Sharing & Critiquing Online Sources for Teaching Reading and/or Writing

In this section, you’ll each share an online source for teaching reading and/or writing. These could be sites with ideas for teachers or online materials for students. 

Example:   Here’s a link to a site with simple but useful ideas for teaching and learning a range of skills. The link will take you to a section on teaching vocabulary (in interactive, contextualized ways), mainly prior to reading:

http://www.eslpartyland.com/teachers/reading/prevocab.htm

I really like the “Find Your Partner” activity, which requires little prep-time. This could be effective with terms from a text students will read or have read in a prior session.

When you post your links, also post the following:

Site Summary: This site is mainly a resource for teachers. There are some self-study materials for students as well (quizzes about grammar, genres, etc.).

Pros: This site has many useful activities that require little preparation. It could serve as a good resource when looking for something fun and interactive.

Cons: Some of the topics for writing activities, discussions, games, etc. are geared towards ESL rather than both EFL and ESL. Also, some of the topics are potentially unsuitable for this context –though it always depends on your particular group (dating, run-ins with the police, etc.).

Finally, view at least one of your peer’s sites and post a comment on what you think about it.

Sharing Thoughts on Using Blogs (and Other Online Tools) to Teach Reading & Writing

Hello everyone!
This is a blog for our course. It is interactive and easy to access (vs. Blackboard or Moodle –though those are great too!). Like our course site, this blog will be available to you even after our course ends. I also thought it might be useful for us to try something new. Maybe you could design a blog for your own courses. They’re free and simple to design. There might be some cons though I haven’t thought of any yet. For EFL/ESL students, blogs can encourage reading and writing as well as a direct connection to an authentic audience. And they are easy to create –some of your students may have already done so!

For this section, share your thoughts on what we, as teachers, can do to with blogs.
Here are some areas you might consider:
-Brainstorming and prewriting activities
-Peer review
-Vocabulary use
-Sharing and practicing reading strategies
Etc.