Cram. Online flashcards

Flashcards can be fun and effective when learning a foreign language. They are great resources to study, memorize and test yourself. There are many ways of using them both with individuals and groups. On the benefits of flashcards in learning:

http://www.cram.com/about

The internet is a great source of flashcards. You'll find many places on the web that offer them, for example, Cram.

Cram, originally called Flashcard Exchange was founded in January 2001. Since that time, the site has grown into the largest online source of flashcards and a thriving community of educators, students, and all types of enthusiastic learners.

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CramMode

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/flashcards

On Google+: https://plus.google.com/+CramMode/posts

You can also find other mobile flashcards for your Android or iPhone device:

Web site:

http://www.cram.com/

Cram (Tag: English)

http://www.cram.com/tag/english

Ask Smithsonian

Founded in 1846, the Smithsonian is the world's largest museum and research complex, consisting of 19 museums and galleries, the National Zoological Park, and several research facilities.

Ask Smithsonian is a part of Smithsonian website which provides a collection of educational videos for common questions about History, Science, Nature, etc. Each of them is answered with the help of interactive and funny videos. All the videos range from 60-80 seconds in length.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/category/ask-smithsonian/?no-ist

Teachers TryScience

Teachers TryScience is a collaborative web site developed by the New York Hall of Science, IBM Corporation and teachengineering.org to bring best practices in design-based learning to schools in order to challenge students to engineer solutions through their knowledge of Science, Technology, Engineering an Math (STEM)

It provides elementary school students with a collection of free and engaging lessons and science activities. You can browse them by topic, by age and by estimated time required.

http://www.teacherstryscience.org/

NeoK12

Comprehensive collection of educational video clips and games (quizz games, puzzles, vocabulary…) for kids that are in grades kindergarten through 12th grade, covering the subjects of science, math, health, social studies and Engilish.

All videos and lessons linked are safe for kids and have been reviewed by teachers. They can be viewed on other sites but it is easier to find them here.

Access to some of their items require a paid subscription.

Good stuff to make lessons more exciting and visual.

http://www.neok12.com/

Arcademic Skill Builders

Online educational video games, originally born as a side project in the research department of the University of Kansas School of Education.

A very useful approach to learning basic math, language arts, vocabulary and thinking skills and an engaging way to let your students enjoy and practice a skill at the same time.

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Arcademics

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/Arcademics

On Google+: https://plus.google.com/+Arcademics1/posts

Also available on GooglePlay as an Android App:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Arcademics

http://www.arcademics.com/

Happy Pi Day

Pi Day is an annual celebration of the mathematical constant pi π in the US. Pi Day is observed on March 14 (3/14) since 3, 1, and 4 are the first three significant digits of π. 

The earliest known official or large-scale celebration of Pi Day was organized by Larry Shaw in 1988 at the San Francisco Exploratorium. 

Pi Day can be celebrated in a number of ways, most commonly by eating pies, discussing its significance, holding math quizzes etc.

Some ideas and resources to celebrate Pi Day in English:

http://www.piday.org/

https://es.pinterest.com/amyla16/pi-day/ 

https://www.pinterest.com/profwilcox/pi-day-activities/

http://www.ck12.org/search/?q=Pi&source=ck12 

http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson335.shtml 

Learners TV

LearnersTV is a non-commercial and free to use web service that offers video lectures, animations, online tests, audio lectures, etc. on a variety of subjects and topics including biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, statistics, computer science, medicine, dentistry, engineering, accounting, and management. Once students click on a subject and a topic, they are shown a list of clearly ordered and labeled lectures.

Materials may be used by individuals, institutions, governments, corporations, or other business whether for-profit or non-profit so long as the use itself is not a commercialization of the materials or a use that is directly intended to generate sales or profit.

http://www.learnerstv.com/index.php

Longreads. Sharing the best storytelling

Longreads, founded in 2009, is dedicated to helping people find and share the best storytelling in the world. Longreads features nonfiction and fiction over 1,500 words, and many of the stories come from their community’s recommendations. You can explore stories by topic.

Longreads Editors’ Picks, Exclusives and Originals are free for everyone even if he or she is not a Longsreads member. Nevertheless, the Longreads Membership is reader-funded storytelling. That means every dollar you contribute goes into a giant story fund to pay for original journalism, short fiction, and exclusive essays and book excerpts from the best writers and publishers in the world.

(Source Longreads FAQ and About Us)

Longreads & Social Networks.

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/longreads/

On WordPress.com: http://blog.longreads.com/follow/

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/longreads/

On Google+: https://plus.google.com/+Longreads

Wizer.me

Wizer.me is a free simple and quick online tool that allows teachers to create their own interactive worksheets. To begin using this tool, you need to create a free account.

http://app.wizer.me/

The following video shows how to start creating worksheets by adding relevant materials and customize them to your needs. You can use different types of activities or tasks to make as many worksheets as you like.

Film & ESL

The Academy Awards, or Oscars, is an annual awards ceremony hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence in cinematic achievements in filmaking from the previous year. The first Academy Awards were distributed in 1929. The last one (the 88th ceremony) was held recently, on February 28.

For those who think that film is not just a form of entertainment but a powerful learning tool in the educational process, a tool with many possibilities, some links to a number of sites containing a variety of views, information and resources on cinema and English teaching and learning:

Film English http://film-english.com/

ESOL Courses http://www.esolcourses.com/cinema/vocabulary.html

British Council https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/how-can-film-help-you-teach-or-learn-english

Film in Language Teaching Association (FILTA) http://www.filta.org.uk/

Movie Segments to Assess Grammar Goals

http://moviesegmentstoassessgrammargoals.blogspot.com.es/

LearnEnglish Teens (British Council) http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/uk-now/film-uk/

Short of the week https://www.shortoftheweek.com/

Sounds of English

This website is a collaboration between Sharon Widmayer, Ph.D, and Holly Gray, ESL teachers and curriculum developers for over 20 years. 

It's primary goal is to offer language schools, trainers and students tools that make the learning-teaching process easier and more efficient in the field of English sounds and pronunciation.

It includes sections on vowels, consonants and stress and intonation. It also provides with some lessons and activities.

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/soundsofenglish

On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/soundsofenglish/

http://www.soundsofenglish.org/

Grammar posters

Posters are helpful learning tools for visual learners in order to reinforce, among others, grammatical concepts. They provide an awesome teaching resource that can act as a reference for pupils. They can inspire or help provide examples of usage norms, vocabulary and structures covered in class.

What follows is a series of links to other websites you may find of interest if you want to decorate your walls with grammatical content that will encourage, assist and motivate your students.

https://es.pinterest.com/explore/grammar-posters/

http://www.3plearning.com/free-punctuation-grammar-posters-class/

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FREE-Grammar-Posters-for-the-Writers-Notebook-447800

https://es.pinterest.com/pin/343399540309202963/

https://www.pinterest.com/explore/carteles-ingleses-935600585945/

https://www.pinterest.com/explore/grammar-posters/

https://static.squarespace.com/static/50b88908e4b012760ada1011/50b88a46e4b0e7e1545b4050/50b88a5fe4b0e7e1545b49dc/1352195359002/Parts%20of%20Speech%20Poster.pdf

http://www.teachthis.com.au/products/view-resource/link/Grammar-Posters/id/399/

Quill

Quill is an open source literacy tool built by a community of educators and developers that provides writing, grammar, and vocabulary activities to middle and high schools students.

Quill Proofreader gives students passages that have grammatical errors placed in them.

Quill Grammar teaches grammatical concepts through sentence writing exercises.

Quill Writer is a two-player activity where students take turns writing a passage together from a shared list of words.

Teachers resources and overview
https://www.quill.org/teacher_resources

Visit:
https://www.quill.org/

On Twitter: https://www.quill.org/teacher_resources
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quill.org
On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG9mgvktG6vxp7XoYEJTiaw
On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quill_org/

Online Journals for English Language Teachers (list by Marisa R. Constantinides)

Online Journals for English Language Teachers

View more lists from Marisa R Constantinides

International Day of Women and Girls in Science #WomenInSTEM

In December 2015 the UN passed a resolution to recognise on February 11 each year women's contributions to this field, so today is first International Day of Women and Girls in Science. This is an international celebration of the work of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths)

On UNESCO's web site.
Why so few? AAUW research report

Take a look at this video by Chelsea Ziadie on underrepresentation of Women in STEM. Is it fair? What can we do about it? Surely that is a good debate that is worth having in our classrooms.

Child soldiers. Educational resources

The 12th of February is observed as International Day against the use of Child Soldiers.

According to the UN, thousands of boys and girls are associated with armed forces and armed groups in conflicts in over 20 countries around the world. 

They fight on the front lines, take part in suicide missions, act as spies, messengers, or lookouts. Many girl child soldiers are sexually abused and awarded to male combatants as sex slaves.

Some resources for addressing this topic in the classroom:

http://www.child-soldier.org/child-soldier-resources

http://www.redcross.org.uk/What-we-do/Teaching-resources/Teacher-briefings/Child-soldiers

http://www.redcross.org.uk/brotherca

http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/static/education/child-soldiers-uganda.pdf

https://www.warchild.org.uk/get-involved/schools/schools-resources

https://www.amnesty.org.uk/sites/default/files/activities_resource_0.pdf

https://www.amnestyusa.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/innocents_lost_curriculum.pdf

Understanding Language: Learning and Teaching #MOOC

Free online course developed by the University of Southampton and the British Council. The course takes place over four weeks and explores second language learning. It considers language classrooms and how teaching affects language learning. Also, it looks at the use of technology in teaching, and its benefits and challenges for language learning.

No prior knowledge is required to take part in the course.

You can buy a State of Participation for this course.

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/understanding-language

Join the course on: https://www.futurelearn.com/register

Stay informed on Twitter: #FLlanguage

LinkEngPark

Free to use resource organized according to various levels (from Elementary to Adavanced) where you find ESL audios and videos with English transcript.. It is updated regularly. It can be a very interesting site if you want to improve your listening skills. It offers podcast, audiobooks and videos

http://linkengpark.com/

On Google+

https://plus.google.com/+LinkEngPark/posts

On Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/LinkEngPark/

On YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/user/LinkEngPark

Games to learn English

Website for students of English as a foreign language as a resource to study or review language. It was created by Owen, an English teacher at a university in Anhui province, China.

The site is very easy to use. It uses Wordpress and all the game content (pay attention to it) is made using Flash.

http://gamestolearnenglish.com/

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

International Holocaust Remembrance Day, is an international memorial day on 27 January commemorating the victims of the Holocaust. This genocide resulted in the death of an estimated 6 million Jews, 2 million Gipsies, 250,000 mentally and physically disabled people, and 9,000 homosexual men by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. On 27 January 1945 Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp was liberated.

This International day was designated by the United Nations General Assembly resolution 60/7 on 1 November 2005. (Source: Wikipedia)

International Holocaust Remembrance Day and education:

UNESCO. International Day

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/events/prizes-and-celebrations/celebrations/international-days/commemoration-in-memory-of-the-victims-of-the-holocaust-2016/

UNESCO. Some resources:

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/human-rights-education/holocaust-remembrance/resources/resources-for-educators/

Centre for Holocaust Educational

http://www.holocausteducation.org.uk/

Holocaust Educational Trust

http://www.het.org.uk/

US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Resources for Educators

http://www.ushmm.org/educators
Genocide of European Roma
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/es/article.php?ModuleId=10005219

YouTube. Holocaust Memorial Day Trust

https://www.youtube.com/user/HMDTrust

Holocaust Teacher Resource Center

http://www.holocaust-trc.org/