Citizenship
and Civics
Civic Participation and Citizenship Special Collection
http://www.nelrc.org/cpcc/index.htm
Web-based resources reviewed and compiled by National LINCS.
Activities for Integrating Civics in Adult English Language Learning
http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/civicsact.html
Found on the Center for Adult English Language Acquisition (CAELA) website has several lesson plans centered on using music to integrate civics education into the ESL classroom, we well as activities centered around Black History Month. In both of these areas, there are activities geared towards beginning, intermediate, and advanced learners.
Adult Literacy Education (ALE) Wiki
http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Main_Page
Learn about adult literacy education or add knowledge from your experience teaching adult learners, from research or professional wisdom, or from your experience as an adult learner. This community of practice has links to research for practitioners, researchers, learners and other adult literacy educators, including English language learning, numeracy, and adult basic and secondary education.
Awesome Stories
http://www.awesomestories.com/
This website includes high-interest stories that students in pre-GED or Intermediate-Advanced ESL classes would enjoy reading. Categories of the stories include: Biography, Disasters, Famous Trials, Flicks, History, Inspiration, Religion, and Law Buzz.
Bright Ideas ESL-Civics Curriculum for Very Beginning ESL Learners
http://www.clese.org/brightideas.htm
The free, web-based Bright Ideas curriculum was designed for elderly learners participating in community-based ESL programs, but applies to any age of adult learner for developing oral English communication skills and providing opportunities for learners to use these skills inside the classroom and outside in the community. Each unit contains step-by-step instructions for the teacher, lessons for the students, and visual support materials to facilitate learning for students who have few literacy skills in English and in the native language.
Civics Participation and Community Action Sourcebook
http://hub1.worlded.org/docs/vera/index1.htm
The sourcebook is published by the New England Literacy Resource Center, and focuses on various aspects of civics participation and community action. The version of the cucciculum on the website contains articles by adult education teachers describing projects they have worked on with the learners in their classrooms, as well as lesson plans and activity ideas. The website also includes a wonderful "Webliography" that provides links to over 30 civics and community action-related websites. This is a great resource, highly recommended!
Eating Well, Living Well
http://www.sdcoe.net/eatingwell/
Website developed by San Diego Community College has free nutrition lessons for English language learners (ELL) at various levels and a resource list of free nutrition-related materials as well as special links for ELL teachers. These meterials, developed with federal funds, are designed for agencies that serve adults eligible for food stamps.
Adult Learning Resource Center
http://thecenterweb.org/alrc/esl.html
Located in Illinois developed this FREE training with guidance from the Center for Applied Linguistics under an agreement with OVAE and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Office of Citizenship.
English Literacy and Civics Education
http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/elcivics.html
This brief, written by staff members of CAELA (Center for Adult English Language Acquisition), explains the purpose and content of the U.S. Department of Education's English Literacy and Civics (EL/Civics) Education program. The brief also describes some ways that teachers can develop EL/Civics classes appropriate for learners at beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels of English proficiency.
CAELA Resource Collections: Civics Education for Adult English Learners
http://www.cal.org/caela/tools/instructional/civics.html
This webpage, from the Center for Adult English Language Acquisition (CAELA), is dedicated to providing relevant resources to individuals working on civics and civics education in adult ESL settings. Resources include: articles, reports, organizations, policy material, listservs, teacher reference books, learner textbooks, and more.
Immigration: Stories of Yesterday and Today
http://teacher.scholastic.com/immigrat/
This is a collection of online activities and lesson plans, as well as teachers' guides, for use in the classroom or independently by adult learners. These activities are sponsored by the Scholastic publishing company.
Migration and Immigration in the United States: Three Case Studies
http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/adulted/lessons/lesson8.html
This page contains links to four activities plus extensions intended to help students compare and contrast the early migration and immigration experiences of three cultural groups: Native Americans, African Americans, and the British colonists.
People and Politics: A Civic Literacy Curriculum
http://easternlincs.worlded.org/docs/politics/people.htm
This curriculum, written by Ashley Hager, consists of a series of activities designed to help students identify aspects of their communities they would like to change, and explore how voting and other forms of collective action can bring about positive change.
Project CONNECT
http://pbslearnenglish.org/learn/page1.xml
On this web site, adults enrolled in adult education classes can practice their English skills and learn about working, studying and living in the United States--all online using a computer with reading, writing, audio, video, Internet, and email activities. Teachers can set up online class groups, send and receive email with their classes and review student work. Project Connect was created by PBS, the National Center for Adult Literacy at the University of Pennsylvania and Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville, Kentucky in partnership with KET--The Kentucky Network.
Promising Practices in EL Civics
http://www.nelrc.org/cpcc/cepg/index.htm
The New England Literacy Resource Center hosts this collection of teacher writings that documents the work of programs funded by the Massachusetts Department of Education to include civic participation activities in the ESOL classroom. The list of promising practices reflects the teachers' collective thinking about practices they believe are important in teaching for civic engagement and participation in a democracy.
The Change Agent
http://www.nelrc.org/changeagent/
This biannual newspaper for adult educators and learners has been published since 1994 by the New England Literacy Resource Center at World Education. The Change Agent is non-profit and provides a wealth of advertising-free, ready-to-use lessons, writings, math activities, and graphics. It can be downloaded free with site registration, and inexpensive print subscriptions are available as well.
U.S. Civics and Citizenship Online: Resource Center for Instructors
http://tinyurl.com/26rzwv
This site was developed by USCIS and the Office of Citizenship as a single destination housing educational resources for citizenship and civics instruction.
U.S.
Civics and Citizenship Online
http://tinyurl.com/3ab6aa
Its purpose is to provide a quick and easy path to resources
to help instructors prepare students for naturalization
and to incorporate civics into ESL instruction. U.S. Civics
and Citizenship Online provides links to curricula, lesson
plans, teacher assessments, and other instructional material
on citizenship and civics.
WelcometoUSA.gov
http://www.welcometousa.gov
Comprehensive list of resources to help immigrants and refugees
integrate into life in America. Includes an ESL course locator
(http://www.literacydirectory.org/).
Learn
About the United States: Quick Civics Lessons
http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/M-638.pdf
A self-study guide for immigrants preparing for the citizenship
test. Includes brief, easy-to-follow lessons on U.S. government
and history for those that want to go further in their studies.
Civics
Flash Cards
http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/M-623.pdf
Colorful, user-friendly study flash cards for immigrants
preparing for the citizenship test.
Ben's
http://bensguide.gpo.gov/9-12/index.html
Although slated as for 9-12th grade and it's cutsey look,
the info presented is perfect for those interested in the
history of U.S. Government.
Citizenship
Lessons
http://aenet.esuhsd.org/Citizenship_lessons/beginning_level.html
US
Citizenship and Immigration Services
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis
Citizenship
Questions
https://www.casas.org/home/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.showContent&MapID=86
This site provides a listing of citizenship test prep questions
The
Naturalization Self-Test On-Line
http://free.ed.gov/resource.cfm?resource_id=2118
US Citizenship Test
http://www.history.com/content/citizen_quiz
US
http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_citi.html
Breaking News
English Daily
http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/
As the news breaks, teach it - this is the future of
English Language teaching. Your FREE ESL lessons include
full Teacher's Notes, Student Handouts and Texts, Warm Ups
& Cool Downs, Pre-Reading Ideas, While-Reading Activities,
Post-Reading Fluency Ideas, Homework, Internet links and
more. A complete current affairs lessons resource. Please
tailor, evaluate, test and enjoy them in class ... and then
come back for more tomorrow. ESL lessons that will never
run dry!
Facing
http://www.facinghistory.org
Interesting
Things for ESOL Students
http://www.manythings.org
ESOL
Webquests
http://academics.smcvt.edu/cbauer-ramazani/Links/webquests.htm
http://www.eastoftheweb.com/games/index.html
http://www.vocabulary.co.il/
Activities for ESL Students
http://a4esl.org
This site has over 1,000 activities to help you study ESL.
Internet Picture
http://pdictionary.com/
Flaschards, Fill in the blanks, Word Scramble, Stinky Spelling
ABC Teach
http://www.abcteach.com/
Free printables for home and classroom
English to
Go
http://www.english-to-go.com/
Photocopiable lessons from Reuters News Stories
One Stop English
http://www.onestopenglish.com/
Free Resources: -100s of prepared lessons for you to photocopy
from the Macmillan courses. Games interactive learner games
for classroom use Guided Reader worksheets
Everything
ESL
http://www.everythingesl.net/
Featuring 44 lesson plans, 28 teaching tips, 146 downloadable
classroom activities, 394 discussion topics, and 55 resource
picks
1-Language
Online ESL Center
Free, comprehensive ESL site including forums, realtime
chat, grammar, writing, interactive quizzes and games, flashcards,
audio materials, helplines, mulitlingual content ~ and nuch
more!
ESL Lounge - contributed by Mabel
Magarinos, OCPS
Description: Free and printable material for TEFL and TESOL
teachers. Grammar, reading comprehension, worksheets.
It is divided by levels. The worksheets are very useful
and the pair work activities are good for communicative
practice for the students.
http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/nationalsymposium.pdf
the bibliography presents a comprehensive review of the
research that has been conducted on reading development
among adult English language learners in the United States
in the last 20 years. Annotations detail the types of studies
(experimental, descriptive, practitioner research, or theoretical
article), target population characteristics, settings, findings,
and implications for practice. The annotations can be easily
accessed by topical keywords or by type of research study.
Adult ESOL Lesson Plans - Lesson Plans for Adult ESOL were written by classroom
teachers in Palm Beach County over the past three years.
Although originally designed as curriculum resource books,
they have been converted to a web based format to provide
Florida Adult ESOL Homepage - Here is the link to ESOL lesson plans and other valuable
information. This website was developed by the ESOL Practitioners'
Task Force Committee.
AN ESOL Toolkit for teachers - A FREE
kit filled with tools to enhance your English language and
civics education.
Brookhaven National Laboratory - Welcome
to English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) at Brookhaven
National Laboratory. What is ESOL? ESOL exists
under the auspices of the Quality of Life program in Staff
Services at BNL.
Center for Applied Linguistics - The
Basic English Skills Test (BEST), developed by CAL language
testing professionals, is a unique measurement tool designed
for adult ESL learners at the survival and pre-employment
skills level.
Dave's ESL Cafe - The Internet's Meeting
Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the
World.
English as 2nd
Language - Complete ESL/EFL sites covering almost every
aspect of learning English as a Second Language; Chat, grammar,
quizzes, idioms and much more. Sites typically include
in-depth resources for each of the areas included: Grammar,
Listening, Communication and Teacher's Help.
ESL Loop - ESLoop is
a collection of sites relevant to English Language Teaching
and Learning on the World-Wide Web. ESLoop began in
1996 as a way to offer teachers and students of English
a way to browse the Internet for resources specific to English
language teaching and learning.
ESOL Connections - General ESOL Resources from Purdue Online Learning Lab..
ESOL Resources For ALL - A Resource for students, parents and teachers of English
as a Second Language to help locate the resources you need
on the web. These include Journals and Lessons, Translation
and Fun Places to Visit.
ESOL
Requirements A web page with a chart that specifies
the timelines for ESOL training requirements according to
teaching.
A Guide for ESOL Teachers
and Administrators - Language arts through ESOL.
Harnessing Technology to Serve Adult
Literacy - The Harnessing Technology Web pages help
adult literacy education (ABE/GED/ESL/ESOL) teachers and
learners to use computers, television, audio and video cassettes,
and other electronic technology to help solve learning and
instructional problems
Learn idioms and
phrasal verbs, take quizzes in history, grammar and culture - This is part of Dave's ESL Cafe. Select the links at the
bottom of the page to view the different areas of interest.
Links of Interest to Students & Teachers
of English as a Second Language - Links of Interest
to Students & Teachers of English as a Second Language
National Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy
Education (NCLE) - The National Center for ESL Literacy
Education (NCLE), the only national information center focusing
on the language and literacy education of adults and out-of-school
youth learning English, works to support those providing
such services.
National LINCS - LINCS is the literacy
community's gateway to the world of adult education and
literacy resources on the Internet. The goal of LINCS
is to bring adult literacy-related resources and expertise
to a single point of access for users throughout the world.
A National Labsite for Adult ESOL - The Lab School is a national state-of-the-art research
center engaged in classroom-based research and professional
development in adult ESOL.
NCLE ERIC Digests
NCLE
has published concise overviews on topics in the following
areas:
-
What
Works: ESL Methods and Approaches
-
Improving
Language Skills
-
Assessment
and Evaluation
-
Technology
in Adult ESL
-
Family
and Intergenerational ESL Literacy
-
Language
and Culture
-
Specific
Populations
-
Background
and Policy Issues
-
Staff
Development
-
Program
Design
-
Workplace
and Vocational ESL
Multilingual Picture Dictionary - The ESL students of Bangor Adult and Community Education
would like to help other people by providing this resource
for anyone interested in English and other languages.
Randall’s ESL Cyber-Listening lab-
This multi-media site includes dozens of audio and video
stories that offer students vocabulary development and reading
comprehension quizzes as well as key vocabulary word definitions
and quiz assessment.
Self- Study Quizzes for ESOL Students -
Self-Study quizzes for ESL Students including vocabulary,
grammar, idioms and much more.
TESOL Publications - Many different publications to choose from.
The Internet TESL Journal - For Teachers
of English as a Second Language. Articles, Research
Papers, Lessons Plans, Classroom Handouts, Teaching Ideas
& Links. This is a monthly web journal.
Research
Articles
New Study Released: Effective Civic Learning Builds 21st Century Skills
http://civicmissionofschools.org/site/documents/21CSkillsFullReport
The Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools and the American Bar Association (Public Education Division) are proud to announce the release of a new study that shows effective civic learning builds the 21st Century Skills important to a student's success in College, Career and Citizenship."Paths to 21st Century Competencies Through Civic Education," was authored by Dr. Judith Torney-Purta (University of Maryland), an internationally respected education and psychology scholar; with Dr. Britt Wilkenfeld. The results of the study show that those students who receive quality civic learning experiences showed the highest scores on demonstrating 21st Century Competencies.
How
Well Are ESL Teachers Being Prepared to Integrate Technology
in Their Classrooms?
http://www-writing.berkeley.edu/TESL-EJ/ej36/a1.html
This article reports on the experiences of language teachers
with their teacher preparation in the use of learning technologies
in Puerto Rico. Three focus group interviews were held with
28 pre-service teachers; 9 in-service teachers were interviewed,
and a post focus group interview was held with student teachers
after they completed their field teaching experience.
The
following themes emerged during the analysis of the qualitative
data: (a) Course Content must be more than learning to use
a program or machine in order for a teacher to be prepared
to integrate technology in the classroom; (b) Modeling technology
use by teacher educators and cooperating teachers instructs
by example, (c) Self-acquisition of technology skills needs
to be supplemented by formal training for teachers to acquire
the technology skills they need; (d) Access and exposure
to technology and Internet needs to be expanded; (e) Practical
integration of technology in language teaching requires
hands-on-experience throughout the teacher preparation program.
top
THE
EFFECT OF COMPUTERS ON THE TEST AND INTER-RATER RELIABILITY
OF WRITING TESTS OF ESL LEARNERS
http://www.tojet.net/articles/519.htm
This research aimed to investigate the effect of computers
on the test and inter-rater reliability of writing test
scores of ESL learners. Writing samples of 20 pen-paper
and 20 computer group students were scored in analytic scoring
method by two scorers, and then the scores were analyzed
in Alpha (Cronbach) model. The results showed that the test
and inter-rater reliability of the writing samples of the
computer group students were significantly higher than the
ones of the pen-paper group participants.
top
DISCOURSE
AND PARTICIPATION IN ESL FACE-TO-FACE AND WRITTEN ELECTRONIC
CONFERENCES
http://llt.msu.edu/vol10num1/pdf/fitze.pdf
This study was a comparative investigation of face-to-face
and written electronic conferences.
The participants were advanced English as a second language
(hereafter: ESL) students. The two
types of conferences were compared in terms of textual features
and participation. There was no
statistically significant difference in the total number
of words that students produced in an
equivalent amount of time in the two types of conferences.
The discourse in written electronic
conferences displayed greater lexical range, and students
in these conferences produced more
discourse demonstrating interactive competence. The statistically
significant finding of increased
lexical range in written electronic conferences persisted
even when the interactive discourse was
eliminated from the conference transcripts and the transcripts
were reanalyzed. This finding
suggests that, during written electronic conferences, students
were better able to use and practice
a wider range of vocabulary related to the topics. For one
of the groups, participation in written
electronic conferences was more balanced among students,
while for the other group participation
was about equally balanced regardless of the conference
setting. This last finding came as a
surprise and points to a need for further research into
variables that might mediate balanced
participation in face-to-face and written electronic conferences.
top
ON
THE NET - First, You Have to Hear It! ESL Oral Language
Practice
http://llt.msu.edu/vol9num3/net/default.html
Oral language development needs two essential elements in
order to be maximally realized: comprehensible input (CI)
and social interaction (Peregoy & Boyle, 2005). The
language learning environment, be it a classroom or other
venue, should be structured to include CI as well as encourage
the aforementioned two-way communication qua social interaction.
In this column, we examine two sites that provide CI for
English language learners and also make provision for subsequent
two-way interchanges that allow learners to practice their
oral output.
Randall's
ESL Cyber Listening Lab provides the English language learner
with many audio files that offer language sound bites on
numerous topics. These sound files are graded "easy,"
"medium," and "difficult" as a guide
for the instructor and/or self-motivated learner. According
to the creator of the site, Randall Davis,
"the
main goal has been to try to combine pedagogically-sound
content while making use of Internet technology to deliver
it .... to create listening activities with pre-, listening,
and post-listening activities to build content schemata,
help check students' understanding while introducing new
vocabulary, and then encourage speaking activities to expand
on language students have learned." (personal communication,
July 14, 2005)
COLLABORATIVE
E-MAIL EXCHANGE FOR TEACHING SECONDARY ESL: A CASE STUDY
IN HONG KONG
http://llt.msu.edu/vol7num1/greenfield/default.html
This article presents data from a qualitative case study
examining secondary ESL students' attitudes toward and perceptions
of a collaborative e-mail exchange between a Form 4 (10th
grade) ESL class in Hong Kong and an 11th grade English
class in Iowa. The exchange was based on a researcher-designed
instructional model, utilizing widely accepted theories
and methods for modern second language instruction: cooperative
learning, communicative language learning, process writing,
project-based learning, and an integrated approach.
ESOL PTF websites
