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Express Yourself (Well) Websites for Teaching Students About the English Language

Do you and your students speak the same language? In interviews, dating, and even social and classroom activities, there is no replacement for expressing oneself well. Clarity of expression comes with a good understanding of the English language. Many resources are designed to increase students' comprehension of English, whether it is their first or second language, in an enjoyable manner. Through the Internet, you can take advantage of the best of these in your own classroom!

Bring the lively discourse and interactive quality of web resources to your classroom language lessons with the websites highlighted below. Students will grasp grammatical concepts, engage in word play, and poke fun at common errors in writing and speaking.

The product is learning, but the means is fun, fun, fun!

WordCentral, from Merriam-Webster, is a terrific place where students can experiment with words. In addition to a wonderfully complete searchable dictionary for kids, the site has decoders that allow students to remove vowels from text or encode a secret message. Don't miss the Teachers' Lounge! This portion of the site highlights all the pages specially designed for classroom use.

Laugh at the illogical patterns of the English Language with The Linguistic Fun Page! This site contains amusing articles about misquotes, translation difficulties, and rules that older students will find quite amusing. Examine the pages of this site, and let its collection of related links direct you to some super English resources on the Net.

Don't be misled by its title. WritingDEN is about more than writing. This site is designed for students in grades 4 through 12, and its goal is to help students improve their writing, comprehension, and reading skills. The WritingDEN covers several topics in history, science, nature, Canada, and cultures. Students may choose from three different levels of difficulty, labeled Words, Sentences, and Paragraphs. Words deals with vocabulary and pronunciation, Sentences addresses comprehension and listening skills, and Paragraphs shows students how to organize and edit their writing.

Do you cringe when your students leave their preposition errors in? Do you wish that, just once, you wouldn't have to deal with the affects of poor English? Hear is the answer! Common Errors in English explains your students' favorite grammatical errors in simple terms. Succinct and clear, the definitions and guides are easy for students to follow. Many of the mistakes your students make in their writing will be found in this collection. Weather you use this site as a student resource or a regular teaching tool, you will wonder how you're classroom existed without it!

With Mrs. Alphabet in the classroom, students can't help but learn their ABCs. Sign up for Alphabetically Yours, a free newsletter issued 26 times during the year, featuring advice, teaching tips, games, and more. Join in a chat in the Alphabet Caf to discover new ways to teach phonics, reading, and language arts and to share your own ideas. Students will adore Mrs. Alphabet's games, contained in the section Just for Kids. Upon entering the site, prepare for an appropriate musical welcome -- "The Alphabet Song"!

 

GRAMMATICALLY SPEAKING

Other sites dabble in the parts of speech, but this site takes them seriously! At Parts of Speech you will find brief but useful descriptions of the various terms with examples. Topics addressed include adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, determiners, interjections, nouns, objects, prepositions, pronouns, and subjects. The site also has an entire collection of resources devoted to verbs.

If you're looking for additional grammar resources, be sure to check out another Education World story, Good Grief, It's Grammar Time!

 

THE LANGUAGE OF SIGN

One fun and useful topic for students to study during language arts classes is the language of sign. The Basic Dictionary of ASL Terms teaches students to create letters and words with their hands. Unique because of its video dictionary, the site allows students to select from a long list of words and view them as signed by an expert. Students who travel to this site can learn what they need to know to begin to communicate with the deaf.

 

 

Article by Cara Bafile
Education World®
Copyright © 2004 Education World

 

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Links last updated 05/13/2013