Part of the Cool Sites series

An Xtranormal Kind of Introduction

Teaching phrasal verbs is my favourite activity of all!  Why is this so?  Well, in my experience, I have found that students generally don’t like studying them because they find them “too difficult, miss!”  I set out from elementary level to train my students not to be afraid of them, but to look forward to showing off their newly acquired knowledge of them. To stand out from the crowd. To use phrasals in a natural way.  In the correct context.  How do I do this?  I will explain.

I encourage them to chill out during the lessons if I see they look a bit stressed out.  I ask them to come up with ways of using new phrasals both in class and outside of class.  I encourage them to ask each other this question as a natural starter “Have you come across this word?  Do you know what it means?”,  if for example, they don’t know the meaning of a word.  Instead of asking me all the time, students are encouraged to ask each other first, always using this phrasal verb until it becomes instinctive for them and of course, second nature.  On a Monday morning my first question is inevitably “What did you get up to over the weekend?”  Students then ask each other in pairs and dialogue ensues following this prompt.  Another question would be “Did you get through the weekend homework?” I make sure that these questions are all in context and provide opportunities for practice.

Slideshare

Below is an example of a Powerpoint presentation converted to Slideshare. I have created this in order to maximise opportunities for student discussion. This would either be used as an introduction to this set of verbs, or as a review and recycling activity.  I have introduced 18 phrasal verbs with some follow-up activities at the end. I have experimented with whole pictures as background for added interest.

Bookr

Bookr by Pim Pam Pum is a nice tool for exploiting images to enhance your  phrasal verbs lessons.  You can easily create a “book” in minutes by selecting pictures, according to the theme you want to explore, and then simply dragging them into the pages of the book. You can write a short sentence on each page.  The example below is one I created especially for this post to demonstrate how it can be used.

Dvolver

This is a great site for dialogue exploitation. The animations are easy to create with a set group of characters. There is a choice of background music which adds to the special effects. There is no sound for the characters.

Go!Animate

This is another cool site for creating animations. Go!Animate can be used by students to recycle phrasal verbs learned or indeed, any item of vocabulary that needs to be reviewed.

GoAnimate.com: Getting Down to Phrasals by Janet Bianchini

Create your own at GoAnimate.com.

The ZimmerTwins

I registered on the ZimmerTwins site for the purpose of researching for this post.  I was surprised at how intuitive and easy it was to create my very first animation.  I have a feeling that students will love this tool!

Have a look at Phrasals in the Jungle!

ToonDo

I love ToonDo because it’s easy to create cartoons for any topic you like.  Students enjoy creating small dialogues or comic strips.  Here’s one I created which has a phrasal verbs theme.  The cartoons can be easily embedded into your class / student blogs or posted via email.

Create your own Toon!

PhotoPeach

The last on my list of favourite e-tools to make teaching and learning phrasal verbs fun is PhotoPeach.  I was able to create a simple quiz using my own photos. You have to select a synonym  out of the 3 options given for the verb in the picture.  I hope you enjoy it!

Test your Phrasals! on PhotoPeach

Challenge

I hope I have inspired you to use some of these cool sites with your students. You can adapt them to suit whatever theme you are working with. Why don’t you try one of these out for your next class? I am sure your students would enjoy creating short animations and dialogues or short books or indeed quizzes to test each other on new vocabulary or structures they have learned with you.

Have you had experience with any of these tools? If so, I would love to hear from you to learn how you and your class got on with them!

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I would like to thank Shelly for giving me this wonderful opportunity to write for her Cool Sites series. It’s a great honour for me to be here.

Janet Bianchini (@janetbianchini) has been an EFL teacher for over three decades.  She still loves teaching and she is enjoying the challenge of learning more about new technologies and how to integrate them into her lessons. She writes a blog called Janet’s Abruzzo Edublog.  When she is not writing, studying or teaching, she loves to spend time in her rather wild garden with her menagerie in tow.

Part of the Cool Sites weekly series!

Like most of us, I have only just recently (about a year ago) began to use web2.0 tools in my classes. It wasn’t easy at first. There is a myriad of tools at our disposal and new ones keep emerging at such speed that it’s enough to make your head spin. So, when I choose a tool to use I always try to think of what my students can get out of it, how tool A is more beneficial to them instead of tools B, C or D. I have tried quite a number of tools and I’m sure I’ll try many more, but at the moment my personal favourites are:

English Central – I love this site, because it allows my students to practice their speaking/reading skills, providing them with immediate feedback. HERE you can check the sort of assignment I give them.

Glogster – I guess this is already an old favourite of many of us. My students love the possibility of putting text, images, audio and video together in one place. HERE are some glogs they created.

Animoto – Simply brilliant! You upload your photos (and now even short videos!), add some text and music, let Animoto work its magic and you’re given back a wonderful video that you can post anywhere. No fuss, no muss! HERE are some examples.

GoAnimate – The possibilities are endless. From digital storytelling to book reports or simple vocabulary practice, you think it and GoAnimate will bring it to life! HERE are some of my students’ animations.

MyStudiyo – Great tool to easily create multimedia quizzes. I usually get my students to create the quizzes themselves and then use an interactive board to get the whole class to try out the quizzes. HERE is one.

Vocaroo – I use it  to give my students extra practice on their reading and speaking skills. They record themselves as many times as they want and then just post or e-mail me their recordings. Here are some examples.

VoiceThread – A recent favourite. Great tool for collaborative projects and to provide students with their own niche where they can practice and interact. HERE is my first project.

Last, but not least – Livetyping – It allows me to witness my students’ writing process, showing me what they corrected and rearranged before submitting their final text.  HERE are some examples.

So here you have it, my favourite tools. Am Looking forward to reading about yours!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Shelly for giving me the honour to contribute for her Cool Sites series, and also to express my sincere gratitude for all that she does for all of us.

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Alexandra Francisco is an EFL teacher in Madeira, Portugal. She has been teaching for 15 years at the secondary level and has only recently began to be involved in the teacher training area, providing short (25 hours long) workshops on the use of web2.0 tools in EFL classes.

You can follow her web2.0 experiences at her tech blog: ZarcoEnglish – Tool of the day. You may also check her assignments blog and her students’ showcase.

Collaboration has become the key concept to learn and engage ourselves through web. Web tools offer us the opportunity to collaborate and learn from each other; so this week, I would like to share my top collaborative tools for Shelly’s Cool Sites Series.

Palbee is a free online service that allows you to set up online video meetings with your friends or colleagues. You also have a whiteboard and it lets you draw, write texts, highlight or erase using different tools. Wetoku is similar to Palbee though you can set video meeting with one person, you can consider Wetoku as an easy interview tool.

Springnote is a web notebook service based on a wiki. You can create your own personal notebook or you can collaborate with others using group notebooks. You can create pages, share links and your bookmarks or share your files. Webnote and Writeboard are similar tools to take notes on net and share and make changes together. We have used Writeboard with Shelly while creating our proposal for IATEFL this year, it really worked!!

Wallwisher is an online and collaborative notice board maker. You can make announcements, lists, share your bookmarks with others or create together. You can add pictures, videos or give links. You can write anything you want to write on post-its and you can do more than that. Have a look at Nik Peachey’s Wallwisher as a great collaboration example.Stixy is a similar tool. You can try it too.

CoSketch lets you visualize and share your ideas as images using a whiteboard with others. You can upload pictures and draw on it, add shapes, you can draw at the same time with others and you can save your sketch as an image to embed it to your blog. DabbleBoard can be considered as a similar site. It’s another collaboration tool based on a whiteboard.

Wiggio is an online toolkit that lets you work in groups easily. You can send emails, text messages,voice mails. It makes it easy to share files and polls. You can set video conferences and also keep shared calendar, keep track of group’s tasks and resources.

Mindmeister is an online collaborative mind mapping tool that you can brainstorm with others real-time. You can create your own mind map on a award winning interface or share your mind maps with your friends or collaborate with others to create a collaborative one. Here is a good example with many other collaborative tools that you can use.

I hope you enjoy all the tools! And don’t forget to check Shelly’s cool sites every week.

Özge is an EFL teacher and a teacher trainer in Istanbul,Turkey. She is also the educational coordinator, script and screenplay writer of “Yes,I Speak English” DVD series in America.

Visit her blog: http://ozgekaraoglu.edublogs.org/ Follow her on Twitter:@ozge

This has been an honor for me to write as a guest blogger on Shelly Terrell’s wonderful blog! I would like to thank her for this opportunity,her inspiring ideas, motivating words and lovely smile. She is forever a favourite on my PLN and real life!!

Every week, I share my favorite finds in this weekly series! Test these tools out. If you want instant access to these fantastic websites connect with me on Google reader!

Cutting Edge Technology Wiki

David Kapuler has created an amazing wiki dedicated to various Web 2.0 technologies. The wiki provides information on various tools, such as nings, blogs, and PLNs (personal learning networks). Below is one of the resources I discovered on the website, a video about PLNs. My favorite part of the wiki is that David has included his 6 free e-books that are amazing resources of various technologies.

Google Image Swirl

Google does it again with Image Swirl, a search engine for locating various images. Below is an example of what the image results were for my favorite artist, Marc Chagall, but really you have to try it out. The search engine is easy to use and highly visual. For more information read David Kapuler’s review and Richard Byrne’s review.

100 Twitter Tools for Students

Accredited Online Colleges has created a list of 100 Twitter tutorials and tools. The resources are geared towards students but can easily be used by educators new to Twitter. Categories include finding people, research, study breaks, discussions, building relationships, careers, and more.

Elearning & Web 2.0 Tools

Mindomono is a new mindmapping tool that has incredible features, such as embedding, adding images, adding links, and more! My favorite is the E-learning and Web 2.0 Tools mindmap created by Jesper Isaksson.

Language Links Library

Find over 100 fantastic links for learning languages at the CALL4ALL website. Categories include lists of text to speech sites, language podcasts, language learning blogs, language learning software, and more! There are various finds for teachers and students learning English or any other language.

Even More Cool Links

• For a list of cool websites, check out Ozge Karaoglu’s series, Faves of the Week!

Challenge:

Leave a comment below of a way you could use one of these tools or websites in the classroom!

You may want to subscribe for free to receive regular updates, leave a quick comment of how one of these tools helped you, tweet this, or share this series with your Personal Learning Network (PLN) through your RSS reader or Delicious account.

Part of any curriculum should involve goal-setting. Ideally goal-setting should occur at the beginning of the year and be a collaborative effort between students and teachers. Each year, I look for a better approach to getting students to really ponder their language learning goals.

Student Motivation

Before students begin goal-setting, they should reflect upon their reasons for learning English. I used to just simply ask students to discuss their reasons for learning English. However, this time I introduced the topic by showing Lindsay Clandfield’s video! My students really enjoyed listening to the reasons why different learners feel learning English is important. The video is extremely useful in that students from various countries with different accents were interviewed. Additionally, the video includes word art of the responses so that students can read the responses while listening to them! My adult students and I really enjoyed the authenticity of the interviews, which is rare to find.

After watching the video, I asked each of my students to tell me which reason they thought was the most important for them to learn English. We had a round table discussion and the students were very responsive to the video. I was excited to see so much discussion on the first day with a pre-intermediate group of adult learners.

Ways to Study

Successful student goal-setting must translate into action. Therefore, I had the students work in pairs and read Berni Wall’s article, An A to Z of Effective Language Practice. The student pairs chose 5 of 26 tips to discuss. Each pair chose 2 language practicing activities they would most likely do or have accomplished. Each pair also chose 2 activities they could not picture themselves doing. Finally, they chose a tip they did not understand. Once again we had a very interactive discussion with each of the student pairs sharing their responses with the other student pairs. The least likely activity was karaoke. Most students admitted they were too shy to sing karaoke. Most decided they would practice their vocabulary, categorized under words.

Goal-setting Statements

The last step of the lesson was having students work on their goal statements. However, I first asked each student how to accomplish the chosen practice. For example, one student committed to increasing their vocabulary by doing word searches at least two times a week then looking up the words in a dictionary. This student’s goal statement looked like this:

I will improve my English vocabulary by doing word searches in the morning at least two times a week and writing down the definitions.

Another student chose to increase their vocabulary by reading an English newspaper and another by reading English news online. Others committed to singing English songs while driving and a few decided to listen to podcasts. I stressed to the students that I wanted them to establish manageable goals that fit in with their schedule. So far the students have stayed dedicated to their goals!

Reflection

Reflection is key to establishing these goals. Students must reflect in order to set goals that will intrinsically motivate them to achieve. This is where Wallwisher helps. Wallwisher is a free and easy Web 2.0 tool that acts as an online bulletin board where students can place sticky notes by simply clicking on the board. The words they type can be followed by a link to a motivational quote, picture, song, podcast, or video. The educator can then embed this bulletin board on a wiki. Below is an example of the goal statements my English language learners made at the beginning of the semester. Visit my wiki to view the rest of the lesson.

At the end of the class term, my students reflected on these goals and we discussed what they had and had not achieved. For my students these goals were tied to personal reasons. We discussed why they wanted to learn English. For your students, they should reflect on why they want to learn your subject. If students struggle with this question, then ask them why it is important to learn the subject. Have the students provide real world examples when they have used the knowledge in their everyday lives. Making these connections helps students realize the importance of the learning.

Continuous Learning

Successful student goal-setting must translate into action. Students can create a Wallwisher in which they have to list interesting ways they can continue their learning. This learning can tie into their personal goals.

Challenge:

Have your students create learning goals. First, have them reflect on why learning the material is important. Then have the students collaborate in determining what actions they can take to accomplish the goal. Finally, have the students write down the goals and commit themselves to following through with these goals!

Did you enjoy this lesson? You may want to subscribe for free to receive regular updates!

Every week, I share my favorite finds in this weekly series! Test these tools out. If you want instant access to these fantastic websites connect with me on Google reader!

IGNITE: A New Way to Present

In a previous post, I shared my Pecha Kucha Youtube playlist. I now have added an IGNITE playlist. IGNITE is Tim O’Reilly’s adaption of a Pecha Kucha except the entire presentation is only 5 minutes. I found this IGNITE video, Adapting with Technology, by Mark Argo on the Speed Geek Learning website which was tweeted by Diana Dell. Find more great IGNITE presentations by visiting the Speed Geek Learning website.

PinDax: Online Message Board

Sign-up for the free message board tool, PinDax! This message board service allows you to embed sticky notes with videos and audio files. You can also access your message board on your smartphone or embed it in a blog! Below is the demo board displayed on the website! Have fun exploring! A similar tool to Wallwisher, with a better design and features.

Kindersite

While attending the Virtual Round Table Conference, I learned about Kindersite. Educators and parents can register for free and have access to various tools for young learners learning various languages from English to French. These resources include comic strips, games, lullabies, songs, stories, and more.

Planbook Edu for Creating Online Lesson Plans

PlanbookEdu is a tool for online lesson planning. Register for a the free basic service and have access to the premium service for 30 days! Some of the features include the ability to attach files, check spelling, export to Word or PDF, access from anywhere, and share with others. The template looks very easy to use and I believe this is a great tool to get educators to lesson plan. Each year, educators repeat the same lessons so this tool with additionally save an educator lesson planning time in the long run.

Google Wave Index of Education Waves

Have you got Google Wave fever? I do and have added several people to various education waves. However, you can follow various education waves yourself by visiting the Wave Education Index. There are several waves listed to choose from, including some of my favorites:

Even More Cool Links

• For a list of cool websites, check out Ozge Karaoglu’s series, Faves of the Week!

Challenge:

Use one of the tools! Leave a comment if you found the tip useful or if you noticed a problem with the tool! Join one of the education waves if you are on Google Wave!

You may want to subscribe for free to receive regular updates, leave a quick comment of how one of these tools helped you, tweet this, or share this series with your Personal Learning Network (PLN) through your RSS reader or Delicious account.

Every week, I share my favorite finds in this weekly series! Don’t forget to test these tools out. If you want instant access to these fantastic websites connect with me on Google reader!

Teacher Training Videos

Have you ever wanted to show a video tutorial to your teachers? Have you ever needed a video tutorial on the best practices of using a tool? With Russell Stannard‘s site, Teacher Training Videos, you will find a video tutorial on several tools and topics. The videos are categorized into different sections. Now you can take charge of your own professional development or share the website with a teacher new to using technology or teaching English language learners!

Easy Wiki Tool

I love the ability to drag and drop boxes, which is why Intodit.com is the fastest and easiest tool to use to create a free wiki! It took me five minutes to sign-up, choose a template, and start dragging and dropping pictures, movies, widgets, and music. The space wiki shown displays the type of quality which can be achieved. I like this tool much more than PBworks and Wikispaces.

Youtube Channel: Pecha Kucha

I have been working on my Youtube Channel and have decided to share it with you. The latest playlist includes Pecha Kucha videos I recorded at the recent TESOL Paris conference. Watch amazing presentations from Lindsay Clandfield, Burcu Akyol, Ken Wilson, Jamie Keddie, Gavin Dudeney, and Penny Ur!  Categories include:

• Video Tutorials
• Twitter
• Education Technology
• Education Inspirational
• Pecha Kucha
• English Lessons

Zoho Integrated with Google

When Zoho first came out, several educators debated which was a better service Zoho documents or Google Docs. Both tools can be used by students to create PowerPoint presentations, spreadsheets, and word documents. Now, you can use both tools for free, because Zoho allows you to sign-up with your Google account and integrate your Google Docs. Matthias Heil gave me this tip!

Even More Cool Links

• For a list of cool websites, check out Ozge Karaoglu’s series, Faves of the Week!

Challenge:

Use one of the tools! Leave a comment if you found the tip useful or if you noticed a problem with the tool!

You may want to subscribe for free to receive regular updates, leave a quick comment of how one of these tools helped you, tweet this, or share this series with your Personal Learning Network (PLN) through your RSS reader or Delicious account.

When I first began teaching English to children at the beginner level of English proficiency in Germany, I had quite a challenge. You can read about my tips for surviving teaching EFL children in this guest post I recently did on Barbara Sakamoto’s Teaching Village blog. In the US I had taught English to mostly adults, college students, and high school students. After my first trying days, I searched frantically for resources for teaching very young beginners English. This year I was fortunate to come across Jason Renshaw on Twitter who is the creator of English Raven. When I checked out his website I was amazed by the various resources available to teachers and had to share hoping to help other teachers looking for an effective curriculum for young English language learners. Moreover, Jason provides videos and explains the methodology behind the materials.

Flash Card Games

Every English kid’s teacher knows the value of using Flash cards. Several flash cards are available on the website. English Raven takes this method a step further by adding several games children will enjoy playing with the cards. Our favorite game is the Noah Ark’s game. Below you can see a pair of my older students helping me find the animal pairs. My students were not familiar with Noah’s Ark but still loved the game and spoke the words aloud! We drew and decorated a large boat together in the shape of the arc. I drew the lines for the rooms then told my five year-old students to help me find the wife or husband of the animal to live on the board. I began by saying, “Here is Mr. Bear? Where is Mrs. Bear?” The cards are color coordinated with a blue animal card for the males and a pink card for the girls. The children were super excited and began finding pairs on their own saying, “Here is Mrs. Bear!” Then I mixed the cards up again and they helped each other find the pairs naming the animals aloud. For the older children, they collaborated on which animals should live together and which animals could not live together.

Podcasts and More!

English Raven provides numerous listening quizzes, word searches, and phonics sheets. However, my favorite materials for my older students are the short podcasts. My 8 to 10 year-old students easily listen and read along to different stories about whales, cars, world news, and more! I have never seen podcasts included for young learners before. In addition, you can use these podcasts as a basis to have the children try to make their own podcasts. This is a project I am currently working on and will include in a future post!

Why I’m a Member

I have researched and paid quite a lot for English resources for my young English language learners, which is why I wrote this post. Teachers do not make a lot of money and if I would have known about this resource ahead of time, I would have saved a lot of money. At English Raven, you actually get a great bargain, because Jason allows you to pay what you can for a year membership! That is extremely generous! With this membership, you get a collection of quality materials and advice from Jason. I have dmed him on Twitter several times with questions or advice on teaching a theme and he has always been very helpful! Below is a video on how you can become a member.

Check out some of English Raven’s free materials for Halloween! Recently, the older kids and I played the guess the costume game.

If you liked this post, you may want to check out my glogster, EFL’s Teacher’s Kit for Surviving Kids.

You may want to subscribe to receive regular updates, leave a quick comment of how English Raven helped you, tweet this, or share this series through your RSS reader or Delicious account.

Every week, I share my favorite websites! My goal is to post this weekly series regularly on Saturdays so you can test these tools out. However, you can get access to these fantastic websites as soon as I find them by connecting with me on Google reader!

Open Source Cinema

Open Source Cinema allows the user to join or propose video projects.  You can remix media on your own computer and other people’s media from YouTube and Flickr.  You can easily create your own video project for your students on any theme and have them each contribute images, music, and videos. Another way you can use this website is to show one of the thought-provoking video projects like the one below and have your students debate the issues or respond in a journal. Some of the videos could act as case studies. The video below describes the purpose of the website and provides some history behind creative commons! This website is in beta and I did find some bugs, but overall I think this website offers several learning opportunities. This website was shared by my friend Sue Lyon-Jones!

GoAnimate

GoAnimate is a fantastic free animation tool! There are several  characters, backgrounds, music, voices, and effects to choose from. You will have to sign-up. The tool is very simple to use and very creative videos can be made with dialogue, sound, and various voices. You can have students make animation movies or you can make one to introduce a lesson. Below is an example of what a finished animation looks like! I chose this animation, because it is a tutorial, well made, and illustrates some of the features. I recommend you check out the rest of Mojochi’s animation videos, which can be used for educational purposes. Although the website is free, please note that you will have a limited selection. However, when you create various animations you can earn points for more features.

GoAnimate.com: The Advanced Zoom Tutorial by Mojochi

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It’s free and fun!

WordOff: Blogging Tool

If you are a blogger you know one of the faux pas is copying and pasting posts from Word. The reason you should never do this is because you will have a lot of html to fix. However, when you invite guest bloggers they sometimes will send you Word documents. You now can easily clean the added html in Word documents with WordOff! Just copy and paste the html of the post you need cleaned up and the website will:

• remove attributes for all elements including <span> and <div> tags
• keep <a> tags for html and images
• reduce consecutive line breaks to two

Lingt Webtools for Languages

You really must check out Lingt, which was introduced to me by Melissa Techman. With the various tools you can quickly create oral exams, incorporate video and images to create media activities, offer specific feedback to students, track individual improvement, and archive all assignments! You get a url easily accessible to students and the public if you want to share your materials. For a great example, look at this Japanese dialogue lesson.

Even More Cool Links

• For a list of cool websites, check out Ozge Karaoglu’s series, Faves of the Week!
• If you love animation tools, please check out the various reviews by David Kapular in his Technology Tidbits blog!

Challenge:

Use one of the tools! Leave a comment if you found the tip useful or if you noticed a problem with the tool!

You may want to subscribe to receive regular updates, leave a quick comment of how one of these tools helped you, tweet this, or share this series with your Personal Learning Network (PLN) through your RSS reader or Delicious account.

For the last two years, I have taught English to children, teenagers, and adults in Germany. Teaching English language learners in a foreign country is much different than teaching English language learners in the US. Therefore, I have referenced several of the blogs and websites in my blog roll, which offer such wonderful ideas. My curriculum this year has incorporated several of these ideas. Therefore, I plan to share more about what works in my classes and where you can find these resources. Furthermore, I hope these lessons will help mainstream teachers adapt their curricula for English language learners in their classes or students with special learning needs.

The Challenge

In my courses, my students are given challenges versus homework and these are not required. However, I find most students will meet the challenge, especially if given choices. For this lesson, the students chose to share one of the thousands of articles at the Breaking News English website created by Sean Banville. In order to explain the task I used the Screenr video below which took me less than 5 minutes to do. This Screenr can easily be embedded in any wiki or website.

Breaking News English

Breaking News English is an excellent and free website with several tools for struggling readers and English language learners. The short articles are accompanied by podcasts. Students can easily subscribe to the podcasts to receive frequent updates about news they care about happening all over the world. Furthermore, the website has online quizzes for students, grammar lessons, vocabulary reviews, and so much more! Check out Russell Stannard‘s video of the features to find out more!

In Class

During the class, students shared why they had chosen their articles. Each article topic was quite different! We discussed diverse topics, such as Michael Jackson’s funeral, Anne Frank, water found on the moon, and more. I even showed the 20 second YouTube video of Anne Frank.

We listened to one article’s mp3 without reading the text, read another article without listening to the mp3, then read to ourselves while listening to the mp3 of the article. We took a poll to see which technique was easiest for the students. We took another poll where students picked the hardest and easiest article for them to understand. Then we discussed these poll results. I especially enjoyed the students’ reasons why they thought some articles were easy and some were hard, because these were the same reasons to consider when deciding which English materials to read. On their own they realized they should read materials they have an interest in and some previous knowledge about.

Goal-Setting

Furthermore, we discussed how to best practice learning English outside the class. All the students read or listened to news throughout the day in their native language. Most of the students read newspapers and some read the news online or watched the news on television. The students set learning goals to incorporate into their daily news routine. For example, one student committed to watching CNN English news at least once a week in addition to watching the German news. Another student committed to reading an English and German newspaper at least once a week. Another student said they would try reading Google English news online.

Feedback

When I asked the students if they would use the Breaking News English site to practice their English, all replied yes. The students thought the articles were interesting, easy to understand, did not take too much time, and enjoyed the vocabulary exercises as well as the podcasts! My students’ English levels range from low-intermediate to high-intermediate. When I asked my students on feedback over the lesson, they all replied that they had learned a lot and were excited to try and reach their goals. The only negative feedback was they said I should force them to do the challenges. You can’t win them all!

You may want to subscribe to receive regular updates, leave a quick comment of how one of these tools helped you, tweet this, or share this series with your Personal Learning Network (PLN) through your RSS reader or Delicious account.