"What
I find when I speak to other public school teachers
is fear. They are afraid to get involved and
try. It sounds strange coming from teachers,
but that's the truth. In many cases, however,
this fear comes from lack of experience or exposure
to the Internet."
-Lynore Carnuccio, Mustang Public School System,
Oklahoma
"Wow!
They've got the Internet on computers now!"
- Homer Simpson, The Simpsons
I was truly amazed the first time I bought a
computer, logged onto the Internet, and sent
my very first e-mail message. Within a few hours
I was communicating with other human beings
throughout the world, logging onto university
libraries, conducting research for my graduate
studies, and chatting "live" with
friends in England, Canada, Japan, and Thailand.
A computer can do all this? Wow! It was this
excitement and curiosity that motivated me to
begin building web pages, resulting in the creation
of my website, Dave's ESL Cafe.
Here we are, half way through 2003, and I still
run into teachers who are afraid of computers
and the Internet. Well, here is a little secret:
the Internet is a fun, exciting, and extremely
powerful learning tool for you and your students.
I made this discovery back in 1995 when I introduced
my intermediate writing class to the Internet.
What were the results?
-
My students found the Internet fun and "cool."
- My students were thrilled to share their creativity
with the entire world.
- My students increased their reading and vocabulary
in English because they were exploring the World
Wide Web and discovering material that interested
them.
- My students were writing e-mail messages in
English every day.
- My students were meeting and communicating
with others from around the world.
- My students were becoming more motivated and
excited about learning English.
- My students were coming to my class early!
The Internet is quickly becoming the premier
resource for students to practice and improve
their writing skills in English. On the World
Wide Web students can find numerous high quality
websites that include online dictionaries, encyclopedias,
and libraries, as well as worksheets and exercises
on grammar, punctuation, spelling, and essay
writing. Students can even practice what they've
learned by communicating in English with kepals
from around the globe. This guide will highlight
some of my favorite online writing resources
for ESL students. Have fun!
Business
Writing
"In the business world, the rearview mirror
is always clearer than the windshield."
- Warren Buffett
Bull's
Eye Business Writing Tips
http://www.basic-learning.com/wbwt/tips-index1.htm
Archive of over 300 tips on how students can
improve their business writing skills. It's
also possible to sign up to receive their free
weekly business writing tips via e-mail.
Business
English for Teachers and Learners
http://www.wfi.fr/volterre/businessenglish.html
Outstanding resource that focuses on on teaching
and learning business English as a foreign or
second language.
Business
English on the Net
http://www.wfi.fr/volterre/bizenglish.html
Linda Thalman's guide on how to improve Business
English skills using the Internet.
Business
Letter Writing Basics
http://esl.about.com/library/weekly/aa041399.htm
Kenneth Beare produced this very useful guide
for about.com.
Professional
Writing
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/pw/
From the Perdue University Online Writing Lab,
students can find information about various
aspects of business, technical, and professional
writing.
Dictionaries
and Thesauruses
"If a word in the dictionary were misspelled,
how would we know?"
- Steven Wright
Language
Dictionaries and Translators
http://www.word2word.com/dictionary.html
This awesome resource is produced by Word2Word
and has links to dozens of language dictionaries
and translators ... from Abadani to Zapotec!
Mirriam-Webster
Online
http://www.m-w.com/home.htm
Don't know the meaning of a certain word? Help
is on the way with Mirriam-Webster Online, a
fast and extensive online resource that is based
on Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.
Enter a word or phrase in the search box and
you'll quickly get its pronunciation, part of
speech, etymology, and definitions. You can
also locate its synonyms by clicking on the
thesaurus button. This is an extremely potent
resource.
OneLook
Dictionary Search
http://www.onelook.com
Wow, what an amazing resource! If you have a
word, idiom, or slang that needs a definition
or translation, this resource will quickly search
more than 5 million words in more than 900 online
dictionaries.
Thesaurus.com
http://thesaurus.reference.com
Simple and powerful online thesaurus.
Yourdictionary.com
http://www.yourdictionary.com
This is a newly discovered resource for me and
I ended up spending several hours here exploring
dictionaries in over 280 languages, 100 different
language courses, and 50 different glossaries.
E-mail
"Human beings are human beings. They say
what they want, don't they? They used to say
it across the fence while they were hanging
wash. Now they just say it on the Internet."
-Dennis Miller
A
Beginner's Guide to Effective Email
http://www.webfoot.com/advice/email.top.html
This informative article, written by Kaitlin
Duck Sherwood, will teach you the fundamental
differences between e-mail and paper-based communication.
This is a must read for anyone new to email
and the Internet.
E-mail
Keypals for Language Fluency
http://www.kyoto-su.ac.jp/~trobb/keypals.html
Excellent article by Thomas Robb covering all
aspects on how to make e-mail work for you and
your students in the language classroom.
EPals
Classroom Exchange
http://www.epals.com
The Internet is an fine place to make friends
from around the world and, of course, to practice
your English writing. Over 4.5 million students
and teachers are building skills and enhancing
learning with ePALS. Established in 1996, ePALS
has 79,767 classroom profiles bringing people
in 191 countries together as cross-cultural
learning partners and friends.
Keypals
Club
http://www.teaching.com/keypals/
Start a project with another class, or just
create a new friendship with someone on the
other side of the globe. KeyPals Club is a free
educational service from teaching.com.
Students
of the World
http://www.studentsoftheworld.info
Very good keypal and "snail mail"
resource for students, brought to you by Etudiants
du Monde, a french non-profit organization.
Encyclopedias
"Wisdom begins in wonder."
-Socrates
Assorted
Encyclopedias on the Web
http://edis.win.tue.nl/encyclop.html
Columbia Encyclopedia
http://www.bartleby.com/65/
Containing nearly 51,000 entries (with six and
one-half million words on a huge range of topics),
and with more than 80,000 hypertext cross-references,
the current Sixth Edition is among the most
complete and up-to-date encyclopedias ever produced.
Encyclopedia Brittanica
http://www.britannica.com
Search the 32-volume Encylopedia Brittanica,
Brittanica's Student and Concise Encyclopedia,
websites, magazine article, and more.
Infoplease
http://www.infoplease.com
Combining the contents of an encyclopedia, a
dictionary, an atlas and several up-to-the minute
almanacs loaded with statistics, facts, and
historical records, Infoplease places the resources
of an entire reference information center at
your fingertips.
MSN
Learnng and Research
http://encarta.msn.com
Comprehensive online encyclopedia powered by
Microsoft's Encarta.
Free
Web Space
"Looking at the proliferation of personal
web pages on the Net, it looks like very soon
everyone on earth will have 15 Megabytes of
fame."
- MG Siriam
Angelfire
http://angelfire.lycos.com
Free web space from Lycos.
Blurty
http://www.blurty.com
Free space to create an online journal for all
the world to read.
WebSpawner.com
http://www.webspawner.com
My 12-year-old son turned me onto this website
because he was able to create a very sophisticated
website in minutes. Just click on "Create
Webpage,' fill out the form, and away you go!
Yahoo!
Geocities
http://geocities.yahoo.com
This has been around for quite a number of years
and is still one of the most popular. Free and
paid versions are available.
Fun
"To me, growing up digital means having
fun while you're learning."
Chris, 8 years old, from the book Growing up
Digital, by Dan Tapscott
Celebrity
Address Emporium
http://www.springrose.com/celebrity/
Practice makes perfect, so students can practice
their writing by communicating with their favorite
singers or movie stars. Celebrity Address Emporium
has a listing of thousands of addresses of celebrities
from around the world.
Gradpa
Tucker's Family Fun: A Time for Rhyme
http://www.grandpatucker.com/rhyme-time1.html-ssi
Bob Tucker's fun guide on how to rhyme and create
poetry.
Pizzaz!
Creative Writing and Storytelling Ideas
http://www.uoregon.edu/~leslieob/pizzaz.html
Created by Leslie Opp-Beckman, PIZZAZ! is dedicated
to "providing simple creative writing and
oral storytelling activities with copyable (yes,
copyable!) handouts for use with students of
all ages."
Wacky
Web Tales
http://www.eduplace.com/tales/
This fun resource from publisher Houghton Mifflin
allows students to create funny stories by filling
in various parts of speech. Recent stories include
The Mummy, The Camping Trip, and The Box. Great
for children and adults!
Encyclopedias
Grammar
"I am the Roman Emperor, and am above grammar."
-Emperor Sigismund
Common
Errors in English
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/index.html
Online version of Paul Brians' book, Common
Errors in English Usage.
Grammar
When You Need It
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/7583/index.html
A unique resource developed by David Tillyer,
Grammar When You Need It is dedicated to the
idea that it's best for student to learn grammar
when they need it. Color-coded lessons offer
advice to beginning, intermediate, and advanced
students.
NetGrammar
http://busboy.sped.ukans.edu/~allenq/netgrammar/
Written by an ESL/EFL practitioner, NetGrammar
focuses on English grammar through interactive
listening, reading and writing activities. 15
online units include a preview, grammar focus,
listening, reading writing, and review.
The
Online English Grammar
http://www.edufind.com/english/grammar/
This is an amazingly comprehensive grammar resource
from Anthony Hughes. Not to be missed!
Libraries
"I must say that I find television very
educational. The minute somebody turns it on,
I go to the library and read a book."
Groucho Marx (1895-1977)
Libraryspot.com
http://www.libraryspot.com
LibrarySpot.com is designed to make finding
the best topical information on the Internet
a quick, easy and enjoyable experience.
Libweb
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Libweb/
Updated daily at midnight, Libweb lists over
6,600 pages from libraries in over 115 different
countries.
Stardots.com
http://www.stardots.com/index2.shtml
I just discovered this site and I'm really glad
that I did! Stardots.com is a directory of the
Web's best resources, from Art to Zoology, and
everything between!
Yahoo!
Libraries
http://dir.yahoo.com/Reference/Libraries/
Awesome collection of links to online libraries
from around the world, with topics ranging from
art to transportation.
Online
Help
"Treat people as if they were what they
ought to be, and you help them to become what
they are capable of being."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
Ask
an Expert
http://www.askanexpert.com
Ask an Expert is a must for anyone working on
a research project because you'll find the Web
sites and e-mail addresses of over 300 experts
on hundreds of subjects ranging from "
Amish to Zoo Keeping." Do you have a question?
If so, surf over to Ask an Expert!
ESL
Cafe's Help Center
http://www.eslcafe.com/help
Need a question quickly answered? Free help
is on the way at ESL Cafe's 24 hour ESL Help
Center. Hundreds of questions are answered each
month from a high quality team of English teachers
from around the world. This site was created
specifically for English language students.
Online
Writing Labs (OWLS)
"Either write something worth reading or
do something worth writing."
Ben Franklin
The
Online Writery
http://www.missouri.edu/~writery/index2.html
Located on the campus of the University of Missouri-Columbia,
you'll find a considerable collection of online
references and search resources, as well as
"cybertutors" that will answer your
questions and problems about writing. Try joining
the discussions at the Writery Cafe, where you
can "kick around ideas, dream up projects,
commiserate about problems, plot & scheme,
goof, theorize, etc."
Paradigm
Online Writing Assistant
http://www.powa.org/
This is a newly discovered resource for me and
truly one of my favorites. Created by Dr. Chuck
Guilford from Boise State University, students
will find loads of help on what to write, how
to organize, revise, edit, compose essays, and
how to document sources. This resource is not
to be missed!
Purdue
Online Writing Lab
http://owl.english.purdue.edu
This was one of the very first 'OWLs' or Online
Writing Labs and is still one of the very best.
Located at Indiana's Purdue University, you'll
find a large collection of Internet search tools,
links to some of the best writing resources
on the Web, and over 130 instructional sheets
that include help with general writing concerns,
writing research papers, citing sources, writing
on the job search, professional writing, English
as a Second language, parts of speech, sentence
construction, punctuation, and spelling. This
site will keep you busy for months!
The
Write Place Catalogue (LEO)
http://writing.richmond.edu/writing/wweb.html
This is a terrific resource from Sharon Cogdill
and Judith Kilborn of St. Cloud State University.
You can spend hours on their tutorials on Business
Writing, Citing Sources in Research Papers,
Grammar, The Process of Writing, Punctuation,
Research Papers, Sentence Structure, and Style
of Writing.
Punctuation
"You know you've been spending too much
time on the Internet when every colon appears
as a pair of eyes."
- Erik
OWL
Handouts: Grammar, Punctuation, and Spelling
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar
Brought to you by Perdue University Online Writing
Lab, you'll find handouts and exercises on grammar,
pronunciation, and spelling.
Punctuation
http://www.uottawa.ca/academic
/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/punct.html
Excellent punctuation guide created by Frances
Peck from the University of Ottawa.
Yes
English Guide to Punctuation
http://www.yesenglishonline.com/punctuation.htm
Super tutorial covering the Capital letter,
Full stop (period), Ellipsis, Semicolon, Comma,
Colon, Question mark, Exclamation mark, Apostrophe,
Quotation marks, Brackets, Dash, and the Hyphen.
Search
Tools
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism,
to steal ideas from many is research."
-Anon.
AlltheWeb
http://www.alltheweb.com
This is a new one for me, but I like it a lot
because it's extremely fast and comprehensive.
Ask
Jeeves
http://www.ask.com
A search tool that is actually cool, easy, and
fun.
AskJeeves
for Kids
http://www.ajkids.com/
Great for K-6 students and teachers.
Google
http://google.com
What can I say? This is my all time favorite
search engine and the one that I use every day.
Don't forget that you can also search for images
and news.
Yahoo
http://yahoo.com
It's still one of the best after all of these
years. This is a terrific place to just explore.
Spelling
"I have a spelling checker
It came with my PC;
It plainly marks four my revue
Mistakes I cannot sea.
I've run this poem threw it,
I'm sure your pleased too no,
Its letter perfect in it's weigh,
My checker tolled me sew."
-Janet Minor
Frequently
Misspelled Words
http://www3.wcu.edu/~mkiser/misspell.html
This list of the most frequently misspelled
words in English was even helpful for me!
Guide
to American English Spelling
http://www.iss.stthomas.edu
This resource from the University of St. Thomas
offers strategies on how to improve one's spelling.
How
Well Can You Spell?
http://encarta.msn.com/quiz/quiz.asp?QuizID=36
Test your spelling skills with a quiz on the
most commonly misspelled words in English. Fun!
Musical
Spelling Rules
http://gardenofpraise.com/spell1.htm
This unusual resource by Patsy Stevens uses
music to help student learn English spelling
rules.
*
* *
7
Useful Internet Tips from Dave:
1.
Don't be afraid of knowing less than your students
Personally, I just can't keep up with all this
new technology, and I am constantly learning
from my students, my nephews, and now my 12-year-old
son!
2.
Don't get frustrated
The ride isn't always smooth sailing, so try
to keep your cool when things don't go as smoothly
as planned.
3.
Don't abandon pen and paper
I make my students keep a notebook handy when
surfing the Net so they can take notes, jot
down new vocabulary, and interesting and useful
information.
4.
Make it social; not antisocial
When working in the computer lab, I often pair
students together or have them work in small
groups. This makes the class more communicative,
interactive, and fun.
5.
Sometimes you've got to get your students away
from the computer
Break into groups and discuss what students
have learned and discovered from their Internet
journey.
6.
Don't be afraid to experiment
Remember: what doesn't work for one group may
very well work for another.
7.
Integrate the Internet into what you're teaching
in class
If, for example, you teaching about food, have
your students search the Web for recipes.
It's
imperative that teachers do not use the Internet
as a babysitting tool, but instead as a powerful
learning and teaching tool where your students
can read, write, explore, and communicate. |
