Speaking Resources

In keeping with my previous posts, these resources are focused on one theme, which in this case is on teaching speaking. Hope you find something of value for your teaching context!

http://www.englishlearner.com/teachers/speaking.html

This site contains three speaking activities for students. The first involves small group work of 2-3 people. Each student in the group is given a different picture of 8-12 women, who ideally look similar, but are dressed differently. Some of the women are found on each picture, some on just two in the group and some on just one. The students, without looking at each other's photos, are to try to discern which other member of their group has the same women as they do. I would like to try this with an advanced beginner group.

The second activity is role playing a family going away on vacation and as the site suggests, might lead to some heated arguments erupting among students, since the goal is to come to a decision and everyone wants something different. I would probably create my own cards, which do not have such distinct desires from each family member.

The third activity is similar to the second in that it is role playing a family, this time after winning $100,00 lottery. The 'members of the family' are to decide together how to spend the money, with each member having different desires as to how the money should be spent. I think these last two activities would be better for more intermediate-advanced students and could be fun or nasty depending on the group. They might require careful teacher monitoring.

http://www.eslgold.com/speaking/low_beginning.html

This site is geared more towards the ESL learner, but the teacher could recommend it for their students who want or need to practice common phrases. The student's level is easily demarcated on the first page and then the student has numerous options as to what type of conversational phrases they would like to practice. Audio is supplied as well as visual. As I was further browsing the site, a warning notice came up on my screen that the site might damage my computer (!), so needless to say I stopped my browsing!

http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/docs/mla/listen.html#speak

This site comes from a curriculum guide for teaching English Language Arts in middle schools. This particular page gives many ideas on how to incorporate speaking in the classroom. Even though it was not originally intended for ESL teachers, I think it would be a valuable resource. I like the viewpoint that activities should be student centered, for example having the students come up with discussion question prior to discussing a previously viewed video or story the class has read. Small group work is suggested regularly so as to give more students the opportunity to speak, including those who would not normally speak in a large group. A suggestion for a teacher-led discussion is that the students speak more than the teacher. I have an affinity towards numerous ideas on this site, as they were included as part of my teaching philosophy. So not only are many general activities suggested, but HOW a teacher should bring them as well, which would be a good reminder to refer from time to time while teaching.

http://www.usalearns.org/index/welcome.cfm?

CFID=1471061&CFTOKEN=71558712&jsessionid=2c30b6f7c2cce3a11d602d38e

This site has three courses for learning English: one for beginners, one for low intermediate English skills and one for high intermediate reading skills. Each site has a list of eight topics such as: workers and the workplace or home and family life. When one of the topics is clicked onto a long list of activities is provided. There is a check off box for a student to mark when completed. Each activity, when clicked, had a video with a written text option, as well as a box of learner objectives to the side. I think this would be a useful link to give to students for practice at home, but I also think it could be valuable for reinforcement of points in the classroom. For example one clip showed a man drinking coffee in a shop differentiating between the words: like, hate, must, & need, when speaking about why he wants sugar in his black coffee. Lots of possibilities here.

http://www.spokenskills.com/student-activities.cfm

This site has a wide variety of activities from working with segmental sounds to aviation vocabulary and lots in between! There's practice with minimal pairs, rude vs. polite intonation, business english, current events, and telephone skills. One section has an amusing you tube video illustrating the difference in meaning one sound can make. There are opportunities to listen to multiple sentences with one sound difference and adjacent to each pair of sentences is a recoding option for the learner to record their voice at the same time. A bit of a catch is if a student is having trouble with a sound, they are able to purchase a corresponding study package. Oh well!

Reading Resources

http://esl.about.com/od/readinglessonplan1/Lesson_Plans_for_English_Reading_Skills_for_ESL_EFL_Classes.htmThis link looks like a good site for reading comprehension lessons plans for multip level learners. Two examples from this site are included below:
http://esl.about.com/od/readinglessonplans/a/l_readcontext.htmThis site gives a lesson on using contextual cues to understand meaning, but uses nonsense words to do so. This is an important skill especially for those adult students who are studying English in order to pursue a higher education in a University setting; the lesson teaches skills in reading higher level material, where not every word will be recognized. I found the idea of using nonsense words a very practical, yet amusing approach to get across the point behind the lesson. The lesson was also structured to introduce the idea and then expanded to bring in elements the students can use when coming across unknown words in the future.
://esl.about.com/library/lessons/bltimetraveller.htmThis is another lesson for the high-intermediate learner and involves a technique called, "Brain Friendly Learning". The idea uses student movement, competition and visual images to help students retain their reading material. This particular reading excerpt is from the Time Traveller and I think would be an enjoyable activity to bring into a classroom. It would get students out of their desks and communicating with each other, and would also peak their interest to go back to the original text to see what they might have missed.
http://www.yourdictionary.com/esl/short-stories.htmlThis site discussions the advantages of using short stories as reading material for adult ESL learners. If one is happy to delve into material away from textbooks, one can see the benefit of using literature in this way. The following site is a comprehensive list of classic short stories:http://www.classicshorts.com/bib.html This list interests me, as I enjoy reading classic literature for pleasure, and hope others with similar interests will be able to select from this list to bring into their classrooms as well.
http://www.eslpartyland.com/teachers/reading/ab.htmThis next site from 'partyland'(!) offers an interesting technique using pairs of students to help each other with comprehension. I like the 'catch'; that comprehension is being checked on the story which each student heard from the other, so it combines listening with reading. There are several suggestions made to help the students in their tasks, thereby lessening any student anxiety which might arise. I'd like to try it out!
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/about-the-learning-network/This is a site the NY Times began as a reading resource for teachers. It originally was a Learning Network and was just reformatted into a blog site this month. One activity available to teachers is to show articles which are printed with blanks. The missing words missing are arranged out of order below. The students can read the articles and try to fill in the missing words and then check them against the original article. I like this option of keeping abreast of items in the news and also believe teachers can bring articles of special interest to their students. (After working with students, one begins to know their hobbies etc. either through questionnaires or good 'ole fashioned conversation!) Here's an example of a fill-in-the blank article related to Halloween:http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/frightful-fill-in/

Listening activities

http://www.eslreading.org/index.html This site is called ESL reading and offers unusual stories and events for ESL learners. An example of one of the activities may be found in the following link:

http://www.eslreading.org/strange/strange/lawnchairlarry.html This particular link involves a reading selection about a true event with a short video. As a reading resource, I would use the suggestion in the link to begin a discussion of what the following headline might mean: Larry's Flying Lawn Chair. Then as a pre-reading activity, I would show the video clip of Larry, where they would listen to a news account of the story. After a discussion of their opinions of the story, the class would see a list of vocabulary words found in the story and as a class come up with the definitions. The class would then read the story and discuss what more they learned from the article.

There are multiple options for a lesson from this link. I like that the story is from the news, but is rather quirky. I also like how there is a listening activity as well as the reading, so that multiple skills are being used by the student. The site includes a crossword puzzle as well, to reinforce vocabulary learned from the story.

Other items found on this site might be more appropriate for younger learners. Also be advised that this is a site using British English, so not all vocabulary is the same as found in America: ie. bonnet for hood of car!

http://academics.smcvt.edu/cbauer-ramazani/Links/esl_reading.htm

This is another site I found that has all kinds of possibilities for reading resources. I will be delving into it in more depth for many hours to come to check out what I might be able to use in the future. One site in particular that I could imagine using is:

http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/index.cfm

This news program site has multiple opportunities for L2 learners to listen to all kinds of current and historical events, but in a much slower speech. It originated from Voice of America in 1959 and is still popular with English learners today. The following link is a specific portion of this site, which explains idioms using 'cat' phrases by giving some history to the terms. Viewers can click onto a link to listen to the text while viewing it at the same time. I think it would be a wonderful resource to pass along to adult learners in our classrooms. It also covers so many topics that most students would be able to find something of interest to listen to. The criticism which could emanate from skeptics is that this is not normal speech, which learners want to be able to understand. However, I think it is a nice interface for those beginning to listen and wanting to understand what they are hearing.

http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2009-09-25-voa3.cfm

http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/

This looks like another great resource for ESL teachers, who are interested in bringing current events into the classroom. There are an incredible number of past stories, all complete with lesson design, handouts and quizzes, if the teacher would want to use them. One example from this site, which I just read about in the paper this past week, is the following link:

http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0910/091019-balloon_boy.html

As you can see from this example from something that just occurred in the news, there is an abundance of materials through which to bring the story. Applicable to our week's assignment, there is a listening exercise during which students fill in gaps in a text. I like the enormous array of possibilities of what can do with just one item from the news. Not only does this site offer one resource for the classroom, but it offers the possibilities of what any teacher can do with any material. I was very impressed to see how much was created for the classroom in such a short time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APOLkUEw8p0&feature=related

This youtube video is a mini lesson for ESL learners. I like how the lesson is presented in that the student is asked to listen to the dialogue several times, each time listening for a different aspect of language. After this point, the dialogue is played again, but this time so that the learner can see the text. The remaining portion of the video goes through the idioms in the speech, as well as the informal grammar and pronunciation used. I could imagine using this in the classroom and stopping it to go through the points made and answer questions. As one follow up idea, the students could pair up and speak the dialogue reading the text in front of them.

Blogging 101

This blog is set up as part of my Methodology course for teaching English as a Second Language to adult learners. My teaching context will be in a Community College with a group of students from all over the globe. Their ages vary, as do their educational backgrounds, but many wish to improve their English to be able to attend classes at a University setting. Others hope to be able to better communicate with their children's teachers and doctors.

The specific course in this context will be for teaching reading and vocabulary, so this site will become a source for materials from the web that may be used in that context. Those of you reading this site are encouraged to add to the resources, which will appear here, if they fit this teaching context.