GOOD WEBSITES FOR WRITING

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Boy hand with pen writing on notebook Max Garçia via Compfight

A collection of short, but very helpful, tips on writing covering Sentences, Paragraphs and essay writing.

Excellent site with interactive information on writing a research. Suitable for more advanced levels and Academic English.

A collection of interactive activities for organising, planning and editing writing (letters, paragraphs, essays).

A collection of short but very useful tips on writing.

 

HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR ACADEMIC WRITING

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writers web

Writer’s Web is a free, public-access handbook designed & maintained by University of Richmond students & faculty.

You will find a wide range of topic starting with ABBREVIATIONS, withCRITICAL WRITING TIPS as last but not least.

A comprehensive list of TRANSITION PHRASES 

No more problems with PUNCTUATION

CREDITING SOURCES and many more …….

EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY

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What frightened Beata? who is the man hidden behind the paper? What will happen now?

PhotoFunia is the best way to add a spark to your photos, make them special and more original. In only a few seconds an amazing photo collage is ready, absolutely free. PhotoFunia is so straight forward to use, that anyone, at any age, can use it with ease. You can ask your students to prepare a funny picture as a prompt for speaking or writing. Go to PHOTOFUNIA and have fun!!!!

PhotoFunia is the best way to add a spark to your photos, make them special and more original. In only a few seconds an amazing photo collage is ready, absolutely free. PhotoFunia is so straight forward to use, that anyone, at any age, can use it with ease.

What frightened Beata? Who is the man hidden behind the paper? What will happen now?

GLOBAL WARMING and GREENHOUSE EFFECT

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[mediacore height=”315px” public_url=”http://edinburghcollege.mediacore.tv/media/global-warming-a-video-by-nasa” thumb_url=”http://cdnassets.mediacore.tv/sites/8595/images/media/524368m-8DLL1yjl.jpg” title=”Global Warming A video by NASA” width=”560px”]

RESEARCH: GLOBAL WARMING and GREENHOUSE EFFECT

DESCRIBING A PROCESS – HOW TO MAKE A MUMMY

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Describing a process – why don’t you try the video clip HOW TO MAKE A MUMMY ?l (75)

Use the attached worksheet if you wish HOW TO MAKE A MUMMY describing a process Int2 plus

OTHER IDEAS:

LISTENING and WATCHING : GLOBAL WARMING CHEESE MAKING  HOW TO MAKE POTATO CHIPS (no words, more difficult)

VOLCANO ERUPTION (and other natural disasters on the menu on the left-hand side)

READING: POTATO CHIPS  ESL Worksheet Describing a Process How to Decorate an X-mas Tree

 

 

 

 

VISUAL AIDS FOR WRITING

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According to Visual Teaching Alliance

  • Approximately 65 percent of the population are visual learners.
  • The brain processes visual information 60,000 faster than text.
  • Visual aids in the classroom improve learning by up to 400 percent.
  • Students who are twice exceptional (2e) are often visual learners.

More facts on http://www.visualteachingalliance.com/

Why don’t you try three beautiful posters prepared by Enokso  – http://www.flickr.com/people/vblibrary/

EXCELLENT WRITING TOOL

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Are you students still struggling with the composition of an essay? Is it still one chunk of writing with no layout whatsoever? Do they keep forgetting about an introduction, topic sentences, supporting evidence etc.? Well, this tool will definitely help. ESSAY MAP works “as an interactive graphic organiser that walks you through the process of writing an essay”. Great for less advanced levels but equally useful for more advanced students for structuring ideas (http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/essaymap/).

At the bottom of this blog entry you will find an example of pdf file with “My Favourite Town”

Go to http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/essaymap/ and put the essay title and your name.

 

STEP-BY-STEP essay process

EXAMPLE – MyFavouriteTown

PENZU – a journal in the clouds

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PENZU is one of my favourite tools for writing. It is an online diary that encourages everyday writing. This diary might be used for taking notes, writing private thoughts, or daily diary entries. An entry can be emailed or kept private. It is possible to attach photos to every entry. There are several options for teachers for example – making comment which will be sent to the author’s mail box instantly, printing an entry or exporting in pdf or another text file. several screenshots from my penzu.

 

Entries submitted by my students

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FOR BUSY TEACHERS – YOU CAN’T MISS IT!!!!

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Do you want to start your lesson with something different? Something that everybody is talking about? Something that everybody should know? Do you need to find information quickly?

REFDESK.COM REFDESK.COM might be very useful . It can be accessed via computer or smartphone. It gives you:

Site of the day – for example Earth Cam. I’ve just seen what’s going on in Bangkok. Live! Good for DESCRIBING PICTURES.

Fact of the day – I’ve just learnt that many historians believe football (European version) originated in China around 1000 B.C. Good for DISCUSSION about – football, China, other inventions, you name it.

Thought of the day – “Better to be occasionally cheated than perpetually suspicious.” – B.C. Forbes, hmmm, I don’t know, I guess so. But I’m not going to tell my students!

This day in history – “The first American attack on Japanese soil during WWII, the Battle of Iwo Jima(…)”. No, I’m not choosing that. The page gives me other option for example BBC. So, I’m choosing 25.02 – well, well – 1982: Parents can stop school beatings: The European Court of Human Rights rules corporal punishment in Britain’s schools is a violation of the Human Rights Convention. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/25/default.stm) Good for COMPARING and CONTRASTING different school systems, CHATTING about school days; USED TO  etc.

In the newsDISCUSSING CURRENT EVENTS

Article of the day – homework: READING COMPREHENSION; WRITING A SUMMARY

Today’s birthday – good for WRITING A BIOGRAPHY; PRESENTATIONS

Today’s pictures – One of my favourite –  stunning images, shocking images, informative images, street photography, political images, etc. Good for SHORT TALKS or DESCRIBE THE PICTURE activities.

Word of the day – Love it! Every day – a new word. Today – a stalking-horse.

Dictionaries of different sorts (visual, talking, technical), translators and many, many other things which can be used easily and fast.

This website is a real gem for busy teachers. A real time saver!!!! And excellent for LEARNING ON THE GO!!!!  

VOICETHREAD

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VOICETHREAD is a web-based application that allows you to place different media such as images, videos, documents, and link them to the audio file presentation. An excellent way of making your students talk or write about the picture, document, ppt etc.

Describe the picture

Click the link if you want to hear what the students were saying. VOICETHREAD – describe the picture

Writing a film review using authentic materials

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Why don’t you use some authentic material to teach your students how to write short film reviews –  http://www.rottentomatoes.com/. Two worksheets attached. Plus Elsflow has shared a nice lesson on how to write film reviews http://www.eslflow.com/Vocabulary_for_reviewing_films_and_movies.pdf

Worksheet 1 film reviews

Worksheet 2 film reviews