Advanced Search: Resources

1. U.S. Time Periods

   Format(s): Text, Video, Website

   Teaching and learning resources on U.S. time periods, from the Department of Education.

2. Smithsonian Folkways: Tools for Teaching

   Format(s): Website

   Looking for more ways to use music to teach? Check out the Smithsonian Folkways website that has a section called “Tools for Teaching” with free lessons and activities for the classroom.

3. Dictionary.com

   Format(s): Website

   Dictionary.com has several sub-pages, including Thesaurus, Word Dynamo, Quotes, Reference, and Translator. There are a variety of educational activities and resources on each of these pages, filled with interesting ways for teachers and students to learn.

4. To Build a Fire and Other Stories

   Format(s): MP3, Text

   If you like stories about wilderness and survival, check out Jack London’s To Build a Fire and Other Stories. This reader is designed for intermediate-level English learners. Download it for free!

5. Social Media as a Tool for Community Engagement

   Format(s): Text, Video

   This webinar looks beyond the framework of our current English language classrooms to prepare our students for the difficulties posed by an unknown future by deepening our teaching.

6. Billy Boy

   In: Sing Out Loud Traditional Songs Format(s): MP3, Text, Image / Poster / Maps

   This song in the Sing Out Loud Traditional Songs collection is both a folk song and nursery rhyme.

7. Classroom Activities

   In: English Teaching Forum 2011, Volume 49, Number 2 Format(s): Text

   These classrooms activities, which are designed for beginner, intermediate, and advanced students, focus on the issue’s fishing theme. Classroom activities include written and oral work, vocabulary, team work and individual work. Lessons include creating a vocabulary card game, oral story telling based on the “fish story” concept of telling exaggerated stories, and the creation of a persuasive piece. Variations are included to expand and vary the lessons.

8. Lesson Plan: Going Green

   In: English Teaching Forum 2007, Volume 45, Number 4 Format(s): Text

   The lesson plan, “Going Green,” allows students to develop research and problem-solving skills on the theme of environmental conservation. The lesson includes a glossary of environmental terms. It uses a learner-centered approach as learners work in groups to determine their topic, the vocabulary they want to learn, how to collect information, how to report it (qualitatively or quantitatively), and what action to take based on the results. Students report their findings and action plan in a poster presentation. Creative writing, a debate, or a "green fair" are optional extensions.

9. The Making of a City

   In: English Teaching Forum 2004, Volume 42, Issue 2 Format(s): Text

   This article about urban planning is appropriate for advanced learners. The content discusses city planners, planned cities (e.g. Chicago), zoning laws, and high-rise residential districts. There are many images, a glossary, and a list of related websites. There are two short sections. One is about Columbia, Maryland, the subject of another article in this issue (“Maps and Legends”). Columbia was a completely planned, experimental community. The second section is about rebuilding Cabrini Green, a Chicago neighborhood well known for its poverty and crime.

10. Create to Communicate: Sculpture

    In: Create to Communicate: Art Activities for the EFL Classroom Format(s): Text

    This section focused on sculpting contains six lesson plans focusing on yes/no questions, comparatives and superlatives, past and present progressive, and adverbs of frequency.

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