English Language Teachers - Recently Updated Pages

Child Language Acquisition

roamingteacher — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 05:32:14 CDT

LINKS HERE (attachments at bottom of page):

Andrew Moore's section
A great starting point for students and teachers.

CHILDES (Child Language Data Exchange System)
Good stuff throughout including extracts of child speech as well as transcriptions. Also, have a look under 'topics' for useful resources. Worth a thorough browse.

Beth Kemp's Site
This section of Beth's site has lots of bitesize revision notes for introducing or revising the topic of CLA.

General Activities

roamingteacher — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 04:43:40 CDT

[ATTACHMENTS AT BOTTOM OF PAGE]

Use this page to add your tried-and-tested activity ideas and templates.

OFF TOPIC

roamingteacher — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 04:05:43 CDT

Well, every education site needs one, right? Here you can post attachments, discussions or anything else unrelated to A-Level Language teaching. So, feel free to dish out your advice / resources / comments on anything KS3 or KS4 or beyond...

English Language Teachers Home

roamingteacher — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 08:16:51 CDT

Welcome to OUR site where we can share ideas, share resources, let off some steam and support each other through the maze that is the English Language. This site is open to all so if you want to take a more productive role in building the site, you can apply to be a writer anytime. The reason we've decided not to make this automatic is to ensure people are clear about their role and don't accidentally delete content - even the more IT savvy of us can have our moments!

Anyway, use the menu on the left to get started and feel free to make suggestions for additional pages and content.

As a handy tip, it's always worth hitting the 'Updates' button when you call in to the site. This way, you'll be able to see clearly what's been going on since your last visit, including recently added pages, new discussion threads (as well as who's been on them) and any links or attachments that have been added.

BTW - the WIKI is moderated to an extent as I am on it daily myself and check new content, but if you come across anything that is questionable, please do flag it and one of the writers will delete it if deemed offensive.

That's it for now.
Enjoy!
Abena (aka Roaming Teacher)

LINKS TO EXAM BOARD PAGES FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE AS/A2

WJEC
Edexcel
OCR
AQA

Progress Checks & Tests

roamingteacher — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 02:46:28 CST

This page can be used to post and download tests used to check students' progress on the English Language course. It will be helpful if posters can give as much detail as possible as to what is tested on each paper. Word versions will be more useful than pdfs so teachers can edit the tests to suit their own classes. Of course, if you adapt a test, please do upload it again so we all get the benefit...

Language - Spoken

roamingteacher — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:26:10 CST

This page is intended for aspects specifically related to spoken language. Of course there will be a lot of overlap with written (and everything in between) so don't forget to check other pages for relevant content too.

For some digestible insights to spoken language, why not have a listen to some of these programs while you work on your computer - effortless for students too...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/routesofenglish/index.shtml

For information, resources and tons more on accent and dialect around the UK, you can't get better than this website...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/

Videos

roamingteacher — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:03:10 CST

Ideas on how to exploit these videos can be discussed on the threads at the bottom of the page. And if you find any more, let us know so they can be added to the player.

Articles

roamingteacher — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 05:49:13 CST

A place to post links or documents containing news articles related to English Language matters.

To the left is a continually-updated language blog run by staff and students of English Language at Middlesex University in London.

LINKS HERE (attachments at bottom of page):

http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com - a blog for students and teachers

http://englangteacher.wordpress.com - particularly useful for those following AQA A, doing ENGA2

Study Skills

roamingteacher — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:03:22 CST

Not exclusive to our subject, but something we have to pass on nonetheless. Post links and documents to help your students with organising themselves, writing academic essays or anything else that will support their studies.

LINKS HERE (attachments at bottom of page):

Using English for Academic Purposes - A Guide for Students in Higher Education

A handy grid for students to determine their learning styles from Beth Kemp

Lexis

roamingteacher — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 10:45:28 CST

The lexis of the language is its vocabulary. With over a million words in English, “what kind of vocabulary is being used in this text” could be a bit of a daunting question. What we need, in order to carry out rapid stylistic analysis, is a system of lexical classification to draw on. There are many such systems – each with different strengths and limitations as an account of the English lexicon. The important thing at AS is to be aware of some of the lexical categories, so the following exercises will help you do just that.

Improve your WORD POWER by keeping an eye on the Word for the Day on this page.

LINKS HERE (attachments at bottom of page):

http://www.worldwidewords.org/index.htm
If serious about language, this is the site for your A* students. Michael Quinion’s renowned site explores the English language from a British viewpoint. There are more than 2,000 pages available, with fresh ones added each week. He discusses new terms, displays weird words, gets behind words and phrases in the news and answers questions. A weekly newsletter by e-mail and RSS keeps you in touch.

http://www.affixes.org/
These pages contain examples of all four types of affixes in English:

A prefix is put at the beginning of a word to adjust or qualify its meaning, for example de-, non-, and re-.
A suffix is put at the end of a word to form a derivative, such as -ation, -fy, -ing, frequently one that converts the stem into another part of speech.
A combining form can be either a prefix or a suffix but the difference is that a combining form adds an extra level of meaning to the word.
An infix is placed within a word. These are rare in English. They most often appear as the linking vowels -i- and -o- between a prefix and its stem or a stem and its suffix to prevent two consonants clashing.

http://www.freerice.com/
If you're not doing anything else, why not improve your word power while feeding the hungry too? For each answer you get right, Freerice donate 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program. WARNING: This game may make you smarter. It may improve your speaking, writing, thinking, grades, job performance...

http://www.visuwords.com/
This FAB tool allows you to see the denotations and connotations of words in a visually-appealing diagram. Great for those learners that prefer something a bit more picture-like. Be sure to check this one out for lexis work. Why not try the term 'black' and see how it compares with your own and the dictionary definitions you looked up in class?

http://www.dowlingcentral.com/MrsD/area/literature/Terms/Connotation.html Have a look at the exploration of connotation on this page. There are some exercises for you to use or a simple quiz at the bottom of the page for independent study.

Fun with Language

roamingteacher — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 10:34:19 CST

Click on the links below to get started and pass on any suitable content to your students.

oOo

Fun With Words
Fun-with-words.com is dedicated to amusing quirks, peculiarities, and oddities of the English language: wordplay. Playing with words and language is both entertaining and educational. Here you can have plenty of fun with words with over 500 pages of word puzzles, games, amazing lists, and fun facts.

oOo

http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/basketball/index.html
Nouns - test your knowledge of the difference between proper, common nouns and other types of words in this simple basketball game. (Beginner)

oOo

http://www.funbrain.com/grammar/
Grammar Gorillas are here to test your knowledge of word classes. Choose the 'advanced' version and be ready to feel like primary school days again! (Beginner)

Language - Written

roamingteacher — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 10:32:01 CST

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

Language & Technology

roamingteacher — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 10:25:49 CST

LINKS HERE (attachments at bottom of page):

Andrew Moore's section

Language & Gender

roamingteacher — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 10:23:47 CST

LINKS HERE (attachments at bottom of page):

Andrew Moore's section
The Ladies' Room

Language & Power

roamingteacher — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 10:23:32 CST

LINKS HERE (attachments at bottom of page):

Andrew Moore's section

Language & Social Contexts

roamingteacher — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 10:17:39 CST

Here, we can share resources under the different topics to do with Language. Navigate the the relevant page by clicking on the menu on the left or below. If there is a page you think should be here, start it or let us know...

The Steam Room

roamingteacher — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 10:15:43 CST

We all get a bit narked by things now and again - it's all part of the job, isn't it? So if the latest announcement from the DFES, a colleague or student gets your goat, have a rant about it here. Use the discussion threads below to start your topic and see how much sympathy you can garner. Or if you're just a bit controversial by nature and like to stir things up a bit (for example, by suggesting apostrophes SHOULD go), post your ideas and links below.

Just remember to be (fairly) nice!

Grammar

roamingteacher — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 10:07:50 CST

Looking for yet another way to try and get a grammar point across to your struggling students? Not sure about the difference between the past perfect progressive and the infinitive? Look no further! This page is here to allow us to ask, answer and share anything related to those grammar gremlins that get us all at one time or another. To start off, why not have a look at these grammar vids and check the links below? If you've any other videos that you've come across, be sure to let me know so I can add it to the playlist below. It is handier if they are YouTube but it's not necessary.

One more point - before asking a grammar-related question, it's probably worth doing a search using the box on the left (on top of the page menu) to see if there's already been a thread on your query. This will stop the page getting too big to be of practical use and of course if the thread doesn't quite answer your question, you can always start a new one.
Thanks,
Abena

LINKS

Steve Campsall's brilliant site can be found here. Have a good look around for help with much more than just grammar.
Andrew Moore's godsend of a site can be found here. This time starting with a guide to 'The Structure of English'
The Internet Grammar of English is an online course in English grammar and does not assume any prior knowledge of grammar.

Resources for Students

Ms_Baiden — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 09:25:17 CST

There is no abstract available for this page revision.