10 Best Sources for busy ESL teachers and students
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Picture: http://www.vocabsushi.com/
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Title - VocabSushi
URL - http://www.vocabsushi.com/ Traget Audience - English Language Teachers/Adult Students Subject - English: standardized tests vocabulary Device - PC/iPad Developer - Jeff Novich Price - Free for students. $199 per year for teachers (class of 25 students) Year of Publication - 2009 |
Online vocabulary builder website/app helps students
to prepare for standardized tests (SAT, ACT, GMAT, TOEFL or TOEIC) or expand vocabulary. The unique feature is
students learn vocabulary in the context of daily news articles and by doing
vocabulary exercises or playing games.
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Picture: http://frenchcrazy.com/
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Title - FluentU
URL - http://www.fluentu.com/english/ Traget Audience - L2 Teachers/Adult L2 Students Subject - L2: listening comprehension & vocabulary Device - PC/iPhone Developer - Alan Park Price - Free for a very limited mode; $8 per month for unlimited watching & listening mode; $18 per month for unlimited watching, listening, & learn mode |
Video-based
language learning platform to learn Chinese, Spanish, English, French, German, Italian,
and Japanese. The website/app contains a collection of authentic video from
YouTube. Each video comes with interactive billingual subtiles and exercices to
practice vocabulary and listening comprehension skills.
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Picture: http://www.launchpadtoys.com/
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Title -TeleStory
Traget Audience - English Teachers/Parents/Students (Grade 1st-5th) Subject - English language arts: creative writing Device - iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad Developer - Launchpad Toys Price - Free |
A
video-creation tool to develop creativity, writing, and collaboration skills.
The unique feature of the app is the “augmented reality”; so that every student
can take an active part in his own TV-show or musical video.
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Picture: http://www.smartblog.es/
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Title - Phrasalstein
Traget Audience - Adult/Gr. 7-12 ESL students Subject - ESL: phrasal verbs Device - iOS/Android Developer - Cambridge University Press Price - Free Year of Publication - 2013 |
The
app allows students to practice and understand the meaning of phrasal verbs in
a fun way.
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Remembering & Understanding – students learn how to expand vocabulary and match the word with its meaning. |
Title - ELLLO
URL - http://www.elllo.org/ Target Audience - ESL Teachers/Adult ESL Students Subject - English: listening comprehension Platform - Mac, Windows, Linux, cross-platform Minimal Hradware/Software Requirements - 16 MB RAM or more, Internet connection at least 28.8Kbps, RealOne Player, speakers or headphones Developer - Todd Beuckens Price - Free Year of Publication - 2004 |
The
website has an impressive database of over 2,000 recordings and offers a
variety of listening activities such as interviews, news center, surveys,
songs, presentations, and games.
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Picture: http://livemocha.com/
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Title - Livemocha
URL - http://livemocha.com/ Traget Audience - Adult L2 students Subject - English: reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills, culture, communication Platform - Windows 7, 8, Vista, XP, Mac OSX Minimal Hradware/Software Requirements - 1GB RAM or higher, Internet connection at least 768Kbps, microphone, speakers, resent version of Adobe Flash Player Developer - Shirish Nadkarni; Pearson and Rosetta Stone Price - Free for basic lessons. Full course is $29 per month or $149 per year. As an alternative you may earn points by submitting feedback for other users and get access to a full course. Year of Publication - 2007 |
Community-based website,
which connects over 16 million users
and 1 million language specialists ready to help with learning a wide
selection of languages (38). Livemocha offers an opportunity to practice the
target language and teach your mother tongue via text, video, audio chats as
well as reading, writing, speaking, and listening exercises.
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Bloom’s Taxonomy:
Understanding & Applying & Evaluating – students learn how to summarize concepts, learn to implement previously obtained skills, and learn thow to make judgements about someone’s else work. |
Picture: http://theipodteacher.com/
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Title -Toontastic
Traget Audience - English Teachers/Parents/Students (Grade K, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and above) Subject - English language arts: creative writing Device - iPad Developer - Launchpad Toys Price - Free Year of Publication - 2011 |
Educational app that offers hundreds of characters,
backgrounds, and musical files to create own animated cartoons as well as to
share the movies online. The app helps children to develop both creative and
storytelling skills.
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Picture: http://www.plati.ru
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Title - World of Warcraft
URL - http://us.battle.net/wow/en/ Traget Audience - L2 Teachers/Adult L2 Students Subject - L2: communication & vocabulary Platform - Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8/OS X 10.8.x Minimal Hradware/Software Requirements - 2 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT, ATI Radeon™ HD 4850, or Intel® HD Graphics 3000 Developer - Blizzard Entertainment Price - Free trial version for the first twenty levels; $14.99 per 1 month, $13.99 per 3 months, $12.99 per 6 months Year of Publication - 2004 |
Massively
multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) with over 10 million players and
availability in 11 languages. To complete quests and missions players should effectivelly
interact with each other in the virtual world.
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Picture: http://www.iosnoops.com/
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Title - Murphy's English Grammar in Use
Traget Audience - ESL teachers/Adult ESL students Subject - ESL: grammar Device - iOS/Android Developer - Cambridge University Press Price - Free for 6 units; 1 unit for $2.29, all units for $19.99 |
Being based on the world’s best-selling Raymond Murphy’s grammar textbook,
the app allows students to practice English grammar on the
go. Teachers, in turn, can suplement classroom instructions with fun
activities. The app is focuses on the fundamental grammar
structures, which are necessary for intermediate language proficiency.
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Picture: http://news.topwirenews.com
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Title - SpeakingPal
Traget Audience - Adult L2 learners Subject - L2: pronunciation Device - iOS/Android Developer -SpeakingPal Ltd Price - Free for 16 levels; $28.99 for all 95 levels. |
Speech recognition tool, which helps to practice pronunciation of a
target language (12 language to choose from) in the context of real life
situations.
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Description of Key Pedagogical Benefits
- Offering the authentic learning opportunities: all websites/apps are based on the authentic materials that can be applied to real-world situations.
- Increasing student autonomy: students are responsible for their own learning.
- Providing easy access to materials: students have access to materials 24/7.
- Personalizing learning: students work at their own pace.
- Decreasing anxiety: students are less afraid of making mistakes and actively participate in activities.