VOYCABULARY - really cool

I know I said I'd be back in Jan but can't help it! There are so many great tools out there why miss them!?

I'm very interested in how to help trainees and students increase their vocab and so this site is really useful.

Ok, this is another really cool tool. The site is called Voycabulary and basically what it does is that it allows you to hyper link all the words in a text to various sources i.e. dictionaries, thesauruses or thesauri, translations into different languages, etc. This could be a very good tool for students working at home, a quick way to see a whole text with links to meaning.

Breaking News English - excellent site but....

I came across this site thanks to Russell Stannard's EFL/ESL videos and I think it's a great tool. All the same, I can't help to wonder about the dangers of it. It can turn into an I-don't-need-to-prepare-my-lessons tool if not handled with care. Russell wisely advises that not all the activities can be used or that there may not be enough time to go through all of them. I would like to say that this site can provide variety to lessons and by making informed and pre-assessed decisions it can give a tired teacher a few new ideas and resources to work with and from.

Here's the link: http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/

On leave till 4 Jan 2010

I know I've been away for a while but for a good reason: I'm on leave till Jan 4! I'll be back in a couple of weeks with more resources!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Reading Rockets site

I'm very interested in teaching reading and so I'm always looking for sites with extra materials, theory and pieces of advice on how to approach the teaching of reading in the early years. I'm also a fan of phoics and so anything involving phonics also catches my attention.

This is a nice site with all of the above. Here's the link:

http://www.readingrockets.org/

English spelling games - try it out!

This is a very nice site from the Woodlands Junior School to get ideas from or to use with the whole class. Lots of spelling games and activities to use with the little ones (K1, K2) and lower primary. Give it a try. Here's the link:

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/interactive/literacy.html#5