Listening Website Links

In this post you'll find links to a number of websites that offer listening lesson plans, audio files, quizzes, podcasts, games, and more.  Enjoy!

• Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab:  Developed by a teacher, this site contains well organized lessons divided into Pre-listening, Listening, & Post Listening sections.
  
  
• English Language Listening Online (ELLLO) :  Arranged by levels, this site provides a large selection of authentic recordings by native speakers and features a variety of accents.
  
  
• Talk English:  This website hosts hundreds of practical phrases and sentences for listening and pronunciation.  Arranged by topic, it serves almost as an online audio phrasebook.
  
  
• Voice of America: This well-known site hosts news stories read by native speakers in a slower, clearer voice.
  

• National Public Radio:  This American radio broadcasting network posts many of their news reports online, along with podcasts, live streaming radio, and other fun stuff.
  
  
• Classic Fairy Tales: These narrated fairy tales have some pictures and a little animation, as well.
  
  
• Focus English: Organized by topic, this site provides some useful phrases and sentences, but it's not very user friendly, as it requires RealPlayer.
  
  

Finally, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has a very comprehensive and useful set of tips for your English listening skills.  It can be accessed through their Self-Access Center:  Listening Advice.

For SKKU Students:  

• Worksheet for Lab
• Answer Sheet for Lab

For more listening links, check out ESL Gold's listening links page.

David Nunan's "Practical English Language Teaching"

Below you'll find a few resources to help your reading and studying of Practical English Language Teaching by David Nunan.  

• Visit David Nunan's Official Website.
• Chapter 2, Listening:  Study Guide
• Chapter 4, Reading: Study Guide (also Harmer, Ch. 7)
  
  (more to come)

Technology: Pronunciation Links

JAZZ CHANTS

1. Jazz Chant Introduction
   
   
   
   
2. Jazz Chant Samples
   
   
   
   

Here are the links for today's Materials & Technology class:

1. SEGMENTALS: E. L. Easton Online : /f/ example
   
   
2. SUPRASEGMENTALS:
   (a) Word Stress (from English Club)
   (b) Stress & Intonation (from About.com)
   (c) Reduction (from E.L. Easton)
   (d) Linking (from Pronuncian.com)
   (e) Rhthym (from "A New Perspective on Teaching Pronunciation")
   
   
3. PRONUNCIATION GAMES: (from ESL.about.com)
   
   
4. LEARNING PRONUNCIATION: (from HKUST)
   
   
5. PRONUNCIATION VIDEOS: (from Rachel's English)
   
   
6. LISTENING & PRONUNCIATION: (from Yappr.com)
   
   
7. MOUTH & TONGUE DIAGRAMS: (from American "Clear Speech" Sounds)

Featured Student Essay

Several times throughout the semester, students in the SKKU-GU TESOL Program are asked to write "Reflective Journal" entries as a way of exploring the theories and ideas from our course in a more personal way.  These are not intended to be academic research essays, simply reflections.

These writing exercises are also a way for students to practice using the jargon of our professional field and to apply it to their own lives, classes, and experiences.  Furthermore, we strongly feel that deep and honest self-reflection is one of the critical elements to becoming (and remaining) an excellent teacher and professional.

Each time I collect and assess journals, I plan to feature one essay here on the TESOL blog.  Of course, this will always only be done with the permission of the student.  (Usually, all journal entries are kept completely confidential.)  

The featured author may choose to have his or her identity revealed or kept a secret.   And, indeed, our first featured author has chosen like to have her identity kept a secret.  (I will use the pronoun "her" since 90% of our students are women.)  However, her essay is certainly one to be shared and read by many.  

I selected her essay, "The Importance of the Class Syllabus," because of the unique topic.  In her essay, the author reflects upon her own teaching experience, contrasting the differences she observed in two of her classes.  In one class, she began teaching in the middle of the semester and had to follow the previous teacher's course schedule.  In the other, she was able set her own curriculum plan according to her own design.  However, you'll have to read the whole essay if you want to find out the results.  

Enjoy!  

(Congratulations to the author.  You know who you are.  Great Job!)

PS:  For everyone else, feel free to leave comments to support your classmate!

Crossword Puzzles

Crossword puzzles are a great way to review information, vocabulary, and even grammar in the ESL/EFL classroom.  Below are a number of links you might find helpful.

FREE ONLINE CROSSWORD PUZZLE GENERATORS:

• edHelper.com's online crossword puzzle creator:
  (The page layout is a little 'busy' but it also creates an answer key.)
  
  
• Another nice one is Crossword Puzzle Games:
  (This one doesn't have an answer key, but it's simple and easy.)
  
  
• One with a lot of options is Armored Penguin's Crossword Puzzle Maker:
  (This site features many options, such as font type and PDF format, and it automatically generates many versions and selects the best layout.  However, it's also little more confusing and complicated.)
  
  

FREE CROSSWORD SOFTWARE:

• By far, my favorite crossword puzzle software is EclipseCrossword.
  (This software is easy to use, and it offers a variety of 'publishing' options, including answer keys, an optional word bank, printable html pages, and - best of all - interactive html files.  Sorry Mac users.  EclispeCrossword only works on PCs, as far as I know.)
  
  

SKKU-GU TESOL Program "Speaking Methodology" Crossword

• To help you review Weeks 5 & 6 and Harmer Chapter 9, here is a crossword puzzle for you!
• Download the printable version.
• Download the interactive version.
  (These crossword puzzles were created with the EclipseCrossword software.)

Foreign Language Teaching Methodologies

Below are links to websites with brief summaries of some of the teaching methodologies we have discussed or will discuss in class.

• Grammar-Translation Method (GT)
• Audiolingual Method (ALM)
• Total Physical Response (TPR) 
• Content-based Instruction (CBI) or Learning (CBL)
  
• Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)
• Task-based Learning (TBL) or Instruction (TBI)

A fabulous resource to learn about these ELT methods (and others) is Diane Larsen-Freeman's Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching.  

This text is designed to introduce beginning language teachers to a variety of different methodologies.  Its straightforward approach describes and explains each method, provides class descriptions, and explains how those classroom descriptions exemplify the principles.  It identifies strengths and weaknesses of each method, but Larsen-Freeman ultimately allows readers to make their own decisions about which approaches, methods, and activities are most suitable.  

Materials Project

Textbook Evaluation Project "Dry Run" Notes:  

• MC Class 
• EA Class
  

[To download, click on one of the links above.  Look for the blue disk icon in the middle of the page, and click on the link that says "download file." If you don't have a recent copy of MS Office, you may have to download the MS Office 2007 Compatibility Pack from the Microsoft website.]

Below are a few links to other people's opinions or checklists about how to analyze ESL/EFL textbooks.  SKKU students must be careful not to plagiarize or copy.  However, if these links give you some guidance or new creative approaches for evaluating your textbooks, they may be helpful to you.  

• Joshua Miekley's textbook evaluation checklist.
• The  Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) criteria and questions for selecting textbooks.

Reminder:  you will be assessed according to SKKU's 9 sections and the criteria discussed in class, not according to the materials found in these links.