TeachersFirst Resource Listings

Subject Results by title Records 1 to 20 of 127

100 Free Short Stories for ESL - Rong-Chang Li & Bill Bailey

Grades 6 to 12

This website provides a large collection of short stories selected for beginning and advanced beginning ESL students. The subject matter of many stories is not appropriate for younger students. Some include topics you would find in newspaper articles, and some deal with dating. Preview! The website allows you to read the story yourself or click on the speaker icon to hear the story read aloud. The site could also be used to provide extra reading and reading/listening for struggling readers. There are also an online dictionary, numerous follow-up activities to check comprehension, and crossword puzzles. The questions and other review activities provide immediate feedback. This website requires RealPlayer or Windows Media Player. You can get both from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..
8915

In the Classroom:
Share these activities with individual students as an assignment or independent practice on your classroom computer and as a link from your web site. The reading and activities are easy to work on independently because of the listening feature and the available dictionary. Don't forget to provide headphones. Provide this link for the families of ESL/ELL students to read (or listen) to the stories together.

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words - IRA/NCTE

Grades 6 to 8

Improve writing skills while tapping into art and critical thinking skills. This lesson plan takes students to virtual art galleries, guides them through a brainstorming exercise, then challenges them to analyze character, setting, situation, and vocabulary, before creating an original story. A nice activity for exploring connections between images and words, and learning characteristics of narrative writing.
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A Word a Day Homepage -

Grades 4 to 12

Register for daily e-mail "word of the day". - Grades 4 and up - You can register for FREE daily e-mail "word of the day". The entry includes phonetic pronunciation, various meanings, and derivation. There is even a sound wave pronunciation of the word. You can retrieve a complete list of words presented. (examples: euphony, paragon) Excellent site for upper elementary through High School.
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AAA Spell -

Grades 1 to 8

Are you looking for ready to go spelling and vocabulary words and activities? If so, check out this site, AAA Spell. The site offers spelling and vocabulary lists for grades one through eight, suggestions for review and practice activities, and ready to go interactives for all lessons. Each grade level has several lessons and lists (some as many as 30). Although this site isn't highly interactive, it does offer some very basic and well prepared spelling and vocabulary activities. Be aware: there are advertisements at this site.
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In the Classroom:
Use this website to create spelling and/or vocabulary lists for your class. Learning support teachers will appreciate the ready-to-go practice activities for a wide variety of lists. If your school already uses a spelling curriculum, use these words for the highly capable students who are looking for more of a challenge. Each lesson includes additional teacher ideas. List this link on your class website, so students know the spelling words and have access to practice at home.

Alphabet Organizer - Read Write Think (Iron Monkey Interactive)

Grades 0 to 12

This Alphabet Organizer makes learning words and terminology exciting-- and organized. All levels may use this--from primary students learning the alphabet to secondary students learning advanced vocabulary. On the interactive keypad, key in the beginning letter of a word. Key in the rest of the word on the blanks provided. You also have the option of typing in the word's meaning. When your list is entered, you may choose a booklet or a chart format for the presentation of your information. Studying content-area words or vocabulary meanings have never been so easy.
8664

In the Classroom:
Think outside the 'box' when considering this application. Teachers may opt to teach the elements of the story through entering character traits, setting, plot events, etc., then printing a chart to teach those concepts. Special Ed or ESL/ELL teachers and teachers will love using this organizer to help students organize new words they must learn. If students use a three-ring notebook, new words can be added over time. Mark this tool as a favorite on your classroom computer for students to access as needed.

Ancient Egypt - Myvocabulary.com

Grades 4 to 12

As part of their extensive site for vocabulary, roots, and more, Vocabulary.com has added a themed area for Ancient Egypt. Find interactive vocabulary activities using Ancient Egypt vocabulary words. You will also find printable crosswords, fill in the blanks and more, all using the same 18 theme words. This and other "themes" available on the site will make vocabulary development fun.
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In the Classroom:
Share the puzzles on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Have students work with a partner to try out the puzzles on their own. Have students try to create their own word puzzles and share them on a class wiki.

Animated English Idioms - in2English

Grades 5 to 12

Animated English Idioms has a series of fairly high level English idioms explained. Each idiom is first illustrated with a cartoon video. Then the definition of the idiom appears. Students can replay it or return to the first screen to see another idiom illustrated. To return to the main page click on the English Idioms link at the top of the page. After watching the first two pages of idioms, students can select idiom activities: drag and drop review of idioms. Access the idioms activities (designated by letters) by simply clicking on the small number (1), (2), (3), or (4) at the bottom of the page. These exercises are. This site requires Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
9508

In the Classroom:
Assign this site to your ESL and ELL or language arts students so they can learn one new idiom each day or as an assignment during your idioms unit. Or display the idioms on an interactive whiteboard or projector at the beginning of class. Challenge your students to figure out what the idiom means, before you share the definition available at the site. Have your students create their own idioms using pictures and words. Why not put them on an idiom wiki?

Antonym Challenge - William H. Sadlier, Inc.

Grades 4 to 6

Test your students' understanding of antonyms with this multi-round interactive challenge. To earn points, players must spot the antonym of the given word before time runs out.
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April Fools' Day - Myvocabulary.com

Grades 2 to 12

Looking for some new "tricks" to use for April Fools' Day? Take advantage of this FREE website, offering interactive word puzzles, a word bank (perfect for vocabulary lessons), an alphalary of April Fools' Day vocabulary, information about how various countries celebrate, and more! Although most of the word puzzles are more appropriate for middle and/or high school students, the reference information would be useful in most grade levels.
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In the Classroom:
Use this site to take some of the "silly" out of April Fools' Day and teach your students some new vocabulary words. Use the word bank to create a class activity learning the meanings of these new words. Give a pop quiz on April Fools' Day to see what they remembered. Share the puzzles on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Have students work with a partner to try out the puzzles on their own. Have students try to create their own word puzzles and share them on a class wiki.

Armored Penguin - Armored Penguin

Grades 0 to 12

Create puzzles and other word games using this resource. Puzzle types include Word Search, Crossword, Word Scramble, Bagels (Interactive Logic Game,) and Math worksheets among others. There are also quotes, illusions, and more. Creating a log in is not required. Puzzles created remain for two months and can be saved as a pdf file on your computer. Many puzzles are already permanently archived and can be found by looking through the categories. Don’t miss many holiday and calendar-event puzzles! Search puzzles of the day to find new and interesting puzzles to use. Printable puzzle versions from this site require Adobe Reader. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
10223

In the Classroom:
Need a puzzle to reinforce the words in a particular unit? You may find one already created. If not, it is simple to create and save to your computer or share by URL (remember the online version is saved for two months). Use the "Quotes" page for great quotes of the day, the "Illusions" page for optical illusions, or the "Fresh Words" page to see what words can be made from a word, phrase, or collection of letters. Have cooperative learning groups create their own puzzle pages for a topic that they are researching or learning about in class and use them to challenge their classmates or another section of the course. Have students create puzzles as a cost-free, printable gift for families on special occasions such as Mother’s Day.

Art and Architecture Thesaurus - Getty Museum

Grades 6 to 12

The Getty museum has compiled a very complete, easily used thesaurus of art and architecture terms. Type in a generic search word related to art and architecture, and this handy research tool will provide its definition, related terms, and position within the site's hierarchical database. Art teachers and students will find this one a valuable research and study tool for understanding art terminology and vocabulary. This is a text-only resource, but useful for clarifying concepts and styles.
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Ask Oxford.com - Oxford University Press

Grades 6 to 12

For existing and potential wordies, this fun page offers a word of the day, a quote of the week, a list of new terms added to the OED online (i.e. "Lollywood"), a chance to look at commonly asked questions about words and linguistics, and a chance to ponder over interesting quotations that feature significant words and word play. Links from the page go to dictionaries including a children's dictionary, a cross word puzzle,facts about English, a quick quiz, and more games. Note: you can toggle between US and UK versions of the site at the top right.
7356

In the Classroom:
If you have a projector, use the word of the day or one of the quotes as an anticipatory set for vocab lessons or during homeroom to warm up the minds of sleepy students. Include the link on your teacher web page for your "wordie" students. Maybe even consider making some of the activities an exta credit opportunity.

Back to School - Myvocabulary.com

Grades 4 to 10

As the name implies, the topic at this site is Back To School. At this site you will find several interactive word puzzles, an alphalary for life skills and career vocabulary words, and some basic information about career and job choices. Several of the activities are printable. This site does include some small advertisements.
9895

In the Classroom:
Use this site at the beginning of the school-year as you learn about your students. Share the word puzzles on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Have students create their own word puzzles about their summer vacations (whether spent at home or traveling).

Beat the Clock - British Council

Grades 3 to 9

This site offers applied vocabulary and grammar review in quiz format. Although this site was designed for ESL and ELL students, much of the material would be applicable in a regular education language arts class. Every quiz has a time limit (visible to students), and consists of six or more questions. Feedback on the quiz is immediate. The topics and difficulty level range from low intermediate to high. Topic examples include “Soccer vs Football,” “Adjectives and Adverbs,” and “Passive Tenses.” Students who need more practice on a certain area can click on "Related Pages" to review something similar but with a different format. This site requires Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
9469

In the Classroom:
Share this with students who need to review their grammar but are impatient with “boring” grammar exercises. This site assumes students know some grammar and some vocabulary; it is a tool to check how accurate their understanding is. Save this site in your favorites, and check back often (new material is added monthly). List this site on your class website for students to use for at-home practice.

Better At English - betteratenglish.com

Grades 3 to 12

This site features podcasts on subject areas of interest to ESL and ELL students and their instructors. Since August 2007, all material is also available as videos. The material presented features teaching techniques, information on new available technologies that assist students with schoolwork and language learning, and grammar and other communication techniques. Although this site was created for ESL/ELL students, it would also be useful for any students learning grammar.. All podcasts include text of the spoken or video materials. The focus for these lessons is on acquiring more vocabulary and improving oral and reading comprehension. Some of the videos come from YouTube. If your school blocks YouTube, consider accessing this site and choosing videos at home, using a tool such as Vixy (explained here) to bring them in for class use.

This site does have several appropriate advertisements. There are also a few questionable links on the site (for example, “Uncensored English”), so be sure to supervise WELL. This site requires Quicktime, Adobe Acrobat, and Flash. Get them all from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
9377

In the Classroom:
You will need headphones or speakers if you choose to assign students to listen to the podcasts individually. This site is excellent for enrichment or special topics. Include it on your teacher web page (with a disclaimer regarding content) for students to access both in and out of class. Use this site with intermediate and advanced level ELL and ESL students to help them improve their knowledge of English slang and idioms. If you are into video, consider creating your own student vodcasts about idioms and sharing them via TeacherTube ( reviewed here) and on your class wiki.

Big Huge Thesaurus - Big Huge Labs

Grades 1 to 12

This simple-looking online thesaurus is actually MUCH more than a quick-look-up. You can find synonyms, antonyms, similar words, and rhymes for any word you enter. A click on any of the words offered provides the same information for THAT word, sending you on word-paths through the English language. Innocent-looking links at the top of the page also provide hundreds of prompts for blog posts and stories, with enough choices to inspire any writer. Don't let the boring white background and plain-text presentation fool you. This tool has magic powers to make words interesting to almost anyone. The database of words used to generate this thesaurus comes from "the Princeton University WordNet database, the Carnegie Mellon Pronouncing Dictionary, and suggestions from thousands of people on the internet just like you." See a special note to teachers below regarding student behavior!
10446

In the Classroom:
Keep this link handy among the resources on your class web page or wiki, and be sure to bring it up on your screen or interactive whiteboard to remind students of the rich tools it offers as you teach grammar, revision, poetry, essay-writing, or even letter and resume writing. With primary grades, share the rhyming words to help teach spelling and phonics! As students share in revising a passage or writing a poem on the interactive whiteboard, have this thesaurus available on another window to model their search for just the right word. Encourage students to look up any new vocabulary or terminology at the start of new science or social studies units so they can gain a broader "sense" of the words themselves through a constellation of synonyms and related words. Help students refine vocabulary by having them rank the various synonyms offered for a certain word, deciding which has the most positive or negative connotations. Offer the writing prompts for student journal or blog posts or creative stories. ESL/ELL students can explore new words with this tool, even practicing the rhyming sounds and noticing their varied spellings.

NOTE: If students enter an inappropriate word, they WILL find classroom-inappropriate terms. As with use of any reference, your students need to know your classroom's consequences of such activity. The options are no different from students looking up body parts or pornographic terms in a print dictionary or on Google.

Braingle: Brain Teasers, Puzzles, Riddles and More - Braingle

Grades 3 to 12

Exercise your gray matter by solving one of the 12,000 'braingles' at this site. It purports to be the largest collection of puzzles, riddles, mind games, etc, on the Internet. Once you explore the site, you trust their word. The site is mobile phone and wii-friendly. Don't miss the section with SAT vocab (in Mentalrobics). There are articles on study skills and strategies such as clearing your mind before studying, "chunking" when reading, or various strategies to memorize material. Engage students into math and reading exercises through the endless riddles and puzzles at this site. They won't even be aware they are 'reading' or 'solving math.'
8429

In the Classroom:
Start class with a "warm-up" brain teaser. Or include this link on your teacher web page (with a caution about parental supervision for younger ones). Site creators claim the entire site is family-friendly, safe for classroom use. Portions of the site require membership, and the membership level that displays ads is free. You may want to set up a CLASS account and use it under controlled circumstances since there are forums and chat rooms, however. Or ask your tech folks to block the portion of the site that includes "community" in the URL (http://www.braingle.com/community/) to avoid having to deal with forums, chat rooms, etc.(If you are lucky enough to have such helpful tech support, make them cookies once in awhile!)

Buggy Alphabetics - Cynthia Reeg

Grades 1 to 3

Children's author Cynthia Reeg offers a poem whose lines follow alphabetical order. The first word of the first line begins with "a," the next with "b," and so on. Imaginative illustrations change as the student clicks on the forward button to see the next lines.
9259

In the Classroom:
Use this poem to introduce your children to writing poetry by sharing the poem on a projector or interactive whiteboard. Students studying alphabetical order will also be intrigued by writing within restrictions of this order. Work together on your interactive whiteboard or projector. To begin, ask your students to think of a similar word that begins with the same letter, and change just one line. When they get the idea, give them a series of 6 - 8 letters and ask them to write their own list of adjectives or lines of poetry. Work as a class or have them work in groups to complete a poem using the entire alphabet. ESL and ELL students will enjoy looking for new words t to express their ideas in the poems.

busuu.com - UNESCO

Grades 3 to 12

This site offers language lessons for 4 languages: Spanish, English, French and German. The site plans to add additional languages in the future. Joining for free allows students to learn vocabulary, dialog, writing, oral skills, comprehension, and more - in a highly interactive format. Support from native speakers is a regular feature of this site using the interactive video chat capability. The range of topics includes more than 100 commonly used language situations. The site saves errors for review, lists of lessons already studied, results of those lessons, etc. This project of UNESCO's International Year for Languages offers lessons in "What you really need to know!" This site requires Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
9913

In the Classroom:
Check school policies concerning both student memberships and interaction with outsiders. You will want a written set of rules which both students and parents agree to before allowing students to navigate on their own in the portions of the site that use video chat with outsiders. Younger students (under 13) should use a teacher or class account, rather than an individual one, to avoid conflict with COPPA (child online protection act in the U.S.).

Make this site available from your class web page or as a favorite on local machines for ESL, ELL, and world language students to use to reinforce their survival and vocabulary skills. World cultures classes might even want to “taste” a bit of a language as they learn about other countries. French, German, and Spanish language students will enjoy the opportunity to "chat" with native speakers in their target study languages. (Be sure you have parent permission for students to interact with outsiders!). You will need headphones or speakers for the audio portions of this site. This site is excellent for enrichment or personal learning. Include it on your teacher web page for students to access both in and out of class.

Call of the Wild - Vocabulary - Myvocabulary.com

Grades 6 to 12

Here's a listing of 100 vocabulary words from Jack London's book, along with pointers to similar listings from other major works. Grab 'em and go!
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