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Saturday, April 27, 2013

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… 4-27-13 …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EF



Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

LARRY FERLAZZO’S WEBSITES OF THE DAY

LOOK FOR MY NEW BOOK 

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"Self-Driven Learning: Teaching Strategies for Student Motivation" 

Aprils’s “The Best…” Lists — There Are Now 1,090 Of Them

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 15 minutes ago
Here’s my monthly round-up of new “The Best…” lists I posted this month (you can see all 1,090 of them categorized here): The Best Pink Panther Fight Scenes For English Language Learners The Best Overviews Of The Boston Terror … Continue reading →

More On MOOC’s

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 7 hours ago
Here are some new additions to The Best Posts & Articles On MOOC’s: The Plusses and Pitfalls of Teaching Online is by Dan Ariely. MOOCs of Hazard Will online education dampen the college experience? Yes. Will it be worth it? … Continue reading →

Quote Of The Day: “The Boston Bombing and Immigration”

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 10 hours ago
The Boston Bombing and Immigration is a great short column in today’s New York Times. Here’s an excerpt: I’m adding it to The Best Overviews Of The Boston Terror Attack.

April’s Best Tweets — Part Four

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 11 hours ago
Every month I make a few short lists highlighting my choices of the best resources I shared through (and learned from) Twitter, but didn’t necessarily include them in posts here on my blog. I’ve already shared in earlier posts several new … Continue reading →

Rwanda Lesson & Writing Prompt

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 12 hours ago
Geography is one of the classes I teach to Beginning and Intermediate English Language Learners, and we’re just finishing up our unit on Africa (see A Beginning List Of The Best Geography Sites For Learning About Africa). We’re studying the … Continue reading →

Video: “David Pogue’s 10 top time-saving tech tips”

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 13 hours ago
David Pogue: 10 top time-saving tech tips is a great, short TEDx Talks video where the NY Times tech columnist offers several helpful tech tips. I’m embedding it below, and adding it to My Best Posts For Tech Novices (Plus … Continue reading →

Today Is Arbor Day

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 18 hours ago
Today is Arbor Day in the United States. You might be interested in The Best Sites To Learn About Trees.

Three Infographics On Malaria

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 1 day ago
Yesterday was World Malaria Day. Here are three new infographics I’m adding to The Best Resources For Learning About World Malaria Day: Source: mackenziechild.org Source: Uploaded by user Source: ow.ly

Correlation Or Causation?

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 1 day ago
Here’s a great comic from xkcd:

NEA Partners With Teach Plus & Creates Online Rating System For Student Assessments

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 1 day ago
This looks interesting and may have some potential: The National Education Association and Teach Plus have partnered to create a site where teachers can rate the quality of student assessments being used around the country. It seems like a “Rate … Continue reading →

Infographic: “How much of the world is online?”

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 1 day ago
I’m adding this infographic to The Best Sites To Learn About The Internet: How much of the world is online? infographic

Mother’s Day Resources

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 1 day ago
Mother’s Day is celebrated in the United States and in many other countries on the second Sunday of May. I’ve just updated The Best Sites For Learning About Mother’s Day, including adding this infographic:

How English Sounds To Non-English Speakers

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 2 days ago
Here’s another example of how English might sound to non-English speakers. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Walking In Someone Else’s Shoes.

Stephen Colbert Explains Why It’s Important To Be “Data-Informed” & Not “Data-Driven”

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 2 days ago
At the risk of being accused of taking a “cheap shot,” I just can’t resist embedding two segments from The Colbert Show about the now well-known mistake by the two economists whose work has been cited endlessly to support austerity. … Continue reading →

Free Posters for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month From Teaching Tolerance & The Smithsonian

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 2 days ago
Teaching Tolerance and The Smithsonian have developed eight cool-looking posters to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, and they’ll send them to you for free! You can order them here and learn more about the project here. You might also … Continue reading →

Yes, It’s World Penguin Day On Thursday

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 2 days ago
In case you didn’t know, it’s World Penguin Day on Thursday. Check out The Best Sites For Learning About Penguins.

Make Multimedia Creations With “buncee”

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 2 days ago
buncee lets you easily create simple multimedia creations — almost like an extended virtual postcard. You can grab media off the web and add text. Here’s a video about it: I’m adding it to The Best Places Where Students Can … Continue reading →

Infographic: “The Teacher Turnover Problem”

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 2 days ago
Here’s an interesting infographic: How To Save Our Educators infographic I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles About The Importance Of Teacher (& Student) Working Conditions.

How Can Teachers Connect To Diverse Families?

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 2 days ago
How Can Teachers Connect To Diverse Families? is the new “question of the week” at my Education Week Teacher blog. Feel free to leave comments here or there….

This Week’s “Links I Should Have Posted About, But Didn’t”

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 3 days ago
I have a huge backlog of resources that I’ve been planning to post about in this blog but, just because of time constraints, have not gotten around to doing. Instead of letting that backlog grow bigger, I regularly grab a … Continue reading →

April 25th is World Malaria Day

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 3 days ago
April 25th is World Malaria Day. You might be interested in The Best Resources For Learning About World Malaria Day.

National Teacher Day Is May 7th

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 3 days ago
National Teacher Day is May 7th in the United States. You might find The Best Resources To Learn About World Teachers Day useful.

PBS Special “TED Talks Education” On May 7th (Along With Supplemental Resources)

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 3 days ago
PBS is airing a special TED Talks Education program on May 7th. It’s an interesting line-up of speakers, and I thought I’d list a few of them along with previous posts in this blog that readers might find helpful: Bill … Continue reading →

Video: Dynamic Sun – Stunning Three-Year Time-Lapse View

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 3 days ago
Dynamic Sun: Stunning Three-Year Time-Lapse View is a video from NASA. Here’s how they describe it: In the three years since it first provided images of the sun in the spring of 2010, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory has had virtually … Continue reading →

This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Good Posts & Articles On Education Policy

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 4 days ago
Here are a few relatively recent posts and articles on education policy issues: What Are Foundations For? is by Bob Reich. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About The Role Of Private Foundations In Education Policy. Test … Continue reading →

Um, I Think The D.C. School District Is A Little Unclear On The Concept Of A “Home Language Survey”…..

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 4 days ago
Most schools send out “Home Language Surveys” to families in an effort to begin identifying and providing support to English Language Learners. Typically, they are multilingual — it would sort of defeat its purpose if it wasn’t. However, it appears … Continue reading →

Two More Earth Day Sites

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 4 days ago
Here are two more additions to The Best Earth Day Sites: The Environment’s New Math: How to Look at Earth Day, by the Numbers is from The Atlantic. ELL Ideas: Learning About the Environment is from Colorin Colorado.

One Of The Saddest Statistics I’ve Read In Awhile….

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 4 days ago
Today’s New York Times has an op-ed piece from two university educators who have done surveys of immigrant youth in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It’s titled Immigrant Kids, Adrift. The column doesn’t paint a completely … Continue reading →

This Is Interesting — You Can Get College Credit For Reading Our Book

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 4 days ago
Jossey-Bass, the publisher of our book, The ESL/ELL Teacher’s Survival Guide, just told us that our book has been selected by Walden University for their Canter Read4Credit™ Courses. You can read more about it here.

Quote Of The Day: Common Core & Testing

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 4 days ago
The Los Angeles Times published an editorial headlined A curriculum crunch for California. Here’s an excerpt:

Infographic: “How To Teach English” (With A Bonus!)

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 4 days ago
Here’s a interesting infographic from Kaplan on “How To Teach English.” The bonus is that, along with the infographic, they published this comment from my co-author and colleague, Katie Hull Sypnieski: Katie Hull Sypnieski, co-author of The ESL/ELL Teacher’s Survival … Continue reading →

Great Learning Games For English Language Learners

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 5 days ago
I’ve written extensively about how I use online video games for language-learning activities with ELLS. Here are a few new ones that, with luck, aren’t blocked by your school’s content filters (be sure to click the “English” language option for … Continue reading →

“High-Stakes Testing & Student Engagement”

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 5 days ago
High-Stakes Testing & Student Engagement is my newest Education Week Teacher post. It includes responses from three author/educators: Michael Opitz, Michael Ford and Bryan Harris.

Quote Of The Day: Using Test Scores To Evaluate Teachers

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 5 days ago
Michelle Rhee and the unproven teacher evaluation is a column in The Los Angeles Times, written by Times’ staff writer By Karin Klein. Here’s an excerpt: I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About Effective Student & Teacher … Continue reading →

Video: Amazing Card Trick

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 5 days ago
Here’s an amazing card trick that English Language Learners can watch and describe and IB Theory Of Knowledge students can use in the context of a discussion on Perception:

Video: “Evolution Of Music”

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 5 days ago
This is a great entertaining video, and it got me wondering if it could be a model for some class projects — would it make sense for students to create similar videos demonstrating the historical transitions in, let’s say, the … Continue reading →

Even More Earth Day Resources

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 5 days ago
Here are even more additions to The Best Earth Day Sites: Earth Day graphic produced by the Kars4Kids car donation program “Responsible vehicle recycling for future generations.

The Best Overviews Of The Boston Terror Attack

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 5 days ago
Thankfully, the “week of terror” in Boston appears to be over. There are countless online resources available on the event, but I thought it would be useful to bring together a few of the best summaries of what happened that … Continue reading →

Infographic: “Integration & Immigration Reform”

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 6 days ago
This is a great infographic from the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. The key, for me at least, is the chart showing how much more immigrants will earn by improving their English skills. The big drawback, however, … Continue reading →

May Day Resources

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 6 days ago
Though May Day is an ancient celebration, since the late nineteenth century it has primarily been recognized as a time to celebrate workers’ rights. You can find out more information at The Best Resources For Learning About May Day.

Quote Of The Day: Historical Misuse Of Standardized Testing

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 6 days ago
William J. Reece has an interesting article in Sunday’s New York Times titled The First Race To The Top. It gives some historical context for the misuse of standardized testing. Here’s how he ends it: I’m adding it to The … Continue reading →

“Glide” Looks Like A Good Way To Share Video Messages

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 6 days ago
Glide is an iPhone app that lets you easily share video messages and is rapidly gaining popularity. You can read more about it in The New York Times. I’m adding it to both The Best Applications For Sending Online Video … Continue reading →

How NOT to Start A Conversation With A Student….

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 1 week ago
This comic strip provides a perfect example of the wrong way to initiate a serious conversation with anyone, including a student: Source: gocomics.com via Larry on Pinterest

Cinco de Mayo Resources

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 1 week ago
Cinco de Mayo, May 5th, commemorates the defeat of the French by the Mexican Army in 1862. It’s a national holiday in Mexico, and is celebrated by Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans in the United States. You might be interested in … Continue reading →

National Park Week Resources

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 1 week ago
Next week is National Park Week in the United States. You might be interested in The Best Sites For Learning About Yosemite & Other U.S. National Parks. And here’s a useful infographic: Did You Know National Park Week Is April … Continue reading →

April’s Best Tweets — Part Three

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 1 week ago
Every month I make a few short lists highlighting my choices of the best resources I shared through (and learned from) Twitter, but didn’t necessarily include them in posts here on my blog. I’ve already shared in earlier posts several new … Continue reading →

Earth Day’s Coming Up!

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 1 week ago
Here are some new additions to The Best Earth Day Sites: Earth Day 2013: Lesson Plans, Reading Lists and Classroom Ideas is from Edutopia. Five-Minute Film Festival: Earth Day is also from Edutopia.

More On The “Next Generation” Of State Testing

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 1 week ago
Here are some new additions to The Best Resources For Learning About The “Next Generation” Of State Testing: A Tough New Test Spurs Protest and Tears is from The New York Times. PARCC Releases Draft Policy on ELL Accommodations is … Continue reading →

Very Interesting Infographic: “Every Child Needs a Teacher”

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 1 week ago
This sure is a very interesting interactive infographic: Teachers needs around the world infographic by UNESCO Institute for statistics.

“Lessons On Movies” Is A Great New ESL Site

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 1 week ago
Lessons On Movies is a new site created by the incomparable Sean Banville. It’s the latest addition to Sean’s “empire” of free and helpful websites for English language learners and their teachers. I’m adding it to The Best Popular Movies/TV … Continue reading →

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Coming Up

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 1 week ago
May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in the United States. You might be interested in The Best Sites For Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

Image: “Reading Helps You See Further”

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 1 week ago
I’m adding this great image to My Best Posts On Books: Why They’re Important & How To Help Students Select, Read, Write & Discuss Them: Reading helps you see further. (h/t @parisreview) twitter.com/farnamstreet/s… — Shane Parrish (@farnamstreet) April 19, 2013