TeacherDevelopment

Resources for Teachers: Good Places to Start 

The following sections and their accompanying pages are full of resources that are available for free, with only a few exceptions made for resources that are exceptionally good deals. Most of these resources are in English but almost all are useful to any foreign/second language teacher. This page is dedicated to what members of this wiki think are the best for newbies to try. Below these recommendations are links to pages with more complete lists. Find out who collaborates on this page!
 * **Publications** || **Professional Associations** || **Blogs and Wikis** ||
 * || **Authoring Programs and Sites** || **Testing and Grading** ||
 * **Free-use Sounds and Images** || **Online dictionaries, conjugation and translation tools** || **Online Teacher Training, Learning Environments and Materials to use for Class** ||
 * **Online Social Networking** || **Webliographies and Specialized Search Engines** ||


 * ~ Publications  ||
 * **Internet TESOL Journal** Contains Articles, Research Papers, Lessons Plans, Classroom Handouts, Teaching Ideas & Links. http://iteslj.org/ ||
 * **EFL Publication Catalog** This online catalog provides teachers and students from around the world with information on the publications produced by the U.S. Department of State's Office of English Language Programs. Over 80 titles are produced by the Office of English Language Programs and distributed through U.S. Embassies and Consulates around the world. http://eca.state.gov/education/engteaching/pubs/ ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**English Teaching Forum Journal Archives** issues from 2007 and back are free to access. Dont let the issue titles fool you, the magazine primarily has articles related to teaching. The issue titles refer to a lighter article about U.S. culture. http://exchanges.state.gov/englishteaching/forum/archives.html ||
 * More publications... ||
 * More publications... ||


 * ~ <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 200%; color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">Professional Associations ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**TESOL: Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages** is a US based professional organization with associate organizations in various countries.[|http://www.tesol.org] ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**CILT:The Centre for Information on Language Teaching** London now known as the National Centre for Languages. CILT is the leading information centre on language teaching in Europe - maybe the world. http://www.cilt.org.uk/|[|http://www.cilt.org.uk] ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**CALICO** A long-established professional association devoted to promoting the use of computer assisted language learning. http://www.calico.org/|[|http://www.calico.org] ||
 * More associations... ||


 * ~ <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 200%; color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">Wikis and Blogs ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day** Good blog assessing new online resources http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/ ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**Daily English Activities Blog** This site has a wide variety of different types of activities in English. Some are standard, like grammar drills but most are interactive and authentic like chatting with Santa or learning a song in English. Very good place to start for teachers looking for ideas to start integrating simple technology/task-based activities into student learning. http://daily-english-activities.blogspot.com/2008/12/have-chat-with-santa.html ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**Learning technology teacher development blog** A resource-sharing blog with tips, resources and teaching materials for EFL and ESL teachers. Target audience for this blog is newbies. http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/ ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**Voicethread for Education** ideas for using Voicethread in class http://voicethread4education.wikispaces.com/ ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**Free Technology For Teachers** overview of technology, mostly web/based available free for teachers to use http://www.freetech4teachers.com/ ||
 * More wikis and blogs,,, ||


 * ~ <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 200%; color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">Free-use Images and Sounds ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**CAPL (Culturally Authentic Pictorial Lexicon)** An image bank set up and maintained by Washington and Jefferson College, Pennsylvania. It consists of a searchable and categorised bank of around 2000 images. It exists under a Creative Commons license, meaning you are free to use the images for non-commercial educational purposes http://www.washjeff.edu/CAPL/ ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**Graphic Maps** This is one of various websites for maps to incorporate into a word-processed document, PowerPoint presentation or Web page http://www.graphicmaps.com/clipart.htm ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**Pixels, Please** This is a social networking site (Ning) designed to allow teachers to collaborate and share resources such as ideas, lesson plans, etc. esp. about how to use digital images in the classroom. http://pixelsplease.ning.com/ ||
 * More images and sounds... ||

||
 * ~ <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 200%; color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">Testing and Grading ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**DIALANG** - A major EC-funded project on online diagnostic language testing, co-ordinated by the Freie Universität Berlin. The project aims to design sets of diagnostic tests at 6 different levels in Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Icelandic, Irish, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish., linked to the http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/websites.htm#cef#cef|Common European Framework Access to the tests is currently free of charge: http://www.dialang.org/|[|http://www.dialang.org]. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**Markin** This is a program for marking work submitted by students as text data, for example via email or as a word-processed document. It was developed as a marking system for courses delivered via the Internet, and can produce marked work in the form of HTML files that can be viewed in a Web browser, or as RTF files that can be viewed with a word-processor http://www.cict.co.uk/software/markin/ ||
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**Authorship Analysis Software from University of Arizona** Authorship analysis software can help to identify authorship of texts and consequently, plaguarism. Such software has been used by literary and linguistic researchers for many years and is now widely used by security services in counter-terrorism activities. http://ai.arizona.edu/authorship/
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**Worksheet Generator** Enter a text and convert it into a worksheet with your chosen percentage of words blanked out. Multiple-choice, matching and scrambling exercises can also be created via this website: http://school.discoveryeducation.com/teachingtools/worksheetgenerator/ ||

http://www.verbix.com/webverbixhttp://www.verbix.com/windowsverbix ||
 * ~ <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 200%; color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">Online dictionaries, conjugation and translation tools ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**Lingro** A tool which allows you to read a Web page in its original language and then click on individual words you don't know to both see and hear the word in a variety of other languages. It even remembers which words you've looked at to give you a words list to learn from. Available for English, Spanish, French, German, Italian and Polish http://lingro.com/|[|http://lingro.com] ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**LookWAYup** combines a multilingual dictionary, thesaurus, translation, and other handy tools. With a double-click you can look up the meaning of a word, search it on the same site or the whole Web using your favourite search engine, and more. http://lookwayup.com/|[|http://lookwayup.com] ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**TheFreeDictionary** English, Medical, Legal, and Computer Dictionaries, Thesaurus, Encyclopedia, a Literature Reference Library, and a Search Engine all in one: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/|[|http://www.thefreedictionary.com] ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**Ultralingua** As well as offering online and offline dictionaries, Ultralingua offers a useful facility that can convert a Web page into a "dictionary-enabled" page, so that the words on the page are clickable and can be looked up in a defining dictionary (English) or a bilingual dictionary. You type or paste the URL of the Web page into the address box and choose the source and target language. The original Web page is then made available as a dictionary-enabled, clickable page. Some Web pages can't be dictionary-enabled, but it works most of the time. Includes verb conjugation tables too: http://www.ultralingua.net/ and http://ultralingua.com/online-dictionary/ ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**Verbix** A Windows verb conjugator, covering a wide range of languages and available both as freeware and shareware:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**Vocabulix** Vocabulary Trainer and Conjugation Trainer. A free website that helps you improve your vocabulary in various foreign languages. Vocabulix is divided into several lessons. You simply choose a lesson in a foreign language and the system will help you to memorize the words of that lesson. http://www.vocabulix.com/ ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**AllWords** A useful multilingual online dictionary: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch. Also lots of useful links for word lovers: crossword puzzles, word games, glossaries, song lyrics, translation programs, etc http://www.allwords.com/|[|http://www.allwords.com] ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**All Dict** Online collaborative dictionary project http://www.dicts.info/ ||


 * ~ <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 180%; color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">Online Teacher Training, Learning Environments and Materials to use for Class ||
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">The Language Menu ** site with resources for teachers of many different languages including worksheet generators, interactive games, a clipart gallery, a database of materials downloadable in PDF format and more http://teachers.thelanguagemenu.com/ ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**One Stop English News** Monthy news stories are free and include activities and answer keys. Legal to print and photocopy for class. http://www.onestopenglish.com/section.asp?sectionType=listsummary&catid=59514 ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**Tapped In** is an online community of teachers and educators. When you register as a member of Tapped In (free), you can find resources, join groups, and even set up your own private virtual office where you can hold text chat meetings with your students, friends, or colleagues http://tappedin.org/ ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**Webquest.org** Touts itself as the most complete and current source of information about the WebQuest Model. Contains information about the webquest model, has a databank of pre-made webquests and gives guidance on creating webquests. http://webquest.org/index.php ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**Subject Matter Sites** A collected of reviewed sites from most academic areas mostly for K-12 education. Useful for content-based instruction in English. http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/subject_matter/ ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**Teacher Tube** You Tube for teachers and students! http://www.teachertube.com/index.php ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**Slideshare** presentation making and sharing application. Can make presentations for students to look at or have students make presentations http://www.slideshare.net/**Bubbleshare** is a similar application http://www.bubbleshare.com/ ||
 * ~ <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 200%; color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">Online Social Networking ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**Mexico English Teachers Alliance** A ning dedicated to bringing together English teachers (but not necessarily in Mexico), esp. those interested in Web 2.0 and other technologies. http://metamexico.ning.com/ ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**EFL Classroom 2.0** Ning for a worldwide audience of English as a Foreign Language teachers. http://eflclassroom.ning.com/index.php ||

media type="custom" key="3531000" <span style="display: block; font-size: 175%; color: rgb(5, 0, 16); font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; background-color: rgb(215, 213, 213); text-align: center;">General Teaching Tools and Teacher Development Page Collaborators
 * ~ <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 200%; color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">Webliographies and Specialized Search Engines ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**iLoveLanguages** Formerly known as the Human Languages Page, a comprehensive guide to language-related Web sites. Tyler Chambers (né Jones) is a great gatherer of information about foreign languages. You’ll find these pages worth a visit: [|http://www.ilovelanguages.com] ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**Intute** is a free online service providing access to a wide range of Web resources for education and research. The service is created by a network of UK universities and partners: http://www.intute.ac.uk/ ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**Kidon Media-Link** This is where you find links to all kinds of media - newspapers, magazines, websites, press agencies, radio and TV stations - all over the world: http://www.kidon.com/media-link ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**Martindale's Language Center** A wealth of information on languages all over the world, compiled by Jim Martindale. Fascinating stuff including dictionaries, translation services and information on American Indian and Australian indigenous languages: http://www.martindalecenter.com/Language.html ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**Newstran** This site is headed "Automatically Translate Virtually Every Major Newspaper in the World!". It is extremely useful for locating newspapers in a wide range of languages. You can also locate selected newspapers that have been translated using http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/websites.htm#babelfish#babelfish The quality and accuracy is what you can expect from Babel Fish or any another automatic translation system - but you can get the gist, e.g. "The red-green coalition agreement pushes in the SPD obviously increasingly on criticism" as a rendering of "Die rot-grüne Koalitionsvereinbarung stößt in der SPD offensichtlich zunehmend auf Kritik": http://www.newstran.com/ ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**University of Sussex Virtual CALL Library** includes links to CALL shareware: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/langc/CALL.html ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**World Radio Network** Radio stations around the world, including radio stations broadcasting in foreign languages http://www.wrn.org/ ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**Linguanet Europa** A substantial online catalogue of language learning resources is also being built up here: http://www.linguanet-europa.org/ ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**Edublog Awards** not exactly a webliography but a good collection of nominated sites by this site's readers. http://edublogawards.com/2007/best-educational-wiki-2007/ ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">**Super Language Web site** large webliography of various languages http://www.uni.edu/becker/ ||


 * Name (how you wish to be known here) || Contact Info (optional) ||
 * Leigh Thelmadatter || leigh@itesm.mx / osamadre@hotmail.com ||