Podcast

ESL teacher Talk
http://www.eslteachertalk.com/
ESL teachers that have been teaching ESL for over 15 years touch on a variety of subjects from classroom management, lesson planning, and curriculum. Get words of advice from people in the trenches of ESL education.

Learn English Have Fun
http://ilacradio.podomatic.com/
This podcast has a section devoted just to slang. Many times students hear slang and figurative language and take it literally. There is also an ask the teacher section as well as other fun stories that are meant to help learn the English language.

Quality Time ESL
http://www.qualitytime-esl.com/spip.php?rubrique20
This podcast are clearly spoken and "interactive" oral exercises that help learn everyday English language. Worksheets are available on the website that go along with the podcasts.

Week 11

ESL students in a real life situation.
https://abcnewspapers.com/2016/12/01/blaine-esl-students-learn-lessons-on-bus-at-crepe-shop/
The article that caught my eye this week in my goggle alerts was a news article about ESL students on a field trip. It was about the importance of exposing the ESL students in real life situations and helping them to navigate riding the bus and going to a bakery. Students had a great experience, and learned so much more than they could in the classroom.

For me, this article really brought to light how important this exposure to different situations can be for ESL students. All of the skills they practice in class can be applied in a fun way that shows the students the importance of knowing the language that they are learning.


Games in Education:
https://www.classcraft.com/blog/features/games-learning/
Another interesting goggle alert I had this week was a blog that discussed the importance of gaming in education. I found this interesting because of our topics this week. One thing I found interesting is that the author described skill practice games as "chocolate covered broccoli." This means that it takes a boring skill and sugar coats it to try and make it more appealing. For the positive side of gaming in education the author states that other games add a level of complexity in learning. NASA has been working on adding complex math word problems into games to try and have more people interested in the fields that are needed at NASA. Another positive aspect of gaming mentioned in the article was the language skills that are gained during the game. This is particularly a great thing for L2 students. This article gave a variety of perspectives of gaming in education and warns about just using it as a carrot for students, and to think of it to help add complexity to a lesson.

Week 10

Personal Learning Environment Website reviews:

https://www.openeducationeuropa.eu/en/node/428297

This website is in many different languages. I had to translate it in order to figure it out. It was an interesting site that stresses how creating a PLE can also assist students get employment. Students share what they have learned to future employers so that they know what they are getting. There are many topics to search through to help create your own PLE.

https://www.districtadministration.com/content/journal-readers-recognize-lexia-learning-most-valuable-ed-tech-provider

This journal article reviews a program that I never heard of. It is called Lexia reader. It is a division of Rosetta Stone. The program is driven by the teacher, and allows for personalized reading curriculums for each student. I then went to look into the Lexia reader program (http://www.lexialearning.com/products/core5) to see what it is all about. It is an independent reading curriculum that is online for students to learn reading strategies, take assessments, and provide practice.

These are the 2 websites that came in my google alerts for this week. I found them both interesting, and it shows how technology can be used to assist students take control of their learning.

Week 9: Google Alerts

The following is a brief list of new resources to use for ESL planning for the classroom.

English Club
https://www.englishclub.com/ref/idiom-of-the-day.php

This website is an awesome collection of resources for both students and teachers. One of the resources is an idiom of the day. Not only is a new idiom given, but there are also multiple choice questions that accompany it. There are also writing and speaking tips, slang of the day, spelling and pronunciation rules, and plans with games for the teacher.

Teaching English
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/

This resource has plans and materials that are broken into age group categories. The resources seem to be high interest for the grade level it is targeted towards. The resources are in PDF files that can be downloaded easily to use. I looked through the elementary resources for awhile and I love the many different subjects and topics covered from this site.

Busy Teacher
http://busyteacher.org/

This website is a collection of recent research and articles geared to assist ESL teachers. There are also a ton of resources on this site that could be used to teach ESL students. The one thing I found different from other sites is that they have a ton of articles that discuss the trends in the ESL classroom.

Week 8 Google Alerts

ESL Yes
http://eslyes.com/

I was so excited coming across this resource this week in my google alerts. This is a website that provides over 1,600 free short stories for English learners. Not only do you have access to the short stories, but the stories are sorted by grade level, have exercises and audio files with them. The activities include vocabulary practice for the stories, a cloze reading practice, crossword, sentence comprehension, and a dictation piece. They also have a direct link to google translate. I do not have any ESL students in my classroom, but I do have low students who could benefit from some of the practice skills that are in the different stories. The speak to text is a little slow sometimes, but the stories are high interests and there are a lot of them. I'm excited to explore this site more.

Unit 7 Google Alerts: Personal Learning Environments

Three Pillars of Educational Technology: Learning Management Systems, Social Media, and Personal Learning Environments

http://teachonline.ca/tools-trends/how-use-technology-effectively/three-pillars-educational-technology/three-pillars-educational-technology-learning-management-systems-social-media

The article that is linked above was an interesting read about Learning Management Systems. The history and improvements of LMS is discussed. The different applications for classroom use are also examined. I found it interesting that LMS is being used during physical classrooms as well as virtual classrooms. I thought they would be only used virtually like we are doing now.

Dipping Your Toes into Personalized Learning

http://www.personalizelearning.com/2016/10/dipping-your-toes-into-personalized.html

This is a blog that is set up to help teachers set up and use Personalized Learning. I particularly found the chart that compares personalized learning and differential learning useful to help me know the difference. This blog is set up like a chat, and I bookmarked the site to use for later incase I have questions on how to implement personalized learning into my classroom.

Unit 6: Google Alerts Week 3

This week I was able to get a lot more information from the Google Alerts. Below is a short summary from a few sites that I found of interest.

http://uniliterate.com/2016/10/smart-smartphones-language-classroom/

“The smart way to use Smartphones in the language classroom.”

Discusses how to use Smartphones to enhance learning. One way is to use Skype to communicate with others. This could be used for various languages, and to practice speaking skills. A second way is by downloading one of the thousands if not millions of educational apps available to assist with learning the English language. A third way is for students to work on web quests and to do simple internet searches on a topic. By setting boundaries of acceptable use, the article discusses how the Smartphone can be of help in a classroom instead of a distraction.

http://www.eslkidstuff.com/esl-kids-lesson-plans.html

A second website that I received an alert for that I found very interesting is called Lesson Plans for ESL Kids Teachers. This website has free lesson plans. There are worksheets, songs, and other items that go with the lesson plan, but those require a membership. If this is a population of students that somebody teaches, then it might be worth it to get a subscription. The prices are not that bad. A one-year member ship is $29, two-year member ship is $48, and a three-year member ship is $59.

http://www.eslprintables.com/

ESL printables is a place where other ESL teachers share their resources for free. There are many different resources such as printables, PowerPoint, templates, smartboard files, and lesson plans. I loved how easily the search works. In order to download something, you have to contribute to the group first. It is updated all the time with new content to use in the classroom.