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Get new blog posts automatically emailed to you. Go to Settings on Dashboard - click "email & mobile" tab. You'll see "Email Notices" at the top of the page, Type your email address in the blank next to "BlogSend Address."  You can enter a comma separated list of up to 10 email addresses. This should work. If it does not or is not on your dashboard, let me know and I can add your address from my dashboard. You can subscribe to comment notification by email whenever you post a comment to a post.

I've heard from some about staying in the class. My next step will be to check past participation and start dropping those who have never posted or commented.

Next, perhaps a poll or survey for ideas on what direction. I am not interested in being the only contributor and like the idea of "projects." Some could be to educate the rest of us about some aspect of your own countries and cultures. Other projects could be taking turns to research an area of English study, look for handouts and exercises, and prepare a lesson for the rest of the class.

New StudyCom class: advanced writing

I am starting an High Intermediate/ Advanced Writing Group (with emphasis on academic essays for TOEFL prep and academic writing). This writing intensive group will write substantial posts for class discussion, analyze and critique essays and writing samples, regularly write and revise  essays. I must limit enrollment because responding to student writing is labor intensive and time consuming.

To apply for the class, write an application letter essay and email it to me at Vanessa.87036@gmail.com.

Introduce yourself and include a brief biography (paragraph #1). Describe your English learning background (paragraph #2) and evaluate your writing strengths and weaknesses (paragraph #3). Finally, state your writing goals and explain why you want to improve your writing (paragraph #4) 

• What Is Academic Writing? 

  Academic writing - from Wikipedia
  

Gizmoz Is Good For Speaking Practice

Gizmoz lets you pick from a variety of images, then choose a background, and then quickly speak a message or, using the text-to-speech feature, type one. Then, after signing-in (registering or signing-in just takes seconds) you can either email the link or post it yourself on a blog or website.

As an opportunity for speaking practice, it doesn’t get much easier ~ Gizmoz Is Good For Speaking Practice

The World’s 50 Best Open Courseware Collections

For the more advanced, those considering university in an English language speaking country or just the wildly adventurous: study a subject you are familiar with or that interests you in English. This strategy will teach you as much or more about English than about the subject studied.

The list linked below represents a handful of hundreds of open courseware initiatives that now exist. The following fifty collections are from English-speaking universities and colleges, located across the U.S. to England, Canada and Australia. Additionally, the list points to open courseware projects such as directories and primary source projects offered by various universities and colleges.

The list is divided into categories and each link is listed in alphabetical order within those categories. This method shows our readers that we do not favor one collection over another.


The World’s 50 Best Open Courseware Collections

The Best Websites For English Language Learner Students — 2009

I recently rediscovered Larry Ferlazzo's wesbsite & all its "bests".... and not for the 1st time. But this time I added it to my feed reader to keep track of it. Expect to see more of Larry's "best links" here.

The Best Websites For English Language Learner Students — 2009

 via Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... by Larry Ferlazzo on 11/17/09  

It's time for another year-end "The Best…" list. This one will be sharing my choices for the best eighteen sites to use with English Language Learner students.

Some of these sites may have been around prior to this year, but since I didn't discover them until now, I'm including them on the list.
Please vote in the poll at the bottom of this post and pick your top five. I'm having my students participate in the voting too, so you might want to consider using it as a lesson with your own students.

Here are my choices for The Best Websites For English Language Learner Students – 2009:

20 Free Resources to Learn English from Home

Not everyone can afford classes or expensive English language learning software. Fortunately, there are many free resources available online that anyone can use to learn English on their own. From free online courses to language learning communities, knowledge can be found with just a click of the mouse. Here are 20 free English language learning resources to explore from the comfort of your own home:

20 Free Resources to Learn English from Home

Best Sites for Practicing Writing

From Larry Ferlazzo's edublog, Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…  for Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

This “The Best…” list requires a bit of an explanation.

I’ve already posted The Best Websites For K-12 Writing Instruction/Reinforcement.  That list primarily contains links to sites that provide direct writing instruction.  And I’ve also posted several lists of Web 2.0 tools where writing is a key feature to using them, including The Best Ways To Create Online Slideshows, The Best Ways For Students To Create Online Animations, and The Best Ways To Make Comic Strips Online.

I thought, though, that it would be useful to create another list of the best places where the primary purpose is just to write, and which make it interesting and easy for English Language Learners and other students to do so.  I don’t think that’s an artificial distinction and, if it is, so be it!

Here are my choices for The Best Places Where Students Can Write Online | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

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