The ESL Experience in the Writing Center

http://projects.uwc.utexas.edu/praxis/?q=node/24

ESL Writers: A Guide for Writing Center Tutors, a corpus of practical guidance for writing center consultants.

This is a review of the above text. It has some good discussion of what is necessary to teach non-English natives how to write in English.

English Grammar Tutor Online

http://webnz.co.nz/checkers/grammar2.html

SuperTeach: English Grammar Tutor Online: Verbs, Sentences and Online Tests

More ESL Sites

To get you started, here a few ESL sites online that can be used with individuals or a class.

http://a4esl.org
English grammar quizzes, easy-difficult, often hitting specific areas (e.g. At,In and On,In-At With Places, tag questions with 'Be' etc.) These are quizzes only, with no teaching of the skill.

www.better-english.com/exerciselist.html
These are business oriented lessons and includes grammar, vocabulary, multi-word verbs, business text exercises and other topics tied to the business perspective.

www.bogglesworld.com
Lesson for adults in ESL, some are more appropriate than others.

Give these websites a try, and see if they hold any interest. Post your reviews on line (you will need to have responded to an invitation to join the Blog to post. Contact Judith at x 4118 or 4128 if you want an invitation, and leave your current email address. As soon as you get the response, you will be able to post your review of the site.)

Vocaboly

Vocaboly is a creative vocabulary builder for SAT, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT and general vocabulary. Vocaboly contains five books: SAT, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT and VOA Special English, with more than 12,000 words, each word provided with meaning, phonetic symbol, and pronunciation. This is a demo site, the actual program has a fee.
http://www.vocaboly.com/index.php

Grammar websites

GRAMMAR

COMMON ERRORS IN ENGLISH: PROFESSOR PAUL BRIANS' SITE
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html


DAILY GRAMMAR
A great way to check grammar knowledge. Use the archives or sign up twice a year for daily e-mail lessons. Quizzes take four minutes
http://www.dailygrammar.com/archive.html


GRAMMAR CENTRAL
Links to both a teacher's notes on grammar lessons, as well as copies of the lessons themselves. Be sure and check the index, which is an alphabetized list of definitions.
http://www.longview.k12.wa.us/mmhs/wyatt/homework/grammar/gramm.html

MRS. BLUEZETTE'S GRAMMAR CORNER
"A PBS mind in an MTV world." Delightful, highly educational articles by a wonderful English language wizard.
http://www.newsblues.com/grammar.htm


PROFESSOR CHARLES DARLING'S GRAMMAR SITE
Outstanding to use as a quick reference for your grammar questions. http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/index.htm

ESL Websites

Here are some additional websites with comments:

1. www.esl-lab.com
Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab. It has a wide variety of conversations recorded in real life, with some exercises.

2. www.voanews.com/SpecialEnglish/
The Voice of America has a program called "People in America" which focuses on one famous
American each week. This is spoken in "Special English" (spoken relatively slowly and using a limited vocabulary). The transcript of the program is easily downloaded. Lots of short musical interludes are included, so during the program, students can have a short rest in which they can think/process what they've heard. I recommend looking at the archived programs for a wider selection of topics.

3. The BBC World Service (www.bbc.co.uk)
has a wonderful selection of audio programs. Especially useful for more advanced students who want to have exposure to a wide variety of accents. They also have a special "learning English" page. http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/

4. The Library of Congress, Boston University, the Poetry Society of America and Center for the Book (among many others) sponsors the Favorite Poem Project. This site has poem videos (like music videos) in which Americans talk about their favorite poem, giving personal stories about how the poem has been meaningful in their life. The famous (Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton) as well as the ordinary (a glass blower, a law professor, a teacher, a student) talk about their favorite poems. An interesting way to learn about people and poems.
http://www.favoritepoem.org/thevideos/index.html

5. There are also subscription websites like
www.English2go.com
(articles from Reuters with English exercises)
http://www.market-leader.net/
(articles from the Financial Times, adapted for ESL/EFL students).

6. http://esl.about.com/index.htm.
This site is a resource both for teachers and students of English as a second language.

Learn Spanish Online

Free interactive Spanish lessons are available at http://www.spanishprograms.com/. There are several free lessons at this site, though its purpose is to sell their complete program. However, the free lessons are good, and worth accessing.

Business and Writing Site

Communication Expressway, Judy Small Business ezine designed to help people improve office, technology, presentation, and writing skills. http://www.ossweb.com/ezine.html