ESL etc.

Teach UNICEF is a new website that shares a bunch of UNICEF teaching materials by topic and grade level. Topics include child labor, armed conflict, poverty and sanitation, to name a few. Most topics offer materials for grades 6-8 and 9-12, and some include K-2 or 3-5. You can also browse by media type. I [...]

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I love these! Designer Candy Chang’s Tenants’ Rights Flash Cards come in sets of 30, with each one explaining a different right. They would make a great addition to a class for adult immigrant students. Some of the laws referred to are specific to New York, but a lot of the information applies to other [...]

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The Guardian has a visual representation of the words used in Obama’s 2010 State of the Union Address, as well as visualizations of earlier States of the Union. It’s interesting to see how things have changed over time. One obvious thing is how much more “America” and “Americans” feature in recent speeches, compared to earlier [...]

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Yes Magazine has a collection of articles on food that would be great to use with students. Some might need to be adapted, but the topics are good and there is a nice variety. One deals with bringing fresh, healthy food to an urban environment, another with 8 ways to join the local food movement. [...]

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I just came across a Flash-based game that simulates what it’s like to be a Peace Corps volunteer. I haven’t played it a great deal, but it seems like a decent game for language learners. You start out in a village, trying to solve a problem with their water supply. The bulk of the game [...]

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The Newseum has a flash feature that displays newspaper front pages from around the world. Simply hover over a city on a map and see a photo of today’s front page. This could be a great and quick way to get a sense of what stories are being covered where on a given day. Clicking [...]

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For now, instead of doing podcasts, I’m going to type up reflections of my current teaching and make materials available via the blog. It’s faster than making podcasts, and probably just as useful/useless. Plus, I can do it from work. Week 1: Materials Used syllabus icebreaker general global issues discussion / freewrite activity vocabulary journal [...]

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I first mentioned FreeRice last year. In brief, it was a website that raised money via advertising to make donations of rice while visitors to the site went through a vocabulary quiz. Now, they have added quizzes on a variety of other subjects, including grammar, art, geography and chemistry. They have also doubled their donation [...]

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FreePoverty is a new site similar to FreeRice. Students go through a geography quiz, with correct answers raising money for water donations to developing countries. Currently, I haven’t seen any third party validation of the site, so I’m not sure if it is legit or not. The quiz is pretty fun, though. They give you [...]

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Facing the Future is an organization that makes activity-based, global issues curricula for students of all ages. In addition to the great stuff they offer for sale, they have a ton of materials available as free downloads. I especially like the lesson plans from Engaging Students Through Global Issues, and the Climate Change curricula. Finally, [...]

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