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Many thanks to TESL Kingston for sharing their excellent resource information.
TESL Ontario Blog The TESL Ontario Blog Project was created because of the TESL Ontario members’ community. In 2013, members made it known that they wished to have a forum to share resources and learn from others’ experiences. The blog is administered by Tamsin Cobb, Nancy Van Dorp, Maria Margaritis and Nadeen Sullivan, and contains posts from a diverse group of Guest Bloggers. http://blog.teslontario.org/
The Stories of Us Curriculum This is a free, online, 6-part curriculum for LINC teachers. It includes templates, facilitator tips, and a supplementary bank of PBLA activities. For details about this curriculum and how to access it, please click here (or copy and paste this address into your browser: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NKydYUzH7Huyfz1JiMlKk1aYOnPBJja7/view?usp=sharing). Understanding Canadian Government & Culture Do you know the levels of Canadian government and how they represent you? Do you wish you understood Canadian culture better? Do you wish you had some support in finding a job? Then this is the site for you. You will find information on every aspect of life in Canada as well as guides to help you do everything from finding a job to negotiating a mortgage. www.canadianimmigrant.ca/guides
Listen and Speak This website has a free, award-winning new system for learning to speak English. The program contains lessons that give special attention to English pronunciation of everyday language. With over 100 lessons, organized by level, Englishspeak.com provides a large amount of audio content. Users have access to two different speeds of playback for each item. There are over 2500 common vocabulary and phrase items. http://englishspeak.com/
Many Ways to Practise English This site offers lessons, practice and activities in every aspect and level of English, from Beginners to Advanced: speaking, listening, reading, writing, spelling, grammar, vocabulary, slang, idioms -- it has it all! It's very well organized, so it's easy for students or instructors to find what you want. www.manythings.org
How to Set up a Classroom Blog Stop! Before you decide this one is beyond you--think again! This site will take you step by step through the process--and although you may have thought you could never do this--you can! And it can be enormously satisfying for both you and your students. It will not cost you a thing, either. ikifriendswordpress.com
CLEO Has Excellent New Citizenship Resource Available-FREE! CLEO's latest publication, "Barriers to Citizenship: How ESL teachers can help" is now available. This publication has been developed to make ESL professionals aware of what they can do to help learners who may have difficulty with the citizenship test. You may download the PDF version free of charge, at CLEO's website and post or circulate it at your centre. www.cleo.on.ca/english/projects/eslindex.htm
CLEO is a community legal clinic that specializes in providing clear language legal information to low-income and disadvantaged communities, including people with literacy barriers. Our ESL Resources have been developed to help newcomers learn more about their legal rights and responsibilities in Canada, as well as to provide information about where and how to access legal help in their community, as they develop their language skills.
The ESL Resources were developed using Canadian Language Benchmarks and are intended for learners at levels ranging from CLB 1 to 6+. The activities cover topics based on CLEO publications in the tenant and workers’ rights series. These correspond to themes and topics in the Adult ESL and LINC curriculum guidelines. Each English as a Second Language activity kit contains a full set of teaching materials.
You’ll find everything you need at www.cleo.on.ca/english/projects/eslindex.htm All the ESL Resources are available, free of charge, to be downloaded, printed and used in Adult ESL and LINC classes.
CBC's Cultural Learning Tool: "News in Review" News in Review has been designed by teachers for an integrated curriculum and is an effective learning tool for topics including Canadian studies, world studies, history, social science and media literacy. You will find articles about Toronto's Mayor Rob Ford, Superstorm Sandy and more, along with downloadable lesson plans for each topic. There are many layers in this site, but the best place to start is here: http://newsinreview.cbclearning.ca/bestof/
Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, (OCASI)-Resources In case you haven't explored it yet, the settlement.org website, run by the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, (OCASI), has a wealth of resources for ESL teachers and students alike. There are two sections: one for immigrants, full of articles you can use in the classroom on such topics as education, health, money management, and much more, and one for those of us who serve immigrants, with many resources and articles that can contribute to our effectiveness, and also to our well-being. It's well worth taking a little time to explore both sites, which you can enter here: http://settlement.org/path.html
The Canadian Immigrant The Canadian Immigrant is an online magazine full of information, resources, success stories, thought-provoking articles and pictures. It can be an invaluable classroom resource, as well as providing pertinent and enjoyable reading for students at home. To view The Canadian Immigrant magazine, click on this link: www.canadianimmigrant.ca/
English with Jennifer This blog for teachers is sponsored by Pearson Longman and is a veritable font of great tips. This particular post is on practising phonemes, but you can explore other topics as well, and can sign up to be notified of new posts if you wish. Definitely worth a look. http://englishwithjennifer.wordpress.com/2011/07/29/3-practices-for-perfecting-phonemes/
Using Creative Thinking to Find New Uses for Realia Here's the author's introduction: "The use of realia is well known to teachers. However, this article suggests different ways of using realia. By thinking creatively we can find new teaching uses for the everyday objects that surround us, by relating them to language and looking at them in new ways." Take a look--I think you'll find it as fascinating as I did. iteslj.org/Techniques/Mumford-Relia.html
The Historica-Dominion Institute This is the largest, independent organization dedicated to Canadian history, identity and citizenship. It's a rich resource, with more than 40 000 fascinating articles, 6,000 interactive maps, graphs, oral interviews, photographs, animations and all sorts of projects involving Canada's parks, veterans, aboriginal peoples, black history in Canada and more. A terrific resource for information on Canadian history. www.historica-dominion.ca/en/
Virtual Museum of Canada (VMC) As an endless source of discoveries, this is a unique interactive space that brings together Canadian museum collections and riches in a variety of thought-provoking and instructive contents. It's your window on current museum news and your reference guide to plan your next outing. It also has a Teachers' Centre, as well as all sorts of special in-depth sections.This is a wonderful resource for teaching about Canadian culture and history. www.museevirtuel-virtualmuseum.ca/index-eng.jsp
Tutela When you join Tutela you get FREE access to Canada's largest collection of ESL/FSL resources and peer community. Tutela.ca is a national online repository and community for Canadian English as a Second Language (ESL) and French as a Second Language (FSL) professionals. This Federal-Provincial joint initiative is funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. It's a great platform for sharing resources, discussing issues, networking and accessing webinars.
As a repository, Tutela contains learning activities, worksheets, templates, teacher training resources, curriculum guidelines, policy and management documents, research papers and more.
As a community, it offers interactive technologies to support ongoing collaboration and sharing among ESL/FSL professionals and builds community through special interest groups, a calendar of events, survey tools, postings of training/job opportunities, wikis and news feeds.
And if you have trouble meeting the Professional Development requirements for your TESL certification, be aware that TESL Ontario now accepts participating in LIVE Tutela Webinars through http://tutela.ca/Tutela. You'll need to submit a certificate of participation, available through the site.
More Activities for ESL Students
Thousands of quizzes, exercises, tests and puzzles to help you learn English. a4esl.org
Dave's ESL Cafe is a great resource for students learning English as well as for teachers looking for resources or jobs. He also has an online forum for students to exchange ideas. www.eslcafe.com