading. We regularly use this at the PIE for developing reading passages for Reading and Writing classes.

This looks like an interesting site for teaching students about a range of social issues. Complete lesson plans can be found and a variety of other resources related to "teaching tolerance" in the ESL classroom.

A resource for free online English lessons and exercises. A place for learning English in class or at home! Grade school (K-12), General Educational Development (GED), English as a Second Language (ESL), and all interested in advancing their knowledge of the English language should be able to benefit from this website. We offer a large variety of accurate and concise skill building resources geared towards a range of ability levels. We hope you find our resources visually appealing, straightforward, easy to locate, and able to capture the essence of the English language. No registration is required to access these resources.

This website is free for students and schools across the U.S. and around the world. There are seven levels of instruction: blue, red, yellow, green, purple, orange, and violet. LearnAmericanEnglishOnline.com has been providing videos, lessons, exercises, quizzes, and advice since 2003.

VOA Special English has high-interest stories for language learners that are spoken at a slightly (sometimes more) reduced rate with clear enunciation. I've enjoyed pulling stories off of here for multi-level classes of ESL adults who want to learn more about America. A word of caution, not all stories are totally g-rated (a current story on Rihanna is not something I would use with PIE students). One advantage of VOA is that many stories have full or partial transcripts available as a resource. Many stories also have built in language activities that students can do on their own during class or as homework. While I sometimes find the reduced pace of VOA special English falling short of authentic, overall, I think this is a useful resource for teachers.

The VOA special English was widely used by Chinese English learners years ago. VOA does not only has a slow pace but also uses only "high-frequency" words. Maybe less authentic, but a good resource to start with.

This is the blog of a EFL teacher in Japan who has a technology focus. He introduces some pretty good CALL tools and also provides some lesson/activity ideas and resources that you can use yourself. He's got some really interesting ways of using video and shows off some neat things with a WiiMote.

Longman's online dictionary of contemporary English provides simple, understandable definitions and example sentences for ESL learners. This online resource is free and has some other nice features for students who want to dig a bit deeper or expand their vocabulary. Many entries contain a word web of sorts with related terms for students to click on and explore. Students in my class can use electronic devices for looking up words- I plan to suggest this site and provide students with the link. If you make your own glosses for reading guides, this site would also be good for grabbing some learner-friendly definitions.

Incorporating CMC activities where students communicate with outside audiences is more difficult for teachers working with children. Kidlink is a moderated website that allows children and teachers to share projects, comment on other kids' projects, and connect with epals. All content is moderated. I have not personally used this website, but it looks like a resource worth looking into for teachers working with children. If nothing else, it may provide some inspiration for creating projects or organizing a similar sort of collaborative activity.

Welcome to Fun English Games for Kids! Find a wide range of free teaching resources that are perfect for students learning English, ESL classes and teachers looking for ideas online. Enjoy interactive games, classroom activities, printable worksheets and much more!

Who doesn't love a game? We're creating language games that make some of the trickier aspects of learning English fun. They're equally addictive fun for fluent English speakers.

BigBlueButton is an open-source suite of tools for webconferencing. It does many of the same functions as Collaborate but does not have the costs associated with it. It may be a good alternative for teaching online.

The New York Times has a blog named 'The Learning Network'. They post several activities everyday. These include cloze texts, multiple choice reading comprehension questions, puzzles and videos with discussion questions. They also have a word-of-the-day page where they post a new word everyday with its meaning and a sample sentence. I check their page from time to time to see if any of the activities would be appropriate for my students. You can also assign them as homework or students can work on them on their own.