Language Tools

English Club.com offers an impressive entry of Language Tools that ESL/EFL learners and teachers can use. The section not only lists online antonym and synonym dictionaries but also two rhyming dictionaries! On Rhyme Zone you can type any word and find a huge list of words and phrases that rhyme or nearly rhyme with that word. I was really excited to discover such an innovative concept of a dictionary. I am trying to think of ways in which I can effectively use this resource for classroom teaching. And, the most relevant and obvious use I see is to teach pronunciation. In my class on teaching pronunciation, we often talked about using a list of  different words to practice one particular sound. I feel this website might be helpful in coming up with an extensive inventory of such words.
Alternatively, this resource could be used to make students write small poems or limericks! I don't know for sure if an activity like this would be suitable for learners at the intermediate level. But, I would still like to try it in class, for I strongly feel that associating  different words with similar ending sounds can be effective in vocabulary learning.
Another fascinating language tool mentioned on this site is the Make Your Own Wordle tool. Worlde is officially defined as 'a toy for generating word clouds.' The tool can be used to create interactive and colorful electronic flashcards that students can use to learn new vocabulary words or even idioms and proverbs. I am really excited about this tool and can't wait to try it myself!

Audio English

As the name suggest, this site is focused on listening activities. It provides audio recordings on different types of dialogues, phrases, narrations and role-play exercises, for different contexts. There is a section on Practical English that gives phrases that can be used in everyday situations. The site suggests that students listen to the audio clips and practice pronunciation. Apart from pronunciation practice, the site can be used for listening comprehension and also as part of pre-exercise for speaking activities. The students can be asked to prepare their own dialogues based on what they hear on the clip.
However, this resource is primarily in British English and hence the speakers have prominent British accents. So, this might not be helpful for learners learning English for and in the American context. But, I think this might be an interesting resource to use in my teaching context, since it will be helpful in familiarizing the learners with different English accents.

Teaching Resources

Lanternfish provides many helpful teaching resources for ESL and TEFL teachers. There are a wide range of worksheets and lesson plans available, all based on the kind of skills and themes the teachers wants to work on.The brief description of each lesson plan on the main page makes it easier for the teacher to choose. Also, each lesson plan is laid out clearly and comprehensively. The variety of areas and topics makes this site suitable for all age groups and levels of learners.
One lesson that I would particularly like to try with my students is the Job Fair role-play. Although the site gives step-by-step instructions on the lesson plan, the teacher can adapt it according to her own context and learning needs of her students. Like, the lesson lists What did you study in University? as one of its questions for the interview. If this appears to be too simple, then I can introduce the word 'qualification' and tell me my students that this question can be rephrased as 'What are your qualifications?'.
This lesson is part of the Business English section of the website. This section has many activities that I can try with my college level students to prepare them better for the professional world.
The site can also take you to an interesting link on the Glossary of ESL terms. It is a relatively short but helpful resource for language teachers as well as students learning to navigate the world of second language teaching and education. I was excited to see so many of the concepts that I have learned this semester listed on this site! Each entry is explained in simple terms. The site can be very helpful for refreshing some of the key concepts related to language acquisition theories and practices.

People, Places and Stuff

Talking of culture, I discovered this unique website-inogolo- that is basically a English pronunciation guide to names of people, places and miscellaneous stuff. The website has a decent collection of proper names and provides both their audio and phonetic pronunciations in English.
Learning to say proper names correctly in English may not be a priority for some English language learners, especially if they are at a very early stage. But if the goal was to help learners achieve overall socio-linguistic competence, then something as simple as being able to pronounce a Frappuccino may become very essential. I think I should share this resource with my students for it is only appropriate that they learn to pronounce the names of the brands like NIKE, LEVIS, they like wearing!

Dictionary with a difference

Having only taught young adult learners so far, I can say that learners at this age are most receptive to the playful and informal use of the language. I was always amazed to see how quickly my students would pick up slangs and informal expressions, even when they had limited proficiency in English. As I write this, I am ridiculously stuck by a burning question that I want to share with all the language teachers out there: Should foreign language teachers ever teach slangs in the classroom? I understand that some informal expressions can be very culturally inappropriate to discuss in class. But, wouldn't young/teenage language learners want to know some 'cool' words, especially if their motivation was to assimilate more with the target culture.
 I wasn't intentionally looking for such language teaching resources, when I found the Double-Tongued Dictionary, an online database of undocumented or under-documented words from the fringes of English, with a focus on slang, jargon, and new words.  These are words and expressions that are absent from, or are poorly covered in, mainstream dictionaries. I think this a very innovative and helpful idea of not only introducing a colorful cultural element to language learning, but also of introducing something fun and exciting in the classroom, occasionally.

Learn English Today

Learn English Today: The name of this website reminds me of one of the most popular catch phrases that private English language coaching institutes in India use. While I wish the website designers had been more creative in picking out a name for their site, I like the site for its accessible and simple lay out. It seems a good resource for both teachers and students. The site can help teachers develop interesting classroom instructions ideas as well relevant content on variety of topics, from Business English, Phrasal Verbs to idioms and proverbs. In terms of learners, I think the site is more suitable for adult/young adult learners as there aren't enough graphics or pictorial representations to attract children. The content too is relevant more for adult learners.
The Check Your Progress feature is interesting. It offers different online and printable games to practice a wide range of vocabulary. The games are interactive and will keep the learners engaged.

Vocabulary Can Be Fun!

Vocabulary Can Be Fun offers a range of interactive ways of building and reviewing vocabulary. The website is designed to address a vast audience for it not only has word games for language learners in different grades (on the right), but also offers vocabulary learning tips and games for GRE aspirants (left side, bottom)! I feel this may confuse and distract the learners initially.

The best way of making the most of this site in my context would be to only focus on the thematic groups/labels given on the left index. This index includes practice games on analogies, antonyms, prefixes, spellings etc. These games can complement classroom teaching of vocabulary based on specific themes and can help students practice the words in an interactive way. I would particularly like focus on the Homophones games, as this is often a challenging aspect to master in any foreign language. Sometimes, even the most fluent and proficient of learners get confused with similar sounding words. Maybe, getting a low score on a word game will help them remember the word better!

The Phrase Finder

The Phrase Finder has an impressive collection of phrases, idioms and expressions commonly used in English.  It is almost like an online dictionary of English expressions, but with relatively lower database. However, I think the collection is appropriate for intermediate level learners. Also, what separates it from regular dictionaries and makes it more interesting is its Meanings and Origins section. I really like the way it groups the commonly used expressions under different categories.  These can be helpful in introducing learners to expressions based on a common theme.

I would also encourage my students to sign up for the free A Phrase A Week service available on this site. (Much like myself!)While some of the phrases may be of a little advanced level, but it will give them a sense of how words can have metaphoric meaning in a language.

The Flatmates

T.V. shows are perhaps the most popular sources for gaining exposure to the target language. Many American shows, like FRIENDS, have been immensely popular among the English language learners in India, not just as a means of getting to know the American culture better but also as an entertaining medium of language learning.

When I saw The Flatmates, an online soap opera on the BBC site, I thought it was such an innovative way of incorporating TV/radio shows, almost something like the FRIENDS, in classroom language teaching. The series is specifically designed to help learners develop their English language skills, where each episode covers a specific Language Point.  The For Teachers section again provides many interesting ideas like prediction, what happened next and role-play, on how each of these episodes can be effectively used in the classroom.  I think I would use this in my class once a week, to break the monotony of studying from the prescribed course book.  I feel once I introduce the series in class, my young adult learners would get hooked on to it and would most likely start learning from it on their own.  Hence, this site would be very helpful in making the learning process more learner-centric.

Another way of using this resource would be to extend the role-play activity and to get students involved in creating something similar of their own. The students don’t necessarily have to use high-end technology to produce a Youtube video or even an audio clip. Instead, the teacher can introduce the series at the beginning of the semester and then encourage students to create their own series in groups and act out an episode in class every week. The students may or may not choose these episodes as models. But, the idea is to keep it as an ongoing process of creating and building narrative in the target language.

Learning English with BBC

I have been a great fan of BBC for as long as I can remember.  As an English learner myself, I heavily relied on BBC news, TV shows and movies (mostly adaptations of classic literary texts) for my regular dose of ‘comprehensible input’ in English.  Even as a teacher, I recommended these sources to my students. But, even though these sources provide excellent exposure to high quality English, there is a limitation to what a learner can actually do with them to improve his/her language skills.  

I was excited to discover the Learning English section on the BBC website, recently. The site is inviting, easy to use and seems to have been developed by professional ESL/EFL teachers. I think it will be a very useful language-learning resource for my young adult learners, for it covers topics like General and Business English and also world News. Since, most of the learners in my context have instrumental motivations for learning English, these sections can be beneficial in focusing on specific language skills required for the purpose. 

The site can be both in class and outside the classroom language-learning tool.  The For Teachers section offers many interesting ideas on how the different features of the site can be used in class.  Like for the Talking Business section, the website offers free downloadable worksheets that can be used in class to practice listening comprehension, pronunciation and even speaking skills in the form of group presentations and business meetings.

Interesting Things for ESL students

Many Things: One of the first things I noticed about this website was that it has no advertisements! While this makes it less colorful and more like a text book to look at, it also means that the learners and teachers can focus on the content without any distractions, or the inconvenience of random pop up windows opening up accidentally.

As the name suggests, the site has a range of interesting activities to match the needs and interests of different levels of English language learners.  It appears to be a comprehensive website that covers important skills from reading, listening, spelling to pronunciation. The site gives you the choice of what you want to practice and how you want to practice it. Like, you can either study the vocabulary word lists first and then play the related games or jump straight to the games and try and guess the words on the lists.  You can also play different games using the same vocabulary list.

The range of different word games they offer all at one portal particularly impresses me.  Under the Vocabulary section, one can find interactive activities like the matching quizzes, word ordering, anagrams, hangman etc. These activities can help students add variety to their vocabulary learning.  I find these activities very useful for my context because the level of vocabulary covered is very diverse and even includes sections like Business English and Job application.  I also like their separate section on Proverbs, Slang and Idioms.  The database contains a good amount of proverbs that are commonly used in American English and can be helpful for college level students.

About teaching languages

I like to believe I 'accidentally' became a language teacher. Four years ago, I was pursuing a Masters in English Literature at the University of Delhi in India. An inherent sense of wanderlust made me apply for the Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program (FLTA) in my final year. And as fate would have it, I got selected and ended up teaching my native language, Hindi, to Undergraduate Students at the University of Texas at Austin, USA,  for a year. The experience was enriching in more ways than one. But, I think it most importantly changed the course of my professional and academic career. I was convinced that teaching languages is what I want to (and can) do for the rest of my life! Last two years of working as an English lecturer at the National Institute of Sanskrit (Bhopal) in India, has only strengthened this belief.

The purpose of this blog is to share ideas and knowledge with people who are as passionate about teaching languages as I am. Although my ultimate goal is to find interactive, effective and learner-centric ways of teaching college level English in India, I see this blog as a platform to learn form and contribute to the vast repertoire of knowledge available on language teaching.