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Explore reading basics as well as the key role of background knowledge and motivation in becoming a lifelong reader and learner. Watch our PBS Launching Young Readers series and try our self-paced Reading 101 course to deepen your understanding.

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Once Upon a Picture - Images to Inspire - Teaching Resources

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Once Upon a Picture - Images to Inspire - Teaching Resources

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Online dictionaries are available for many different languages. This page contains links to as many as I can find.

If you find a link that is no longer working or that has moved, or would like to add a new link to this page, please contact me

Dictionaries for individual languages

Multilingual dictionaries | Visual dictionaries

Other websites with links to online dictionaries

Abaza
http://www.abazinka.ru/en
Information about Abaza | Numbers

Abenaki

Information about Abenaki | Numbers

Afrikaans dictionaries

Albanian dictionaries

Alsatian dictionaries

American Sign Language (ASL) dictionaries

Amharic dictionaries

http://www.amharicdictionary.com
http://aemd.org

Learn Amharic with uTalk

Ancient Egyptian dictionaries

Arabic dictionaries

- Learn Arabic online with ArabicPod101

- TalkInArabic.com - learn colloquial Arabic of Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, the Levant, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Sudan or Tunisia

- eArabic Learning - Learn Arabic Online with Live Teachers

- Learn Arabic online with Mondly

Arabic courses and other resources available on Amazon

Information about Arabic | Phrases | Numbers | Video lessons | Tower of Babel | Articles | Links | Learning materials | Books about the Arabic script | Arabic electronic dictionaries and translators

Aramaic dictionaries
http://www.peshitta.org/lexicon/
Armenian dictionaries

Aromanian dictionaries

Assamese dictionaries
http://www.xobdo.org
Learn Assamese with uTalk

Aymara dictionaries
http://www.lenguandina.org/
Azeri dictionaries

Learn Azerbaijani with uTalk | Learn Azerbaijani with Glossika (affiliate links)

Balinese dictionaries
http://dictionary.basabali.org/
Basque dictionaries

Bantoanon dictionaries
https://asi.webonary.org/
Bavarian dictionaries

Bengali dictionaries

Learn Bengali with Glossika

Belarusian dictionaries

https://www.bielmova.org
http://www.slounik.org/
https://www.skarnik.by/tsbm
http://www.belarusguide.com/dictionaries/engblr/index.html

Learn Belarusian with uTalk

Learn Belarusian with Glossika

Bislama dictionaries
http://www.bislama.org/translate
Blackfoot dictionaries
http://dictionary.blackfoot.atlas-ling.ca/
Information about Blackfoot | Numbers

Bolinao dictionaries

Information about Bolinao | Numbers in Bolinao

Breton dictionaries

Information about Breton | Phrases | Numbers | Family words | Colours | Time | Weather words | Comparison of Celtic languages | Celtic cognates | Celtiadur | Tower of Babel | Learning materials

British Sign Language dictionaries

Bulgarian dictionaries

Burmese dictionaries

https://www.myordbok.com
https://www.burmese-dictionary.org/
https://www.myanmar-dictionary.org/http://sealang.net/burmese/
http://www.lexilogos.com/english/burmese_dictionary.htm

Cantonese dictionaries
Learn Cantonese with Glossika
Catalan dictionaries

Learn Catalan with Glossika

Cebuano dictionaries

Chechen dictionaries

Cherokee dictionaries

Cheyenne dictionaries

Chinese (Mandarin) dictionaries
Learn Mandarin Chinese with Glossika
Information about Mandarin | Phrases | Numbers | Colours | Family words | Time | Tongue twisters | Video lessons | Tower of Babel | Articles | Links | Learning materials

Chuvash dictionaries

Cornish dictionaries

Corsican dictionaries
http://www.lexilogos.com/corse_langue_dictionnaires.htm
Cree dictionaries
http://www.creedictionary.com
Croatian dictionaries

Crow dictionaries

Czech dictionaries

Danish dictionaries

Information about Danish | Useful phrases | Silly phrases | Numbers | Colours | Family words | Terms of endearment | Tongue twisters | Tower of Babel | Learning materials

Dutch dictionaries

Learn Dutch online with DutchPod101
Learn Dutch with Glossika Dutch learning software

English dictionaries

Esperanto dictionaries

Estonian dictionaries

Faroese dictionaries

Fijian dictionaries

Learn Fijian with uTalk

Fiji Hindi dictionaries
http://www.oocities.org/fijihindi/FijiHindiEnglishDict.htm
Information about Fiji Hindi | Tower of Babel in Fiji Hindi |

Finnish dictionaries

French dictionaries

Frisian (North) dictionaries

https://friisk.org/

Frisian (Saterland) dictionaries

http://www.saterfriesisches-wörterbuch.de/?suche=zwanzigste

Frisian (West) dictionaries

Galician dictionaries

Gamilaraay dictionaries
http://www.dnathan.com/language/gamilaraay/dictionary/GAMDICTF.HTM Information about Gamilaraay
Garifuna dictionaries
http://www.garifunainstitute.com/
Georgian dictionaries

German dictionaries

Gonja dictionaries
https://gonja.webonary.org/ Information about Gonja
Greek dictionaries

Guaraní dictionaries
http://www.uni-mainz.de/cgi-bin/guarani2/dictionary.pl
Gujarati dictionaries
http://www.gujaratilexicon.com
Learn Gujarati with uTalk

Hausa dictionaries

Hawaiian dictionaries

Hebrew dictionaries

Hiligaynon dictionaries
http://www.bohol.ph/kved.php
Hindi dictionaries

Hittite dictionaries
http://thevore.com/hittite/
Information about Hittite

Hmong dictionaries

Hungarian dictionaries

Hunsrik dictionaries
http://www.hunsrik.org
Information about Hunsrik

Hupa dictionaries
http://nalc.ucdavis.edu/hupa/hupa-lexicon.html
Information about Hupa

Ibibio dictionaries
http://talkingdictionary.swarthmore.edu/ibibio/
Icelandic dictionaries

Indonesian dictionaries

Innu dictionaries
https://dictionary.innu-aimun.ca/
Interlingua dictionaries
http://www.interlingua.com/ied/
Inuktitut dictionaries
http://www.livingdictionary.com
Iñupiaq dictionaries
http://www.alaskool.org/Language/dictionaries/inupiaq/dictionary.htm
Irish (Gaelic) dictionaries

Italian dictionaries

Information about Italian | Phrases | Family words | Terms of endearment | Colours | Numbers | Time | Weather words | Tongue twisters | Tower of Babel | Articles | Links | Learning materials

Jamaican dictionaries
http://jamaicanpatwah.com/
Learn Jamacian online

Information about Jamaican | Phrases

Japanese dictionaries

Jeju dictionaries
http://talkingdictionary.swarthmore.edu/jeju/
Information about Jeju

Kannada dictionaries

Kapingamarangi dictionaries
http://talkingdictionary.swarthmore.edu/kapingamarangi/
Kashmiri dictionaries
http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/grierson/
Kashubian dictionaries
http://www.cassubia-dictionary.com
Khmer dictionaries

Ki'che' dictionaries

Information about Ki'che' | Tower of Babel

Kinyarwanda dictionaries
http://kinyarwanda.net
Kiribati dictionaries

Klingon dictionaries

Konkani dictionaries
http://www.savemylanguage.org/app/home.php
Korean dictionaries

Kosraean dictionaries

Kumyk dictionaries

Kurdish dictionaries
http://www.ferheng.org
Kyrgyz dictionaries

Ladin dictionaries

Information about Ladin

Lao dictionaries

Latgalian dictionaries
http://www.vuordineica.lv
Information about Latgalian | Numbers in Latgalian

Latin dictionaries

Latvian dictionaries

Limburgish dictionaries
http://www.limburgs.org
Information about Limburgish | Phrases

Lingua Franca Nova dictionaries
http://ccgi.esperanto.plus.com/cgi-bin/lfn/disionario.html
Lithuanian dictionaries

Livonian dictionaries

Lojban dictionaries
https://mw.lojban.org/extensions/ilmentufa/i/
Low German dictionaries

Luxembourgish dictionaries

Macedonian dictionaries
http://www.idividi.com.mk/recnik/
Malagasy dictionaries

Malay dictionaries

Malayalam dictionaries

Maltese dictionaries

Mam dictionaries

Manx dictionaries

Māori dictionaries

Marathi dictionaries

Marwari dictionaries
http://hattai.page.tl/Marwari-Dictionary.htm Information about Marwari
Mi'kmaq dictionaries

Mizo dictionaries

Information about Mizo | Tower of Babel

Mohawk dictionaries
http://glosbe.com/en/moh/
Mokilese dictionaries
http://talkingdictionary.swarthmore.edu/mokilese/
Information about Mokilese

Mongolian dictionaries

Learn Mongolian with Glossika

Nahuatl dictionaries

Nepal Bhasa/Newari dictionaries
http://glosbe.com/en/new/
Northern Ndebele dictionaries
http://www.northernndebele.org.za
Information about Northern Ndebele | Phrases

Northern Sámi dictionaries

Northern Pomo dictionaries
http://northernpomolanguagetools.com/dictionary/
Information about Nothern Pomo

Norwegian dictionaries

NorwegianClass101.com - Learn Norwegian with Free Podcasts | Norwegian learning software
The Mystery of Nils: Norwegian Course for Beginners - Learn Norwegian - Enjoy the Story

Occitan dictionaries

Okinawan dictionaries

Old English dictionaries

Odia dictionaries

Páez dictionaries
http://talkingdictionary.swarthmore.edu/paez/ Information about Páez
Pahlavi dictionaries
http://www.rabbinics.org/pahlavi/MacKenzie-PahlDict.pdf Information about Pahlavi
Palauan dictionaries
http://www.tekinged.com
Information about Palauan | Phrases

Papiamento dictionaries

Pashto dictionaries

Persian/Farsi dictionaries
Learn Persian (Farsi) with Glossika
Polish dictionaries

Poitevin-Saintongeais dictionaries
http://dicopoitevin.free.fr/
Portuguese dictionaries

Potawatomi dictionaries
http://www.potawatomi.org/lang/our-language Information about Potawatomi
Punjabi dictionaries

Quechua dictionaries
http://www.katari.org/diccionario/diccionario.php
Rapa Nui dictionaries
http://kohaumotu.org/Rongorongo/Dictionary/dictionary_complete.html
Rarotongan dictionaries
http://www.cook-islands-maori-dictionary.org
Romansh dictionaries

Romanian dictionaries

Romany dictionaries
Information about Romany
Roviana dictionaries
http://www.surrey.ac.uk/lcts/bill.palmer/NWS_site/Rov/RovDic.pdf
Information about Roviana | Numbers

Russian dictionaries

Sanskrit dictionaries

Sardinian dictionaries

http://www.ditzionariu.org

Sasak dictionaries
http://kamusbahasasasak.blogspot.co.uk/
Information about Sasak

Scots dictionaries

Scottish Gaelic dictionaries

Shanghainese dictionaries
http://wu-chinese.com/minidict/search.php
Serbian dictionaries

Learn Serbian with the Serbian Language Podcast

Sicilian dictionaries

Sinhala dictionaries

Slovak dictionaries

Slovenian dictionaries

Somali dictionaries

Southern Sámi dictionaries
http://snl.no/sørsamer
Spanish dictionaries

Information about Spanish | Phrases | Idioms | Family words | Time | Weather | Tongue twisters | Video lessons | Tower of Babel | Articles | Links | Learning materials | Learn Spanish through stories

Sumerian dictionaries
Information about Sumerian
Swahili dictionaries

Swedish dictionaries

Information about Swedish | Useful phrases | Silly phrases | Numbers | Colours | Family words | Time | Weather words | Idioms | Tongue twisters | Tower of Babel | Learning materials

Tagalog dictionaries
http://www.tagalog-dictionary.com
Tahitian dictionaries

Taiwanese dictionaries

Tamil dictionaries

Tarahumara dictionaries
http://www.sil.org/resources/archives/10966
Information about Tarahumara | Numbers

Tatar dictionaries

Telugu dictionaries

Tetum dictionaries
http://www.gnu.org/software/tetum/contributors/cliffMorris-xhtml/index.html
Thai dictionaries

Tibetan dictionaries

Tłı̨chǫ dictionaries
http://tlicho.ling.uvic.ca
Tongan dictionaries
http://www.tongantranslator.com
Turkish dictionaries

- TurkishClass101.com - Learn Turkish with Free Audio and Video Lessons
- Learn Turkish online with Mondly
- Learn Turkish with Glossika

Turkmen dictionaries

Twi dictionaries

Ukrainian dictionaries

Urdu dictionaries

Uyhur dictionaries

Uzbek dictionaries

Vietnamese dictionaries

VietnamesePod101.com - Learn Vietnamese with Free Podcasts
Learn to Speak Vietnamese, in northern and southern accents, with Interactive Bilingual Lessons
Learn Northern Vietnamese or Southern Vietnamese with Glossika

Võro dictionaries
http://www.folklore.ee/Synaraamat/
Vurës dictionaries
Information about Vurës
Walloon dictionaries
http://www.lexilogos.com/wallon_langue_dictionnaires.htm
Waray-Waray dictionaries
http://www.bansa.org/?q=dictionaries/cmd&dict_lang=Waray
Information about Waray-Waray | Tower of Babel

Warlpiri dictionaries
http://ausil.org/Dictionary/Warlpiri/lexicon/index.htm
Information about Warlpiri | Tower of Babel

Welsh dictionaries

Xhosa dictionaries

Yiddish dictionaries

Yoruba dictionaries

Zaghawa dictionaries
https://zaghawa4all.wordpress.com/bereng/ Information about Zaghawa
Zarma dictionaries
http://www.bisharat.net/Zarma/
Information about Zarma | Tower of Babel

Zulu dictionaries

Multilingual dictionaries

Multilingual online dictionaries
http://www.logos.it
http://www.linguee.com
http://lingro.com
http://hablaa.com
http://www.majstro.com
http://www.eurodict.com
http://www.majstro.com
http://www.wordreference.com
http://dicts.info
http://www.wordanywhere.com/
http://www.staropolska.gimnazjum.com.pl/
http://dictzone.com
http://www.langtolang.com
http://www.logos.it
http://dictionaries.travlang.com
http://www.get-together.net
http://www.interglot.com
http://www.japplis.com/jlearnit/dicos/
http://www.diccionarios.com
http://www.dejudicibus.it/dizionario/
http://www.linux-ku.com/ferheng
http://www.lingvosoft.com/free-online-dictionaries/
http://www.popjisyo.com/WebHint/Portal_e.aspx
http://www.stars21.com
http://www.lexibase.com
http://www.twikilate.com
http://www.dictionarist.com
http://www.jonsay.co.uk
http://leximo.org
http://www.lingodict.com
http://www.april.com.ua/dict.html
http://www.englishdictionaryonline.org
http://www.ingilizceceviri.org
http://dict.com
http://dictionary.reverso.net
http://www.linguee.com
http://www.dictionarist.com
http://www.covot.net/dictionary
http://context.reverso.net/translation
https://tr-ex.me/

Specialised Spanish-English dictionaries (Accounting and Financial)
http://www.spanish-translator-services.com/dictionaries/

English Dictionary/Thesaurus and English > French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and German translation: http://lookwayup.com/free/dictionary.htm

Visual dictionary - image-based look up with words in English and French
http://www.infovisual.info

jARGOT.com - a multi-lingual database of words, grouped by categories such as legal and computer: http://www.jargot.com

Rhyming Dictionaries for many languages
http://www.alcor.com.au/rhyming_dictionary.asp

Talking dictionaries for various small / endangered languages
http://talkingdictionary.swarthmore.edu/

Visual dictionaries

Merriam-Webster Visual Dictionary Online (English)
http://visual.merriam-webster.com

Visual dictionary (English & French)
http://www.infovisual.info

Visuwords - online graphic dictionary (English)
http://www.visuwords.com

Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus (Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish)
http://www.visualthesaurus.com

Other pages with links to online dictionaries

Directory of bilingual and multilingual dictionaries
http://www.lexicool.com

FREELANG - Free dictionaries for downloading and free translation
http://www.freelang.net

Lex Scripta: links to dictionaries in many languages
http://www.lexscripta.com/desktop/dictionaries/foreign.html

yourdictionary.com - links to dictionaries in 230 different languages, from Afrikaans to Zoque: http://www.yourdictionary.com/languages.html

Lexicool - links to online dictionaries in many languages
http://www.lexicool.com

List of links to online dictionaries
http://www.lexicate.com

Scrabble Word Finder
http://www.scrabblewordsolver.com

CrossWordGuru - solve crossword clues
https://crosswordguru.com/

Avionary - mulitilngual dictionary of birds
http://www.avionary.info

Recommended books

Dictionaries, language courses, grammars, phrasesbooks, etc.

Links pages

Links for individual languages

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Online dictionaries are available for many different languages. This page contains links to as many as I can find.

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The highest quality free courses through the most awesome learning platform.

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Intriguing Times images stripped of their captions — and an invitation to students to discuss them live.

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These glossaries are to provide permitted testing accommodations of ELL/MLL students. They should also be used for instruction during the school year. These glossaries may be downloaded, printed and disseminated to educators, parents and ELLs/MLLs.

Bilingual glossaries are an essential and expected test accommodation for ELLs/MLLs in the State of New York. The languages of these glossaries cover the top 10 languages at the state level, with new languages added based on changing language populations in the NY State student demographic data.

Schools should provide testing accommodations to ELLs/MLLs, as needed, on all NYS ELA and content-area assessments (i.e., Mathematics, Science and Social Studies). Districts/schools must make all necessary arrangements to make these accommodations available for ELLs/MLLs who need them. Please click here for the New York State Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages Webpage on "Assessment and Testing Accommodations".

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These glossaries are to provide permitted testing accommodations of ELL/MLL students. They should also be used for instruction during the school year.

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A typing game that's actually fun to play.

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A Guide to Welcoming & Engaging Newcomers

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A Guide to Welcoming & Engaging Newcomers

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A Guide to Welcoming and Engaging Newcomers

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No mobile devices in your classroom? No worries! You can enjoy Nearpod from any web browser :) Create, engage, and assess your students in every lesson!

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In our work with educators of English language learners (ELLs), we often find that there is a lack of resources in our field about how to equitably grade ELLs. This blog post offers some insights and ideas that we hope will spur further discussion.

First, we'll share the reason behind our focus on this topic, as well as a summary of challenges related to grading ELLs. Next, we'll give you a brief overview of related research before sharing our own recommendations developed in response to our research, which we call the Five Pillars of Equitably Grading ELLs. (You can find a related infographic on the SupportEd website.) We'll end the post by providing a space for you to share your thoughts, add some additional resources, and share some references with you.

Resources from Larry Ferlazzo

This post complements the following from Larry Ferlazzo:

We also produced a webinar with Larry, available on the SupportEd website (scroll down to "The Five Pillars of Grading ELs Equitably).

COVID-19 updates

For more information on grading equitably during COVID-19, see the following:

Why this topic?

As part of developing a blended ELL assessment professional development course for the Mid-State Regional Bilingual Education Resource Network in Central New York State, we were asked to create a component on grading ELLs. We thought our task would be straightforward enough, but once we started researching the topic, we found very limited resources specifically for ELLs.

In an effort to gather more information, we reached out to our online professional learning network. Diane posted the following questions on the Colorín Colorado Facebook page, the Advocating for ELLs Facebook page, and Twitter in early January 2018:
We're doing a little research on grading ELs at SupportEd. Could you please share your answers to these questions? 1. What are the challenges that you and your colleagues may have in grading ELs? 2. What are some strategies or tools that you find particularly helpful in grading ELs? 3. Do you have any exemplary EL-friendly report card samples you can share?
The responses were numerous and came quickly. Many of our online colleagues shared that they were also looking for guidance around this topic. We also took part in a Twitter #ELLCHAT on January 8 on the same topic with a similar response from colleagues around the country. (You can see a transcript from that Twitter chat by registering for a free account from Participate.com.) We'll summarize the top three challenges that we read about next. Please note we don't share answers to questions 2 and 3 since we incorporate some resources to address these questions in our Five Pillars.

Challenges from the Field

The challenges we saw most often were:

1. Issues with the structure and content of report cards: Teachers mentioned not having an ELL-specific report card, and they also mentioned not being able to adapt their curriculum or school report card so that the ELA skills graded are "on level". (Example: 4th grade beginner student failing ELA because she does not meet grade four ELA standards and is performing at a grade two level.)

2. Lack of validity in grading content: One comment was, "Sometimes a child's grades are just a reflection of how well the teacher taught to their learning style, rather than a true representation of what the child knows." Another colleague wrote, "Separating ELD from content knowledge! So integral to each other - how to assess accurately??" She noted these are listed separately on report card, but there is no tool to assess them.

3. Challenges with school or district policy: Often, educators commented that existing policies at the school and district level don't address the unique considerations inherent in grading ELLs, such as inflexible time limits for exemption from letter grades regardless of the students' language proficiency and educational backgrounds.

Synthesis of Research on Grading Challenges for Teachers of ELLs

The challenges our colleagues reported on social media are in line with what the research tells us, namely that there are many obstacles that may prevent ELLs from benefiting from equitable grading practices. Here we summarize some of findings from relevant research. Please note that this is not an exhaustive literature review!

Research shows that grading, even among teachers at schools with clear grading policies, is often inconsistent (Reeves, 2008; Seeley, 1994). This inconsistency can lead to inequitable grading practices and even failure for certain groups of students, such as ELLs (Waldsburger, 2012). Many teachers believe that report card grades should be based solely on students' mastery of grade-level content standards, which can be challenging for some students. Jung and Guskey (2012) note that while an ESOL teacher may complete a supplemental progress report for ELLs, that piece of assessment information does not often support the general education teacher in assigning grades.

Another obstacle in grading in general is that many classroom teachers feel uncertain about how to hold all students to the same expectations for performance as other students (Guskey, 2011). Teachers can find it challenging to differentiate instruction and grading for ELLs while trying to meet the needs of the other students in their classroom (Pawan & Craig, 2011). Even those teachers who are able to differentiate instruction may find it difficult to score learning tasks and assign grades based on differentiated student work.

Still another challenge that stands in the way of equitable grading for all students is the belief that grades should be used to identify and maximize differences among students (Guskey, 2011). Many teachers feel that there should be students who perform well and students who perform poorly, such as with a normal bell-shaped curve. Jung and Guskey (2012) share that teachers often grapple with questions of fairness, such as giving a passing grade to an ELL who did not meet grade-level content standards. However, Guskey (2011) notes that when teachers identify what they want students to learn and be able to do and when they do all they can to support students in meeting these goals, it is possible for all students to obtain high scores on academic tasks and thereby receive high grades.

The literature we reviewed notes several recommendations for improving ELL grading systems as a whole (e.g., Waldsburger, 2012). For example, one recommendation is not giving letter grades to newly arrived ELLs who are beginning to learn English. Another option is to provide narrative assessments only or use a system of pass, fail, and high pass that measures effort, language growth, and content standard mastery based on students' levels of language proficiency. Tomlinson (2001) suggests providing two grades for all students. The first would be a traditional, standards-based grade, and the second would be a grade based on an individual student's progress towards language and content learning goals. Similarly, several authors (e.g., Jung & Guskey, 2010; Tomlinson, Moon, & Imbeau, 2015) recommend three grades for differentiated classrooms based on a student's product (mastery of content), process (effort, motivation, and participation), and progress (improvement over time).

Our Recommendations: The Five Pillars of Equitably Grading ELLs

We drew from our colleagues' responses, the research we synthesized on grading ELLs, our review of best practices in ELL grading, as well as our own expertise in the field to create five recommendations for equitably grading ELLs. We call them the Five Pillars of Equitably Grading ELLs. For each pillar, we provide a few steps to incorporate that pillar. In defining and describing the five pillars, we fully realize how intertwined effective instruction and equitable grading are. You simply can't fairly grade ELLs if you haven't already positioned them to access the instruction of content.

Pillar 1: Identify the content and language standard(s).

In setting up a system in which ELLs can be graded fairly, teachers first need to define which content as well as language standards they would like their students to meet. Hand in hand with these two sets of standards go content and language learning objectives for ELLs based on these standards. We recommend that teachers share these content and language learning objectives with ELLs using "student-friendly" versions to the degree possible. Also, we recommend that teachers identify success criteria for ELLs in meeting the objectives, and share models of strong work samples with ELLs so that students are aware of teachers' expectations. Model work samples should also include models produced by ELLs at different levels of proficiency so ELLs can see themselves reflected in exemplary student work.

Pillar 2: Incorporate scaffolding to support ELLs in achieving the standards.

Depending on their level of English proficiency, most ELLs will not be able to access grade-level content standards without appropriate scaffolding. We recommend using three types of scaffolds in the areas of materials, instruction, and strategic grouping of students to work toward removing linguistic barriers for ELLs. In implementing scaffolds, we recommend you do so based on ELLs' English language proficiency level as well as individual ELL strengths and needs and also the demands of the particular lesson (Staehr Fenner & Snyder, 2017). In addition, we recommend that teachers set expectations with students for the gradual removal of scaffolding, as appropriate. ELLs should be aware that scaffolds are temporary and will be removed as they gain language proficiency and content knowledge and skills. Further, we stress that it's crucial for ESOL and content teachers to collaborate to determine appropriate scaffolds for their ELLs to meaningfully access content.

Pillar 3: Support ELLs' progress toward mastery.

We believe that grades should not be used punitively for any students, and especially not for ELLs who are already more inclined to drop out of school than non-ELLs. Therefore, we suggest providing ELLs sufficient time and opportunities for learning, such as offering " lunch bunch" and after-school opportunities to do schoolwork with guidance from teachers, tutors, or peers. In addition, we recommend focusing on ELLs' progress towards mastery as well as their achievement. It is important to underscore that we are evaluating ELLs' progress towards mastery, not just whether they have mastered the objective or not. In spite of careful scaffolding, all grade-level standards may not always be 100% achievable for certain ELLs. It may be more motivating for an ELL to recognize his or her progress than to see an achievement score alone.

Also, since many ELLs have responsibilities such as work and taking care of siblings outside of school, they may not be able to complete all assignments on time. Therefore, we recommend allowing ELLs to turn in some work late without penalty if they are in communication with the teacher about the unique circumstances. Moreover, late work may be a sign that an ELL is needing more support to be able to access the content, understand the directions, and/or complete the task. Finally, if homework is given, we recommend using it as an opportunity for non-graded practice.

Pillar 4: Assess ELLs' progress equitably.

In order to equitably assess ELLs, teachers need to design assessments and supports that allow ELLs to access and demonstrate mastery of content and/or language objectives. To equitably assess ELLs' progress, it is critical to also scaffold assessments (not just instruction) for ELLs based on individual ELL strengths and needs. For example, depending on an ELL's level of English proficiency, that student could be provided sentence frames, images, or a word bank to lighten the "linguistic load" of the assessment to be able to provide a more valid picture of what that student knows and can do in a particular content area. During instruction, ELLs should have ample classroom opportunity to practice with any scaffold that will also be provided during an assessment. Another aspect of equitably assessing ELLs' progress comes in the form of group work. While we recommend strategically grouping ELLs as a form of scaffolding instruction, for grading group work we recommend assigning individual scores instead of a group grade to students, including ELLs. In this way, individual students aren't penalized if all students aren't contributing equally to a particular group project.

Pillar 5: Involve ELLs, families, & colleagues.

We have often found that ELLs and their families do not have a full understanding of grade-level expectations, how grades are given, and what each section of a report card means. We advocate for explaining grade level expectations, the grading process, and report cards to ELLs in their home language whenever possible. In addition, ELLs and their families should be involved in the entire grading process, beginning the school year or their enrollment in school with an overview of what the grading expectations and processes look like. Such meetings are also a good time for ELLs and their families to set goals for their learning. Finally, while collaboration and co-teaching have been on many teachers' radar for some time now, co-grading may not be. We strongly recommend that ESOL and content teachers co-grade, collaborating to assign grades to ELLs on formative and summative assessments as well as discuss final grades on report cards. In that way, the level of collaboration will strengthen, and all teachers can leverage their expertise when it comes to ELLs.

Your Thoughts

While we offer our ideas on guidance around equitably grading ELLs, we also encourage you to share your thoughts here. If you have any samples of ELL-friendly report cards, grading policies, success stories, or additional considerations, please share them in the blog post comments!

Additional Resources

References

Guskey, T. (2011). Five obstacles to grading reform. Educational Leadership, 69(3), 16-21.

Jung, L. A., & Guskey, T. R. (2010). Grading exceptional learners. Educational Leadership, 67(5), 31-35.

Jung, L.A. & Guskey, T. R. (2012). Grading exceptional and struggling learners. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Pawan, F. & Craig, D. (2011). ESL and content area teacher responses to discussions on English language learner instruction. TESOL Journal, 2(3), 293-311.

Reeves, D. (2008). Leading to change: Effective grading practices. Educational Leadership, 65(5), 85-87.

Seeley, M.M. (1994). The Mismatch Between Assessment and Grading. National Education Association. National Education Association. Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/teachexperience/ ask040326.html.

Staehr Fenner, D., & Snyder, S. (2017). Unlocking English learners' potential: Strategies for making content accessible. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Tomlinson, C. A. (2001). Grading for success. Educational Leadership, 58(6), 12-15.

Tomlinson, C.A., Moon, T. and Imbeau, M.B. (2015). Assessment and student success in a differentiated classroom, Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/siteASCD/publications/assessment-and-di-whitepaper.pdf

Waldspurger, T. (2012, March). A? B? C? Assigning meaningful grades for ELLs. Presented at the TESOL Convention, Philadelphia, PA.

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The Five Pillars of Equitably Grading ELLs

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How can teachers equitably grade ELLs? Learn more about challenges, related research and resources, and recommendations developed by the Diane Staehr Fenner, Jill Kester, and Sydney Snyder.

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These glossaries are to provide permitted testing accommodations of ELL/MLL students. They should also be used for instruction during the school year. These glossaries may be downloaded, printed and disseminated to educators, parents and ELLs/MLLs.

Bilingual glossaries are an essential and expected test accommodation for ELLs/MLLs in the State of New York. The languages of these glossaries cover the top 10 languages at the state level, with new languages added based on changing language populations in the NY State student demographic data.

Schools should provide testing accommodations to ELLs/MLLs, as needed, on all NYS ELA and content-area assessments (i.e., Mathematics, Science and Social Studies). Districts/schools must make all necessary arrangements to make these accommodations available for ELLs/MLLs who need them. Please click here for the New York State Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages Webpage on "Assessment and Testing Accommodations".

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These glossaries are to provide permitted testing accommodations of ELL/MLL students. They should also be used for instruction during the school year.

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Soundation : "Soundation is a powerful online music studio with professional features like recording, effects, virtual instruments and over 700 free loops and sounds." You can get some fabulous how-to videos on the Soundation site.

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The Newcomer Tool Kit is designed to help U.S. educators; elementary and secondary teachers, principals, and other school staff who work directly with immigrant students-including asylees and refugees-and their families.

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The Newcomer Tool Kit is designed to help U.S. educators; elementary and secondary teachers, principals, and other school staff who work directly with immigrant students--including asylees and refugees--and their families.

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This is Which One Doesn't Belong?, a website dedicated to providing thought-provoking puzzles for math teachers and students alike. There are no answers provided as there are many different, correct ways of choosing which one doesn't belong. Enjoy!

Which One Doesn't Belong?

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This is Which One Doesn't Belong?, a website dedicated to providing thought-provoking puzzles for math teachers and students alike. There are no answers provided as there are many different, correct ways of choosing which one doesn't belong. Enjoy!

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Spanish Resources for Implementing 7 Steps - Printables

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Digital Choice Boards - Janet Corder by Janet Joan | This newsletter was created with Smore, an online tool for creating beautiful newsletters for individual educators, schools and districts

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Ideas, Templates and Sample Choice Boards

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Ideas, Templates and Sample Choice Boards

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Choice boards are amazing but they can be a lot of prep work, confuse students with too much content, or be too repetitive. Let's spice up some student choice boards and rethink how we use them in the classroom.

Progressive Choice Boards

Choice is great for students but sometimes too much choice is overwhelming. You would have students ask you "just tell me which one to do" and you instantly regret putting together a huge choice board when they want to be told what to do anyways. Slowly adding choices makes it easier to choose from a lot of different options.

Instead of making a single choice board for a unit try a progressive one! You could make a choice board that has three options at first and then slowly add to it each week or each part of the unit. You wouldn't erase the beginning of the choice board, just keep adding to it. Now students won't get overwhelmed because you are slowly adding to the same choice board so students aren't surprised when they see 9 or 12 activity options. You also will be able to stagger your choice board prep so you don't have to do all of it at once. Check out the templates below for Progressive Choice boards. I got this idea from this amazing article on Ditch That Textbook, check it out here. Links to all the templates are below.

Important Note: Just make sure when you give the choice board you do it either on a google app or on a canvas page that you can add to it and students will get the updated version.
Spreadsheet Template Google Doc Template Google Doc Tables Template
Homework Choice Boards

Less and less teachers are giving homework out to their students. I was one of these teachers and my thought was they should be able to get everything done during class and if they need more time, then it's homework. There is nothing wrong with the mentality but my issue was I would have parents begging for homework for the students and I would have to assign random material. Let's think about a different approach, homework choice boards! If you read through this article you can get a better idea of this concept click here.

Elementary: Make a similar choice board like the one below. You could also have different subjects or combine different subjects. For example, have students make a hundreds table, read out loud to a family member, check out a book at the library, do a science experiment at home with a family member.

Middle: You could still make this optional. You could send a packet home at the beginning of each unit or even at the beginning of each semester. Then when students finish you could give them a reward instead of grading it. The best part of this idea, when parents call and request homework or help for their student to get their grade up, just point them to the digital choice board!

High School: You could use a choice board instead of a typical study guide before a test. You could give options such as,

Study for a test using notecards

Study with a group of your classmates

Make a study guide with answers

Create a flow chart of all the material you learned

Then have them take a picture and add it to the choice board. Now instead of the study guide they have more options and you have less work. You could make them use the same choice board throughout your unit and they have to study different ways so they can learn their best study approach.

Tic Tac Choice Board

This is a very common choice board option so you may have heard of it. You would provide a series of 9 choices with the middle choice required for all students. They can then pick two other options as long as it makes a line like in tic tac toe. Look at the examples below.

Template 1 (Find out more on this site)

Staggered Choice Board

This choice board option provides more guidance for students but still gives them choices. Looking at the example below you can see that students are exploring the content and then picking something to demonstrate their understanding. This is a great idea for a final project or using along with canvas mastery paths.

Finished Early Choice Board

Don't forget to always have this easy choice board on hand! I recommend putting this choice board on a bulletin board with qr codes so students can walk up and pick their choice and expand their learning. You can find some awesome websites here or include podcasts that relate to your content, engaging youtube videos, free coding programs like code.org or codecademy.

More Templates!!!!
iPad Template Simple Template Library of Slides Mania Templates 7 Choice board examples

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Rethink Choice Boards! Free Templates for All Grades

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Choice boards are amazing but they can be a lot of prep work, confuse students with too much content, or be too repetitive. Let's spice up some student choice boards and rethink how we use them in the classroom. Choice is great for students but sometimes too much choice is overwhelming.

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Writing Strategies for ELL Students | Continental Educational Publisher

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We have created a list of the best activities & writing strategies for ELL students that are designed to alleviate their writing struggles.

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Give your students access to the literacy support tools they need to succeed when working online or within Google files including Docs and Slides.

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Listening to a foreign language is hard, exhausting work - especially for low level students. Gestures are great for reducing the burden put on ESL students and speeding up your lessons. You can certainly survive as a teacher without a solid repertoire, but developing a good habit of using body language to support your speech will boost your lessons to the next level and make your ESL classroom management much easier.

Attention & Concentration are Exhaustible

Our ability to focus on something isn't infinite. We can only concentrate for periods of time that are affected by factors such as our age, motivation, energy levels, the time of day, and how interesting and difficult something is. As a general rule children's attention spans are weaker and shorter the younger they are. Their ability to focus is measured in just handfuls of minutes. Even when they find something fun and engaging they need moments of downtime to settle and restore themselves. The more difficult a task is then the shorter students are able to sustain their attention.

This is incredibly important for ESL teachers because even listening to us speak in English is taxing for students. In dozens of observations I've seen students zone out and act out against teachers who don't manage and support their teacher talk well. Teachers can be silly and funny but their students inevitably act out and under-perform when they struggle to understand their teacher.

The Advantage of Gestures

Gestures make it easier for learners to understand us. This is especially important early in a child's education journey and also when they've met a new teacher. Different accents, patterns of speech, and the lack of a relationship can make it harder for learners to understand their new teacher. In addition, we often find that the stronger students in a class have no trouble understanding the teacher, but weaker listeners easily fall behind. Gestures are great for smoothing the transition into an English only environment and supporting students who might struggle otherwise.

Teachers who use gestures effectively often find their classes run more smoothly and with fewer behavior problems. Kids pick up on instructions, feedback, and other cues much faster. In addition, weaker students are more likely to keep up and participate in class. Children who feel they can't be successful in something quickly turn against it and those in charge. By using gestures we can keep them from falling behind, zoning out, and acting out.

Finally, gestures make you appear more visually interesting and energetic to students. This affects how engaging they perceive you to be.

Common Types of Gestures

There are a great variety of gestures you can use in an ESL class. Here's a short sample;
Drilling
Use a gesture to signal to students when they should repeat after you. I like to point to my lips as I'm speaking and then point to the students when it's their turn to repeat after me. Used consistently this helps reduce the lag between the teacher and students. Gestures also help students with volume and emotions drilling.
Instructions
The language in instructions can be really difficult for low level students, but gestures can ease the burden. For example, I like to indicate the size of groups with my fingers. I'll have two or three split fingers join together to show students will work in pairs or groups of three. Five fingers closing into a fist means groups of five. Body language can also be used to tell students they'll need to listen, speak, write, and more.
Praise
Common English praise phrases such as "Good job!" or "Excellent work!" are often unclear to young learners, but they often slip out of teachers' mouths. Simple body language such as smiling, making warm eye contact, and giving a thumbs up helps students understand the gist of unfamiliar praise language and make it appear more genuine. It sounds obvious, but I've observed teachers saying "good job" with their face to board and back to the children hundreds of times. It went unnoticed by the children in almost every case.
Behavior Feedback
I often find that misbehaving students don't respond well to verbal instructions to behave better. A common example is when three or four year old boys stand up and walk around in class. The teacher will tell them "sit down" but the child often looks at them blankly. By pointing to a rule board or card and saying "sit down" the added visual gesture helps weaker and distracted students understand what's needed from them.
Asking Questions
I like to shrug my shoulders and partially raise my hands when I ask questions to low level students. It's often difficult for them to know when the teacher is asking a question otherwise. The shrug is a helpful extra visual cue for them.
Presenting Language
Miming vocabulary and language is a great way to add meaning for students. I've seen teachers struggle to verbally explain concepts when a quick mime action would get the job done in seconds.
Signaling & Correcting Errors
Using your fingers is a great way to provide instant error correction when it's needed. For example, if a student makes an error with "He like to eat pizza." then I could hold up five fingers on my left hand. I'd then wiggle the index finger or point to it with my other hand. This quick visual cue lets students auto-correct without me breaking the pace of the lesson by writing on the board or adding more teacher talk time.

Use your fingers to quickly indicate errors.

Final Tips

1. Make the gestures big. Children don't do well with subtlety.

2. Practice and use them consistently every lesson. The more familiar students are with your gestures then the more effective they are.

There's a great variety of gestures for use in class and these were just a few. What gestures do you use with your students? Share in the comments below.

Are you looking to upgrade your classroom management skills?

Then check out Star Teacher Training's full course on Udemy! " EFL-ESL Classroom Management for Ages 6-11 " has got more than 6 hours of comprehensive videos on how you can transform your classroom management to get great behavior from your students in a positive, productive way.

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Use Gestures for ESL Awesomeness - Star Teacher Training

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Listening to a foreign language is hard, exhausting work - especially for low level students. Gestures are great for reducing the burden put on ESL students and speeding up your lessons.

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Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

intransitive verb To reason earnestly with someone in an effort to dissuade or correct; remonstrate.

intransitive verb To say in protest; object.

from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

verb To reason earnestly with a person against something that he intends to do or has done: followed by with before the person, by upon or on before the thing.

verb To discuss; examine into; reason about.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Note

The word 'expostulate' comes from a Latin word meaning 'to demand vehemently'.

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intransitive verb To reason earnestly with someone in an effort to dissuade or correct; remonstrate. intransitive verb To say in protest; object. verb To reason earnestly with a person against something that he intends to do or has done: followed by with before the person, by upon or on before the thing.

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Brisk is a free AI-powered Chrome extension that helps busy teachers save time directly within the tools they already use, like Google Docs, Slides, YouTube, and web articles. Teachers use Brisk as a Targeted Feedback Generator, AI Presentation Maker, AI Quiz Maker, AI Lesson Plan Generator, AI Rubric Generator, Letter of Recommendation Generator, IEP 504 Template Maker, and so much more.

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ELPS-Student Proficiency List Sheet: Printable

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ELPS-Student Proficiency List Sheet: Printable

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Teacher - Sheltered Instruction Self-Assessment Form

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English news and easy articles for students of English

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News in Levels « World News for Students of English

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We write news in three different levels of English. We want to help you understand English more. Now all students can enjoy reading and listening to news.

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Learn how to touch type with the BBC Dance Mat Typing game. It’s a fun introduction to touch typing game for kids and covers levels 1, 2, 3, 4.

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Learn How to Type - Free Typing Classes & Lessons Online

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Since 2001, our learning method has been proven to help millions of people around the world learn, practice, and improve their typing speed and accuracy.

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TypingAcademy: Learn touch typing with our free typing practice

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Learn to type with 10 fingers and practice your typing skills online. We offer everything you need to master touch typing with ease.

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Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners

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Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners

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Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners

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All Free Visuals: The Visual Non-Glossary

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All content at these grade levels is available in English and Spanish.

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Kids Environment Kids Health - National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

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A valuable resource for Parents and Teachers to find fun and educational materials related to Health, Science and the Environment we live in today.

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A bilingual site for educators and families of English language learners

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Organization:
University, School(s), or School District

Add the ability to manage your entire organization.

Get everyone on the same page with access to shared data.

Make your life easy with optional domain & subdomain licensing.

Includes access to our deployment and support specialists.

Plans vary so get in touch!

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Read aloud (TTS) accessible and inaccessible text (OCR), simplify difficult vocabulary, and translate English into other languages.

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Marzano's Six Step Process

In "Building Academic Vocabulary" (Marzano, 2004), Marzano outlines a comprehensive approach to learing the context specific academic vocabulary, or the brick words that students encounter in their reading. The first three steps help us introduce new terms during the frist lesson; the last three steps help students practice & reinforce those terms over time.

Remember: Describe, Describe, Draw, Do, Discuss, Play

Step 1: Describe - Instead of a standard definition, teachers give students a description or explanation of the word or term using examples and visuals. The goal is to appeal to learners of ALL types in order to help them understand new vocabulary.

Step 2: Describe - Students are asked to give their own description or explanation using their own words. By listening/reading student descriptions/explanations, we can assess mastery or provide help. Students record descriptions in their personal notebooks to reference later.

Step 3: Draw - Students draw representations of the new vocabulary word/term. Acceptable ways to complete this task include: drawing pictures, designing symbols, making graphics, creating cartoons, finding a visual on Internet or magazine. This can be done individually or in groups.

Step 4: Do - Give students more practice using new vocabulary words/terms. Have them participate in activities such as: identifying prefixes, suffixes, synonyms, antonyms, related words and additional visuals.

Step 5: Discuss - Students discuss words/terms as they work with/in partners, triads or groups. This conversation is more effective when structured. Monitoring discussions clears up any confusion students may have.

Step 6: Play - Students participate in games that reinforce deep understanding or new vocabulary words/terms. Examples of games include: Jeopardy, Wordo (like Bingo), Charades, Pictionary, Scrabble, etc...

If you like what you see be sure to follow along with #SiglerNation on Twitter. You can follow Matt Arend on Facebook and Twitter.

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Marzano's Six Step Process In "Building Academic Vocabulary" (Marzano, 2004), Marzano outlines a comprehensive approach to learing the context specific academic vocabulary, or the brick words that students encounter in their reading. The first three steps help us introduce new terms during the frist lesson; the last three steps help students practice & reinforce those terms over time.

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Some ideas for the kinds of video suitable for young learners are also given.

The second article Video and young learners 2 will take a look at pre-viewing, while-viewing and post-viewing video activities and will be supported by three lesson plans illustrating these activities.

What are the benefits of using video in the classroom

Criteria for selecting video

Children enjoy language learning with video
'One of the aims of teaching English to young children is to instil in them the idea that language learning is a happy experience, and video creates an attractive enjoyable learning environment.' Tomalin (1991: 48)

Video is an effective way of studying body language
Younger language learners are still learning about the world around them.

Video communicates meaning better than other media
Video presents language in context in ways that a cassette can't. Learners can see who's (or what's!) speaking, where the speakers are, what they're doing, etc. All these visual clues can help comprehension

Video represents a positive exploitation of technology
Teenagers, in particular, have a positive attitude towards television and video. It is seen as being 'modern' compared to books

Passivity
Children are used to passively watching TV at home on the sofa. Teachers should try to avoid learners 'switching off' in class when the video is switched on by providing stimulating activities where the child can interact with and learn from the video.

Parents
This is linked to the above. Some parents may get annoyed when hearing their child has spent the class watching the TV 'as they can do that at home.' This can be prevented by ensuring that time actually watching the video is kept to a minimum and also by the children having something concrete to show to parents connected to the video: a worksheet, picture etc.

Developing listening skills
Listening for global understanding, listening for detail.

To provide information
To provide content relevant to students' needs and interests.

Presenting or reinforcing language
Grammar, vocabulary, functions.

Watchability
Is the video interesting? Would a young native speaker want to watch this video?

Completeness
Tomalin (1991: 50) 'The ideal video clip...... tells a complete story or section of a story'. This idea of completeness is important for young learners whose primary motivation for watching a video is enjoyment.

Degree of visual support
A good idea is to choose scenes that are very visual. The more visual a video is, the easier it is to understand - as long as the pictures illustrate what is being said.
Video types
Animation/cartoons
Spider, Spot, Pingu, Mr Ben, Eric Carlyle stories, Wallace and Gromit series

Educational programmes
TV documentaries made for children about science/nature etc, Dinosaurs series, The Blue Planet

Music
Programmes about musicians, video clips

TV series/soaps for young people (especially good for seeing life in Britain, maybe not so easy to understand!)

Clarity of picture and sound
If the video has been copied from the television it is important to make sure both the picture and sound are clear.

Density of language
This refers to the amount of language spoken in a particular time. Videos where the language is dense are more difficult for learners to comprehend.

Speech delivery
'Clarity of speech, speech rate and accents are all factors in determining how difficult a video excerpt will be for students to comprehend.' Arcario (Undated: 115)

Language content
'In using video to present language, an important factor to consider is the linguistic items (particular grammatical structures, language functions, or colloquial expressions) presented in the scene.' Arcario (Undated: 116)
Another important factor is the amount of repetition of the language content. Authentic videos for young learners will often contain a lot of repetition. It is also useful to see if the linguistic content in the video can be linked to that of the language curriculum or the course book thus providing a way to integrate video work into the course as a whole.

Language level
The language level of the video should be appropriate for the level of the class without the teacher having to explain too much.

Length
The length of the clip is important, it shouldn't be too long, perhaps between 30 seconds and 10 minutes depending on the learning objective.

Appropriateness of Content
The content should be suitable for Young Learners. How has the video been rated; 'Universal', 'Parental Guidance', for ages '13'or '18'? Would the video be suitable for viewing in all cultures?

Level of maturity
Children mature very quickly so a group of 7-year-olds watching a video made for 5-year-olds would probably regard it as 'too babyish'. On the other hand using a video intended for older children with a group of younger children might lead to the children not being able to understand the concepts in the video.

Availability of Related Materials
Many authentic videos now come with ready made materials that can be used for language teaching (Wallace and Gromit, the 'Speak Up' series of films in Spain.) Other videos may have been adapted from books, which could be used in the classroom to support the video (The 'Spot' series and Eric Carlyle stories such as 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar').

Stimulating language production
Video used as a basis for discussion, a model for learners to follow, a visual aid.

Children gain confidence through repetition
Young children love to hear stories again and again and the same goes for video. By watching a video several times children can learn by absorption and imitation.

Further reading and bibliography

What are the benefits of using video in the classroom?
Learners aged 3 - 8

All Young Learners

There are however a couple of potential pitfalls that teachers should watch out for.

Role of video
Once the decision has been made to use a video in class, thought should be given as to what purpose the video is being used for i.e. the role of the video. The way the video is used and the materials prepared for use with the video will depend on the role the video is to take. Below are four possible roles for video. (Adapted from Willis' 6 roles for video 1983: 45)

A scheme of work using a video sequence may, however, encompass more than one of these roles. Learners may watch a video to find out information about, for example, a famous person. The same lesson may also include work on developing listening skills to enable learners to extract the relevant information. It could then could be used to develop vocabulary on the topic of 'lives'.

Criteria for selecting video
When selecting an authentic video for use in the classroom certain general criteria should be kept in mind.

If, however, the video is being used for presenting language or for comprehension tasks there are further factors which should be considered when selecting a video.

Further Reading
Cooper R & M Lavery & M Rinvolucri Video Oxford: OUP (1991)

Bibliography
Allan M (1985) T eaching English with Video London: Longman
Longeran J (1984) Video in Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Stempleski S & P Arcario (undated) Video in Second Language Teaching and Learning TESOL Inc
Tomalin B (undated) 'Teaching young children with video' in Stempleski S & Arcario P (eds)

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Some ideas for the kinds of video suitable for young learners are also given.The second article Video and young learners 2 will take a look at pre-viewing, while-viewing and post-viewing video activities and will be supported by three lesson plans illustrating these activities.