Of cabbages and kings

"The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things: Of shoes and ships and sealing-wax, of cabbages-and kings…" (Lewis Carroll). This post is a compendium of many things—three best-of collections, two comprehensive online ESL courses, and a finale of a site where you can learn how to create your own faux Smart Board.

First the lists…
Probably the best known collection of lists for teachers is Larry Ferlazzo's blog of Best Websites of the Day for Teaching ELL, ESL, EFL. He continually updates his Best of… lists, and his blog is one-stop shopping for ideas on almost any topic. Type keywords in the search box, and you will probably be served with a cornucopia of ideas and activities. For the best of his best-ofs, click the Most Popular Blog Posts tab in his header. Each entry is annotated, so the user has some guidance to avoid wasting time by going to sites that are not of interest. One site I like from his post for today (Best Websites for English Language Learner Students —2009) is the BBC Memory Share site. I searched for immigration and found this memory, which could be used for a class discussion of culture shock and/or preparation for students' writing about a memory of their own and posting it on the site.

If you find Larry Ferlazzo's site a bit overwhelming, Kim Oliver, ESOL instructor at Austin Community College, has a site that is helpful and a bit less intimidating in scope —Kim Oliver's Links and Resources. Last Saturday she presented her 20 Top ESL Websites at the TexTESOL III Regional Conference, but she has way more than 20 really useful sites! Her home page features a highlighted site of the week, and on the right are links to sites, organized by category and annotated to enhance targeted searching. The site is easy to navigate, with a sitemap and a search box for targeting a specific topic or issue. Looking for practice with count/noncount nouns? A click on the category on the left brings you four sites with explanations, quizzes, and activities.

If you're looking for learning games to liven up students' vocab work or grammar practice, Rong-Chaang ESL Games may be the site for you. The site is organized into five categories: Popular (non-ESL) games, Educational Games, English Learning Games, Grammar Games, and Vocabulary Games. It seems clear and easily navigable, but after you get onto the linked pages, you might find yourself entangled in a myriad of links with no clue as to where to go except Back. Many of the games are designed for children, but adult English learners don't seem to mind. I learned about this site from one of my students after she discovered Learning Chocolate, which is linked from the Rong-Chang site.

Free Online Multimedia Language courses… Is it really possible to learn a language online? I know of two free courses that do a pretty good job of facilitating online learning, including feedback on writing. USA Learns is a multimedia online course developed by the Sacramento County Ofice of Education with the support of the Office of Vocational and Adult Education of the U.S. Dept. of Education. Released in November 2008, the course is now used by many educators as a distance learning option. Learners can sign in independently or as part of a class. It is easy to set up a class, track the progress of individual students, and provide feedback. When learners register (even when they are not part of a class), the program keeps track of their progress so they don't have to start at the beginning every time they go to the site. The program is targeted for immigrant adults with beginning to high intermediate English language skills. It includes practice activities in listening, speaking, reading, and writing couched in life-skills themes to promote success at work and in the community.

I have also found a commercial multimedia course that seems to work well. http://www.busuu.com/ offers courses in English, Spanish, French, German, and Italian. I've been using it for Spanish for a short time and am impressed by the comprehensiveness of the free version. It's a combination social networking/language course site, where members help members via video chat. When I do a writing activity, I get feedback and correction within minutes. Of course there are ads and delicate pressure to sign on for the paid premium version, so there are some features that are not available in the free edition. It's necessary to pay for the premium version in order to hear the audio for the dialogues and download the podcasts. But, the free version does have the video chat option for talking with a native speaker. Another nice feature of the course is that users are reminded if they've been inactive for an extended period of time. Periodically, I receive an email telling me that my "language garden is drying up" and it's time to go back to busuu to do some more work.

Make your own Smart Board… I happened onto this site by chance. It's not something I would ever have dreamed of to search for. Johnny Chung Lee, a researcher for Microsoft with a PhD from Carnegie Melon, has posted instructions—with a video demo— for making any surface a Wiimote Interactive Whiteboard for about $50. Why would you want to do that? So you could project an image from your computer and write on the screen—without leaving any marks behind—and, from the demos I've seen, a lot more. All you need is a computer, projector, Wii remote control, and an infrared pen. The site gives instructions for making the pen, but if you're not that much of a do-it-yourselfer, you can buy one for $29. Lee's software (free) is for PCs, but he provides a link to a site where Mac users can download free software developed for Macs. There's also a users' forum you can go to when you have questions. I don't have a Wii, but I just checked online, and it looks like the going price is $35 for the remote control. Of course this homemade version won't have all the features of a bona fide Smart Board, but it looks like it might be worth playing with. Hmm… maybe that will be something to look into over the Christmas holidays!