Sherri Johnston's List: Second Languages

This is a Web 2.0 application where you can design, use and share flashcards in any language. There are a few practices games/quizzes that can be played with any deck of flashcards.

This nifty site allows people to custom build or share flashcard decks. Double check application costs.

1000 expressions with the equivalent meaning in French, Spanish and English. There are cute animations and activities that correspond with this application. Designed for college level second language students in Quebec, it could easily be used in secondary classrooms.

Where has this been?! Finally, a visual dictionary we can access online in three languages (English, French and Spanish). There are simple images, extensive lexicons, photos, virtual objects, and links to wikipedia. A perfect match to an interactive whiteboard (SmartBoard).

A site featuring numerous links to teacher lesson plans and activities

Great site for simple French activities. Would welcome well with SmartBoards. Images are appealing. Pronunciation is clear.

Translate Text-to-speech in multiple languages

A multifunctional dictionary and some US learning lab resources from the Foreign Service Institute.

Lyrics Training is a useful site for advanced language learners. Students listen to a video, select a level of competency (from fill in the blanks to typing all of the lyrics) on songs that are rated Easy to Hard. It is a fun activity while also introducing students to cultural music in the target language. 6 languages are currently available on the Beta site: English, French, German, Spanish, Dutch and Italian.

Great possibilities for second language teaching. Students use a cell phone (call ipadio and input security pin) to record their oral presentations. All of the messages are saved in the teacher's box. They can be rerecorded, listened to repeatedly and even the feedback can be provided orally. Making podcasts using a phone - could this replace the work of buying ipods to do the same thing?App is currently free of charge.

Sean Banville's Blogs provides tips for how to use Audacity to create files for Jigsaw Listening where students listen to jumbled up clips and put them in the correct order.

This blog from Edutopia highlights Kathy Shirley and her work with iPods in an ESL classroom. At a session I attended, she shared the amazing growth her students underwent when they could hear themselves and could redo their oral practice assignments over and over until they were satisfied with the results. Her teachers have since gone on to expand their use of iPods in the classroom. The iPods offers unlimited possibilities for all second language teachers. And one of the best parts, as Kathy said, is that minimal tech. expertise is required on the part of teachers.

This is an interesting project - using authentic materials for language classrooms in ways in which the materials were never intended (e.g. recipe cards, postcards, maps, train schedules) - essentially focusing langauge activities and grammar on the task of describing or using the authentic materials. Sample lesson ideas are provided for each of the authentic materials highlighted.

A quick overview of some iphone apps for L2 teachers.

A list of 20 webtools such as Voicethread,Storybird and Animoto that would be useful for second language classrooms. Digital booklet includes a description of the tool, screenshots and how to use it.

Colour idioms in different languages. Might be fun to use with older students. Kind of unique to organize expressions by colour.

Authentic Resources Wiki - French, German, Spanish - a place to provide links to authentic resources that can be used with students

Site for learning English. Good materials about language learning in general: infographics, quotes, English idioms, etc. 

iPad apps: Comic life, wordfoto, aurasma, morfo and pages