Vocabulary Unit 1 - What's the story?

Vocabulary Focus

Note: definition is chosen according to what meaning is given in the World Pass book.  Words can have other meanings.

al·ter   (ôltr) v. al·tered, al·ter·ing, al·ters v.tr.

1. To change or make different; modify: altered my will.

cov·er  (kvr) v. cov·ered, cov·er·ing, cov·ers

b. To be responsible for reporting the details of (an event or situation): Two reporters covered the news story.

go after Verb pursue an idea

go over

2. To examine or review: go over the test scores.

make up

4. To devise as a fiction or falsehood; invent: made up an excuse.

piece together

figure out what happened (World Pass-Upper Intermediate)

ver·i·fy  (vr-f)  tr.v. ver·i·fied, ver·i·fy·ing, ver·i·fies

2. To determine or test the truth or accuracy of, as by comparison, investigation, or reference:experiments that verified the hypothesis. 

Additional vocabulary

change a  / one's story - to change the details of a story

kill a story - to not publish a story that was ready to be printed or aired on TV.

con·se·quence  (kns-kwns, -kwns)
Something that logically or naturally follows from an action or condition

ex·pec·tant  (k-spktnt) adj.

1. Having or marked by expectation: an expectant look; an expectant hush.

fam·i·ly  (fm-l, fml) n. pl. fam·i·lies

1.

a. A fundamental social group in society typically consisting of one or two parents and their children.

fate  (ft) n.

1.

a. The supposed force, principle, or power that predetermines events.

magic charm  (chärm) n.

4. An item worn for its supposed magical benefit, as in warding off evil; an amulet.

sol·emnly  (slm) adj.

1. Deeply earnest, serious, and sober.

2. Somberly or gravely impressive.

sor·ry  (sr, sôr) adj. sor·ri·er, sor·ri·est

1. Feeling or expressing sympathy, pity, or regret:

stormy night - 
storm·y  (stôrm)

adj. storm·i·er, storm·i·est

1. Subject to, characterized by, or affected by storms; tempestuous.

vis·i·tor  (vz-tr) n.
1. a person who pays a visit; caller, guest, tourist, etc

wish  (wsh) n.

1. A desire, longing, or strong inclination for a specific thing.

loss  (lôs, ls) n.

1. The act or an instance of losing.

Your loss is my gain. 

Source: The Free Dictionary.com


Telling stories:
I'll never forget the time...
A couple of years ago...
Last summer...
It happened when...
One night...

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The Past Simple vs. the Present Perfect

Understanding the differences between the Present Perfect and the Simple Past can be confusing.  Here are the notes from the class and some links that can help you understand it.  I am also adding some exercises that you may try to test your understanding.

We use the Present Perfect (have been / have played / have done, etc.) when we talk about a time from the past until now - for example your life: Have you been to France? (in your life) No, I haven't. (Source: Basic Grammar in Use, Raymond Murphy)

	Present Perfect	Past Simple
Time Period	I have been to the theatre three times this week.  This week has not finished yet.	I went to the theatre last week. Last week is finished.
New or Old Information	Maria had a broken arm again.	Maria broke her arm last month.
Specific or Non-specific	I have been to Paris already.	I went to Paris two months ago.
Action Finished (´for´ o r ´since`)	I had lived in California for ten years.	I lived in California for ten years.

Online Sources for more information:
Use of Present Perfect

Exercises

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Using a Blog vs. a Wiki for English Class

This week I start my English classes for the Fall 2012.  I have been pondering all summer if I will use a Wiki or a Blog to enhance my communication with my students and their learning.  Since I have not been able to make up my mind as to which one will serve my purposes better, I am going to try out both. I will be using a wiki for my Pre-Intermediate class and a blog for my High Intermediate class.

So far I have found that a Wiki is a great way to upload resources for students to use which may or not be a drawback of a blog.  However, with a blog it seems that you can organize information into posts much better.  A wiki offers the benefit of having a discussion forum where students can discuss ideas among themselves, whereas a blog might only give them the opportunity to comment and get feedback from me.

Since I still have many questions I will not get a clear answer until I try. I am starting on this new adventure hoping to get some great insight into the best way of helping my students learn English using these new technologies.

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Welcome to Your English Class

Welcome to the Fall 2012 Trimester. I am excited to start class and I hope you are too.

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Aprendizaje Cooperativo - Luis Morales

Entrevista a Luis Morales Orozco sobre enseñanza mediante grupos de trabajo cooperativo. Luis es profesor en el United Nations International School.  Tambien es autor de "La integración lingüística del alumnado inmigrante. Propuestas para el aprendizaje cooperativo" (Editorial La Catarata).

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Conferencia de Pere Pujolàs - Aprendizaje Cooperativo

Conferencia de Pere Pujolàs "Aprendizaje

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Teaching Routines Saves Time and Headaches

Sometimes I have noticed in English learning classrooms the lack of classroom management especially in classes where the teacher is there only once or twice a week.  You have so little time that you are in a hurry to get started teaching English.  The problem is that the time you gain by starting right away is wasted by misbehavior and interruptions.  In his post "How to Teach Routines," Michael Linsin states that "Anything you ask your students to do repeatedly should be made into a routine."

I have found the hard way that taking the time to teach students routines is an invaluable time saver in the long run and it saves you lots of headaches in classroom management.  This summer in our Summer Camp we had rotations at the end of the day and I had to teach one lesson to two other classes as well as my own class.  My class was not a problem because we had spent time setting rules, modeling routines, getting to know each other, but the first day a new class of students came in for rotations I decided to skip any of that since we only had about 20 minutes for each rotation.  Well, needless to say, I had problems with misbehavior within the first five minutes of class.  I had to spend the rest of the class calling students attention over and over again.

The next time we had rotations I was a bit nervous these students were 13 and 14 and there was a group of them that loved to show off in front of each other.  But this time I was prepared to go over the rules and establish some basic routines.  When they came in I received them at the door and directed them to sit on the carpet, instead of allowing them to sit in any desk.  I then went over the rules and modeled some routines. I asked students to then model what they thought I was asking them to do.  When they seemed to be clear I told them they were allowed to pick their own seat, but that if they were not following the rules they would be promptly moved.  It took me about 10 minutes to do all this and the rest of the class went so smooth that when their teacher came to pick them up she couldn't believe it was her class.  The following weeks went just as smooth.

Obviously in a school year class you have to spend more time establishing routines.  If you are using Cooperative Learning the time required to teach routines is more extensive.  At my primary school we used to take about two to three weeks to establish routines and model the expected behaviors.  This doesn't mean we were not teaching the regular lessons while we did this, but all lessons taught were targeted to establish classroom routines. If you only have the students once or twice a week take the first two to three weeks to establish classroom routines and create a good classroom atmosphere it will pay back ten-fold in time saved and class productivity.

If you are teaching Infantil where the students are not reading yet take some pictures of students modeling the correct behavior and some not doing the correct behavior and post these so they are visible to students.  If you are moving from room to room you can make posters that you can take to each class. If you can use tacks to post the posters get sticky tape.  It sticks to the board and comes off clean.

Teaching adults will take less time to establish routines, but it is also necessary.  Sometimes adults students can be very chatty or they ask you a question and start chatting among themselves without giving you a chance to answer. Given that most adults taking classes also have jobs, sometimes tardiness can become a problem.  Establish routines of how they should come in so that you minimize class disruptions.

What strategies do you use to establish routines in your English classes.

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Great Game for Learning American Idioms

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Para aprender ingles primero cree que puedes

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right.” 
― Henry Ford

 

Esta cita de Henry Ford, siempre me ha gustado, porque tiene mucha razón.  Si no creemos poder lograr algo no pondremos de nuestra parte lo necesario para lograrlo y será un hecho que no lo logremos.  En cambio si creemos que podemos lograrlo haremos todo lo necesario para lograrlo y lo lograremos.  
Esto nos pasa cuando pensamos en aprender un idioma.  Si creemos que podemos aprender a hablar inglés lo conseguiremos porque tomaremos los pasos necesarios para lograrlo ya sea tomar cursos, clases privadas, internet, viajar a un país anglosajón o cualquier forma que nos permita aprenderlo.  Pero si no creemos que podemos aprender aunque tomemos cursos, clases privadas u otras formas no lo aprenderemos porque no aprovecharemos esas oportunidades.

He tenido muchos estudiantes que me dicen "Es que yo no puedo aprender inglés, se me da muy mal." lo primero que tengo que hacer es cambiarles ese pensamiento, demostrarles que si quieren y creen, pueden.  
Antes de tomar un curso o clases privadas decide que si puedes, que si en el pasado no has podido, no ha sido porque se te de mal, si no porque no te supieron enseñar.  Asegúrate que el curso que vas a tomar es el mejor que hay, que su sistema de enseñanza no es uno que solo enseña gramática o vocabulario desconectado, si no un sistema integrado que lo enseña de una forma más natural que te brinda muchas oportunidades de practicar.

Primero,comienza por identificar específicamente los resultados que deseas. Luego crea y desarrolla las acciones que van a darte esos resultados. Por último, examina lo que crees sobre esas acciones para ver si te están deteniendo. 

Por ejemplo si quieres aprender inglés identifica primero que nivel tienes y que nivel te gustaría tener.  Si tienes un nivel Básico, pues en un año de cursos de dos días a la semana con hora y media de estudio podrías subir al nivel pre-intermedio.  Si tienes un nivel intermedio en el mismo tiempo podrías subir al nivel avanzado. Eso si asegurándote que no solo vas a clase, si no que haces todas las tareas, participas en la clase, lees, escuchas ingles y si puedes haces intercambios para que puedas practicar fuera de clase.

Y si no te puedes convencer que puedes, ocupa tu tiempo en otra cosa, porque no puedes ir contra lo que crees, es ir contra la corriente.  Pero yo te aconsejo que te des una oportunidad y celebres cada nueva palabra, frase que vas aprendiendo, porque cada una te llevara mas cerca de la meta, cada vez entenderas mas.

Me encantaria saber de como has logrado mejorar tu ingles.

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It's Your Choice to Learn English

"Teachers can open the door but it's your choice whether to walk through or not"

You can be in the best English school or academy, you can have a dedicated an talented teacher, but if you are not willing to put your part into learning English there is only little a teacher can do for you.  If you decide to walk through and commit yourself to learning English you will.

When I first went to the university for my Bachelor's Degree I failed to make the transition from High School a system where if you did not do your work you got in trouble with your teachers and your parents.  At the university the teacher's had no time to give consequences for not doing your work, the consequences were a big fat bad grade and then you got called into the Dean's office if you were not keeping the required grade average and put on probation.  But if you were able to stay within the ... you were ok.  The problem was I was not learning as much as I could be.  Once I graduated I realized the big mistake I had made when I began to work and did not have the skills I needed for the job.

My second time around at the University to get my teaching credential my attitude was totally different.  I studied to learn, not to get a good grade and ironically not only did I learn so much more, I also got a 4.0 grade average, straight A's (sobresalientes) all the way.  The final reward was when I started working and I was able to apply my knowledge to my teaching.

So if you have decided you want to study English, make a real commitment to learn as much as you can, so that not only will you get good grades, you will have the skills required to speak English fluently.

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Using Youtube to Improve Your English

One great way that I have found to improve your English Listening skills is to watch TV or Movies in English.  Theatres with Version Original movies in Madrid are not the norm as a matter of fact ironically there are not that many with all the interest there is in learning English you would think there would be more.  Considering all my students claim that countries that don't voice over their media speak a lot more English than Spain, yet when I assign them to watch at least :30 minutes in V.O. they moan and groan because the subtitles available are in Spanish.

So I tried to find other venues where my students could watch original version series with English subtitles.  I
found that many Youtube videos of American TV series have the option for subtitles, others have the text available and yet others are available with Closed Caption.  You have to be careful with the Closed Caption because sometimes the translation is way off, but a lot of them are pretty accurate.

Do a search for their favorite American series on Youtube like "Big Bang Theory with subtitles in English" the search will list some with the following: CC for Closed Captions, but others will have subtitles and not have the CC icon.  The other option some of these videos have is Interactive Transcript which has all the story text in a small window.

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How to Get Your English Teaching Organized

At a Teacher Conference toward my third year teacher a colleague showed me the book that would have saved me so much headache had I had it on my first year.  "The Organized Teacher."  A lifesaver even for experienced teacher's.  The authors have taken so much guess work out of organizing your first year and provide so many templates and visuals.

The visual format of this guide is specially helpful for the busy teacher who has many other things to work on other than reading very heavy text instructions. It has many charts, templates, checklists and reproducibles. 

It has information on First-Day checklists, sample room setups, classroom management, including many class signals, classroom organization, planning fieldtrips and more.  

Now there is a book by the same authors specifically for first year teachers, who unfortunately will find the principal's hardly ever have enough time to do a thorough training and other teachers, although willing might not remember how much you don't know on the first year.  Actually I think this book would be an excellent teacher graduation present, so if you have just graduated or have a friend who has this would be an welcomed gift.

These books are not the type you get excited about at the bookstore and then when you buy them find you don't have the time to read them.  They sat on my bookshelf and were I always referred back to them.

The series also has a book on Classroom Management and one called "The Creative Teacher" which are all done in the same format with lots of graphics, checklists and super simple step by step directions.

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Using Eric Carle books to Teach English

One great way to teach Young Learner's English and make it both enriching and more effective is to teach with Children's Literature.  Of course you have to adapt the Literature you use to your ELL students level.  If your students are in 4th of primary or lower, one great author to use is Eric Carle.  His books have highly predictable text which helps develop vocabulary and at the same time help comprehension.

His most well known books "The Hungry Caterpillar" and "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See" have been helping children in the United States learn since the 60's.

In the book "Slowly, slowly, slowly,' said the Sloth" the adverb slowly is repeated throughout the book giving the teacher a chance to have the ELL students, after a first reading, join in choraling the repeating text.  Although the text is predictable it is not by any means uninteresting, the students can learn a wide English vocabulary that is beautifully illustrated.  Plus like in all of Eric's books it gives ELL children a message in a way that they can understand.

Check Eric's Official Website for more information on his great books. There is also a Caterpillar Exchange where with ideas for using Carle's books in your classroom. And if you become a Carle fan here is a link to his Blog.

One activity I often do with my students after reading his books is to make a drawing of their favorite part of the book. Depending the age of the students I can simply ask them to copy a title for their illustration. If they are older and able to write more I ask them to write a sentence or two about their favorite part.  Depending on their English level I sometimes give them a writing prompt such as "My favorite part of "Title" was_______________.  If their English level is higher I ask them to tell me why.  I've used this effectively with children from 3 to 6th grade.

Please share some fun ways you use Carle's or other children's books to teach Young Learner's English.

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Using Cooperative Learning in CLIL

Teaching English in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is a better way than the old teach grammar, where students know all the tenses of the verb to be but have no idea how to use it in a conversation.  But CLIL by itself isn't the answer either.

Teaching Science in English and using the old Teacher Directed method where the teacher is the only one getting a lot of practice speaking English while the students are just bystanders will not get much better results in improving students' English and it will have disastrous effects on their learning science.

In order for students to improve their English skills, they need to have opportunities to practice not only listening to a lot of foreign words, but to be able understand what they are hearing and lots and lots of opportunities to speak, to write and to read and should be as real as possible.  When I say real, I mean it should be as connected and representative of things in their real life as possible.

I had someone once tell me that students could not learn a language without learning grammar.  She was right, but nobody as an infant has had to learn the rules and verbs of their grammar in order to speak their language, they learned their grammar in the context of what they were learning.

This is where Cooperative Learning can really improve CLIL classes.  In Cooperative Learning students are active participants of their learning and by doing so are getting many opportunities to speak in English to their peers, to their teacher.  The teacher is a guide in the learning by Front-loading the new vocabulary.  Using images and realia to make the new words as real as possible.  The teacher also teaches students the skills they need to work effectively in groups. Research shows that Cooperative Learning increases retention which is what ELL need, instead of learning lots of new words that they forget as soon as they leave the classroom.

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Creating a Safe and Fun Classroom Environment

Teaching English to Adults was new to me, so when I first started I was a bit nervous. I knew that many Spanish Adults although they might have a high level in reading and grammar did not feel as confident in speaking and listening. Therefore I relied on what I knew about teaching children and decided to use some of those same concepts to create a safe and fun classroom environment where they would be comfortable taking risks to speak.

Establish an atmosphere of Mutual Respect
Being prepared for my classes was essential to showing my students that I respected the time they took from their busy schedules to come to class. Respecting their time to answer questions.  Sometimes we are in such a hurry to cover the material we have prepared that we don't give our students enough wait time for them to formulate their answers. Correcting them respectfully and knowing my students enough to know who I could correct publicly and who I couldn't.  I also let my students know that they have a say in what we cover in class. I have them turn in questions on a sheet of paper the size of a post-it note and then go over the answer with them at the beginning of the next class or if it is something the whole class can benefit from I do a short lesson at the beginning of the next class.

Establish Goals from the Beginning
At the beginning of the term I have them establish goals for themselves and celebrate with them when they have reached them.  One of my students goals was to be able to go on a trip and rely on her English speaking abilities to get around.  This past week she went on a trip, she told me that it was the first time that she had gone on a trip where she had to be in charge of the communication and that she was able to do it because her friend did not speak English.  She shared it with the class and we all congratulated her.

Modify Your Lessons
They also know that I am willing to modify lessons if the lesson is not working for them.  I was teaching ed endings for regular verbs one time and they were just not getting it I told them we would go on to something else and I would go back to the drawing board and we would try another time.  When we tried again with some manipulatives where they had to figure out what patterns determine what sound to use the lesson went a lot smoother and I have seen some definite improvement.

Laugh
Laught at yourself when you make mistakes.  Make it OK to make mistakes. I was teaching the prepositions "in, at and on" and I misread a sentence and thought it said "The roses are in the field", it turns out it was Horses and not Roses, so the proposition should be on the field and we all laughed.  One of my students the other day said "my girlfriends" and I asked "Does your girlfriend know you have more than one. He started laughing and said "Oh, I am glad she wasn't here to hear me," and then we all laughed with him. We have fun together and it makes it easier for them to let go and make mistakes because they are practicing more.

Go the Extra Mile
Finally go the extra mile.  Since the class started I have been emailing them different links for them to improve their listening and comprehension.  Directing them to resources that are available to them, so that they continue to make progress.  I also push them to do their best to improve their level and constantly make comments on their improvements. My greatest reward is to see them make progress and they know that.

The other day when my boss came to observe, she said that they were speaking a lot more than she expected for an Lower Intermediate class, I thought about it and realized how far they have come.

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Improving Response to Literature for YL

When I taught 4th graders they had to prepare for the California State writing test. Since the genre of the test changed every year we had to make sure students where prepared for Narrative and Response to Literature.  The test was in January and I knew that the students wouldn't be ready if I just did a unit on Response to Literature.  So what I did was to teach each them part of a good response to literature and then created a form that covered all the areas of a good response and distributed each part for each weekday.  Students had to read 30 minutes per night, so I had them do a short response every night.  We first practiced with the form in class for a week and then I sent it home with them.  This really helped them be prepared when we finally did the Response to Literature unit and they were ready for the test.

Later when I moved to 1st grade I adapted it so that it could still target the same RL parts but at their level.  This was really successful it not only helped with their comprehension, but as time went by, their responses got longer and their writing improved.  Their confidence when we did read-alouds also improved because they new what character traits were, setting, connections, what they like or not about the reading and were able to do a retell of the story.

On Monday I had them work on Character Traits. I simplified it by having them draw what the character looked like, then I taught them different adjectives they could use to describe a character and each time we read a book they chose one character trait and made a sentence explaining why they thought the character had that trait.  I taught them setting, so on Tuesdays the form asked them to draw the setting with as much details as they could draw and write about the connections they could make to the book they were reading. Wednesday was the day to draw a picture of their favorite part of the book and write what they liked or not about the book and explain why or why not.

Then on Thursdays they wrote a Summary about what had happened in the story.  At the beginning of the year I would have a space for Beginning, Middle and End of the story.  Then as they got better at it I took that out and had them just write a Summary.  For more advanced students who were reading longer books I had them adapted to the part they had read so far that week.

Now I am using it with my bilingual/binational students who are 2nd and 3rd graders, but since they do not attend an all English school and we only meet once a week I am using the simpler form, but they have been making great strides although they had not worked with any of the RL parts in the past.

I have the students keep them in a binder so that we can go back and see the progress they have made in their writing, drawing and responses.  If you are interested in getting a PDF of the file please email me.

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Best of Youtube for ELL classes

My adult students had been asking me for more resources to practice their listening skills.  I found some but they were for more advanced students.  So in my research I found that many Youtube videos of American TV series have the option for subtitles, others have the text available and yet others are available with Closed Caption.  You have to be careful with the Closed Caption because sometimes the translation is way off, but a lot of them are pretty accurate, you just have to see the episode before you use it.

Teach your students to do a search for their favorite American series on Youtube like "Big Bang Theory with subtitles in English" the search will list some with the following: CC for Closed Captions, but others will have subtitles and not have the CC icon.  The other option some of these videos have is Interactive Transcript which has all the story text in a small window.

I use choose some videos to show with my class that have the different options so that they can see what is available.  I then can assign them as homework.  The day I assign them a video as homework I front-load the vocabulary by giving them a list of words and definitions that they might not understand in the video.  If there are any idioms or phrases I think they might have trouble with I include those also and I have a small quiz the next time we meet.  In this way they are able to enjoy an English video with less frustration and more success and some students start watching these on their own.

For those videos that have the Interactive Transcript, I provide my students with the transcript and ask to look for phrases, idioms or grammar we have been working in class.  These are some of the ways I use Youtube subtitled videos I would love to hear if you have any other ideas.

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Read Write Think-Excellent Young English Learner Site

I am always looking for ways to use online resources to teach English to kids. I discovered the Read Write Think website when I was teaching my 3rd grade English learners.  The first section I started using was their Letter generator because learning the parts of a friendly letter was a 3rd grade standard in California.

Read Write Think has many such online activities that are easy for kids learning english to practice their English language skills. One that I have also used effectively with my ELL's is the Comic Generator to practice Dialogue.  My students also used it to practice different grammar exercises.  For example we used it to practice have to, must and have got to.  When they finish kids can print their comic strips to share with the class or save them as a PDF’s and email them to you.  These are just two of the many interactives that are available in this site.

For teachers teaching English the site also has Lesson Plans and a wonderful section for Professional Development with Guides for Persuasive Writing, Choral Reading, Making Connections and many more.  Additionally the site has webinars and E-workshops for many strategies.

Check it out it is a wonderful resource for teaching English to kids and come back and share some of the ways that you or Young Learners have used it.

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Practice English Listening Skills Online

I discovered Storyline Online a few years ago when I was teaching Young English language learners in 3rd grade. I was trying to find English books online that were read aloud to improve their reading, listening and pronunciation skills.  My Young Learners loved it because they were popular books they had seen before and they liked seeing the famous actors reading these books.

Storyline Online, is an on-line streaming video program featuring SAG members reading childrens books aloud!   Each book includes accompanying activities and lesson ideas.  Actors read popular Young learner picture books like "Rainbow Fish", "Stellaluna" and many more. You have the option of having captions on or off which help Young English learners practice listening skills, while being supported by the subtitles.  These books have beautiful animated illustrations directly from the book. The Lessons and comprehension activities are great to evaluate students understanding of English and their listening skills.

I have used these videos with Young Learners as well as Adults and have had great success with them.

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Raz Kids Online Reading

I've been using Raz Kids with my students for a few years now with nothing but positive results.  I have now started using it with my adult ESL students with great results also.  At first I was not sure if the adults would like the stories because they are targeted to children, but up to now none of them seem to mind.  They love the fact that they can read at their level.  The other feature of Raz Kids that my ELL students love is being able to listen to the stories while they read them.  Since listening skills are what most of my students have difficulty with Raz Kids gives them excellent practice on this.  It is also an excellent way of practicing the correct pronunciation of words.

Words are highlighted in red as they are read out loud.

COMPREHENSION
The comprehension part of Raz Kids is also a great feature, because it makes students responsible for what they are reading.  It tests vocabulary, recall, inference, details and more.  Students have to get 100% on the quizzes in order to move up to the next reading level.  The non-fiction comprehension tests are pretty challenging.

LEVELED BOOKS
The differentiated reading instruction of Raz Kids animated leveled books is invaluable.  The levels available start from AA through Z level.  AA level is for beginning readers and the Z level is for fluent readers with higher comprehension skills (5th grade native English speakers)  Each level has about ten books both fiction and non-fiction.  Students can: Listen to books for modeled fluency.  Read books with pronunciation and vocabulary support.  Words that may be higher than the students level are clickable and Raz Kids can either read the word out loud or in higher levels give them a definition of the word.

RECORD STUDENTS
Students can also record their reading and the teacher can listen to the recordings to evaluate the reading.  You can also use this as a measurement of their reading or pronunciation improvement.

Try it out and let me know how it goes with your students.

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Starfall.com

Starfall is a great online free software that allows kids to learn to read in English with phonics in a fun way.  It has great graphics and activities. The animations and sounds are wonderful.  One of the features is the English alphabet where students can learn both the name of the letter and it's sound as well as pictures of words that have that sound in them and even simple games to test what they have learned.

As children learn the different letters they can progress through learning English words with other phonics sounds. For children that are emergent English readers Starfall has simple stories that children can read on their own and for words they can't read or pronounce it gives them the opportunity to click and have the words read to them. Starfall has different sections which children can progress through or can start on depending on their English level. The more advanced section has plays, nonfiction reading, comics and more.  The best thing about Starfall is that children enjoy it and if they are having fun they are learning.

My daughter began to use Starfall when she was two when the only language she knew was Spanish.  Starfall helped her develop her English vocabulary.  By the time she was 6 years old she was reading at 4th grade level (in part thanks to Starfall.)  She loved listening to the phonics songs and listening to the phonics books.  She still enjoys going to Starfall for its poems and activities. 

I used Starfall with my 1st grader English Learners who where having a difficulty with reading and they love it.  It gave them a chance to learn new English words and practice reading the words they new how to read while supporting them with those they didn't know.  They also loved the animations and the games.

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