TEACHING WEBSITES

I use the internet primarily for work, so all the websites that I look at are mostly for getting ideas and information about teaching, which of course is one of my main interests.  I have been very interested in expanding my resources and abilities around what is called TPRS language teaching.  Basically that means teaching around storytelling or teaching around what is happening right now

One of my very favorite websites is http://zachary-jones.com/

This website clearly is professionally designed.  It has 3 distinct sections - Music, Photos & Culture.  Some sections are posted to daily, all offer current issues on these subjects.  The choices are contemporary, eclectic,  sometimes politically and socially relevant and within at least partial grasp of beginning learners. There are also often links to worksheets.  They have a clear understanding of the vocabulary groupings in teaching language so you can look up songs, and other items from the past by vocab folds. Instead of lesson planning, they serve as an entertaining supplement to what you are teaching.  They have a store for purchasing their materials.  I have used selections from them multiple times,

My other favorite website is Señor Wooly's, in fact I like and use him so much that I am a subscriber http://www.senorwooly.com/video (the student code) is in the sidebar.  This is once again a professional website.  The design is  easy to navigate, though I don't find it aesthetically that pleasing.  Perhaps it doesn't have to be.  It's really a delivery system for well written and extremely well produced videos that appeal to kids and hit target vocabulary. The videos can be watched along, with either English or Spanish Subtitles or with both.   The most critical videos are  accompanied by multiple useful grammar and vocab handouts as well as games that kids can play with the songs.

I also like the web magazine Veinte Mundos http://www.veintemundos.com/magazines.  They do more in-depth and focused cultural reporting tailored to teens.  They have a native speaker reader with highlighted (translated vocabulary w/ mouse).  They have good questions on the reading and they follow-up with fun "authentic" videos on the subject.  They also have a fabulous backlog of materials.

I have a number of teacher websites bookmarked, but I confess that I mostly visit them once and glean what I can and move on.  This class has forced me to revisit them.  Kristy Placido  http://kplacido.com/ is an innovator in teaching foreign language and very generous with her resources.  Her website is colorful and assertive. She has made useful categories for teachers to peruse, and he blog hits the hot topics.  I personally prefer simpler layouts.  But I'm an older teacher and she's a younger one.  I like her bold headings for her blog entries.  It makes it easy to peruse.

Senorita Barrigan does a nice job designing for multiple users, parents, students and fellow teachers http://senoritabarragan.com/.  She's made her opening page a visual welcome sheet and put all the practic links in sidebars.  She's achieved a hip look while keeping the site relatively clean look.  The mostly black and white format let's the color stand out, and she uses a limited but vibrant palette of color.

Finally I give you what I think is a poorly designed website, though it may contain interesting information http://mjtprs.wordpress.com/ .  She fails to create an identity for the website.  While she offers an enormous number for resources, they are not organized for easy access and neither the layout, the topography nor the color choices are appealing.