Tools for ESL Teaching

Description : Larry Ferlazzo's websites of the day offers a huge organized database of websites. There are a number of collection of different topics. Webpage:  http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/  Possible uses: This website is really useful as a starting point to search for resources about a number of topics.    Advantages and disadvantages: Its main advantage and disadvantage is the same: the great amount of resources that it storages. Therefore, sometimes looking for resources it's quite time-consuming. Many times, the classification of  the level of the students it is directed to is not very clear, nevertheless, this is a great resource for ESL teachers.

Description : English Profile is a webpage hosted by Cambridge English which provides a description of the use of different words and grammar point in the different levels of the CEFR. Webpage : English profile Possible uses :  The main use of this database is to provide a searchable tool to teachers to understand what is required at each level of the CEFR.

Description: BBC Learning English is a platform that contains several resources to practice grammar and contains different podcasts. They cover different topics and levels. Its quality is guaranteed by its host: The BBC. Where to find it: BBC Learning English Possible uses: I generally recommend this to my students as a tool for autonomous practice outside the classroom.

Description: elllo provides graded listening activities. It also provides games and hints of academic listening. Platform: website elllo.org Possible uses: I use it as a library of listening activities and as an extension or reinforcement activities for those students who want to improve their listening. I usually put links to this website in my classroom blog.  Advantages and disadvantages: Its main disadvantage is the layout. It is neither user friendly nor very intuitive but its advantages are superior to this disadvantage. I find particularly interesting the possibility to expose the learner to different accents.

Description: Small PDF is a web which provides several utilities to work with pdf documents. It allows you to change its format or to secure it. Very useful to send documents to our students as even mobile phones can read pdfs.  Platform: Web pag e

Description: Bet you didn't know are a collection of short videos related to a lot of cultural issues: Halloween , Easter , Saint Patrick  or even historic characters like Rosa Parks . Platform: Most of the videos can be found on Youtube . Possible uses: Due to their short length (around two/three minutes), they are fantastic to trigger a number of speaking lessons as well as interesting videos in case you need to fill the very last minutes of a class.  Advantages and disadvantages: The main disadvantage that I have found is that there are no subtitles available, therefore sometimes the understanding on the part of lower level students can be difficult.