Note: PBWiki formats things when copy/pasted very peculiarly. So, check out the EAL Resources Website and my blog The Chalk Dust for a much more pleasant viewing experience.
EAL Technology/Online Resources
Last Updated: October 30, 2008
EAL Technology Resources for Teachers
ESL Employment
Manitoba Affiliated Schools Program
TESL Jobs
ESL Employment
ESL Jobs Forum
Lesson Plan Repositories
English Zone
Boggles World ESL
Enchanted Learning
ESL Gold
OneStopEnglish
Using English
EAL Blogs, Meta-sites, and General Resources
The Chalk Dust (My Blog!)
The English Blog
EFL 2.0
ESL Lesson Plan
Teaching ESL to Adults
WSD1 Adult EAL Websites
EAL Websites and Resources from Manitoba Immigration
Everything Else EAL-Related
Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks
Manitoba Labour and Immigration
Manitoba Labour and Immigration: Immigration and Multiculturalism Division
Manitoba Immigration Facts: 2007 Statistical Report (PDF)
Asia TEFL International Conference
E-Learning Europa (Non-EAL specific E-Learning Information and Research)
EAL Technology Resources for Students
Student-based Lessons
CBC EAL Lessons
ChompChomp Lessons (Grammar Bytes!)
Interesting Things for ESL Students
Activities for EAL Students
ESL Party Land (Also has teacher section)
Multimedia
Shift Happens Multicultural Video
The Week in Rap
GeoBeats
Web 2.0 E-Learning Sites
Babbel
Rosetta Stone's Shared Talk
Pronunciation
Sounds of English
ESL Pronunciation Work Page
Speech Accent Archive
Phonetics: The Sounds of English and Spanish
Podcasts
English as a Second Language Podcast
Speaking English Podcast
Activities for EAL Students: Many Podcasts for Different English Levels
British Council's Learn English Podcasts
Podcasts in English
Business Spotlight: EAL Business Podcasts
Listen-to-English: Learn English Podcasts
Better @ English: Conversational EAL Podcasts
Business English Pod: EAL Business Podcasts
Summary and Concluding Statements (Updated October 30, 2008)
Go see The Chalk Dust.
Babbel and Web.20 in EAL Instruction (Updated October 22, 2008)
So this post is directed to my Professional Development Project I'm currently working on the topic of resources for integrating technology with EAL learners. It's more difficult that you think. Just like there can be a lot of great things on the Internet, there is also a LOT of mediocre and subpar resources that teachers could fall prey to.
My job, and my rationale for this PD is to do all the hard work and provide to you - my faithful viewer/blogger - the fruits of my labour. And by fruits, I mean on-line EAL resources.
One such resource that I've found is Babbel. Babbel is a Web 2.0 invention, innovation, something-ation that is a step in the right direction towards on-line interactivity and language acquisition. With a combination of interactivity, text, audio, and visuals it makes the whole experience engaging and ... fun! I've been using the website off and on for the past couple weeks to help study for my French class, and it's been very useful (and ... fun!). I reccommend you check it out.
Also, the fine folks at Babbel also contribute to The Babbel Blog, which contrary to almost all other online service blogs: it actually has useful information beyond self-promotion and being an overglorified FAQ website. There is a lot of great information on education, technology, languages, and language acquisition - all wrapped up into a digestable relevant package. For instance, the new post is about at what grade levels did both of the USA vice-president runners speak at during their lastest national debate. Cool stuff... though disturbing/scary that Sarah Palin apparently scored higher.
Post-CS Presentation Blog Update and EAL Information (Updated October 11, 2008)
Reflection. The 1-million dollar word in Education. The ideology is that the only way to grow as a professional is to continually review, critically think, and reflect on your progress as a teacher. Learn from your mistakes, take the best parts of your success, make new goals, and keep going.
So now that I've presented, the
WestCAST
proposal is in it's editing/revision stages, and I'm starting to get ramped up for the next wave of assignments... lets reflect.
Presentation had an overwhelmingly positive reception, which I'm very happy about. Never really know how a topic such as EAL will be received in a Computer Science class. Looks like soon-to-be new teachers will be more conscious to the needs/demands of EAL students in the classroom - something I'm very excited about.
Since the presentation though, and because
WestCAST
and my
CS Professional Development Plan
are following the same EAL/Technology theme I've found a few more resources to share and some links to things I wasn't able to share during the presentation. Here we go:
LOTS of EAL Resources from Manitoba Immigration
First website of many I've found for my Professional Development Plan. Lots of things to look at invloving EAL instruction.
Manitoba Labour and Immigration
&
Manitoba Labour and Immigration: Immigration and Multiculturalism Division
Provincial government websites discussing all the fun gritty details of immigration law, statistics, and other information. Actually, that's a bad summary. There is some worthwhile information on here, if you can avoid the black-and-white legal documents. Take a look if you're curious.
Manitoba Immigration Facts: 2007 Statistical Report (PDF)
This document was used during my CS Presentation. Provides all the immigration statistics for Manitoba in 2007. Really great facts/figures to see how MB immigration influx has increased over the past 10 years.
Over the next few weeks I'll be posting all the links to websites and products I'll be reviewing/demoing for my CS Professional Development Plan. The plan is to find and critically review EAL resources for teachers to integrate technology in the classroom. As well as make connections between the resources and the concepts I've discussed in my presentation last week. Should be fun.
In other news, been keeping busy with the
Manitoba Affiliated Schools
program. By "keeping busy," I mean gathering letters of reference and other documents so I can teach overseas next year. If your interested in having your first teaching position outside of Canada, I recommend you to check it out. There is no hidden tricks, no hidden fees, and no "the sink is also the bathtub and toilet" horror scenarios you've heard about. It's exciting.
Starting to Compile Research and Information (Updated October 22, 2008)
Found a few sites that are worthwhile to metion in my professional development so far. One in particular is Babbel. Babbel is an online language learning experience. Based on Web 2.0 philosophy, the Babbel community helps to create meaningful language lessons from images and audio that is recorded by it's members. It seems very promising so far, as I've done quite a few french lessons (I'm taking french classes right now, so it's quite relevant) and they've been very polished and helpful. It also keeps track how often you've reviewed words, and reminds you via e-mail about what words and vocabulary you should go back to in order so that you don't forget. I just recieved one such e-mail today regarding the last time I visted Babbel over two-weeks ago ... if I don't practice again I could soon forget what "downtown" is in French (c'est la centre-ville).
I'm literally swimming in EAL resources right now. But after finding Babbel, it's difficult to want to review anything that cannot meet these high expectations. Oh well, c'est la vie.
Topic Selected and Draft of Professoinal Development Plan (Updated October 11, 2008)
OK! So things are starting to fit together. I've decided to keep following with the EAL/Technology theme and look into innovative and practical technologies, programs, resources, and applications that can be bought, downloaded, or viewed on-line to help support EAL learners. Seems like the best compromise since the demise of my laptop -- this way I can do the majority of my reserach using the university computers. Let's break this down a bit.
Topic/Theme: Resources for integrating technology with EAL learners
PD Plan (Draft):
- Find out as much as possible about what is currently out there, online, in-stores to help teachers integrate technology for EAL students.
- Create a matrix that compares the variety of EAL resources.
- Pick 1-3 resources and perform an in-depth analysis of thier purpose, advantages/disadvantages, and how it can be implemented in the classroom.
- Connect these resources to the ideas/research I've gathered to create my CS presentation/WestCAST proposal.
Time to start Googling!
The Search for a Topic (Updated October 5, 2008)
At the moment, the search is illusive and I've been dealt a heavy blow. My laptop died this weekend, which means for me that I'll need to find a topic that I can explore easily on the University computers which do not allow you to install any software on them. So... that makes things difficult.
I do have a few ideas, however:
- ALICE programming language.
- Scheme programming languge.
- An in-depth discussion on multimodal websites/online applications available to support EAL learners.
- CMS (Content management systems) and Web authoring systems.
- Macromedia Flash, Adobe FLEX, or investigate/compare other web multimedia software and their pedagogical possiblities.
- How to complete a Teaching Computer Science course without having your own computer. Personal experience-based.
The problem really lies in the fact that I can't install or run any of these things on the computers that can be accessed publicly. We'll see.
Professional Development Plan (Updated September 24, 2008)
Hello out there!
This is my first attempt at using a Wiki to help me, to show you, how I'm trekking along and making progress towards my Computer Science C&I Professional Development Plan/Presentation for October 30th, 2008.
I'm using the pbwiki "project management" template to help bring clarity to the process--the status should either be GOOD, WARNING, DANGER, or DONE. That way it's easy to see where I'm at, or where I need to focus.
| Milestone |
Lead |
Notes |
Start Date |
End Date |
Status |
| Create Wiki Page |
Mike |
Almost painless, though I think I need
to create a few more pages for my other
C.S. presentation on a familiar language
or software package.
|
9/24 |
9/24 |
DONE |
| Pick a Topic |
Mike |
Starting to brainstorm. Thinking something
along the lines of AJAX, or some other Web 2.0
technology. Though I'm a bit apprehensive it
could be a lot of work for a 1-month P.D.
plan.
|
9/24 |
10/2
|
DONE |
|
Create a P.D. Plan
|
Mike |
Using this Wiki, complete the rest of my P.D.
plan that will include milestones for learning
concepts, reflection and reporting, and
presentation planning.
|
10/2 |
10/24 |
DONE |
| Presentation |
Mike |
Plan and create a meaningful, engaging
presentation that will highlight learned
concepts, examples of learning, and how
it can be used in an educational context.
|
10/24 |
10/30 |
DONE |
| Celebration |
Mike |
Party like it's 1999. |
10/30 |
10/30 |
DONE |
Expect to see this page updated frequently. My thoughts and reflections will be posted on my blog: The Chalk Dust. See you there.
Where Am I?
You can get back to the rest of Mike's Wiki Pages right....HERE!
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