Academic Word list definitions with exercises

Academic Word list definitions with exercises

English vocabulary exercises

English vocabulary exercises is another site that deals with the Academic Word List (AWL).

All the head words in each of the ten sub-list are displayed and there is a link from each word to a definition provided by the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Dictionary.

After each sub-list there are a set of exercises, 30 for each of the sub-lists. The exercises all follow the same format. There is a sentence with an 'academic' word missing. Users must choose the right word from a drop down list. Once all the answers have been chosen press the check box to see how well you have done.

http://www.englishvocabularyexercises.com/academic-word-list/index.html#exercises

Lessons using the news

Sites for news lessons

Seven news sites for teachers to use in class

1. Breaking news English

http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/

Probably the best known of all the news web sites for English language learners. This site is very popular with many teaches as it has a vast collection of ready to use lesson materials designed around current news stories. These stories can be used as reading or listening activities. Some stories have been simplified to make them more accessible for lower level English language learners. As well as the stories and multiple activities that accompany each news lesson, there are audio recordings of the stories that students can listen to. Multiple audio files are provided for each story so that students can listen to the story at different speeds. This is a great source of classroom materials for teachers.

For a taste of the way the site works (all the activities are the same) try this story from Germany;

http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1708/170814-swimming-to-work.html

The home page can be found at;

http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/

2. News in levels

http://www.newsinlevels.com/#

This site has news stories that students can read according to their level. Each news story is offered at three different levels. The accompanying activity consists of the text with difficult words in bold and definitions below the text. Below the text is a YouTube style video player from where the audio file can be played. There are no ready-made quizzes or activities that accompany the news stories.

The home page can be found at;

http://www.newsinlevels.com/#

3. Listenwise

This is a USA based news site for learners of English that has audio listening activities covering a range of news stories. Users have to register to get access to the teaching and learning resources which are limited to the audio file and some on-screen comprehension questions along with some tags / key words that link to similar topics. After registration a confirmation email with a link will be sent to the email account you provided when registering. To activate your account follow the link in the email. This must be done within 7 days of registering.

Users can also pay for a premium membership service which provides some LMS learner tracking and class creation tools and allows users to customise, adapt and assign the content to specific students or classes. Audio scripts are also provided. I haven’t paid so I can’t tell you a great deal about what happens beyond the pay wall. There are some examples of the type of activity offered to paying customers here: https://listenwise.com/current_events

Listenwise receives its news stories from National Public Radio (NPR). NPR is an American privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization. They have a 24 hour radio station which is also available online. They also provide news to non-commercial member and educational radio stations across the USA.

The NRP home page can be found at;

http://www.npr.org/

The home page for Listenwise can be found by following the link below;

https://listenwise.com/

4. Newsela

https://newsela.com/

Another useful resource for teachers interested in using news stories with their students. The site has a comprehensive library of news stories from the USA. Students can read the news stories but there no audio files to listen to which limits the site to a reading resource. There are accompanying quizzes and space for learners to write about the article. However, this site may actually best used as a place for teachers to create their own library of texts (it is easy to save texts to your own library) and then print or copy and paste the texts for use in class with activities added by the teacher. All users have to register to gain access to the materials which is another reason for thinking of the site as a place for teachers to source lesson ideas.

The home page can be found at;

https://newsela.com/

5. News Literacy Project

http://www.thenewsliteracyproject.org/

In the era of fake news this is a very interesting site indeed. The News Literacy Project is an innovative national (USA) educational programme that gets experienced journalists to work with educators to teach students how to sort fact from fiction. The site aims to promote literacy and understanding of the importance of the First Amendment and democracy and to help learners deal with real world issues.  This site is text based and is best used for developing reading skills. The Learn section has some videos

The home page can be found at;

http://www.thenewsliteracyproject.org/

6. Factitious

http://factitious.augamestudio.com/#/

A very topical take on the news. This is an interactive reading quiz site that has a collection of short news stories chosen to help students identify 'fake news'. Students have to read news stories and decide which stories are genuine and which are fake. This is done by simply clicking a green tick if they think the news report is true or a red cross if they think it is fake. After they have answered the next screen automatically reveals the answer and information about the source with an explanation as to why it is fake or true. The information provided about fake news is useful as it helps students to develop a number of techniques for identifying fake news. Learners can play through three levels of the quiz. The idea is to get students reading and to make them question the authenticity of what they read. It could be a useful to lead into any work about fake news and how to check the authenticity of news stories. It could also be used to look at features of academic vs non-academic texts.

Factitious can be found at;

http://factitious.augamestudio.com/

Fractious links to another web site concerned with journalism and gaming called JoLT. JoLT is a collaboration between the American University of Washington GameLab group and the university's School of Communication. The site aims to explore the intersection of journalism and game design.

JoLT

https://edspace.american.edu/jolt/newsgames/

There are three main area to look at;

        I.            Search for stories by theme using the Resources link

      II.            Resources  - It is possible to use a number of news based games from a library of activities called Newsgames. These games are more like group work or project work and often contain resources that can be downloaded. This means that the resources can be used in class without the need for computers although there are also some are interactive on-screen games.

    III.            Projects  - There are also a number of other activities that can be accessed via the Projects link on the home page. Some of the links are to external sites.

You might like to try the following game which is linked to by Factitious.

Cutthroat Capitalism: The Game

You are a pirate commander staked with $50,000 from local tribal leaders and other investors. Your job is to guide your pirate crew through raids in and around the Gulf of Aden, attack and capture a ship, and successfully negotiate a ransom.

The game can be found at;

https://www.wired.com/2009/07/cutthroat-capitalism-the-game/

7. Facing History

https://www.facinghistory.org/educator-resources

Facing history’s mission is to engage students of diverse backgrounds in an examination of racism, prejudice, and anti-Semitism in order to promote the development of a more humane and informed citizenry. There are a lot of resources available with accompanying suggestions as to how to use them. The materials can be accessed from a searchable collection of reading and audio resources. Teachers can also look for lesson ideas by topic or try searching the database. Whilst there are resources that support the texts there are no ready-made activities and plans as such but suggestions as to how to use the materials are offered and additional resources are also available.

 The home page can be found at:

https://www.facinghistory.org/educator-resources

Create online activities for your students

Authorable activities that can be saved online

Learning Apps

https://learningapps.org/

Learning Apps is an online tool that allows teachers to create a range interactive on-screen activities that can be saved online, put into a dedicated classroom and accessed by students. Learning Apps has a number of functions such as automatic scoring of student work and the recording of these scores, the ability to email  students and so on. It functions as a virtual learning platform.

Users must create an account and then log in to be able to use Learning Apps. There are four easy steps to follow at Learning apps:

1. Think of something you would like your students to learn about
2. Select a template
3. Make the activity
4. Save the activity in one of the categories provided (English as a Foreign language or English would seem an obvious choice but there are others covering a wide range of subjects)

There are 14 activity templates to choose from as well as what are referred to as tools for voting, chatting, a calendar, a notebook and a pin board. It's easy to create activities. When users select an app examples of previously created activities made from the app will appear. There is an option to create a new activity using the same app available in the right-hand corner of the window. This can be done using the Create new app button. Once a new app has been created a web link, full-screen link, embed code and a QR code are created for ease of use. All the activities can be saved and bookmarked with the My apps tool.

It is also possible to make activities by choosing the Browse apps function. This function is useful as users can have a go at an activity before they decide if they want to create a similar activity.

To get a taste of what is possible start with Browse Apps then choose a category then choose an activity. Once you are feeling more confident choose re-create it by choosing the Create Similar App drop down menu which is located at the bottom-left of the activity screen.

Below are the templates that users can choose from.

Learning Apps also has instructions which are in German but not in any other language.

Learning Apps can be found at:

https://learningapps.org/

Slang, swearing and general rudeness

Vocabulary that may not be in your dictionary

Often slang words or words considered to be offensive or vulgar may not be in standard student dictionaries. However, this does not stop the words being used in films, books and songs and it doesn't stop students wanting to know what these words or phrases mean. These words can also change over time and can be different in different English speaking countries so it can be quite difficult keeping up. This is where online slang dictionaries can be helpful.

Below are a few of the better known dictionaries to keep you busy. However, be warned. Many of the entries in these online dictionaries of slang and vulgarity are likely to offend and they are not necessarily for the faint-hearted! 

Green's dictionary of slang

500 years of the vulgar tongue

Green's dictionary of slang

https://greensdictofslang.com/

This is a serious, prize winning piece of scholarly work and is a truly excellent resource. The text below is from the About section of the web site and tells you much about the dictionary.

Green’s Dictionary of Slang is the largest historical dictionary of English slang. Written by Jonathon Green over 17 years from 1993, it reached the printed page in 2010 in a three-volume set containing nearly 100,000 entries supported by over 400,000 citations from c. AD 1000 to the present day. The main focus of the dictionary is the coverage of over 500 years of slang from c. 1500 onwards.

The printed version of the dictionary received the Dartmouth Medal for outstanding works of reference from the American Library Association in 2012; fellow recipients include the Dictionary of American Regional English, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. It has been hailed by the American New York Times as ‘the pièce de résistance of English slang studies’ and by the British Sunday Times as ‘a stupendous achievement, in range, meticulous scholarship, and not least entertainment value’.

On this website the dictionary is now available in updated online form for the first time, complete with advanced search tools enabling search by definition and history, and an expanded bibliography of slang sources from the early modern period to the present day. Since the print edition, nearly 60,000 quotations have been added, supporting 5,000 new senses in 2,500 new entries and sub-entries, of which around half are new slang terms from the last five years.

Green's dictionary of slang can be found at'

https://greensdictofslang.com/

Urban

A US based dictionary where users can look up and add new entries with definitions. A reminder, not for the squeamish and not especially scholarly in the way that Green's dictionary is.

The Urban Dictionary can be found at:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/

Online Slang Dictionary

The Online Slang Dictionary can be found at:

http://onlineslangdictionary.com/

Peevish - the dictionary of UK slang and colloquialisms is also worth looking at. However, the search facility is offline at the moment.

http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/index.htm

Authoring tools for teachers

Kubbu

http://www.kubbu.com/

Although web based at the creation stage the output of Kubbu can be web based or paper based.  It is especially useful for but not limited to producing paper based activities to use in class, away from computer screens. Used online teachers can create classrooms just for their students where they can save activities. Teachers can email students to let them know when a new activity is ready for them to complete. It is also possible for teachers to record and analyse student performance.

Users need to register with Kubbu before they can use the online tools and much of what can be done is free. 

The features of Kubbu are detailed below. When online placing the mouse over one of the seven features will reveal additional information.

In short there are 5 activity  types as shown below:

1. Match - classic matching exercise but presented in a different way - dominoes or find pairs and link up. For a feel for how the online activity works go to the Samples button and try some of the pre-made activities.
2. Divide - good when things need to be put into groups or categories. For example, students could do an activity that requires them to decide if a noun is something found in the kitchen, bedroom, bathroom or living room. This is done by dragging the word to the right category. TV to living room, for example
3. Slider - gap fill where students choose from a range of possibilities such as the correct preposition
4. Composer - students must write answers in a box. For example, they are given the infinitive but must type in the past simple
5. Crossword - as you would expect. Online click the clue, the corresponding part of the grid becomes active (orange colour) and students type in their answer

Printed version of the activities work very well but of course need paper and pen.

There are limitations to the free Kubbu account as shown below;

There is always a pay option but I think for most people the free version should suffice. Creating student accounts so that your learners can use the materials you have created online is quite time consuming so you may wish to view Kubbu as a way of making paper based activities. Both options are of course available.

Kubbu can be accessed from:

http://www.kubbu.com/

Grammar for academic English

The Internet Grammar of English

 
This is an online course in English grammar written primarily for university undergraduates whose first language is not English.
  
The Internet Grammar of English is also available an app.

• The app has an extensive glossary to help learners understand grammatical terms
• There is a guided course that helps learners through each of the areas of grammar presented
• There are some interactive exercises and puzzles that try to reinforce learning and make learning grammar a bit more fun

There are two versions of the app:

1. A Lite version which is free. It has a complete glossary, and a sample three units of course material covering word classes, nouns and determiners.
2. The complete version is on sale for £2.99 from the usual online stores in Apple and Android formats.

Use the link below to access The Internet Grammar of English.
 
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/intro/intro.htm

A learner's dictionary

Simple English version of the Merriam Webster dictionary

This version of the Merriam Webster dictionary is intended for learner's of English.

In addition to being able to search for simple definitions of words this online dictionary also has a number of other features which are presented with non-native speakers in mind. These include:

• ask the editor - learners can ask the dictionary editor questions about words
• word of the day - a look at words of interest
• quizzes - two types of quiz  - vocabulary quiz  attest of knowledge of words and name that thing which is a quiz based on pictures. The quizzes always have 10 questions but these are constantly changing
• core vocabulary - this is a list of 3,000 commonly used words sorted thematically
• most popular - 3 lists of the most popular words searched by day, week and all time
• my saved words - a place to save words that users have searched for. This is only available if the user creates an account

There are numerous adverts but the feel of the site is not too cluttered so it is possible to use the dictionary without being too distracted by the ads.

The dictionary can be found at the following address

http://learnersdictionary.com/