Resources for English Language Teaching

VOA Learning English Staff

eLearning at VOA Learning English• All feature stories and news articles

– Read-along audio

– Vocabulary highlights

• Learning English TV, English in a Minute and News Words

– Video with transcript on screen; explanations of words & idioms

• American Stories

– Classic literature with video read-along, lesson plans, & quizzes

• Live Skype sessions: TALK2US

– Callers can discuss the day’s topic with a staff member

• Blog: Confessions of an English Learner

– Visitors can write in response to prompts and get feedback from staff

• Facebook & Twitter

– Visitors are guided to specific stories and asked to comment

VOA Learning English – Level 1Our website visitors ask, what do the three levels mean? Here is what you will find in each level:

Level One consists of shorter stories, photos, video, and stories with easier vocabulary. (See the VOA Word Book)• Shorter news stories: "As it Is"• Brief news summaries: "In the News"• Video news stories with subtitles in English: "Learning English TV"• News photos with short descriptions in English: "The Day in Photos"• Explanations of English idioms and expressions: "Words and Their

Stories" and "English in a Minute"

VOA Learning English – Level 2Level Two contains news, health and lifestyle, culture, history, science, and business.

• Feature stories on music, pop culture and life in the US: American Mosaic" and "Entertainment"

• News stories about the United States: "USA"

• A series about the history of the United States: "Making of a Nation"

• Stories about science and technology: "Science in the News" and "Science and Technology"

• Health & Lifestyle stories: Diet and memory, Western and Eastern medicine

• Video explanations of words in the news: "News Words"

• Stories about business and economics: "Business"

VOA Learning English – Level 3

Level Three features literature, conversation, education, and writing.

• Works of literature by American authors: "American Stories"

• Staff conversations with callers: "TALK2US"

• Blog on writing in English: "Confessions of an English Learner"

• Articles on education, testing, and writing: "Education"

Critical Thinking as a Basis of English Instruction

The National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking defines critical thinking as the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.

Education trends in the US aim at teaching critical thinking.

Critical Thinking requires higher-level academic language functions. These are the focus of teaching Academic English. Our lesson plans are based on the Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA), which incorporates academic language, learning

strategies, and academic content.

Teaching about U.S. Civics

Recent VOA Articles on democratic participation

• The Declaration of Independence

• The Constitution

• The Electoral College

Recent voting issues

• US Supreme Court Allows Texas Voter ID Law

• US Politicians Target Asian American Voters

• Americans Debate Illegal Immigration

Making of a Nation

Making of a Nation is a series on U.S. history that VOA Learning English produces. A lesson plan and quiz accompany each of these stories.

• Grant Leads Union to Victory at Shiloh, but With a Cost

• McClellan Approaches Richmond...And Waits

• Iron Ships Clash at Sea

• South Defeats North Again at Manassas

• Lincoln Says He Will Free Most Slaves in the South

• Battle of Gettysburg Ends the South’s Hopes

• Actor Shoots Lincoln, Calls Him a Tyrant

• The Civil War Ends

American Stories

These stories are in video form with illustrations and subtitles. A lesson plan and

quiz accompany each of the stories.

• A Piece of Red Calico by Frank Stockton

• A White Heron by Sarah Orne Jewett

• Luck by Mark Twain

• One Thousand Dollars by O. Henry

• The Boy on Graves-End Road by Caty Weaver

• The Californian's Tale by Mark Twain

• The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe

• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

• The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry

• The Open Boat by Stephen Crane

Words and Their Stories

These stories explain common English idioms and expressions

• Are you in the Homeland Generation?

• Don't Get Caught in a Catch-22

• Words and their Stories: Boxing Expressions

• A Halloween Special: The Devil is Everywhere

• You Don't Have to Be a Rocket Scientist to Read This

• Baseball Terms

• Birds and Their Stories

• Hey, I'm Workin' for Chickenfeed Here!

• Wildcats: Congressmen, Money, Oil Wells and Strikers

• This Story Is 'The Cat's Meow!'

Questions & Comments?

This presentation can be downloaded from http://www.slideshare.net/dclanguagegeek/