Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
Video: Why School Libraries Are Important
LARRY FERLAZZO’S WEBSITES OF THE DAY
Cartoon: “Can we talk through a decision that I’ve already made?”
I don’t think this cartoon, or my commentary on it, will come through on an RSS Reader, but I think it’s worth a “click-through.”
Some Pretty Neat Language “Maps”
Here are some new additions to The Best “Language Maps”: How Y’all, Youse and You Guys Talk is a cool interactive from The New York Times. Here’s the subtitle: What does the way you speak say about where you’re from? Answer all the questions below to see your personal dialect map. Soda vs. Pop vs. Coke: Mapping How Americans Talk is from The Atlantic. There is not a red America and a blue America
Tablets Or Laptops?
The question of whether tablets or laptops are the way to go in classrooms is heating up in school districts around the country, and is probably being informed by the iPad fiasco in Los Angeles. I lean in the laptop direction, though I’d certainly like to hear what readers think. Scholastic has a useful discussion of the question, and I thought readers would also find this infographic useful (it m
This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Useful Posts & Articles On Education Policy
Here’s a collection of recent good posts and articles on education policy issues: China’s academic obsession with testing is from The Washington Post. The Common Core Kool-Aid is from Rick Hess. I’m adding it to The Best Articles Sharing Concerns About Common Core Standards. Common Core and the Food Pyramid is also by Rick Hess. I’m adding it to the same list. A PISA contradiction is by Valerie S
Many More Christmas Resources
Here are many more additions to an already lengthy The Best Places To Learn About Christmas, Hanukkah, & Kwanzaa list: Google’s Santa Tracker has a interactive world map highlighting holiday traditions around the world (thanks to Google Maps Mania for the tip). Here are two interesting word maps (also found via Google Maps Mania): one showing the word people use for Santa Claus, and the other
More “Word Of The Year” Features
Here are some good additions to The Best “Words Of The Year” Features For 2013: Dictionary.com dubs ‘privacy’ their word of the year. But visiting their homepage sets 90 cookies. is from The Washington Post. A Wordnado of Words in 2013 is from The New York Times.
Must-Read Column By Joseph Stiglitz In NY Times: “In No One We Trust”
I’ve written a lot about the importance of trust in education. In fact, I have a list titled The Best Posts About Trust & Education. Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz puts that issue in a broader context in today’s New York Times, while at the same time making the connection to education. In No One We Trust is a must-read. Here’s an excerpt:
Video: Why School Libraries Are Important
Joyce Valenza has produced this video on the importance of school libraries: School Library Story from joyce valenza on Vimeo.
More Good “Year In Review” Features
Here are some new additions to The Best Year In Review Features — 2013: From The Boston Globe: 2013 Year in Pictures: Part I 2013 Year in Pictures: Part II 2013 Year in Pictures: Part III
“Education Innovation Is Like A ‘Stradivarius Violin’”
I just published my latest post in Education Week Teacher, Education Innovation Is Like A ‘Stradivarius Violin’. It’s the last post in a three-part series on the best ways to implement new ideas in schools, and features responses from Maurice J. Elias and Elise Foster.
Impressive BBC Infographic: “Absolute zero to ‘absolute hot’” & More!
The BBC has just published a very impressive infographic titled Absolute zero to ‘absolute hot’. I’ve embedded it below, but you might need to click through to see it, or just go to the previous link. You can see other great BBC infographics in two locations: BBC Technology Infographics BBC Interactives & Graphs You might also be interested in The Best Infographics Of 2013 – Part Two.
The Best Web Tools For English Language Learners
I received a comment from reader Mark, who says he loves all “The Best…” lists, but would like to hear my top recommendations sometimes. Of course, I have posted The Best Beginner, Intermediate & Advanced English Language Learner Sites, but even that is a pretty lengthy one. So, I thought I’d begin a running list here of posts where I have described (and future additions will describe) the We
It Appears That GoEnglish.me May Rise Again — In Some Form
In a post I published earlier this month, I asked Does Anyone Know What Happened To Voice Of America’s “GoEnglish.me”? GoEnglish.me was/is a excellent multilingual tool for English Language Learners (it had disappeared and, even now, that link will only lead you to the regular VOA Learning English site). I just heard back from Kyle King, Director, VOA Public Relations: Hi Larry, I have been looki
My Favorite Posts In 2013 — Part Two
I regularly publish a list of my personal favorites posts during the year, and it’s usually my last annual “Best” list of the year. You might also be interested in: My Best Posts Over The Years — Volume One, focused on the year 2007 and includes a fair amount of still-useful material (at least in my opinion). I’d say the same thing about my review of posts from 2008, which you can find in My Best
The Best Posts On Study Finding That Standardized Tests Don’t Measure Cognitive Ability
I’ve previously posted about a new study which found that standardized testing may measure how well a school is doing on training students on lower-level thinking skills needed to do well on…standardized tests, but has practically no value in measuring “fluid intelligence” abilities like ability to transfer knowledge in one area and apply it towards solving a problem in another. There have been a
Surprising Study — NOT: People Learn A Second Language Better By Physically Simulating Words
A new study concludes that: “If language comprehension is a simulation process that uses neural systems of action, then perhaps we can better teach kids how to understand what they read by getting them to literally simulate the actions,” he explained. Researchers attributed this conclusion to what are called “mirror neurons.” Kevin Washburn has a useful and short piece on them if you want to lear
DEC 19
Winners Of 15 Second Vocabulary Video Contest Announced By NY Times
The New York Times Learning Network has just announced the winners of their 15 Second Vocabulary Contest. See the great videos at Words Gone Wild: The Student Winners of Our 15-Second Vocabulary Video Contest. They’re excellent examples to use with your own students. I’ve embedded one below and you can see the rest at their post. I’m adding this info to The Best Resources For Learning To Use The V
The Best Theory Of Knowledge Resources In 2013 – Part Two
As regular readers know, I teach an International Baccalaureate “Theory of Knowledge” class. Our school structures our IB program a bit differently from many others by having a whole lot of students take individual IB classes and we have relatively few who are taking all IB classes in order to get the IB diploma. I really like this set-up, and it opens up my TOK class to a lot more students. As I
Find Out What Word Was First Used The Year You Were Born
The OED birthday word generator: which words originated in your birth year? is an interactive from the Oxford English Dictionary that does what its title says. Just because I don’t have any other place to put it, I’m adding it to The Best “Today In History” Sites.
DEC 18
Great Video Response From English Class In Italy To Our Questions
I’ve been posting about the series of videotaped questions we’ve been sending to various English classes around the world as we study them in our ELL Geography class (see Terrific New Videos: Using English “Sister Classes” From Throughout The World In Our ELL Geography Class). One of the countries is Italy, and you can see our videotaped questions here at our class blog. Alessandra Cannelli Aless
December’s Best Tweets — Part Three
Every month I make a few short lists highlighting my choices of the best resources I 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 resources I found on Twitter — and where I gave credit to those from whom I learned about them. Those are not included again in this post. If you don’t use Twitter, yo
DEC 17
The Wright Brothers Flew 110 Years Ago Today….
The Wright brothers took their historic flights 110 years ago today. #planes #flight http://t.co/ED37kuXxY1 — OCRegister Graphics (@ocrgraphics) December 17, 2013 You might be interested in The Best Resources For Learning About Flight.
Infographic: “The History of Education”
I think this infographic does a good job on the “past” part of the history of education, but clearly has an idyllic view of role of technology in the present and the future. But it certainly could be used to provoke a discussion: Courtesy of: Boundless Free Textbooks
Great Ideas For End-Of-Calendar-Year Lessons
Looking Back at 2013 | Ideas for Reflecting On and Teaching About the Year That Was is a terrific post from The New York Times Learning Network. It’s full of great lesson ideas in the final days before Winter Break, and has lots of great links to different “year in review” features around the Web. And, if you need even more ideas, you can see my own Learning Network post from last May. It’s fille
Online Video Editor Stupeflix Launches iPhone “Animoto-Like” App
Stupeflix, which is on Not The “Best,” But A List… Of Online Video Editors list, has just launched a free iPhone app called Replay that — at least to me — looks very, very Animoto-like. It lets you easily turn your photos into music videos. I’m assuming there are lots of differences between the two, but I could only find two in my admittedly quick try-out of Replay, and both came out in Replay’s
‘Educators Are Suffering From Innovation Fatigue’
‘Educators Are Suffering From Innovation Fatigue’ is the title of my latest Education Week Teacher post. Today’s post includes commentaries by Scott McLeod, Sally Zepeda, and Tony Frontier.
What Was The Best Education-Related Book You Read This Year?
As I’ve done every December for the past several years, I’m inviting readers of this blog to share the best education-related book that you read over the past twelve months. Leave a your choice in the comments section with no more than a sentence or two description/explanation. As usual, I’ll publish a full list on January 1st. December 29th is the deadline to get your choice in if you want me to
“Google Zeitgeist 2013″ — Not To Be Missed!
Google has come out with their annual multimedia Google Zeitgeist filled with charts, trends and videos documenting the past year. I’m adding it to The Best Year In Review Features — 2013. Here’s just a sample:
Another Study Shows That Self-Affirmation Activities Help People Think More Clearly
I’ve previously posted here on the blog and also written in my books about research that shows the benefits of having students do simple self-affirmation activities. In Giving Students “Reflection Cards,” I describe its effect on developing self-control and how I apply it in the classroom. In Useful Writing Exercise For Helping Students Develop Self-Esteem and in Simple Writing Exercise Said To “
DEC 16
“The 20 most popular TED Talks” Of All Time
TED has just published a list of their twenty most popular Talks of all time — as of December, 2013. Sir Ken Robinson’s talk is number one. I’m adding this info to The Best Teacher Resources For “TED Talks” (& Similar Presentations).
“Stoodle” Could Be The Best “Virtual Corkboard” Site Out There
There are lots of sites out there that let you create virtual “corkboards” and you can see them at The Best Online Virtual “Corkboards” (or “Bulletin Boards”). Padlet (formerly known as Wallwisher) is probably the most well-known tool of this kind. Richard Byrne recently shared about a new site that might end up being the best of the bunch. It’s called Stoodle. Like the best of the other sites, y
Using “PixiClip” With English Language Learners
Last week, I posted about the new web tool called “PixiClip” (see “PixiClip” Is A Neat Drawing Tool For English Language Learners). It’s a drawing tool that doesn’t require any registration and has a feature of letting you provide an audio commentary to your artistry. I explained that I thought it had a lot of potential for English Language Learners, and that I was going to give it a try this wee
“Records Of Rights” Is Impressive National Archives Site
Records of Rights is a new interactive site from the National Archives. It highlights First Amendment rights, Native American rights, workplace rights, equal rights, rights to privacy and sexuality, and more. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For “Bill Of Rights Day,” which was yesterday, though I assume when I falls on a Sunday it’s recognized on a Monday….
Using Current Events As A Language-Learning Activity
Students watch videos on current events, answer questions, and create their own in my latest NY Times post for English Language Learners. Includes a student interactive and teaching ideas. You can see all my previous NY Times posts here.
DEC 15
December’s Infographics & Interactives Galore — Part One
There are just so many good infographics and interactives out there that I’ve begun a new semi-regular feature called “Infographics & Interactives Galore.” You can see others at A Collection Of “The Best…” Lists On Infographics and by searching “infographics” on this blog. I’ll still be publishing separate posts to individually highlight especially useful infographics and interactives, but you
This Week’s “Links I Should Have Posted About, But Didn’t” — December
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 few and list them here with a minimal description. It forces me to look through these older links, and help me organize them for my own use. I hope others will find them helpful
Videos Of New Orleans
We’re doing our ninth-grade unit on New Orleans right now, and I wanted to add a number of videos to The Best Websites For Teaching & Learning About New Orleans:
The Best Sites For Learning About The United Kingdom
I’m continuing to create specific “The Best…” lists corresponding to the countries and regions we’re studying in my ELL Geography class. You can see all them at The Best Geography Sites For Beginning & Intermediate English Language Learners. Today, I’m in a little bit of a rush, so I’ll try to quickly pull together some resources on the United Kingdom (we’re studying it this week and then mak
Free Resources From All My Books
I have many free resources, including excerpts and student hand-outs, available from all my books. Clicking on the covers will lead you to them:
The Best Posts On Teaching TOK “Knowledge Questions”
Three weeks ago I published a post wondering how people teaching the IB Theory of Knowledge course handled instruction on the concept of “knowledge questions” and invited guests to contribute. I’ll be publishing my annual round-up of of “Best” TOK resources, and wanted to post this collection on the topic prior to that time. Here they are: Attention, IB Theory Of Knowledge Teachers! How Do You Te
Very Impressive Interactive Infographic: “After Babylon”
After Babylon: Analysis of the current linguistic situation in the world is a very impressive interactive infographic: Explore more infographics like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.
Study: Standardized Tests Don’t Measure “Fluid Intelligence”
People might differ with my interpretation of a new study that has just come out (and I’d love to hear if you do), but it seems to me that it has found that standardized testing may measure how well a school is doing on training students on lower-level thinking skills needed to do well on…standardized tests, but has practically no value in measuring “fluid intelligence” abilities like ability to t
“Teachers Must Help Determine New Ideas Being Implemented”
Teachers Must Help Determine New Ideas Being Implemented is my latest post over at Education Week Teacher. In addition to commentaries by Renee Moore and Kelly Young (who I consider a mentor and from whom I’ve learned more about teaching than anyone else), I share some of my own thoughts… I’m adding that post to The Best Posts & Articles On Building Influence & Creating Change.
DEC 14
British Library Makes One Million Public Domain Images Available Online
Wow! The British Library has just uploaded one million public domain images online. You can read all about it at Boing Boing. I’m adding this info to The Best Online Sources For Images.
This Week In Web 2.0
In yet another attempt to get at the enormous backlog I have of sites worth , I’ve recently begin a regular feature called “The Week In Web 2.0.” (you might also be interested in The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education In 2013): 25 Sites For Creating Interesting Quote Images is from Edudemic. I’m adding it to The Best Tools For Creating Visually Attractive Quotations For Online Sharing. Class
Video: “Chicago’s Magical Piano”
This would be a good video to show to English Language Learners and have them describe what was happening — in writing and verbally. And, it’s a fun video for anyone to watch!
Chart: “Most States Have Cut K-12 Per Student Funding Since 2008″
This chart is from The Center On Budget And Policy Priorities. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning That Money Does Matter For Schools.
The Best Infographics Of 2013 – Part Two
Infographics show data in a visual way, and make the information much more accessible for English Language Learners — and everybody else. Interactive infographics are especially engaging because they allow users to customize the data they see. You’ll find both kinds in this list. You might also be interested in: The Best Infographics Of 2013 – So Far The Best Infographics Of 2012 — So Far The Bes
EVO Is One Of The Best Opportunities For Free Online ESL Teacher Professional Development
The Electronic Village Online is an annual event that’s on The Best Places For ESL/EFL/ELL Teachers To Get Online Professional Development list, and it’s that time again. Here’s the announcement: For five weeks in January and February, TESOL experts and participants from around the world engage in collaborative online discussions or hands-on virtual workshops of professional and scholarly benefit