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http://www.ccdmd.qc.ca/en

The Internet Directoryfor English LanguageImprovement2007–2008

119of the best sites on the Webfor English learners

· Alphabetical· Analytical· Categorical· Lexical· Grammatical· Pedagogical· Practical· Technological· Topical

First Edition: May 2007

© Centre collégial de développement de matériel didactique

6220 Sherbrooke Street East, Suite 416Montréal, Québec H1N 1C1

For information or to comment:

Véronica GillTel.: (514) 873-3781Fax: (514) 864-4908Email: [email protected]: www.ccdmd.qc.ca/en

ISBN 978-2-89470-214-7

Produced by the English Language Division of the CCDMD through contributions from the Canada-Québec Agreement on Minority-Language Education and Second-Language Instruction

Copy Editing: Veronica Schami Editorial Services

Graphic Designer: Projet Bleu

www.ccdmd.qc.ca/enInternet Directory 3

Introduction

For more than 10 years, the Collegial Centre for Educational Materials Development (CCDMD) has published Le Répertoire des meilleurs sites Internet pour l’amélioration de la langue for the francophone college com-munity. The directory features a collection of the best sites for improving French-language skills. The sites have been reviewed and are presented in the form of an alphabetical guide with keyword categories to help users save time as they search for specifi c topics.

This year, the English Language division of the CCDMD proudly presents the fi rst edition of The Internet Directory for English Language Improvement. Based on the model of its highly popular French Language companion, the paperback guide is also available in printable PDF on the CCDMD website at:


This new collection of basic through advanced resources is aimed at stu-dents learning English or using the language for academic purposes. The Directory includes information for English as a Second Language (ESL) students and students writing term papers, among others.

Most of the sites are Canadian or Québécois in origin. Some very good American, British, and international sites have been included, but only if their content is appropriate for the Canadian milieu.

Preference has been given to sites with multimedia tools that are free and easy to use, and that possess demonstrable educational value. Sites with a number of grammar and spelling errors or broken links have been excluded. It can be expected, however, that you may still discover a few problems here and there as you explore, given the changeable nature of the Internet.


Using the Directory

1. TITLE

The Directory is organized alphabetically according to the title of each website.

2. ADDRESS

The short version of the site address follows the title.

3. ICONS

Image icons describe the format of the materials you will find in each site.

Reference

• Dictionaries

• Research

• Indexes

• Translation

• Citations

Discussion

• Chat

• Exchange

• Pen Pals

• Blogs

Search Engine

29 Collegial Centre for Educational Materials Development (CCDMD)

http://www.ccdmd.qc.ca

ESL | GRAMMAR | LISTENING | READING | SPEAKING | VOCABULARY | WRITINGLITERATURE

The CCDMD designs and develops educational materials for teachers and students throughout the Québec Cégep system. To accomplish this, the Centre offers administrative, technical, fi nancial, and instructional support to college professors so that they may produce their own educational materials.

b. Themesa. Objectives

6. Annotation

1. Title

2. Site Address

5. Keywords

3. Icons 4. Stamps


Tests

• Quizzes

• Preparing for Exams

– English Exit Exam

– English Profi ciency Exams

Activities

• Exercises

• Games

Multimedia

• Podcasts

• Technology

• Audio

• Video

4. STAMPS

Stamps identify websites that include specifi c resources for teachers or information on government resources, associations, training programs, and free language courses.

For Teachers

Government Resources, Associations, Training Programs, and Language Courses, including:

• Benchmarks

5. KEYWORDS

Keywords help students quickly fi nd websites with specifi c information. Keywords are grouped into two categories: objectives and themes.

a. Objectives

Objectives are English-language skills that improve your learning, comprehension, and ability in core competencies.

ESL, including:

• Offi cial Languages


Grammar, including:

• Punctuation

• Parts of Speech

• Sentence Structure

Listening, including:

• Practice and Comprehension

Reading

Speaking, including:

• Pronunciation

Vocabulary, including:

• Spelling

Writing

b. Themes

Themes are topic areas for students with diverse interests and enrolled in different disciplines.

Art and Images

History and Culture

Literature, including:

• Poetry

• Quotations

• Song Lyrics

• Jokes

• Newsletters

News

Science

Social Science

Sports

Technical Language, including:

• Business English


6. ANNOTATIONS

The annotations are brief notes that describe what you will fi nd when you visit a site. These notes refer to elements of each site that are most relevant for college students and English learners in general. We hope you will fi nd much more as you explore your own interests.

The annotations also include references to browsers and players you will need to use the site’s multimedia. Sites that require a software pur-chase are generally not included in the Directory. We have tried to present a balance of high-tech and low-tech sites so that, no matter what platform you use, you will be able to fi nd tools and activities to fi t your needs.

Here is a list of some of the technology encountered:

Players

• Flash Version 7 and Up

• Windows Media Player

• RealMedia

• RealAudio

• RealPlayer

• iTunes

• MP3

Browsers

• Internet Explorer

• Firefox

• Safari

Documents

• HTML

• Rich Text

• PDF

• Zip

Other

• RSS Feeds

• Podcasts


1 24 Hour News: Today

http://www.24hrnews.ca/today.htm

READING | VOCABULARY HISTORY AND CULTURE | LITERATURE | NEWS

Practise your reading and improve your vocabulary while learning about this day in history, having fun with the day’s word match, or searching for reference resources.

Word of the Day, Article of the Day, This Day in History, Today’s Birthday, Quotation of the Day, Word Match, and Online Reference are all available here. Feeling adventurous? Follow the link to the home page, where you will fi nd current news stories listed by topic.

2 A+ Research and Writing for High School and College Students

http://www.ipl.org/div/teen/aplus/

ESL | WRITING

If you are new to essay writing, this site will help you get organized. The graphics are not great, but the content is a good introduction to basic academic writing and the external links are well chosen. The site covers choosing and developing your topic, gathering information, forming a thesis statement, writing the paper, and revising your writing.

3 Adbusters

http://adbusters.org/the_magazine/

READINGHISTORY AND CULTURE | NEWS | SOCIAL SCIENCE

Use this site to work on reading comprehension or to research writing topics related to the corporate media. Adbusters is a not-for-profi t organization that publishes a magazine about the impact of advertising on our culture and environment. The articles take a clear stand on controversial issues and, whether you agree with them or not, they make for an interesting read.


4 Airborn

http://www.airborn.ca/

READINGLITERATURE

Kenneth Oppel provides interesting content for reading practice. Set in the near past, his recent award-winning book Airborn follows the adven-tures of the crew and passengers aboard the luxury airship Aurora. Have fun reading as you follow the links to newspaper articles describing the adventures of the crew and passengers of the Aurora.

5 AlphaDictionary

http://www.alphadictionary.com

GRAMMAR | READING | SPEAKING | VOCABULARY | WRITINGTECHNICAL LANGUAGE

The site provides links to almost 300 language dictionary sites and more than 120 subject-specifi c dictionary sites under Specialty Dictionaries. Of particular interest is the link to Alpha Agora, where you can register for an active online discussion group to discuss topics found on the site. You can also make suggestions or ask questions, talk to other learners, and read what they have to say.

6 Anglik

http://www.anglik.net

LISTENING | READING | SPEAKING | VOCABULARY | WRITINGART AND IMAGES | ESL | HISTORY AND CULTURE | LITERATURE | NEWS

This site lists more than 30 links to innovative and unusual language im-provement tools, such as learning from song lyrics, newspapers, British art and the monarchy, word games, slang, jokes, quotations, and fi lms, to name a few. The site’s British origins limit its use for Canadian students, but it’s fun and out of the ordinary. There is also an easy and free opportunity to make pen pals worldwide.


7 Antimoon.com: How to Learn English

http://www.antimoon.com/

ESL | READING | SPEAKING

Under Motivation, Antimoon features a good discussion about how to be an effective English-language learner, including how to become and stay motivated. This is a commercial site, but there is enough free content here to make the site useful. Notably, the review of dictionaries is helpful. For a fee, you may download an application to practise and improve your pronunciation.

8 Babel Fish Translation

http://babelfi sh.altavista.com

GRAMMAR | READING | VOCABULARY | WRITING

This translation tool is one of the better free services available online. You can translate a block of text or an entire website, depending on your needs. Babel Fish translates English into nine other languages, as well as 12 languages into English. A word of caution: Any automatic translation tool will make er-rors, particularly in sentence structure and grammar, and will entirely miss certain subtleties of the language. Use Babel Fish as a starting point when you are having diffi culty, and then cross-reference the results with another tool, a good, old-fashioned dictionary, or a native English speaker.

9 Best Source for Canadian Science

http://www.science.ca

READING | VOCABULARYART AND IMAGES | NEWS | SCIENCE

It claims to be the best, and we wouldn’t be surprised: This site defi nitely contains a vast amount of information, activities, and references to everything related to science in Canada. There are profi les of scientists, and many links to other science sites, publications, and institutes. You can even ask a scientist a question when you can’t fi nd the answer elsewhere (make sure you look around fi rst!). The numerous activities and quizzes tackle fairly advanced technical vocabulary and topics. Beam me up, Scotty!


10 BBC World Service: Learning English

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/

ESL | GRAMMAR | LISTENING | READING | VOCABULARYLITERATURE | NEWS | SOCIAL SCIENCE | TECHNICAL LANGUAGE

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) offers ESL students a web-site based on the news of the day. Each page provides imaginative and interesting content with opportunities to write, read, and listen to English. This is a British site, so the accents are usually (although not always) Brit-ish. The content and presentation are excellent, and there is a good link for teachers. The Radio Player requires RealPlayer.

Check out the following sections:

• Business English covers topics such as writing a resumé, interview techniques, phoning the boss, and renting a car.

• Communicate allows you to chat, participate in projects, and learn about others studying English around the world.

• Learning English Webcast is a link to a weekly live podcast that supports English-language learners. You can listen live or listen to last week’s broadcast in three segments. Topics are varied, and there are games and quizzes to participate in by email or by telephone.

• News English is a section where you can learn new vocabulary and read current news. There are news stories with explanations and defi nitions of the important words used in them. The vocabulary is British English.

• Quizzes are changed weekly and archived.

11 Breaking News English: Ready-to-use ESL Lessons

http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0602/060213-cartoons-e.html

ESL | LISTENING | READING | VOCABULARYNEWS

Breaking News English offers the opportunity to improve listening com-prehension and reading with news stories of the day. There is a variety of related exercises under Warm-ups, Before Reading/Listening, While Reading/Listening, and After Reading/Listening. Lessons are available in easier or harder versions, and are available to print in Microsoft Word or PDF format. Follow the Podcast link at the top of the page to fi nd an archive of other news stories. Keep in mind that this is a European site; most of the speakers have a clearly British accent.


12 British Council: Learn English Central

http://www.britishcouncil.org/central.htm

ESL | GRAMMAR | READING | VOCABULARY

Improve your English with exercises and games, or by reading current and archived articles in the online magazine. Visitors are encouraged to respond in writing to theme-based articles, and the responses are posted. There are useful links to sites related to the current weekly theme, and links are up-dated as the themes change. You can test your English-language level with Cambridge ESOL Exams and fi nd links to other online grammar exercises.

13 Campus Access

http://www.campusaccess.com

ESL | READING | VOCABULARYART AND IMAGES | CULTURE | SPORTS | TECHNICAL LANGUAGE

International and ESL students can practise their English skills on this site while researching a college career in Canada. One of the main por-tals for Canadian students, you will fi nd all kinds of information here on schools, fi nancial aid, academic life, internships, and even fun stuff like quick recipes, fashion, fi tness, and student art. There is a job database and information on teaching English abroad, as well as an extensive listing of reference tools.

14 Cambridge Dictionaries Online

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/

ESL | GRAMMAR | VOCABULARY

A dictionary is an essential tool for any writer. Here, users can choose the dictionary that interests them and search for a word or phrase. If a word cannot be found in one dictionary, the other dictionaries are automatically searched. There is also a spelling feature that provides the user with possible alternative spellings. Canadian and American spellings are both represented here. The Activities link provides online activities and worksheets.


15 Canada in the Making

http://www.canadiana.org/citm

READING | VOCABULARYART AND IMAGES | HISTORY AND CULTURE | SCIENCE | SOCIAL SCIENCE

If history is your interest, and reading is your pleasure, there is no end to the wealth of knowledge and material available on this site.

The site marries original narrative texts with primary historical documents to tell the history of Canada in the words of its people. You can explore specifi c topics, maps, images, biographies, and many documents related to Canada’s Constitution, pioneers, immigrants, and Aboriginal treaties and relations. There are presently 25 lesson plans available for teachers, and more in the works. The comprehensive glossary is available in four formats: PDF, Word, RTF, and Plain Text.

Make sure to consult the How to Use This Site menu at the top of the page. It will help you, both in your studies as well as in your navigation of the site.

16 Canada: A People’s History

http://history.cbc.ca


This site explores an award-winning television series produced by the CBC that describes the history of Canada. Unfortunately, video clips are no longer avail-able on the site, but there is still plenty of reading material as well as a History Crossword Puzzle, a game about being a Viking, and an extensive bibliography that was used to create the television program. The historical timeline at the top of the page is interesting, singling out important moments from 12,000 B.C. through 1990. Effective English practice for the avid Canadian history buff!


17 Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers

http://www.caslt.org

ESL | READINGART AND IMAGES

This site is geared to teachers and CASLT members, but it is an important resource for any ESL student living in Canada. As a student, joining a major association in your fi eld is always a good idea because you will gain access to learning materials, email bulletins, newsletters, conferences, and special offers. When you become a member of the CASLT, you can take advantage of benefi ts and added resources. For students enrolled in a Faculty of Education, there is a one-year free membership. Students who are members of provincial language associations may become Affi liate Members for only $15.

If you are not a teacher, you can still use the selection of diverse and excellent links in the Tools section. Here you will fi nd games, puzzles, printouts, test databases, dictionaries, search engines, and classroom exchange sites.

18 Canadian Encyclopedia

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com

LISTENING | READING | WRITING

This site is a great resource for working on reading comprehension and re-searching writing topics about Canada. A search box to the site is provided on the Home page. Try the links under Interactive Resources, including Games and Learning, English-French Phrases, and French-English Phrases.

19 Canadian History on the Web

http://canadianhistoryontheweb.ca


This site is full of links to everything and anything related to Canadian his-tory on the Web. Maintained by Dr. Susan Nylan, Professor of History at Wilfrid Laurier University, the site is essentially a repository of resources, and there will be the occasional link that does not work.


However, what does function (and there is lots of it) is impressive. You can search alphabetically according to topic, or under the general headings of Historical Documents, Historical Graphics, Museums, Heritage Sites and Archives, Fun and Games, and Other Resources.

20 Canadian Language Benchmarks Centre

http://www.language.ca

ESLHISTORY AND CULTURE | TECHNICAL LANGUAGE

The CLB develops national standards for the development of benchmarks, and promotes programs to assist immigrants in attaining these standards. (Language benchmarks describe a task such as reading, writing, speaking, or listening, and how well you can do it.) The site provides information on language profi ciency, approved CLB tests, specifi c placement exams, workplace assessment, and assessment centres.

There are some excellent brochures available throughout the site in PDF. Be patient if they take a few minutes to load.

Professionals may be interested in the entire site, but English students should check out the Learner Gateway fi rst.

21 Canadian Language Benchmarks (Manitoba)

http://www.gov.mb.ca/labour/immigrate/learningenglish/1b.html

ESLHISTORY AND CULTURE

Manitoba is in the process of changing the term ESL to EAL, which means English as an Additional Language. This is in keeping with the theory behind TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), since we know that in Canada, many students learning English for the fi rst time already have advanced knowledge of one or more other languages.

The site focuses quite a bit on Canadian language benchmarks, and pro-vides links and downloadable PDF materials to help you both evaluate your own language level and practise self-study. (Language benchmarks describe a task such as reading, writing, speaking, or listening, and how well you can do it.)


22 Canadian Olympians (Library and Archives Canada)

http://www.collectionscanada.ca/olympians

READING | VOCABULARYART AND IMAGES | HISTORY AND CULTURE | SOCIAL SCIENCE | SPORTS

This is a searchable images database of Canadian Olympians from the early 1900s through 2004. Each image is accompanied by a short, precise description that is perfect for beginner and intermediate English students. 2006 Olympians appear on a separate site: http://www.olympic.ca.

You can browse by athlete, sport, Olympic year, or medal. The site includes a lengthy essay on the history of the Canadian presence in the Olympics. The Educational Resources area contains two lesson plans, an idea bank, and a crossword puzzle in HTML, RTF, and PDF, the standard materials included on all Library and Archives Canada sites.

23 Canadians in the World

http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/ciw%2Dcdm

ESL | GRAMMAR | READING | VOCABULARYHISTORY AND CULTURE

Hosted by the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, this site will primarily appeal to the advanced English student with interests in Canada’s history, culture, and place in the world. It is all text and there are no illustrations, but the text is especially well written and technically excellent.

Be warned: Even advanced students should be cautioned when tackling the Canada and La Francophonie section. Although it provides a good example of how the two languages merge in a written format in the Québec context, it is slow-going and not for the weak of heart!


24 CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)

ESL | LISTENING | READING | VOCABULARY HISTORY AND CULTURE | NEWS | SCIENCE | SOCIAL SCIENCE | SPORTS

Archives

http://archives.cbc.ca

The CBC offers a large collection of free radio and television clips to help you improve your listening comprehension. Enter search terms or browse the following categories: People, Confl ict and War, Arts and Entertainment, Politics and the Economy, Life and Society, Disasters and Tragedies, Science and Technology, and Sports. You can also choose a timeline with entries that are colour-coded by subject. The quality of the language used by CBC journalists is fi rst-rate, and there is an impressive variety of topics to explore.

CBC Email Newsletters

http://www.cbc.ca/mycbc/do/newsletter

Current news stories are good reading practice, and are often useful for research projects. The CBC offers a variety of daily newsletters delivered free to your desktop. The service requires a free membership sign-up.

CBC ESL

http://www.cbc.ca/ottawa/esl/lessons.html

There are 10 lessons on these Web pages to help you learn to speak and read English. Each lesson has preparation activities, an audio or video fi le, and exercises in comprehension and vocabulary. While you are visiting the CBC, check the Archive for a vast collection of free radio and television clips from Canada’s past.

25 Celebrating Women’s Achievements (Library and Archives Canada)

http://www.collectionscanada.ca/women


Another theme-based resource, this website chronicles the lives and achieve-ments of exceptional Canadian women. Divided into topic menus according to the women’s major contributions, the fi elds are diverse and include fi lm,


theatre, arts, sport, activism, science, and many others. Each piece includes a photograph or drawing of the individual, biographical information, and a list of additional suggested readings.

In the Educational Resources area, two lesson plans, a bank of ideas for teaching and writing, and a crossword puzzle have been prepared to ac-company the biographies, but the site is primarily text-based and best for developing intermediate and advanced reading skills.

26 Center for History and New Media: Tools

http://chnm.gmu.edu/tools

LISTENING | SPEAKINGART AND IMAGES | HISTORY AND CULTURE | LITERATURE | NEWS | SOCIAL SCIENCE

This site showcases a unique and imaginative selection of free tools for Internet research in history, including Zotero (which helps you to collect, manage, and cite research sources), Syllabus Finder, Web Scrapbook for storing a variety of media items, Survey Builder, and Scribe (a cross-platform note-taking application), as well as several others.

The CHNM home page is also pertinent for English students with an interest in modern and ancient history. In the Resources area, you will fi nd essays, blogs, famous episodes in history, and an amusing section called Sidelights. In the Projects area, you will fi nd issues of topical interest, in-cluding the leading digital repository of materials related to September 11, the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank, and various other collections of rare and endangered media related to American and World History.

Sanity note: You may wish to take a snack break while waiting for some of these heavily laden sites to load.

27 Churchill House School of English Language

http://www.churchillhouse.com/english/learners.html

ESL | GRAMMAR | VOCABULARY | WRITING

This commercial site offers free online exercises indexed by level. Choose a level, then choose the activities you would like to try. Based in England, the site is accredited by the British Council.


Try the following links:

• Dr. Grammar is a discussion forum that answers student grammar questions.

• Exam Preparation lists and describes standardized ESL exams for students, teachers and translators.

• For Teachers offers downloadable verb exercises in PDF, and other interesting links.

28 Citizenship and Immigration Canada

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/newcomer/welcome/wel-22e.html

ESLCULTURE

The Government of Canada, along with partners at the provincial and community levels, provides free language training for adult permanent residents. Before spending unnecessary money on private courses, see if you qualify for the CLIC program in Québec (LINC in the rest of Canada). The site has a list of offi ces across the country, many offi cial publications, application forms for immigration, detailed policy and regulation statements, and general statistics.

29 Collegial Centre for Educational Materials Development (CCDMD)

http://www.ccdmd.qc.ca


The CCDMD designs and develops educational materials for teachers and students throughout the Québec Cégep system. To accomplish this, the Centre offers administrative, technical, fi nancial, and instructional support to college professors so that they may produce their own educational materials.

The Centre is subsidized by the Québec Ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir, et du Sport, and managed by Collège de Maisonneuve. In 2005, the CCDMD broadened its collaborative efforts to include anglophone colleges, as part of the Canada-Québec Agreement.

A diverse collection of printed, digital, and online materials is produced for a wide range of courses and programs. Students will currently fi nd translated


materials in various subject areas on the CCDMD website, and materials specifi cally designed for the anglophone college community will be coming soon. There will be multimedia tools for improving English-language skills, as well as help for preparing for the English Exit Exam.

The website has been recently redesigned and is ready to welcome you. With about 10 projects added each year, there will always be new additions. Bookmark this site and check in often!

30 Columbia Guide to Online Style

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/cgos2006/basic.html

WRITING

This Web page is based on the book The Columbia Guide to Online Style by Janice R. Walker and Todd Taylor (Columbia UP, 2006) and provides a few good examples of how to cite online sources when writing academic papers or documentary articles. Examples of both humanities-style and scientifi c-style quotations are given.

The FAQ section answers further questions, such as how to treat lengthy Web addresses with word processors and other common dilemmas en-countered by students when including sources from the Internet. No longer optional, every student should become as at ease with quoting online sources as they are with traditional sources and learn how to use consistent styles for both (i.e., MLA, APA).

The page is a useful resource for teachers, especially since the site gives permission for the page to be printed and distributed for classroom use, unlike many copyright-protected texts.

31 Concept Maps

http://classes.aces.uiuc.edu/ACES100/Mind/CMap.html

WRITING

A concept map is a helpful tool for students trying to organize a project or essay.

This site provides a defi nition of concept maps, discusses their purpose, and describes how to choose and use them. It offers downloadable diagrams to help you design your own maps. The site is very easy to navigate. Follow these links: Tips on Making Your Own Concept Maps, Kinds of Concept Maps, and Concept Map Bank.


32 Criteria for Evaluating Internet Sources

http://www.library.ubc.ca/home/evaluating/

WRITING

Anyone who has a computer and access to the Internet can put together a website, so it’s important to know how to evaluate Internet sources before you use them in a research paper. This site provides a list of questions to help you sort the reliable sites from the rest. Each category of questions has a So What button that explains why it is important to ask the questions. The links to biased and parody sites are fun, and the external links are helpful.

33 Critically Analyzing Information Sources

http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill26.htm

WRITING

The questions on this page will lead you through a thorough assessment of your print sources and help you decide whether they are appropriate for essays and research papers. The process is also great practice in critical thinking.

34 Curricular Resources and Materials for ESL

http://www.cln.org/subjects/esl.html

ESL | GRAMMAR | LISTENING | READING | SPEAKING | VOCABULARY | WRITINGART AND IMAGES | HISTORY AND CULTURE | SCIENCE | SOCIAL SCIENCE

This little page is a straightforward listing of resources and sites for ESL learning. There are curricular resources, instructional materials, and a theme pages area (which for now only includes a theme on listening). Regarding the links, it’s a mixed bag, but most of them were functional at the time of writing. A word of caution: We did not check every site listed here, so you will need to evaluate their learning potential yourself or ask your English teacher what he or she thinks of a particular resource.

The page is a part of a larger site called Community Learning Network, a BC-based site designed to assist K–12 teachers with integrating technol-ogy in the classroom: http://www.cln.org/.


35 Daily Grammar Lesson Archive

http://dailygrammar.com/

ESL | GRAMMAR

This site offers more than 400 sequential grammar lessons. Work at your own pace, and choose lessons from the archive or sign up for free daily email lessons on the Home page. You will receive free daily grammar les-sons Monday to Friday, and a quiz on Saturday.

36 Dave’s ESL Café

http://www.eslcafe.com

ESL | GRAMMAR | LISTENING | READING | VOCABULARY | WRITING

Dave Sperling’s popular ESL site is found in almost every ESL directory. The Café offers a large number of links to material for students and teach-ers. Many links are commercial. Students will fi nd grammar exercises, a helpline, and chat pages with free access. Some links work intermittently, perhaps due to high traffi c on the site.

37 Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online (Library and Archives Canada)

http://www.biographi.ca

READING | VOCABULARYART AND IMAGES | HISTORY AND CULTURE | LITERATURE | SCIENCE | SOCIAL SCIENCE

This website is being continually updated and expanded, and already contains more than 20 volumes beginning with the year 1000 (yes, you read it correctly – the year 1000). You can search by volume, keyword, identity, profession, or geographic region. You can also look up an indi-vidual by name, or browse by the fi rst letter of the last name. As this site develops, it will be possible to connect to portraits (where available), link to related stories and biographies, and connect to virtual exhibitions and search tools in order to fi nd primary source material and supplementary information related to the biographies.


38 Dictionary of Events, Places, People, and Times in Canadian History

http://www.edunetconnect.com/cat/candict


This sweet little number is categorized alphabetically according to topic: Click on a letter in the alphabet and get a very narrow offering of information related to selected topics in Canadian history. The material is illustrated where possible and attractively presented, but there are not copious amounts of it. Quality versus quantity defi nitely applies here.

39 e-anglais

http://www.e-anglais.com/

ESL | GRAMMAR | READING | VOCABULARY | WRITINGNEWS | TECHNICAL LANGUAGE

As its name suggests, this site is designed for French-speaking students who wish to learn English, and provides the option of reading the instruc-tions for each activity in the student’s fi rst language. The titles and instruc-tions are also provided in English, so the site is not of exclusive interest to French students.

It is an extensive list of links to vocabulary sources, magazines, newspa-pers, television, radio, and virtual books. Several online dictionaries and translation tools are listed. At the top of the page, menus written in French, such as Cours, Exercises, Tests, and Lectures, point to excellent activities, exercises, and resources.

40 Early Canadiana Online

http://www.canadiana.org/eco

READING | VOCABULARYART AND IMAGES | HISTORY AND CULTURE | SOCIAL SCIENCE

This is a database of more than 2 million early Canadian texts that have been digitized (let’s hope they didn’t throw out the originals). The texts


are organized into collections that are searchable according to topic, title, keyword, and year of publication. The list of collections is summarized in the Collection Descriptions section. Teachers will appreciate the Lesson Plans area and also the fact that the site provides access to an Evaluation Report of its educational sites and resources.

41 Education Canada: International Gateway to Education in Canada

http://www.educationcanada.cmec.ca


Since education in Canada is the exclusive responsibility of each province and territory, it is sometimes diffi cult to fi nd resources that present informa-tion on the nation’s education system as a whole. This site, produced by the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC), does just that. The Education Canada Gateway, along with the CMEC website (http://www.cmec.ca) provides a vast array of reliable references for citizens and new arrivals to Canada.

Under Adult Literacy and Learning, there are many valuable resources and organizations listed.

42 Edufi nd.com: Online English Grammar

http://www.edufi nd.com/english/grammar

ESL | GRAMMAR | WRITING

You will fi nd interesting and well-presented material for studying English on this site. There is such a variety that it is diffi cult to describe in a few sentences. There are headings related to Punctuation, Writing Tips, and English Tests. You can complete a free assessment and then subscribe to more learning activities from OEG, or just use what’s available on the site (which is a lot).

If you happen to be building a website for ESL or other students, there is free content available here.


43 Edunetconnect

http://www.edunetconnect.com/

READING | SPEAKING | VOCABULARYART AND IMAGES | HISTORY AND CULTURE | NEWS | SCIENCE | SOCIAL SCIENCE

This Canadian site, geared to teachers, offers weekly awards to the best sites providing educational content. The Learning Categories menu presents a vast array of websites that lead to endless hallways of learning opportuni-ties in many subject areas. The frequently updated features centred on the home page target the learner’s curiosity, but the site is literally hemmed in by commercial links. If you are Internet-savvy, you will have no problem ignoring these areas, but they may be distracting for some.

44 English as a Second Language

http://www.rong-chang.com/

ESL | GRAMMAR | LISTENING | READING | SPEAKING | VOCABULARY | WRITING

This is a great site for ESL learners. The site provides material of its own as well as links to other useful sites. Interesting features include a Pronounc-ing Dictionary of Common English Names, an ESL Chat Community, and ESL Writing Blogs.

Follow the link to 100 Free Short English Stories for ESL Learners to listen to stories as they are read aloud. The reader speaks slowly and clearly, making it easy to follow as you read the text on the screen. Try the grammar, comprehension, and dictation exercises that accompany the stories. This is an excellent resource for improving your pronunciation. You will need RealAudio or MP3 capability to hear these fi les.


45 English Club

http://www.englishclub.com

ESL | GRAMMAR | LISTENING | READING | SPEAKING | VOCABULARY | WRITINGART AND IMAGES | HISTORY AND CULTURE | LITERATURE | NEWS

This excellent and thorough site originates in Cambridge, England, and is free, although there are links to commercial sites. The site uses the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English as a reference, but includes pages from Canadian and American English sources, and points out the differ-ences where applicable. This feature may resolve some of the confusion between different word spellings for you.

46 English Department

http://the_english_dept.tripod.com/esc.html

ESL | GRAMMAR | LISTENING | READING | SPEAKING | VOCABULARY | WRITINGART AND IMAGES | HISTORY AND CULTURE | LITERATURE | NEWS | SOCIAL SCIENCE

This page is a subsection of a site that addresses the needs of EFL stu-dents. Based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the creator, Barbara Dieu, is an EFL teacher for secondary-level students. The site has an international, con-temporary fl avour. On the home page, you will discover interesting facts about English, its growth, and its place in the world, as well as anecdotes from English students.

To get a sense of the scale of this site, check out the unique Site Map that you can access from the main Go To menu on the left. The titles are clickable and you can search almost any topic, including lesson plans, writing activities, media, quizzes, English-speaking countries, chat, slang, horoscopes – each area leads you to a new page, where you will fi nd many excellent and entertaining educational links for learning English.


47 English Exit Exam: Learning Centre (Dawson College)

http://dept.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/lc/English.html


Dawson College’s Learning Centre provides Cégep students with resources to improve their writing and to pass Québec’s Ministerial Examination of College English (English Exit Exam). On the Learning Centre’s home page, scroll down to Grammar Handouts to learn more about word pairs, spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Follow the English Exit Exam link for a step-by-step guide, including sample thesis statements and a checklist for editing your essay. The guide also has many links to extra information.

48 English Exit Exam: Learning Centre (Vanier College)

http://www.vaniercollege.qc.ca/tlc/


The Learning Centre at Vanier College has clear, concise information on how to write essays at the Cégep level. Click on the Guide and Tips menu and then select Writing Guide to learn more about choosing topics, doing research, organizing, writing paragraphs, avoiding plagiarism, and using the MLA reference format. The English Exit Exam section contains everything you need to know to pass Québec’s Ministerial Examination of College English, with tip sheets, explanations of the marking criteria, and sample student essays. There is also a link to the English Now online tutorial for second-language students.

49 English Exit Exam (Ministerial Examination of College English Language of Instruction)

http://www.mels.gouv.qc.ca/ens-sup/ens-coll/Eprv_uniforme/Anglais/ Welcome.asp


If you are looking for information about Québec’s English Exit Exam for Cégep students, this is the place to start. This site of the Ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport provides a general introduction to the exam, explains the criteria for passing it, and posts the exam schedule.


There are links to past exam questions (the readings cannot be provided because of copyright rules) and to an FAQ document called All You Need to Know: A-Z. The Marking Guide contains several sample student essays with explanations of how they were graded.

50 English Language Centre: Study Zone

http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/

ESL | GRAMMAR | READING | VOCABULARY | WRITING

Widely acknowledged as one of the best English-language study sites available, the University of Victoria’s English Study Zone has exercises in reading, writing, grammar, and games. Indexed by level, individual pages offer exercises in different categories. Exercises are varied and imaginative, and they increase in the degree of diffi culty. The last lesson in a series often provides review and self-testing. Simple design, easy links, and useful exercises make this a very user-friendly resource. Bookmark it right now!

The following is a brief summary of each level:

• Level 200 contains simple texts and grammar exercises.

• Level 330 contains stories, exercises, and comprehension questions. There are also many grammar exercises as well as some on punctuation.

• Level 410 offers a chance to read stories and write summaries of what you have read. There are also grammar exercises in both the reading and grammar sections.

• Level 490 has fi ve readings with grammar, comprehension, and writing exercises. Readings and exercises are arranged from easiest to most diffi cult.

• Level 570 contains reading exercises, including one on critical reading. You will also fi nd more advanced grammar exercises. The page ends with a Web-based scavenger hunt and a writing assignment.

The Extra Materials section contains an Index to Grammar Exercises as well as a section called Choosing the Correct Article.


51 English Language Institute

http://learningresources.eli.ubc.ca/


The English Language Institute (ELI) of UBC contains some of the high-est quality free material on the Internet for learning English as a second language. It’s probably better than a lot of the commercial material as well. The layout and design are great and completely ad-free. Some sections require textbooks used by students and fi les at the ELI, but you’ll fi nd plenty of free content on the rest of the site. Each section provides external links as an additional resource.

The site is divided into fi ve sections:

• Using Corpora has external links that teach you how to use language da-tabases to learn the different ways words and phrases can be used.

• Reading offers levels 400 to 600 with pre-reading material, texts, and exercises. This is a great resource for building vocabulary and, at the advanced level, learning about some aspects of grammar.

• Writing contains exercises on understanding collocations (words fre-quently used together), combining sentences, constructing paragraphs, and using phrasal verbs.

• Speaking and Listening contains transcripts, exercises, and external links organized by level for beginning to advanced speakers.

• Exam Courses is designed to help you with the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language). This section will also help students who want to improve their vocabulary. It contains exercises on word meanings, commonly confused words, phrasal verbs, idioms, opposites, and word forms.

52 English Lessons and Tests

http://www.englishlearner.com


With a nice conversational tone and a sense of humour, this site provides many simple and effective lessons and tests for the beginner to advanced-level English student. You can subscribe to receive free lessons by email and, if you don’t have an email address, you can get one through this site.


On the home page, there is an online dictionary search, a poll function, games, and a bookshop. You can sign yourself up on a mailing list to meet other English students (virtually) and receive tips on resources.

53 English Now: An Online Tutorial (Vanier College)

http://www.vaniercollege.qc.ca/languageschool/Potatoes/home.htm

ESL | GRAMMAR | LISTENING | READING | VOCABULARY | WRITING

This site offers an intensive and comprehensive review of verbs, with great material to help you learn how and when to use each of the English verb tenses. The tutorial also covers reading comprehension, vocabulary, and listening skills. The concepts are presented in stories or texts written by Vanier students, and the exercises are carefully sequenced. The themes are international and multicultural, and many of them also focus on current events in and around Montréal, for young students who are new to the city.

The site is best viewed with a recent browser. There is a wide variety of options for audio players, but make sure the volume on your computer is turned way up!

54 English Pronunciation and Listening

http://international.ouc.bc.ca/pronunciation/

ESL | LISTENING | SPEAKING

There are 13 units at this excellent site to help second-language learners improve their pronunciation and listening skills. Each unit focuses on a group of sounds and includes practice exercises. The most diffi cult sounds have QuickTime video fi les to show you exactly how to pronounce them. There are links to download all the software you need to use the site.

This is some of the best free pronunciation material available. If you would like to invest in some other tools, there are a few links to good commercial sites at the bottom of the home page.


55 ESL Monkeys: English as a Second Language Online Resources

http://www.eslmonkeys.com

ESL | LISTENING | READING | SPEAKING | VOCABULARY | WRITING

This charming ESL directory is divided into sections: For Teachers, For Schools, and For Students. Many free resources are available. The site is frequently updated, so we won’t give you too much information on specif-ics, as things may change by the time you get there. However, the layout is easy to navigate and the content is never boring. There are also useful little tools on each page, such as the word Look Up feature.

The downside of the site is that most of the multimedia functions only if you have Microsoft Internet Explorer as your browser, if you have Adobe Acrobat Reader, and if your pop-up blocker is disengaged. Those of you with this lucky combination, however, won’t be disappointed.

56 ESL Notes Presents: The English Learner Movie Guide

http://www.eslnotes.com/

ESL | LISTENING | READING | SPEAKING

What a great idea! With the emergence of DVDs and the capacity to watch movies with subtitles in the language of your choice, sitting down in front of the TV has never been such an educational experience for language learners.

At this site, a multitude of guides provides plot summaries of popular fi lms, character lists, glossaries, and brief discussions of cultural references. This is a fun way to practise reading, and an excellent way to work on listening comprehension. Each fi lm entry may be downloaded in PDF, HTML, or Microsoft Word.

The catch is that you need to buy or rent the movie yourself! Don’t expect to fi nd a free version on the site. If you want to, you can order it online.


57 English Tests, Etc.

http://www.english-test.net

ESL | GRAMMAR | READING | SPEAKING | VOCABULARY | WRITING LITERATURE | SOCIAL SCIENCE | TECHNICAL LANGUAGE

The home page of this site lists easily accessible online tests pertaining to various English grammar topics, special themes, and TOEFL-style exam preparation. Most tests are organized into levels of diffi culty (Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced). The site is densely packed with stimulating and original activities that are fully functional, within which you will be hard-pressed to fi nd a typo, punctuation, or grammatical error.

The language and themes tend to have an American bias, but the cre-ators of the site seem to have been brought together virtually, rather than through any geographic connection. To “meet” these people, just click on an image under the site logo. You will be treated to a detailed history of each instructor’s professional experience, and, in most cases, you will fi nd links to learning materials developed by the instructors as well as articles they have written. The group seems to be a bit of a cooperative: a very interesting and innovative approach to teaching English. The best part is that (for now), it’s all free.

Take advantage of this great site before the authors implement their com-mercial plans!

58 English Trailers

http://www.english-trailers.com/

ESL | LISTENING | READING | SPEAKING | VOCABULARY

This little package, presented by DreamWorks, makes a good partner to the English Learner Movie Guide, and actually provides trailers on-site. Improve your listening comprehension by watching movie trailers (com-mercials for hit movies). You can search for fi lms by title, actor, genre, or the year it was released. There is also an in-house dictionary database at work behind the scenes.

The site is designed and maintained by English teachers, and contains warm-up activities, scripts of the trailers, and exercises. Many activities are designed for use with a partner or group. The site provides a link for QuickTime in the Welcome area, where you will also fi nd detailed animated instructions on using the site. To maximize your experience, you can create a user account


that gives you access to more trailers and bonus features of the site, includ-ing quizzes that allow you to save your scores. Teachers can also use this functionality to supervise and grade their students’ performance.

There are a few typos, unfortunately, but the overall concept is good, so this site gets a pass. Fresh and fun!

59 eWorkshop: Ontario’s Education Foundation Programs

http://www.eworkshop.on.ca

ESL | GRAMMAR | LISTENING | READING | SPEAKING | VOCABULARY | WRITINGART AND IMAGES | SOCIAL SCIENCE

The Education Foundation program involves teacher training and the devel-opment of teacher guides in printed form. The eWorkshop site represents a natural progression of the Foundation’s work into technology and multimedia, providing online learning modules and teaching resources.

The literacy modules offered here are carefully planned and education-ally sound. Although designed for primary-level students, many are easily adapted for adult use. The division of material into Emergent, Early, and Fluent reader levels helps the student to understand the process of learn-ing to read. Printable material is available in PDF format.

The many examples of high-quality, fast-loading Flash videos are intended primarily to guide teachers in their instruction strategies. However, these can be fun to watch, and they provide helpful hints for effective solo learning.

60 First Among Equals

http://www.collectionscanada.ca/2/4/


The site profi les each Canadian prime minister and also focuses on fi ve main themes related to the offi ce throughout history. A special plus is that the site includes transcripts of offi cial speeches, categorized according to political topic. The material is text-based and suited to intermediate and advanced readers.

If the material is too diffi cult or if you would like to learn along with your children, there is a kids’ version of the site. Based on the same content, this site is more colourful, and includes period photographs, a fact sheet, and a helpful keyword feature.


There is a Fun section with simple yet effective trivia, matching games, and a great Picture Gallery that features prime ministers in places and with people you might not expect! There is also a link for teachers.

61 Focus on English

http://focusenglish.com/

ESL | LISTENING | SPEAKING | VOCABULARY

The site focuses on listening to native speakers discuss a variety of top-ics, and introduces useful idioms and common expressions. The site of-fers unique, simple, and interesting visuals, such as graphs and maps as conversation starters, that are helpful for the solo student and would be ideal for projection in an ESL classroom environment.

There used to be a chat feature, but this has been disabled. A link is of-fered to install chat, but it is for personal use only and will not match you up with students at this particular site. You will need RealPlayer to hear the audio fi les.

62 Government of Québec

http://www.immigration-Québec.gouv.qc.ca/en/employment/looking- fi nding/learn-english.html


This is an important site for new immigrants, as it provides valuable in-formation regarding settling in, housing, and language training. A few organizations that offer free, low-tuition, or paid courses are featured on the page. There is useful information on trades, job search, and language requirements when looking for employment in Québec. The site provides online government forms and electronic services.


63 Grand dictionnaire terminologique: Offi ce québécois de la langue française

http://www.olf.gouv.qc.ca/ressources/gdt.html

VOCABULARY | WRITING TECHNICAL LANGUAGE

You can look up words and phrases in French or English at the Québec government’s website of the Offi ce québécois de la langue française. This is not a translation site, but a dictionary (that is, terms, spelling and usage). The search page is in French, but you can search from French to English or from English to French.

The site is well maintained and updated regularly. The downside is that you really need to know some French to understand the instructions here. Also, be careful not to take defi nitions out of context – they may not always be culturally appropriate or refl ect your intended meaning.

64 Guardian Unlimited

http://www.guardian.co.ukk

ESL | READING | WRITINGHISTORY AND CULTURE | LITERATURE | NEWS | SOCIAL SCIENCE

This is a well-organized site, rich in information and opportunities to im-prove reading and writing skills. Based in Britain, the Guardian Unlimited has interesting international content on a wide variety of topics. Sign up for the alert service, and have articles about topics that interest you deliv-ered free to your desktop. A free software download is available and no registration is necessary.

The Books link is of particular interest to the English student. In Authors, you will fi nd biographical information about a large number of international writers, as well as articles and reviews. There are links to extracts from books and, for the adventurous, there are writing games and quizzes. There are also QuickTime audio links for selected news stories. Note that the announcer will speak with a British accent.


65 Globe and Mail

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

ESL | LISTENING | READINGHISTORY AND CULTURE | LITERATURE | NEWS | SOCIAL SCIENCE

Reading newspaper articles every day is one of the best ways to build your reading and writing skills. The Globe and Mail, a Canadian newspaper, has a well-developed online edition that covers national and international news, as well as featuring sections on business and investing, sports, arts, travel, technology, and health. These pages contain many surprises, and subscribers have access to RSS feeds.

66 Historical Voices

http://www.historicalvoices.org

LISTENING | SPEAKING

This site preserves and displays historical events and information in the form of archival spoken-word recordings. Here, the student can listen to interviews, press statements, court cases, and many other examples of actual people caught on “tape.” Some of the audio recordings come with a transcript so that you can follow the text reading while listening.

The sources are varied, and so are the formats. If a particular site doesn’t work for you, check which media player is required. RealAudio is often employed, as well as RSS feeds for podcasts, but the information is not always clearly mentioned, which can be frustrating for users.

The Education area presents excellent information for teachers, along with lesson plans to accompany specifi c audio archives. A word of caution: Test everything before presenting to your class!

This site has ambitious goals and objectives set out on its home page, but it still has a ways to go before it lives up to all of these. Nevertheless, the existing content, despite a few glitches, is worth a look.


67 How to Do Research on the Internet

http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/vl/www/wwwcon.htm

WRITING

This is a straightforward introductory tutorial to research on the Internet. Even if the student has extensive experience surfi ng and searching online, this site will help clarify terminology, such as the differences between search engines and subject gateways, the defi nition and structure of a URL, domain names as clues to the type of organization represented by a website, etc.

Other tutorials on various topics in information technology are available in the Subject Guide at the top of the page. Printable versions of all the tutorials are offered at the site.

68 HyperGrammar

http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/ rvprnref.html


This is an extensive grammar site offered by the University of Ottawa’s Writing Centre. The site is indexed by topic, and there are links from each lesson to related pages within the rest of the site. All these links can make moving around a bit confusing; however, the content is useful, clear, and very well written. The benefi t of this method is that the student can navigate according to his or her own train of thought.

As a linear approach to learning grammar is problematic on many levels, this approach is refreshing and educationally sound, once you get into the fl ow of it. A word of caution: It is highly recommended to start by reading How to Use HyperGrammar, and not a bad idea to tackle this site early in your day with a rested brain and fresh eyes.


69 Hypertext Writer’s Guide (University of Victoria)

http://web.uvic.ca/wguide/welcome.html


Every step of the essay-writing process is covered here. The Table of Contents and Index make it easy to fi nd exactly what you are looking for, and the site is well designed. The information is easy to read and the pages load quickly. Use this site to plan and research your essay, to revise and proofread your draft, and to prepare a bibliography of your sources.

Learn about different types of essays and the terms you need to write an essay on literature. Amaze your friends and relatives by knowing the defi ni-tion of the literary term zeugma (we bet even your teacher has to look it up). This site is well worth a bookmark.

70 I Love Languages

http://www.ilovelanguages.com

READING | WRITINGHISTORY AND CULTURE | SOCIAL SCIENCE

This award-winning site has been established in some form since 1994. It has been quoted in both online and print media press on many occasions. The site is primarily a catalogue of language-related Internet resources, with many links that are not specifi c to English. One helpful aspect of the site is that its commercial listings appear together and are accessible from one menu, so the student is not obliged to sift through sites that are selling products and services.

There are a large number of dictionaries, translation tools, and teacher resources included in the Languages area. In the School area, the student can fi nd language camps, programs, and universities. There is also a Jobs area with links to language-related employment resources.


71 Images Canada

http://www.imagescanada.ca/

READING | VOCABULARY | WRITINGART AND IMAGES | HISTORY AND CULTURE | SOCIAL SCIENCE

Photo essays are usually written by an archivist or historian to develop a narrative on a specifi c theme and then enhanced with images. Using the site’s search engine, you can collect and arrange your choice of images to accompany a photo essay of your own or select an Image Trail to see a prepared set of about 50 to 150 images on a particular theme.

Beautifully presented, the site is a great alternative for English students who are visual learners or who are not ready for a lot of heavy reading.

72 Interesting Things for ESL Students

www.manythings.org


This site is included here because it has such a varied selection of amus-ing and unusual offerings that employ diverse learning strategies. It will appeal to different learners, and exercise multiple skills, including grammar, vocabulary, listening, spelling, and pronunciation.

Two words of caution: There are a few errors on the site, and not every tool works perfectly or has much educational value. In addition, the games and interactive activities have been designed for different platforms, including Flash, JavaScript, and various players. Depending on your system, you may not have success using all of them.

Nevertheless, the site owners should be congratulated on offering a truly not-for-profi t resource, where the student is never subjected to unwanted advertising.


73 International Herald Tribune

http://www.iht.com/pages/index.php

ESL | LISTENING | READINGHISTORY AND CULTURE | LITERATURE | NEWS | SOCIAL SCIENCE

This international newspaper includes original content as well as articles from newswire services and major papers, like The New York Times. Articles are presented with high-quality visuals, and there are always links to more detailed information, as well as discussion groups and blogs.

Your choice of format and media: You can get streaming audio news here, RSS feeds, and even downloads for your cellphone.

74 John’s ESL Community: English Interactive

http://www.johnsesl.com/

ESL | GRAMMAR | LISTENING | READING | VOCABULARY | WRITING LITERATURE

Follow the Students link for information, activities, exercises, and games to challenge and improve your language skills. Many of the listening exercises are based on the American National Public Radio and National Geographic articles. The pop-up ads are a bit annoying, but the site is easy to use and the links are reliable. The listening exercises use RealAudio.

75 LangCanada Portal Project

http://www.langcanada.ca


This CASLT-managed site aims to be a one-stop Internet resource for second offi cial language learning. The site provides resources for both English and French language learning, but its most original feature is the possibility of search options in both languages. For instance, a French-speaking student can locate English material using a French search engine, and vice versa.

Three superb search engines focus on the separate areas of Educational Resources, Training Organizations, and Research.


In the Educational Resources area, students can search according to topic area or learning level (adult and child), type of language skill, or teaching and learning resource. There is also a section devoted to Educational Resources by Theme. Here you will fi nd less common materials, such as learning English through music and images.

The site is still under development, so come back and visit often.

76 Language Sites on the Internet

http://www.verbivore.com/rllink.htm

GRAMMAR | READING | VOCABULARYLITERATURE

This excellent Web directory of English language sites is one page in Richard Lederer’s Verbivore site. The Language Links are arranged by topic in an index at the top of the page. Find links to Etymology, Grammar and Usage, Language Columns/Online Magazines, Newsgroups, Puns, Reference, Word Games, Word and Letter Play, and Word Watching and Vocabulary Develop-ment. The links are of excellent quality. This is an essential site for advanced ESL students, and for everyone who has an appetite for language.

77 Learn English Search and Exam English

http://learn-english-search-swicki.eurekster.com

ESLTECHNICAL LANGUAGE

A wiki is a collaborative website where users can contribute and edit the information. A swicki is a collaborative search engine. A swicki learns from the interests of the community that uses it – the more users who consult a certain topic area, the larger the topic will appear in the list of contents.

Used with prudence, it will lead to many unexpected places, and will appeal to the curious-minded. However, since the sites open in the same browser window, it is easy to get lost.

This particular swicki is the creation of Steve Chadwick from http://www.examenglish.com/ – a great resource for those preparing for an English language exam, such as TOEFL, IELTS, and the Cambridge University exams. Most of the major tests are described in detail so that you will know exactly what to expect. There are free mini-exams offered, and you can fi nd testing centres, and purchase learning materials.


78 Learning Centre (Library and Archives Canada)

http://www.collectionscanada.ca/education


If this Directory has not yet convinced you that Library and Archives Canada is quite simply a stroke of brilliance on the part of the educational powers-that-be in government, visit this site.

We will not even introduce it here, as everything you need to know is clearly stated on the home page. The visual design is quite a bit more contemporary and colourful than the usual Archives fare, but the site is still just as rich with Canadian history and educational resources.

There is something for absolutely every student and teacher. Go there, NOW!

79 Librarian’s Internet Index: Websites You Can Trust

http://lii.org/pub/topic/english

ESL | GRAMMAR | WRITING

This Librarians’ Directory to the English language includes 16 ESL sites, carefully selected and indexed by topic. Some lists of particular interest are Grammar, Homonyms, Rhyme, Slang, Style Manuals, Terms and Phrases, and Word Games and Puns. Links under Recent Additions are well worth a look. Everything is clearly accessible from this page.

80 Library and Archives Canada

http://www.collectionscanada.ca/


A huge repository where you can explore all kinds of historical documents as well as special collections, including Canadian Genealogy, Multicul-tural Resources, Aboriginal Resources, a Portrait Gallery, and an Online Canadian Biography Dictionary. There are many sub-links within this site so, to avoid missing anything, keep going back to the home page, where you can access featured exhibitions and browse selected topics.


81 Library Spot: Dictionaries

http://www.libraryspot.com/

ESL | READING | VOCABULARY

This is an essential link for ESL students and for anyone looking for refer-ence material. Part of the StartSpot site, this is an excellent place to fi nd the dictionary you’re looking for. Find other StartSpot links, including Libraries, Reference Desk, and Reading Room on the left side of the page.

82 Listen to CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)

http://www.cbc.ca/listen/

LISTENING

Improve your listening comprehension and vocabulary with CBC Radio One, listed by city (news and talk shows), or choose CBC Radio Two (music with commentary) at the bottom of the page. The spoken English is clear and of excellent quality. There is a table of contents to other CBC Radio sites listed by topic.

83 Literature.org: The Online Literature Library

http://www.literature.org/authors/

READINGLITERATURE

This small collection of public access literature provides full texts in a for-mat that is relatively easy to read onscreen. The authors include Charles Dickens, Leo Tolstoy, and René Descartes. It’s hard to imagine reading an entire novel onscreen, but literature students may appreciate the ability to copy the text, hear it read by a screen reader, and search for key pas-sages and characters.


84 Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Online

http://www.ldoceonline.com/

ESL | SPEAKING | VOCABULARY

Second-language students will appreciate this learners’ dictionary. The advantage of learners’ dictionaries is that the defi nitions are given in clear, simple language, and many entries have pictures and audio pronunciation fi les. The quality of the online content is high, and the site is free and easy to use, but you must register fi rst. The site contains a number of irritating sales pitches for the full book/CD edition.

85 Look Way Up

http://lookwayup.com

READING | VOCABULARY | WRITINGTECHNICAL LANGUAGE

This is an online dictionary and thesaurus with a spelling correction feature that installs onto your browser. This is a free, useful, and effi cient tool for when you are working online. In most cases, you will not have to leave the page you are on to check your favourite translation engine or hard copy dictionary. Referring to a small space on your toolbar, just look words up using this handy function. An added advantage is that the tool recognizes the context of the word in question, thereby increasing your chances of getting an accurate defi nition.

A word of caution: Use common sense. The dictionary cannot read your mind, so look for clues such as context to help you decide which of the offered defi nitions is correct. If you’re not sure, cross-reference with the usual suspects.

A bonus: The dictionary can change its orientation depending on whether you are a teacher, student, writer, or lawyer.


86 McCord Museum

http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/

LISTENING | READING

If you are looking for new ways to practise English, explore The McCord Museum, Montréal’s premier Canadian history museum. Although this site isn’t specifi cally for language instruction, it offers an enjoyable alternative to other reading and listening sites.

Try these links from the home page:

• Keys to History – Games: Practise English with topics about Canada’s history.

• Keys to History – Thematic Tours: Choose a tour and click on View the Movie Clip, where you can watch and listen to movies about Canada’s history.

Most activities require an up-to-date version of Flash.

87 Media Awareness Network

http://www.media-awareness.ca

READING | WRITINGART AND IMAGES | HISTORY AND CULTURE | NEWS | SCIENCE

This site is a media and Internet education resource designed for teachers and parents, but it will appeal to young adults and children. It’s a terrifi c way to improve English while looking critically at media, both the regular information sources and accompanying advertisements. Issues such as media violence, stereotyping, online hate, and information privacy are thoroughly addressed.

There are educational games, news, blogs, and a resource catalogue. The Lesson Library in the Teacher’s Area is searchable and allows you to search topics ranging from alcohol and tobacco use through body image, diversity, gender portrayal, and ethics.

The attractive site design is well organized, with a colour scheme that changes from page to page, to liven things up a little. A handy feature is the Content Cart, which allows you to collect materials as you browse, sort them, and print them all at once.


88 Medline Plus: All Easy-to-Read

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/easytoread/all_easytoread.html

LISTENING | READING | VOCABULARYTECHNICAL LANGUAGE

This is an alphabetical listing of resources with excellent interactive ma-terials to help second-language students build their reading and listening comprehension for studies in the health care fi eld. This public access site is a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.

The information is designed to be easy to read and understand. There are read-along audio tutorials supported by comprehension questions, as well as access to a dictionary and an encyclopedia of medical terms. Translations are in Spanish. The site is regularly maintained, and the links are reliable.

89 Merriam-Webster Learner’s [Pronunciation] Dictionary

http://www.learnersdictionary.com/

ESL | READING | VOCABULARY | WRITING

Merriam-Webster offers a separate dictionary of pronunciation designed for ESL learners. There are no defi nitions; instead, this site contains audio pronunciation fi les, a word-of-the-day feature, and a language help section with tips on common word use problems. There’s also a helpful glossary of grammar terms. This is simply an excellent resource for improving your pronunciation.

90 Merriam-Webster Online

http://m-w.com/

ESL | READING | VOCABULARY | WRITING

Search Merriam-Webster’s dictionary and thesaurus, improve your vo-cabulary with the word of the day, and challenge yourself with crossword puzzles and word games. Many of the dictionary entries have audio fi les to help improve pronunciation.


91 Montréal Botanical Gardens

http://www2.ville.montreal.qc.ca/jardin/

READING | VOCABULARYART AND IMAGES | HISTORY AND CULTURE | SCIENCE

This attractive site is a good way to read English while learning about botany and gardening. The Outstanding Plants and Collections area contains beautiful images, but most of the text information appears in French when you click on the thumbnails. This is the case with several areas of the site, and helpful only for French-speaking students!

Since most of the activities take place at the gardens themselves and not on the website, we actually recommend you visit in person. An interactive map on the Greenhouse and Gardens page prepares you for your visit by provid-ing a sense of the layout, scale, and a sneak peek at the collections. Bring a good book to practise your reading in an environment of serenity, particularly in the off-season, when it is free to wander in and walk around.

Be sure to check out the educational signs and posters, where the text appears in multiple languages. International students may fi nd a taste of home here, as well as receiving an introduction to the cultural diversity that is Montréal. Many of the collections are dedicated to the city’s founding communities and contain special materials, architecture, and, in some cases, tributes, such as the Hiroshima Peace Bell designed by artist Katori Masahiko for the Japanese Garden.

92 My (Virtual) English Tutor

http://www.myet.com/en/download.htm

ESL | GRAMMAR | LISTENING | READING | SPEAKING | WRITING

This site provides a free download of a sophisticated application for learn-ing English. All you need is a microphone and speakers or headphones, and the program will perform like a personal tutor.

My ET has the capability of evaluating your speech capabilities, correcting your pronunciation, pitch, rhythm, and emphasis, according to the accent you select, and helps you learn how to express yourself effectively. My ET also provides you with an online community, and content you can customize and update according to your interests.

Beware Mac users – My ET will only work on a Windows system running Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher.


93 NetLingo

http://www.netlingo.com/

SPELLING | VOCABULARYTECHNICAL LANGUAGE

This site is useful for those who need to keep up with the changing vocabulary of the Internet. NetLingo is a Web dictionary to help explain the online world of business, technology, and communication. Terms are listed alphabetically and by topics that are regularly updated. Check in often to access new information and stay on the cutting edge of language on the Web!

94 NPR: Podcast Directory

http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_directory.php

ESL | LISTENING | READINGHISTORY AND CULTURE | NEWS | SOCIAL SCIENCE

Use this site to improve your listening and reading skills, to research es-says, or to just have some fun. American National Public Radio offers almost 300 podcasts organized in a topic index, along with supporting written material.

95 Online Citation Styles Reference Guide

http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/citex.html

WRITING

Citing research sources from the Internet is an ever-changing art that all students who write essays and research papers need to master. Have you ever wondered how to cite a Web page, an email message, or a discussion board posting? Here you will fi nd easy to follow, up-to-date information on how to cite Internet sources in Modern Language Association (MLA), Ameri-can Psychological Association (APA), Chicago, and other citation styles.


96 OWL (Original Site)

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/oldindex.html


The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University is one of the very best university English sites. Purdue makes its material on academic writ-ing, grammar, spelling, and punctuation available free to English students anywhere on the Web. There are handouts, PowerPoint presentations, a newsletter, and lots more for you to discover here.

Note: This is Purdue’s original site. Purdue is working on a new site, and the pages are listed in this Directory under The OWL Family of Sites.

97 The OWL Family of Sites

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/


The OWL (Online Writing Lab) has been around since 1993. Created at Purdue University, this is the granddaddy of sites offering help and informa-tion to college and university writers. The site has been newly constructed and looks like it will live up to the standards of the old site. It is very well designed and easy to follow.

Some key sections are:

• General Writing Concerns: Learn about planning, structuring, and edit-ing your work. Handouts, exercises, and a PowerPoint presentation are available.

• Grammar, Punctuation, and Spelling: Find handouts, interactive exer-cises, and PowerPoint presentations.

• Printer-friendly Handouts for English as a Second Language: Read about aspects of grammar that are diffi cult for ESL students, and use exercises to practise new skills.

• Research and Documenting Sources: Learn how to fi nd and evaluate Web-based research material, how to format and write an essay, and how to cite your reference sources according to Modern Language As-sociation (MLA) or American Psychological Association (APA) styles.


98 Paradigm Online Writing Assistant

http://www.powa.org/


Paradigm’s interactive writer’s guide and handbook covers how to develop topics for different types of essays, how to organize writing, and how to edit for grammar, punctuation, and capitalization. It has a separate section with tips to improve your spelling. The design is a little cluttered, but the content is solid and the site is easy to navigate. Paradigm is actually less commercial than it looks; the products to purchase are low-cost print or software versions of the handbook.

99 Project Gutenberg: Free eBooks

http://www.gutenberg.org/

READINGLITERATURE

If you want to improve your English, you have to read, read, read. Project Gutenberg, named for the inventor of the printing press, is an online project dedicated to making books whose copyright has expired in the United States free to readers. (It’s up to users to check a publication’s copyright status in their own countries.) There are 17,000 free eBooks available in almost 50 languages. The eBooks are organized using Library of Congress Classifi cation, and may be searched by author, title, or subject. Files are available in HTML, Plain Text, or Zip. The site is continuously maintained, and new material is added frequently.

Take the time to read the License and Trademark information before start-ing and try the following links: Online Book Catalog, Offl ine Catalogs, and Authors.


100 Rabble Podcasts Network

http://www.rabble.ca/rpn/

ESL | LISTENING | READINGHISTORY AND CULTURE | NEWS | SOCIAL SCIENCE

If you want to improve your listening skills, Rabble.ca produces and com-piles some of the very best in Canadian podcasts and online radio. The podcasts are arranged by theme and are accessible from a list at the top of the page. Some pages provide a “listen now” option; others require iTunes to work. The download is conveniently provided with each podcast. There is a defi nite slant to the left politically and socially.

Scroll down for brief descriptions of what you can fi nd in each section. There are too many sections to name them all here, but here is a short list of offerings to whet your appetite:

• Rabble Rumble: Listen to debates.

• Redeye: Take a close look at today’s political, social, and cultural issues.

• Rabble Docs: Listen to documentaries.

• Radio Book Lounge: Hear author interviews, reviews, and readings.

• Healing the Earth: Learn about environmental issues.

Note that the podcasts make take some time to download.

101 Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab

http://www.esl-lab.com/

ESL | LISTENING | VOCABULARY

This site offers practical listening comprehension exercises indexed by level and topic. Each lesson includes pre-listening, listening, and post-listening exercises.

The site is divided into fi ve sections:

• General Listening Exercises

• Listening Quizzes for Academic Purposes

• 20-Minute ESL Vocabulary Lessons

• Language Learning and Life Tips

• Long Conversations with RealVideo


The pronunciation is American. The audio is clear, and there is a transcript so that listeners can read along if they wish. Mac users should note that the audio is only available in RealMedia or Windows Player.

102 A Research Guide for Students

http://www.aresearchguide.com/

WRITING

This is an invaluable resource for anyone writing essays or making presenta-tions. Add it to your favourites right now! Research and essay writing are described in easy to follow chapters, all accessible from this page. You will learn how to search for information, arrange it, present it, cite it, and compile a bibliography of your sources. Scroll down to the bottom of the page for a complete list of chapters and links.

103 Selected Sites for ESL and EFL Students

http://iteslj.org/ESL.html

ESL

This is one of the very best directories of Web-based ESL material. The site lists links that are interesting and useful, with a minimum of advertis-ing and clutter. This is an essential and fun resource for students learning English as a second language.

Try these sections:

• The Complete List of Links is a source of downloads for MP3 fi les, podcasts, and pen pals, as well as exercises and quizzes.

• Vocabulary lists sites devoted to helping you improve your vocabulary.

• Treasure Hunts (Web Quests) to help you improve your reading and learn to research effectively on the Web. Choose a topic and then use the Internet to fi nd the answers to the questions posed, using the links and suggestions provided.


104 Self-Study Quizzes for ESL Students

http://a4esl.org/q/h/

ESL | GRAMMAR | VOCABULARY

There are more than 1,000 activities for ESL students here. There are quizzes under the following topics: Grammar, Places, Vocabulary, Idioms, Homonyms, Scrambled Words, and Miscellaneous. The quizzes require no special software, and they are accessible on portable devices. The site is a project of TESL Journal and it uses teachers’ contributions.

105 Seven Steps of the Research Process

http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill1.htm

WRITING

A leading American university takes you through seven steps in research-ing an essay. This hypertext document covers how to identify a topic, fi nd and evaluate sources, and cite sources using standardized formats. The subsections related to scholarly and non-scholarly sources are particularly helpful. Some links are only useful for Cornell University students, but there is enough content to make a visit to this site worth your time.

106 Shakespeare Illustrated

http://shakespeare.emory.edu/illustrated_index.cfm

READINGART AND IMAGES | HISTORY AND CULTURE | LITERATURE

Do you need help reading Shakespeare? Are you a visual learner? Here is a site for you. You will fi nd a wide range of art depicting the work of Shakespeare, indexed under his titles as well as under the artist names. The scenes depicted are annotated and linked to other images in the collection.


107 Sounds of English and Spanish

http://www.uiowa.edu/%7Eacadtech/phonetics/

ESL | LISTENING | SPEAKING

Many ESL students have trouble pronouncing particular sounds, and repeating the same mistakes can be frustrating. This Internet resource is the answer. Click the Launch English Library link on the left to load The Sounds of American English.

For each sound, there is an animated diagram showing how to move the jaw, lips, and tongue, and a video clip of a native speaker making the sound. If you need to learn how to make individual sounds, it’s hard to imagine a better resource – and it’s free.

You will need Flash Player Version 7 or higher to use this tool.

108 Speak Read Write

http://www.speak-read-write.com


This website, created by Sally Jennings, an ESL tutor based in British Columbia, is not to be passed up. At fi rst glance, it may be tempting to do so, because the site has an awkward visual design, without the special effects that recent Flash and top-of-the-line browsers offer. All too often, however, such sites are heavy on the glamour and low on instructional design.

This site is the complete opposite. Beginner to advanced adult English students will fi nd many hours’ worth of valuable exercises here that appeal to diverse learning strategies and needs. All the major skills are addressed: grammar, reading, writing, listening, speaking, and comprehension. The examples and short stories are current and relevant to daily life. Several activities focus on pronunciation and listening. The audio is lovingly provided by Sally herself and, while it may be a little on the heavy side (fi le size), it is clear, and presented in a very typical West Coast Canadian accent.


109 SQ4R: A Classic Method for Studying Texts

http://www.learningcommons.uoguelph.ca/ByTopic/Learning/Texts/ Fastfacts-SQ4R.html

READING

Improving your English means improving your reading, but it may not be easy at fi rst, especially if you are new to the language. SQ4R has been around since the 1960s and is taught in many college and university study skills programs. The method breaks down the task of reading into various steps: It is a useful tool to help native speakers and ESL students improve their comprehension of any non-fi ction text.

Although time-consuming and intensive at fi rst, once mastered, the SQ4R method will usually take only a few moments. Ultimately, it will enable you to restructure the way you think about the process of analyzing a text in any language.

110 Thesaurus.com

http://thesaurus.reference.com/

VOCABULARY | WRITING

Quickly look up words in a thesaurus, dictionary, or encyclopedia, browse links on grammar and style, or use the Word of the Day feature. Note that its translation engine is not highly recommended.

111 Topics: An Online Magazine for Learners of English

http://www.topics-mag.com/

ESL | GRAMMAR | READING | VOCABULARYHISTORY AND CULTURE | SOCIAL SCIENCE

This International online zine offers a place to exchange experiences, meet people from all over the globe, and discuss issues particular to learning a new language and living in a new culture. The Language Corner covers topics such as vocabulary, idioms and expressions, and grammar. Rather than offering exercises, readers are encouraged to submit writing based on the topics being discussed. There are online projects, book and movie reviews, and a travel section, all written by ESL students.


112 Using English for Academic Purposes: A Guide for Students in Higher Education

http://www.uefap.com/

ESL | LISTENING | READING | VOCABULARY | WRITING

This website is a complete course in using English for college and university reading and writing. For detailed information on how to become a more ef-fi cient reader, writer, speaker, and listener in English, this is an outstanding site. It provides explanations and exercises in listening, speaking, reading, writing, and vocabulary.

Check out the sections on note-taking and what to listen for in lectures – invaluable advice you may not fi nd anywhere else.

113 Utne.com

http://www.utne.com/

READING

Utne magazine provides interesting and challenging reading material to help you improve your comprehension and vocabulary, and it’s a great place to look for an interesting writing topic. The editors at Utne select and reprint what they consider the best content from more than 2,000 alternative media sources.

You can subscribe to Utne or take advantage of the many free links and audio material in MP3 format. Many (but not all) articles are fairly short. Each issue and its articles relate to a specifi c theme.

114 Voice of America: VOA News – Special English

http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/daily_radio.cfm

ESL | GRAMMAR | LISTENING | READING | SPEAKING | VOCABULARY | WRITINGHISTORY AND CULTURE | NEWS | SOCIAL SCIENCE

Voice of America has developed a Special English site aimed at the ESL learner. News stories are written in simple English, using a core vocabulary of about 1,500 words. Sentences are short and simple, and stories are read


at a slow pace, allowing you to follow along as you listen to the broadcast. The material is interesting and chosen from current news stories.

Follow the links on the left side of the page to fi nd Our Word Book, Radio Programs, Podcasts, and Games with Words. Don’t miss Wordmaster, where you can read and listen to stories. Check out the links at the bot-tom of the page: News Now, Learn English, Lida Baker (English lessons), Grammar Lady, and Slangman.

115 Virtual Training Suite

http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk

ESL | GRAMMAR | LISTENING | READING | SPEAKING | VOCABULARY | WRITINGART AND IMAGES | HISTORY AND CULTURE | NEWS | SCIENCE | SOCIAL SCIENCE | SPORTS

The Virtual Training Suite is part of Intute, an online service developed by a network of British universities and partners to provide free, high-quality Web resources in education and research. The many tutorials are listed alphabeti-cally within major subject areas. They focus primarily on job descriptions and fi elds of employment, thus enabling college-level students to acquaint them-selves with potential career paths while improving their reading abilities.

Each tutorial integrates text with listings of outside websites that offer additional information on the specifi c job or fi eld of study. There are few images included other than the icons that indicate the different sections of each tutorial.

Check out Internet Detective in the Additional Tutorials section. It is a neat, simple tool with a pleasing visual presentation and none of the problems you will see described below.

This site has both its positive and negative aspects. While it is interesting, content-rich, and supposedly interactive, there are some serious problems with usability.

Individual tutorials follow similar, but not identical, paths through the specifi c material they are presenting. The Welcome, Start, and Tour menus are repetitive, and you may get bored of seeing the same information reap-pear over and over again. The natural tendency is to skip ahead using the navigation bar on the left, but, because the information is not presented in the same format in each tutorial, the student may miss important steps or become confused. In addition, websites listed in the tutorials are not linked, so the student is obliged to use the Links Basket, a collection device which, although innovative, is a slow way to work and not one that most students are accustomed to using. Finally, the tutorials do not open in a separate window so it is tricky to fi nd your way back to the site’s home page.


This site will appeal to some, but not to others. It is worth a look, even with its weaknesses, but be prepared to go at a slower pace than you may be used to working online.

116 The Walrus Magazine

http://www.walrusmagazine.com/


This Canadian literary magazine provides a wide variety of reading material to improve your comprehension and vocabulary. Short fi ction and essays are featured. Columns like Field Notes and Culture are especially interesting. Free registration allows users to access past and current issues. Follow the link to The Walrus Interviews for access to more than 175 contemporary authors discussing their work. Read users’ comments and add your own comments to the blogs. Word games can be found in each issue under the heading Think Tank.

117 Wilfred Owen Multimedia Digital Archive

http://www.hcu.ox.ac.uk/jtap

ESL | LISTENING | READING | VOCABULARY | WRITINGART AND IMAGES | HISTORY AND CULTURE | SOCIAL SCIENCE

This site showcases primary sources with a focus on World War I poetry, photographs, and contemporary video and audio clips of interviews with vet-erans. Many of the clips are short visual essays that appear somewhat out of context when viewed alone, but are intended to be combined in the student’s own work to create virtual seminars. (Be careful how you use the sources and where you present your work – most of it is copyright-protected.)

The site structure encourages the development of something called Path Creation Schemes, a method of collecting and combining diverse yet related material so that a common theme emerges. A quote on the main page of this section references the fascinating must-read article of Vannevar Bush, “As We May Think” (Atlantic Monthly, July 1945), that literally predicts the invention of personal computers and the development of the Internet.

This site will appeal to students with an interest in World War I history and a de-sire for media-enhanced learning material. You will need RealPlayer, QuickTime, and/or Windows Media Player to access all the formats presented here.


118 World Wide Words

http://www.worldwidewords.org/

ESL | READING | VOCABULARY | WRITINGART AND IMAGES | HISTORY AND CULTURE | SOCIAL SCIENCE

World Wide Words is an essential site for anyone who wants to learn more about the English language. Michael Quinion answers questions from Internet fans, and writes articles about the origins of popular expressions and new or strange words that may not have made it into dictionaries. This is an excellent site for language learners but, because Quinion writes from a British perspective and uses a lot of wordplay and strange expressions, it may be more appropriate for intermediate and advanced students.

119 Zero Bio: Online Biology Quiz and Games Site

http://www.execulink.com/~ekimmel

READING | VOCABULARYSCIENCE | TECHNICAL LANGUAGE

In Québec, students study advanced science, biology, physics, and chemistry by Grade 11 for entry into Health Science, Pure and Applied Science, and Modifi ed or Preparation for Science college-level programs. This website, intended to support students in Grade 9 Science, Grade 11 Biology, and Grade 12 Biology in the rest of Canada, may prove to be an excellent tool for Québec Cégep students who are interested in studying the science disciplines and need to improve their English language skills to do so. Without even trying, you’ll improve your technical vocabulary and pick up a wealth of information on your chosen fi eld.

There are some ingenious browser-based and Flash activities related to typical science problems that parallel the classroom curriculum. Don’t miss the virtual Dissection Lab! (Warning: NOT for the squeamish or sensitive. While saving many frogs, this activity contains photographs and videos of actual dissections. On the other hand, it also addresses some common ethical concerns and answers questions many students are too shy to ask before an actual dissection.)

The activities on this site load quickly, even if your system and browser are not state-of-the-art. You will need Flash Player, Windows Media Player, and Internet Explorer to use all the available multimedia.

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The Internet Directoryfor English LanguageImprovement2007–2008

119of the best sites on the Webfor English learners

· Alphabetical· Analytical· Categorical· Lexical· Grammatical· Pedagogical· Practical· Technological· Topical