Signup Sheets - useful tool

This is a very useful site I found. Super simple to use and useful if you need to get groups of trainees?students organised and signing up for an activity.

Check it out! The picture is hyperlinked, just click on it and you'll be there in a sec!

Phonics, phonics, phonics

I regularly teach phonics for primary school teachers and so here's a list of websites that offer lots of phonics ideas, materials, sources. The picture here is of one of my favourites: Progressive Phonics.

Feel free to explore the others here:

http://www.adrianbruce.com/
http://www.starfall.com/
http://www.schoolbell.com/ (Dolch words and games)
http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/language_arts/phonics/
http://www.kiddyhouse.com/Worksheets/

Wordnik - super cool dictionary and more!

Wow, I came across this great resource thanks to a RT by Valentina Dodge and goodness me. I think it is absolutely great. So many things you can do with it in the classroom! I'll come back with more on it once I've given it a go with trainees.

here's the link: http://www.wordnik.com/

Online Journals with PENZU!

I recently found this tool and I think it's very useful. At work we use our own site hosted by ning.com byt PENZU could be very useful for any tutors running courses anywhere and who don't have access to a site on ning.com or don't want to create one and simple have the possibility to have their trainees' journals online.

Top tool for me because of my work context in teacher training. here's the link: http://penzu.com/

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!