Erin Bouma's Recommended
A NEW SELECTION OF WEB FINDS
For the new school year, here’s an interesting, new, and usable group of websites for teachers.
FOR YOUNGER LEARNERS
http://pbskids.org/lions/games/wordplay.html
Lions to go – word play. Interactive vocabulary animation. Of 25 words (spin, float, flip, stack, melt, etc) you click on a word and watch it play.
“Martha Speaks” A new vocabulary website for young learners from American PBS, featuring Martha, a dog.
Includes games, video, and print outs using words in context, and giving meanings. Emphasis on oral (hearing and speaking) skills.
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL
www.vocabulary.co.il/hanman/hman.php
“Hang mouse” (a playful cat and mouse variant of hangman) vocabulary fun. Select from 219 topics- some are easier than others. Also wordsearch and crossword puzzles at the site.
www.spellingcity.com/spelling-help.html
Free spelling tool with online spelling games, spelling reviews, and quizzes. Register for free service, make home page and begin saving your lists. Includes sample spelling lists, FAQ.
http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace
The Internet Public Library resource. This is “kidspace”. Includes: reference, our world, computers, health, reading, math & science, art & music, sports and fun stuff.
There is also a “teenspace”
PBS Teen site- “It’s My Life” is organized across six topic “channels”: Friends, Family, School, Body, Emotions, and Money. It offers advice, games, opinions, video interviews for kids aged 9-12. The site is filled with young people’s comments, ideas, and questions from all over the world. It’s purpose is to create safe, engaging, and educational online media for kids.
http://www.niace.org.uk/projects/esolcitizenship
ESOL citizenship materials on life in the UK for citizenship or settlement. Includes: England, Scotland, North Ireland and Wales “packs.” (PDF files to print out) on history, diversity, holidays, body language, working in the U.K., health, education, housing, the law, etc. Has Teacher’s notes and Learner activities.
VIDEOS FOR CLASSROOM USE
http://www.dfilm.com/live/home.html
Make your own simple “movie” with Dvolver Moviemaker.
As a director, you select a background, cast, music and write your own dialogue (which
will appear in the speech bubbles). Title it and it is ready to play or mail.
www.schoolstube.com/staticPage.php?pg=teachers
U.K. Teacher-created video and audio clips by categories. Most are under
one-minute – some up to 10.
Many show everyday life in Britain, nature and animals, also series on Viking and Celtic
culture. Free downloadable video clips for presentations and projects. All the content is
verified and checked before it is put on the site. Some have no (or natural) sound, so
students could prepare a text to accompany the short film.
These teacher-made videos vary in quality and subject-matter. Some are
actual classroom presentations, in fact.
Many on science and math topics but also “Nouns and Verbs”, “Lady Liberty”,
“Born to be Wild” (U.S. 1969–2012), Wax Museum “Elvis Presley”, 2 “Power
Teaching lessons (Kindergarten Phonetics and 5th Grade Critical Thinking).” I especially
liked the “Cloud Rap”. Most are under 5 minutes in length.
A large variety of video clips of practical advice (some comic/some more
adult) by general topic.
Some that I viewed and liked were: “How to Tie a Tie”, “How to eat Sushi”, “How
to Relax before going to Bed”, “How to go to Bed”, “Dance Moves-Emergency Guide
for Men”, “How Can I Look More Confident?”, “How to Stop Being Lazy”, “How to
Kill a Vampire”, “A Men’s Guide to Looking Good on the Beach”, Language &
Education Related: “Macbeth in 96 Seconds”, “Mind map with Tony Bucan”, and
memorizing Vocabulary and Language.”
Short, professional clips with Text Version.