ESL/EFL websites I have visited and others I suggest

I have visited the following websites concerned with teaching and learning English as a foreign or a second language and found them all worth using in my English classes. I do recommend them all.

· Breaking News English http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/ is a website that provides plenty or free ready-made lesson plans and podcasts that teachers of English can use in class. It aims at developing all the four language skills (listening, writing, reading and speaking). What makes the website special is that it is concerned with teaching English using current events and news.

· Lauri’s ESL Website: http://fog.ccsf.edu/~lfried/ I like the design of the FrontPage of the website. It may be attractive to students. It looks that Lauri has developed the website for two objectives. The first is to provide her students online materials and tasks to practise with English. The second is to store her archive of the materials she has developed and the productions of her students. May be one of the weaknesses of the website is that it uses plain texts though there are some flash games that looks appealing. I think she should make use of some visual aids (pictures, videos, audios…). There are plenty of them for free. Still, the website is an excellent source and example for teaching/learning reading and writing in particular.

· ESL Independent Study Lab http://legacy.lclark.edu/~krauss/toppicks/toppicks.html is a very rich website. It contains plenty of materials and links to other useful websites. It could be considered as a source to target different language issues such as listening, reading, pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, games… The tasks are classified with regard to the students’ levels.

· Activities for ESL Students: http://a4esl.org/ targets both teachers and students by providing English as a second language activities and quizzes. You can choose from the set of hyperlinks set on the FrontPage different types of quizzes (bilingual, grammar, vocabulary crossword puzzles…), selected podcasts and youtube videos and so on. The quizzes are grouped in terms of difficulty.

· Interesting things for ESL Students: http://www.manythings.org/ It is clear from its title that the website provide different materials and fun activities for English as a second language teachers and students --with more focus on the latter. The FrontPage suggests links to a variety of language activities such as vocabulary, speaking, listening, reading, writing, singing… Students from of different English level can benefit from the site. There are also some flash games and listening materials that give to website a special flavour.

I have also visited some other ones Here they are to share with you:

· Five Minute English: http://www.5minuteenglish.com/ is website devoted to the learners of English as a second language. It aims at give the students short and fun lessons and exercises. I have personally used many materials from the source which I always find useful.

As an example, the reading comprehension activity “English around the world” http://www.5minuteenglish.com/mar24.htm would be suitable for pre-intermediate students. I have chosen this page because I think the learners would learn many things that interest them in a short time. The activity is composed of three sections: a glossary where the students learn vocabulary they need to understand the text, the reading text and the post-reading comprehension activity. The ABCD objective of the 5 minute lesson is: Given a glossary and a short text, pre-intermediate students will be able to learn new vocabulary and skim and scan the text to answer a multiple choice comprehension task.

· Make Beliefs Comics: http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/ A devoted page for writing to young learners of English as a second language. It helps young learners to create their own comics strips using their imagination. The page provides amazing tools, prompts and techniques that make the whole writing activity a fun for the learners (I enjoy doing too). The ABCD objective is: Using an online interactive webpage, elementary young learners will use the tool and the techniques provided to write their own comics. I do highly recommend this page. It’s fun and worthwhile.