Teachit:
The new version of this popular website continues to offer everything
you like about Teachit: the 2000+ pages of English, Drama and Media
teaching resources, the online lessons, monthly newsletter and web
links. Accessing all of this free content is now easier because Teachit
have changed the underlying site structure and added a keyword, text
and author search function. Teachit also has a new subscription service,
TeachitPLUS, which offers adaptable versions of top Teachit resources
for under 40p per week.
Andrew
Moore's Resource website is a site is a collection of guides and
tutorials for students, teachers and trainee teachers of English language
and literature. The materials are aimed at the upper end of secondary
education in the UK, but many are suitable for college and university
students. The number of resources on the site is not vast - just over
a hundred - but this can be misleading, as each guide is very substantial.
The guides currently cover the whole curriculum for GCSE English,
and most areas of GCE English Language. There are also plenty of materials
for KS3 English, media at KS3, GCSE English literature and media,
and GCE English literature and theatre studies. The author is an experienced
teacher who has worked as an examiner for English and literature.
The resources are written to help students succeed, without letting
work take over their lives - at least, that's the theory.
Literacy
Lessons: Joy Simpson's website dedicated to literacy planning
for years 8 to 11. Each year group is divided into terms and planning
relating to the range for the term is listed covering fiction, non-fiction,
poetry and plays. Each block of work is planned according to the latest
ideas from the National Literacy Strategy and the DfES and shows the
ways in which literacy teaching can be creative and fun for pupils.
If you would like to reduce the amount of time you spend planning
on a Sunday evening then visit the site and download the free lessons
and resources.
English
Language GCE: The materials for GCE English language cover all
areas of current examined courses in Britain. They are particularly
closely matched to the syllabus (AQA, syllabus B) taken by the greatest
number of students, but teachers can readily match them to other language
syllabuses. Andrew Moore wrote these materials in the course of teaching
two GCE classes. (The class that got them started achieved a 100%
pass rate.) He has since revisited and gradually updated and extended
some of the guides, with a view to covering the whole AQA syllabus
B course, and other exam board courses, eventually. As well as guides
to components of the syllabus, there are background articles, occasional
quizzes and other activities, including some contributions from distinguished
academic linguists, Peter Trudgill, Paul Coggle and Paul Kerswill.
English
Teaching in the UK: This site is maintained by Harry Dodds, a
former Head of English in Oxfordshire, and now Senior Lecturer in
Education and freelance in English and ICT. Harry has set up this
site to be a forum for teachers of English. The site provides nearly
3,000 links links to other websites under headings such as A Level
Resources, Booklists, Children's Literature, Classics, Antiquity,
Mythologies, Drama and Theatres, Essentials for Teachers, Gender,
Hypertext Writing, Key Agencies, Literacy, Literature Resources, Teachers
as Managers, Old English Resources, Poetry, Reference Materials, Lesson
Plans, Revision Pages, Special Needs, Subject Organisations, Student
Self-Assessment and Writing your own Web Pages.
Hinchingbrooke/OCR
English: This
site contains materials to teach
A and AS level English Language. It was produced with the help of
the OCR Examinations Board but the materials are not confined to any
one Board or approach.
English
Biz GCSE: An English and English Literature GCSE revision site
that offers students a straightforward way of finding out how to improve
their GCSE grades.
GCSE
English: GCSE Guide is a site developed specifically for students
and for those wanting help with GCSE level exams. It has been created
in a simple way, with a very wide range of content that enables quick
and valuable usage. The site is wholly free to use and is frequently
used by teachers, pupils, college students and professors from all
around the world. The site includes an English section with every
topic necessary for GCSE level exams, coursework advice and practise
papers with answers. Finally there is also a Bookshop where carefully
selected texts have been added to give that extra bit of help.
Writers
in the USA: 1860-1960: Brief biographies of seventy-eight writers
born in the United States. This includes novelists and playwrights
such as Louisa May Alcott, Sherwood Anderson, James Baldwin, Edward
Bellamy, Ambrose Bierce, Mary Borden, John Jay Chapman, Stephen Crane,
Theodore Dreiser, Ralph Ellison, Hamlin Garland, Charlotte Perkins
Gilman, Dashiell Hammett, Lillian Hellman, Ernest Hemingway, Sinclair
Lewis, Jack London, Edwin Markham, Arthur Miller, Frank Norris, Clifford
Odets, Eugene O'Neill, Dorothy Parker, David Graham Phillips, John
Dos Passos, Upton Sinclair, Gertrude Stein, Harriet Beecher Stowe,
Mark Twain, Edith Wharton, Edmund Wilson and Richard Wright.
To
Kill a Mockingbird: This website on Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird
was developed by Linda Taggart-Fregoso in the Schools of California
Online Resources for Educators (SCORE) Project, funded by the California
Technology Assistance Program (CTAP). The novel depicts the themes
of misunderstanding and prejudice and this unit presents an opportunity
for students to explore these concepts. This unit asks students to
consider the following questions: Why
do good writers use symbolism in their writing? Why is point of view
an important technique to consider when writing? Why is it difficult
to persuade others to be just and courageous? How do you support interpretations?
What makes a good piece of persuasive writing?
Stories
from Rainbow's Edge:
Designed to brighten KS2 Literacy Hour, Rainbow's Edge is a small
village which contains most of the Nursery Rhyme characters that you
have heard about. They spend their time wandering through the village
telling their stories. But these stories are not their usual stories.
They try to answer some unasked questions and are designed to make
you think!
Charlotte
Bronte: One of the many websites produced by George Landow and
his team at Brown University. The Biographical section includes a
'A Brief Biography', 'Autobiographical Elements in Jane Eyre', 'Charlotte
Bronte Chronology' and on a website in Japan, an 'E-text version of
Elizabeth Gaskell's 'The Life of Charlotte Bronte'. The 'Political
and Social Contexts of Jane Eyre' is particularly interesting with
information on 'The Governess and Class Prejudice', 'Class Attitudes
in Jane Eyre', 'Age Difference in Victorian Marriages', 'The Position
of Middle Class Women' and 'Is Jane Eyre a Feminist Novel?'
Infant
Explorer: An excellent website for Key Stage 1 produced by teachers
working with the Canterbury Environment Education Centre. Every term
a new story designed to be used within the literacy hour is added
and so far The Swan Story, In the Autumn and Sebastian's Waddle are
available from the site. Each story encourages the children to explore
seasonal changes in the environment and includes NLS keywords, photographs,
moving graphics and sounds. The story contains interactive sections
which encourages the use of email and provides opportunities for the
children's work to be published on the site.
Gareth
Pitchford's Primary Resources: Illustrated by humorous cartoons,
Pitchford has provided a wide range of lesson ideas and resources
for primary teachers. This includes a good section on Literacy Hour
Resources such as 'Nouns and Adjectives Game', 'Lego Instructions',
'Types of Sentences', 'Conjunctions' and 'Thesaurus Work'. Pitchford,
who teaches at Edleston Primary School, also provides materials for
Maths, Science and Art and numerous links, including one to Paul Cockcroft's
Literacy Hour Resources.
The
Standards Site:
The Standards Site is managed by the Department for Education and
Employment's Standards and Effectiveness Unit (SEU). The main objective
of the site is to supply teachers with "guidance and tools to
help schools improve effectiveness, raise standards and reduce workload".
This includes providing literacy materials and schemes of work. There
is also a detailed section on 'The National Literacy Strategy' which
contains material under headings such as 'What is Literacy?', 'About
the Framework for Teaching', 'Resource Area', 'What is the Literacy
Hour' and 'What should literate children be able to do.'
Loopy
Land: As the title of this website suggests, Loopy Land provides
a less traditional approach to delivering the National Curriculum.
Lara Savory has made the material that she has been using with her
Y6 group available to the Internet community. This includes, Liquorice
Hour (new ideas for teaching the literacy hour), Loopy Learning Discussion
(on-line debate), Left to Write (tips for teaching left-handed children)
and Loopy Star Sites (ratings, with links, of other educational sites).
William
Shakespeare: Created and maintained by Jeremy Hylton at the Corporation
for National Research Initiatives, this website contains the electronic
version of the Complete Works of Shakespeare.
A powerful search-engine enables the user to search all the material
for selected words or phrases. There is also a chronological and alphabetical
listing of the plays, a collection of the most popular Shakespearean
quotations, and a detailed glossary. Another section deals with the
most frequently asked questions by users. The discussion area is very
popular and often involves pleas for help with essay titles such as
"Comic Female Monologues" and "Triumph and Tragedy
in Shakespeare's Life". There is also a comprehensive list of
other Shakespeare resources on the Internet.
Absolute
Shakespeare: Created by James Hodge the Absolute Shakespeare contains
Shakespeare's plays, sonnets and poems. Study Shakespeare with plot
summaries, essays, character analyses, quotes, biography, pictures,
timeline, trivia, the Globe Theatre and links.
The
Victorian Web: The Victorian Web is the result of Brown University's
Institute for Research in Information and Scholarship Intermedia Project.
At the moment there are 44 British writers on the website. This includes
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Browning, Lewis Carroll, Charles
Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson and Lord Tennyson.
Each author has an overview page where the material is listed under
the following headings: Biography, Works, Victorianism, Science, Literary
Relations, Visual Arts, Themes, Setting, Characterization, Image &
Symbol, Narration, Genre, Religion and Philosophy and Related Websites.
These sections might include one page of information or a list of
twenty or more pages. This site is a great research archive and fully
deserves the many awards it has received.
Robert
Louis Stevenson: The Robert Louis Stevenson website is managed
by Richard Dury at the University of Bergamo. The website receives
considerable support from the Robert Louis Stevenson Society based
in Australia and Edinburgh's Robert Louis Stephenson Club. Material
is listed under the following headings: Life and Works, E-Texts, Images,
Museums and Library Collections, Events, Bibliographies and Links.
Children's
Storybooks: This websites provides a collection of illustrated
stories for young children to read online. Titles include Round Bird
Can't Fly, Kitty Wants a Box, Buzzy Bee, The Counting Story, Alphabet,
Animals Can See at the Zoo and Farm Animals. Some of the stories have
linking activities such as Riddles, Maze and Colouring Book. The website
also includes online stories for older children and young adults.
D.
H. Lawrence: The Rananim Society is a D.H. Lawrence e-mail discussion
group. Two of the members of this group from Ontario, Canada, have
produced a site dedicated to the work of D. H. Lawrence. As well as
producing original material, the Rananim Society have collected together
all the sites on the Internet that relate to Lawrence and his work.
One list includes 'Pilgrimages and Homages' and provides links with
places where Lawrence lived. 'Eastwood and DH Lawrence' supplies information
(text and photographs) on the four houses that Lawrence occupied in
Eastwood. Special emphasis is placed on his birthplace, 8a Victoria
Street, which is now maintained as a museum. From here there are also
links with other related websites: 'Eastwood', 'Picture Gallery of
Old Eastwood' and 'About Nottingham'.
Elizabeth
Gaskell: Literary
genius is not always rewarded with good websites. Elizabeth Gaskell
is one of those writers who will obtain a growing readership thanks
to the devoted care and attention of the Gaskell Society. The site
provides links with electronic texts of her work. There are also copies
of rare, 19th century illustrated versions of her work. Other linked
websites include: 'Gaskell Portrait Gallery', 'Knutsford, Past and
Present', 'Elizabeth Gaskell's Manchester' and 'Gaskell Studies and
the Internet'. There is also detailed information about past editions
of the Gaskell Society Journal and a free newsletter on the writer.
Zuzu:
On this website Beck Underwood's artwork provides a stimulus for creative
writing. Children can submit their work for possible online publication.
Subject categories includes science-fiction, holidays and animals.
The website also contains sections on Mysterious Stories, Poetry,
Courageous Kids, Neighborhood Reports, Virtual Vacations, Interviews
and Broadway Reviews.
Kids'
Space: Launched in May 1995, Kids' Space was established to break
down cultural, religious, ethnic and racial barriers between children
of the world by promoting cross-cultural collaboration in creative
projects. The site now features creative writing from more than 150
countries. The website also includes Kids' Space Communication for
communication activities, such as penpals.
Discovering
Dickens: An interesting approach to the work of Charles Dickens
that has been created by Lucy Davis of 'Schools of California Online'.
The material has been produced to help students learn "more about
the time and circumstances which influenced Dickens". Students
have a choice of five different cases. Each case requires the student
to visit several Internet sites that specialize in specific knowledge
about Charles Dickens. Case One involves a look at the everyday life
of Charles Dickens. Students visit two Internet sites 'Dickens' Home'
and 'Dickens' House Museum' and are given assignments that involve
them comparing their life with those of people living in 19th England.
Case Three explores the links between Dicken's novels and his experiences
of childhood poverty.
Free
Resources for English Teaching (FRET): This website provides free,
printable resources, lesson plans and schemes of work for teachers
of English language and literature at secondary level. Taking the
strain out of your job so that you don't need to ... um ... fret!
The site is organised according to the National Curriculum Orders
for English covering reading, (poetry, prose, drama, media, non-fiction)
writing and speaking / listening in the relevant key stages so just
think of FRET as your online, Departmental filing cabinet. Contributions
also welcome.
Native
American Stories: A website that features stories from native
American tribes, which include contemporary, humorous, tragic, and
older 19th century narratives about traditional tribal lifeways. There
are also traditional stories, myths, legends, tall tales and teaching
stories. The website, produced by Paula Giese, also includes a collection
of biographies of late 19th and early 20th century authors.
19th
Century British and Irish Authors:
This is a gateway
site that lists all the known websites on 19th century British and
Irish authors. The full list is over twenty pages long (it is constantly
being updated). For regular visitors there is a 'What's New?' section.
The authors are listed in chronological order. This is a good starting
point for anyone carrying out research into 19th century writers.
T.
S. Eliot: Bruce
Bong has produced a very personal view of the work of T. S. Eliot.
Bong attempts to imitate the style of his other literary hero, Raymond
Chandler. This is unsuccessful but Bong does supply a list of websites
that are useful to anybody studying the work of T.S. Eliot. The website
provides links to T. S. Eliot discussion groups, articles and other
sites that contain biographical details of the writer. Bong also includes
examples of poems where the writers have attempted to parody Eliot's
style. The website also directly links you to websites where you can
print out Eliot's poems.
Under5s is the site for everyone
involved in pre-school education and childcare; teachers, nursery
nurses, students, child minders, nannies, and of course, parents.
The creators of this website believe that preschool is the most important
stage for learning; positive experiences provided at this time having
a lifelong influence. The authors also believe that education should
be fun, and actively encourage learning through play. The site has
free information and resources, including - topic webs, lesson plans,
worksheets, colouring pages, activities and more. It is also an interactive
site with message boards, feedback forms and polls.
Storytellers:
Native American Authors Online is an collection of websites for published
authors. Most of these sites have been constructed with the collaboration
of the author. The rest are either the author's independent site or
a site constructed for a college course. A special emphasis has been
placed upon poets as there is less information available for these
writers. Included on each site is a photograph, a short biography,
some of the author's writing (typically poetry), the awards the writer
has won, a list of publications, including anthologies, and a bookshop
where these books may be purchased. A calendar of the public appearances
for the authors is available, and virtual greeting cards with portraits
of many of the authors can be sent. Links to related websites are
also provided.
Poetry
Class: The Poetry Class website reflects the ethos of taking the
fear out of poetry. What this site offers is plain language, printable
poetry workshops for immediate use in classrooms, a glossary of terms,
interviews with poets, recommended books, and key stage requirements
tagged to particular poetry workshops on our site. Poetry Class vet
each external poetry site listed in our resources section to ensure
that it matches its standards for clear language, contains useful
information about (or examples of) poetry and poetic forms, and is
easily navigable for all users.
Representative
Poetry On-line includes about 2,350 English poems by 368 poets
from Caedmon, in the Old English period, to the work of living poets
such as Marge Piercy and Mark Doty. This anthology represents poets
from Africa, Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and the United
States. Its collections build on a university teaching textbook published
by the University of Toronto Press from 1912 until 1967 to which several
dozen scholars contributed, including Kathleen Coburn, Northrop Frye,
Marshall McLuhan, Donald Theall, and R. S. Woof. Representative Poetry
On-line serves both the poetry student and teacher at school and post-secondary
levels, and the poetry lover. It offers classical critical works on
poetry, a glossary of poetic terms, annotations on words or passages
in the poems, and four indexes (poets, titles, first lines, chronology,
and calendar). It represents good poetry of all periods and types,
African-American, children's, classical, comic, feminist, and popular,
and aims at giving a reliable, helpful edition of each poem.
Poetry4kids is the biggest
collection of hilarious poetry for kids anywhere on the net. Written
by popular children's poet Kenn Nesbitt, poetry4kids is packed with
funny, whimsical, clever and zany poems, and is guaranteed to make
you giggle. In addition, Mr. Nesbitt's "How To" section
teaches children how to write their own funny poetry, and his "Link"
page boasts one of the Internet's most comprehensive listings of children's
poetry resources. If you like humorous poetry, don't miss this site.
Walt
Whitman: The Walt Whitman Archive is an electronic research and
teaching tool that sets out to make Whitman’s vast work, for
the first time, easily and conveniently accessible to scholars, students,
and general readers. Whitman, America’s most influential poet
and one of the four or five most innovative and significant writers
in United States history, is the most challenging of all American
authors in terms of the textual difficulties his work presents. He
left behind an enormous amount of written material, and his major
life work, Leaves of Grass, went through
six very different editions, each of which was issued in a number
of formats, creating a book that is probably best studied as numerous
distinct creations rather than as a single revised work. His many
notebooks, manuscript fragments, prose essays, letters, and voluminous
journalistic articles all offer key cultural and biographical contexts
for his poetry. The Archive sets out to incorporate as much of this
material as possible, drawing on the resources of libraries and collections
from around the United States and around the world.
First
World War Poetry: This seminar is intended as an introduction
to First World War poetry. As well as the poets Wilfred Owen, Rupert
Brooke, Isaac Rosenberg, Siegfried Sassoon and Edward Thomas the seminar
looks at women poets in the First World War. Each poet and topic includes
the following: (a) an introduction, (b) a featured poem, appropriate
to the seminar's theme, (c) some literary criticism of the featured
poem, (d) other relevant information or texts, (e) a selection of
other poems appropriate to the poet/topic.
Wilfred
Owen: This website includes four of Wilfred Owen's most popular
poems: Anthem for Doomed Youth, Dulce et Decorum est, Strange Meeting
and The Parable of the Old Man and the Young. There are also links
to other websites on Wilfred Owen and his poetry.
The
Tolkien Society is
an international organisation with the aim to encourage and further
interest in the life and works of the late Professor J.R.R. Tolkien,
author of two of the most well-known and best-loved books of the late
20th Century, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. This site has
information about JRR Tolkien, the books he wrote, his life and books
others have written about him.
Novel
Guide claims to be the premier free source for literary analysis
on the web and aims to provide an educational supplement for better
understanding of classic and contemporary literature. It gives a summary
of chapters, character profiles and top ten quotes.
Teachit
Competition:
Many of you grappling with the new English A/AS specifications should
visit this website for ideas, inspiration and even prizes. Cambridge
University Press and Ink Pellet magazine have offered a selection
of great books for twenty-one Teachit contributors. The 'Cambridge
Contexts in Literature' series provides a flexible range of resources
for the new Advanced Subsidiary and Advanced GCE qualifications. Teachit
has one complete set of all eleven books to give away, plus ten sets
of three popular books in the series; 'The Great War in British Literature',
'Post-Colonial Literature' and 'Metaphysical Poetry'.
Little
Animals Activity Centre: Another excellent website produced by
the BBC for young children. Characters featured include Micky Maker,
Digby Mole, Foxy Dancer, Count Hoot, Puzzlesnuff and Storybear. Each
one has a set of activities for children including word and music
games, riddles, mazes, math activities, treasure trials and interactive
games.
George
Orwell Resources: This website, devoted to the work of George
Orwell, includes a short biography, an extensive bibliography, quotes,
photographs and links to online texts. This includes novels, nonfiction
books, pamphlets, broadcasts, essays, articles, poetry, letters and
book reviews. The website also includes links to resources that can
be used by students studying 1984 and Animal Farm.
Reading-Now
has resources for building early word recognition skills. These teacher
created materials provide the necessary practice to help students
succeed in decoding and sight word recognition skills. The practice
is done in context along with game cards, flash cards, and certificates
for achieving success at each level. The veteran teacher-author enables
students to practice with varied reinforcement activities.
Spelling
it Right features
more than seventy pages of advice and exercises. Worksheets emphasise
spelling patterns rather than spelling rules and deal with topics
such as syllables, memorising strategies, word beginnings and endings,
consonant blends, proof reading, adding prefixes and suffixes. Roger
Smith, an experienced English teacher and examiner, originally aimed
the site at parents who were concerned about their children’s
spelling and were keen to help them improve. However, it soon became
apparent that adults were also using the site to overcome their own
spelling weaknesses. Teachers, too, print out the worksheets for use
in the classroom and many schools and colleges in the UK, USA, Canada,
Australia and New Zealand now include a link on their own web sites
so that parents, students and teachers can easily access Spelling
it Right.
Grammar
Lady: Mary Newton Bruder is the person behind this impressive
website. Bruder informs the visitor on the home page that "the
purposes of the site are to be helpful, to raise consciousness about
correct language use, and to remind everyone of the ways to have fun
with language". The Grammar Hotline/Web site is a free service
that attempts to answer quick grammar, punctuation, spelling, and
other points about language.
Of
Mice and Men: An excellent website for anyone teaching or studying
John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men. The website is designed to
be an annotative guide to the novel. As you travel through the site,
you will find hundreds of definitions to help you get more out of
your reading. Click on any one of the chapter links in the frame on
the left. There you will first find a short synopsis of the chapter.
You will also find phrases and sentences from the book that contain
words that students may have had trouble understanding. Click on any
of the highlighted words, and you'll be taken to a glossary page where
you will be able to find the word's definition. The website also provides
help with allusions (references to various people, things, geographical
locations, etc.) and idioms (expressions).
Wired
for Books: Read, listen, watch: these are the options for visitors
to the website, Wired for Books. Using streaming media to deliver
sound and video, the folks at the Ohio University Telecommunications
Center are trying to get people, both young and old, excited about
books. The offerings range from scholarly discussions to children's
stories, from Shakespeare to Anne Rice. In-house audio productions
of Macbeth and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland attract the audio
book lovers, as do CBS Radio's famous author interviews, conducted
by Don Swaim from the 1970s to the 1990s. The site also provides a
virtual space for Ohio University writers and scholars. Notable local
authors include Terry Anderson reading his poems from The Den of Lions,
written while he was held hostage in Beirut during Lebanon's bloody
civil war. Sometimes, special visitors to the university, such as
Antonya Nelson, (In the Land of Men) stop by to record a story.
INKENT:
Gareth Thomas teaches secondary English at the Archbishop's School
in Canterbury. The inkentENGLISH website began in 1997 as an English
teachers' links site, but since the advent of a number of good sites
catering for English links, the site has evolved into a practical
platform for his own teaching. It contains material to support lessons,
homework, and e-texts for current work. The site is under constant
revision and by the end of August 2002 it will contain all his Schemes
of Work for English planned out for the school year.
ProQuest
Literature: This subscription service website features over 106,000
fully searchable plays, poems and prose works. These are presented
alongside thousands of secondary resources including reviews, articles,
reference works, video clips and contextual images. The service also
contains a growing range of teaching resources including a series
of GCSE schemes of work.
International
Educational Services: The introduction and use of computers for
students presents an immense opportunity for teachers and students
to be innovative, to enhance and extend their classroom experience!
The International Educational Services website based in New Zealand
contains English teaching resources for age 11 to 17. This includes
units on novels, poetry, genre, drama and English skills. Units can
be ordered and downloaded off their website. International Educational
Services also provides a free online English resources newsletter
with sample units and free puzzles.
Story
Street: A free companion website from Longman to accompany Story
Street, the fiction strand of the new reading programme Literacy Land.
However, this website is ideal for practising Literacy and ICT skills
even if you don't use the Story Street books. You can take a virtual
tour of Story Street, find out about and email the authors including
Jeremy Strong or send a postcard to a friend. The Story Street School
Magazine is updated termly with new articles, jokes and news and schools
are invited to send in their own magazines for publication on the
website. The website offers a registration facility to notify you
when new materials and special offers of interest are added to the
website.
Anne
Bronte: This web site presents both a literary, and a pictorial
account of the life of Anne Brontë - younger sister of the more
generally well known Charlotte and Emily - of 'Jane Eyre', and 'Wuthering
Heights' fame respectively. It has a particular focus on Anne's connections
with the seaside resort of Scarborough; a place she loved; a place
she portrayed in both her novels - 'Agnes Grey' and 'The Tenant of
Wildfell Hall'; a place where she wished to open her own school, and
the place where she ultimately died and was buried. In 1897, a journalist
declared 'It is impossible to stand by the tomb of the authoress of
"Agnes Grey" and "The Tenant" without becoming
possessed of a great yearning to know more about her'; and it was
this sentiment, coupled with the knowledge of the hundreds of people
who visit Anne's grave at Scarborough each year, that inspired me
to create this website. The site presents you with a range of pages
- covering various aspects of Anne, her life, and her achievements.
Lord
of the Flies: William Golding published Lord of the Flies in 1954.
The book describes in detail the exploits of a band of young children
marooned on a desert island after a plane crash. This website contains
descriptions of the main characters, summaries, and themes and symbolism
in Lord of the Flies, as well as a 3-dimensional rendering of the
island. Additionally, vocabulary words with definitions have been
added to the site. If you can't find everything you need here, links
are also provided for further reading.
Charles
Dickens: David Perdue's impressive website provides a comprehensive
account on the life and work of Charles Dickens. The site includes
a detailed biography of Dickens by David Cody, notes on his complete
work and a compendium of his characters. There is also a timeline,
an interactive map of 19th century London, an article on Dickens'
journalistic career and a message board where you can post questions
on Dickens.
Questique
is a unique strategy crossword board game that can be played in a
home, school or further educational environment. Rare amongst skill
based games, it is suitable for children, families and adults. Play
is possible from elementary to advanced levels. A simple handicapping
system allows players of mixed abilities to all compete as equals.
Even a highly educated language teacher and a below average ability
child of eight can be a match! It is an excellent language teaching
aid, especially in relation to spelling and vocabulary development.
The game includes many options, one of these being "fast play".
This is ideal for active minds and impatient players of all ages -
no need for an egg timer here to keep the game moving! Questique is
fun, challenging and educational and can be played solo or by up to
four players.
Little
Explorers: This website provides 1,885 illustrated dictionary
entries. Each word is used in a meaningful example sentence. Most
entries have links to a related web site. Just click on an underlined
word (or its accompanying picture), and you'll link to a great web
site related to it. A picture-dictionary format is used to link to
hundreds of carefully-chosen child-friendly sites around the world.
Since the pictures are links, even pre-readers can surf with a minimum
of help and guidance from their favorite adult. Older kids can use
Little Explorers as a school reference. This is the English version;
just click to use the English-French, English-German, English-Italian,
English-Portuguese, or the English-Spanish version.
Project
Gutenberg: This
website publishes out-of-copyright works online for free. This generally
means that the Gutenberg texts are taken from books published pre-1923.
So you won't find the latest bestsellers or modern computer books
here. You will find the classic books from the start of this century
and previous centuries, from authors like Shakespeare, Poe, Dante,
as well as well-loved favorites like the Sherlock Holmes stories by
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the Tarzan and Mars books of Edgar Rice Burroughs,
Alice's adventures in Wonderland as told by Lewis Carroll, and thousands
of others.
Redbridge
Literacy Website: This website is for all primary and secondary
teachers of literacy, both within English and beyond. The site features
downloadable lesson plans and resources, ideas to support literacy
work in schools and relevant news and updates from official bodies,
such as QCA, the National Literacy Strategy and OFSTED. The Key Stage
1 and 2 areas of the site are well established, and offer particular
support to English Co-ordinators working in primary, whilst the Key
Stage 3 area offers a whole range of Year 7 and 8 units of work in
medium and short term planning formats, along with Literacy Across
the Curriculum resources. The website also features details of all
INSET courses, primary and secondary, run by the London Borough of
Redbridge; these courses are open to teachers from all areas.
English
Teacher File: The purpose of English Teacher File is to help the
English teacher to find quickly, and often without leaving the school,
an increased variety of aids and resources. Whether s/he's working
in a large inner city school or alone in isolation somewhere, the
only requirement to obtain these aids is an Internet connection. The
Internet has made assistance readily available as you'll see when
you start following some of the links, whether you're at home or at
your school. As well, any links you wish to add will be welcomed as
long as they serve the needs and/or interests of teachers of English
worldwide. There is also a file drawer which you are invited to visit
and to take from it what you wish. It will be a source from which
to obtain tests, quizzes, chapter reviews, critical notes that others
have used successfully and whole lessons other teachers worldwide
are willing to share.
Experience
of War: An anthology of over 100 extracts, both prose and poetry,
dealing with war - with particular reference to the First World War.
Maintained by Steve Brown, the website includes work by Rupert Brooke,
Julian Grenfell, John McCrae, Isaac Rosenberg, W. B. Yeats, Siegfried
Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, Edmund Blunden, Edward Thomas, Charles Hamilton
Sorley, Robert Graves, Rudyard Kipling, Ivor Gurney and Carl Sandburg.
Glossary
of Technical Theatre Terms: This website produced by Theatre Crafts
includes a list of over 1250 definitions. The material is listed under
Lighting, Sound, Stage Management, Costume, Stage Design, Rigging,
Theatre Building, Directing, Theatre Jobs, Administration and Forms
of Theatre. A useful website for any teacher or student who wants
to develop detailed knowledge of theatre terms.
Word
Detective: This is the online version of the Word Detective, a
newspaper column that answers questions about words and language.
The Word Detective is written by Evan Morris and appears in newspapers
in the U.S., Mexico and Japan. The Word Detective receives hundreds
of questions every week, and Morris does not promise to answer every
question he receives. If the question is answered, it will appear
first in The Word Detective newspaper column and then be posted on
this web page. You can also buy a hardback collection of The Word
Detective columns from the site.
ClassicReader:
At ClassicReader you can read, search, and annotate great works of
literature by authors such as Charles Dickens, Leo Tolstoy, William
Shakespeare, Aldous Huxley, Thomas Hardy, and many others. The collection
currently contains 651 books and 906 short stories by 196 authors.
This includes 96 books for children. New works are added to the collection
on a regular basis, many at the suggestion of readers. The works are
split into seven categories which may be accessed via the links at
the left of every page.
Elizabeth
Gaskell: This website, created by Mitsuharu Matsuoka of Japan,
is devoted to the work of Elizabeth Gaskell. 'Mary
Barton: A Tale of Manchester Life' was published in 1848. With its
cast of working-class characters and its attempt to address key social
issues such as urban poverty, Chartism and the emerging trade union
movement, Gaskell's novel deeply shocked Victorian society. In
her books Gaskell expressed a deep sympathy for the poor and suggested
the need for large-scale social reform. As well
as Mary Barton the website includes E-texts of Cranford (1851), Ruth
(1853), North and South (1855), Sylvia's Lovers (1863) and Wives and
Lovers (1866).
Language
Laboratory: This website uses Merlin, an animated interactive
Microsoft Agent Character, to provide a basic overview of the eight
parts of speech of English grammar. To access the site, the user must
have Version 4.0 or better of Internet Explorer with Microsoft Agent
installed, plus the Microsoft agent named Merlin, freely available
from Microsoft Corporation from their website.
Roald
Dahl: An educational website dedicated to the work of Roald Dahl.
It includes biography of Dahl, timelines, pictures, articles, games,
polls, downloads, greeting cards, auctions and contests. In the Classroom
area there are resources under the headings Student Help and Teacher
Ideas.
Alex
Catalogue of Electronic Texts is collection of digital documents.
The scope of documents in the collection include items from American
literature, English literature, and Western philosophy. The Catalogue
has a number of unique features. First, not only can you search for
and display texts from the collection, but you can also search the
content of located texts. Moreover, you can search the content of
multiple documents simultaneously. For example, you can first locate
all the documents in the collection authored by Mark Twain. Next,
you can search selected documents for something like "slav"
(which includes slave, slaves, slavery, etc.) to draw out themes across
texts.
Classic
Short Stories: A collection of online electronic short stories
by writers such as Guy de Maupassant, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Anton Chekhov,
Rudyard Kipling, James Joyce, Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce, Gabriel
Garcia Marquez, Ring Lardner, Virginia Woolf, Dylan Thomas, Dorothy
Parker, H. G. Wells, Jack London, William Carlos Williams, Evan Hunter
and Roald Dahl.
Teachit
Primary Competition: In a bid to develop its new Primary resources
area further, Teachit is offering great prizes to Primary teachers
in return for Primary English and Literacy resources. The first prize
is a school site licensed version of the excellent Kar2ouche Primary
Curriculum The Romans interactive educational software (worth over
£270) and the second prize is a complete Oxford Spelling Kit.
To enter, teachers simply need to send their resources, ideas or worksheets
to Siobhain Archer, the Site Editor, by the end of October, 2002.
Jane
Austen: A comprehensive website on the life and work of Jane Austen.
The site has links to annotated and illustrated e-texts versions of
Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, Emma,
Persuasion, and Northanger Abbey. Students can also access her minor
works, poems and letters. There is also a collection of online academic
articles on Austen available from the site.
Poetry
Showcase: TeachIt believes that the Internet should be a two way
process, with students able to upload their own work as well as downloading
ideas and information. For this reason they are now offering a 'virtual
classroom display' where teachers can reward and motivate effort by
publishing students' work. And, if the glory is not enough reward
the first 50 young writers will also receive their own Oxford Schools
Dictionary. The Poetry Showcase 2002 will be running alongside National
Poetry Day on October 10th and Teachit are inviting poems on the subject
of celebration.
Novel
Guide: This free website provides an educational supplement for
better understanding of contemporary and classic literature. It currently
features 72 books but it adds more each week. Recent additions include
Measure for Measure, Huckleberry Finn, and Notes from the Underground.
The most popular books with students include Lord of the Flies, Animal
Farm and The Great Gatsby. The material is divided into six sections:
Novel Summary, Character Profiles, Metaphor Analysis, Theme Analysis,
Top Ten Quotes and a Biography.
First
World War Literature: A collection of biographies of men and women
who wrote about the First World War. There are sections on War Poets
(16), War Journalists (34) and Writers and the War (26). The website
also features entries on Accredited War Journalists, Defence of the
Realm Act, British War Journalism, War Office Press Bureau and journals
published during the war such as Workers' Dreadnought, Simplicissimus,
Kladderadatsch and The Masses.
Book
Box: This Channel 4 website is aimed at encouraging 9 to 13 year-olds
to read. It provides information on 40 popular writers of children's
classics along with interviews, games and activities. There is also
a writing toolkit to aid creative writing. Authors featured include
Roald Dahl, Jamila Gavin, Anthony Horowitz, Terry Jones, Beverley
Naidoo, Terry Prachett, Philip Pullman and J. K. Rowling.
Booktrust:
National Children's Book Week (7th to 13th October 2002) celebrates
the world of children's books. It is an annual focus on the enjoyment
of reading, with the aim of encouraging as many children as possible
to get into books. Each year Booktrust provides colourful and useful
resources to promote National Children's Book Week. This year they
have produced resource materials for both Key Stage 1-2 and 3-4 with
two core posters featuring the illustrators Axel Scheffler and Bee
Willey, together with bookmarks, stickers and postcards.
World
Wide Words: This website investigates international English from
a British viewpoint. Created by Michael Quinion, the 1200 plus pages
is divided into sections, each with its own theme and index. Sections
include Articles, Reviews, Topical Words, Turns of Phrase and Weird
Words. There is also a free World Wide Words newsletter that goes
out every Saturday.
Dictionary
of Slang: A large online dictionary on the rich colourful language
we call slang. Produced by Ted Duckworth, the website adds new entries
every month. If you are unable to immediately find the term you are
looking for, try the slang search. A short essay giving an outline
of the parameters of this site and brief information on slang can
be accessed on the introduction page.
Ye
Olde English Sayings: Explanations of English sayings and customs.
Recent additions include clink, black market, son of a gun, patent
leather, done to a turn, beat about the bush, cut through the red
tape, getting tanked, pitcher, wet your whistle, saved by the bell,
threshold, chew the fat, burning the candle at both ends, giving them
the cold shoulder, getting a square meal, frog in the throat, upper
crust, eating humble pie, turn the tables and clean your plate before
you have dessert.
Origin
of Phrases: Chuck
Moreland's website explores the meaning of common phrases. The material
is organized into two sections. One is a list of phrases with origins
already identified. The other is a list of phrases whose origin the
author is seeking. You can send an email to Chuck Moreland if you
have something to add to a phrase already identified or if you have
information about the origin of a phrase.
If he likes your submission he will add it to the list and give you
credit.
Beowulf
in Cyberspace: Beowulf on Steorarume (Beowulf in Cyberspace) centres
on a free online edition of the Anglo-Saxon epic poem "Beowulf",
including: the original Old English (OE) text with MS notes; new English
translation with facing OE text; German translation with facing OE;
supplemental OE texts with translation; Old English glossary (in progress);
audio & visual resources.
Luminarium:
This website, created by Anniina Jokinen, combines three sites first
created in 1996 to provide a starting point for students and enthusiasts
of English Literature. The material is organised under three headings:
Medieval, Renaissance and 17th Century Literature. Each entry includes
a brief biography plus links to articles, quotes and online versions
of the writer's work. The website is extremely well designed and contains
music and art from the respective time periods.
Literacy
Matters: The site specializes in providing free literacy lesson
plans and resources for Early Years to Y7 teachers. The Medium term
and weekly lesson plans are based on good texts and are cross referenced
to the National Literacy Strategy Framework for Teaching objectives.
The plans are written by former teachers who continue to try out these
ideas in the classroom. The site also contains an 'Ask the Expert'
section, a discussion forum and has many useful links.
English
Job Maze is a British/Australian ESL/EFL job & information
site for ESL/EFL teachers and schools around the world. It also contains
a wealth of free TEFL industry-related info for teachers, including
profiles of TEFL qualifications, tips on writing CVs and answering
interview grammar questions. The
four owners of the English Job Maze are all University of Cambridge
DELTA -qualified, and have extensive English as a Foreign Language
classroom, management and materials writing experience.
LibrarySpot:
Published by StartSpot Mediaworks in the Northwestern University,
LibrarySpot is the first in a family of vertical information portals
designed to make finding the best topical information on the Internet
a quick, easy and enjoyable experience. LibrarySpot is a free virtual
library resource center for educators and students, librarians and
their patrons, families, businesses and just about anyone exploring
the Web for valuable research information. To date, LibrarySpot has
received more than 30 awards and honors.
Roget's
Thesaurus: Peter Roget was a physician at the Manchester Infirmary.
As a young man he began to compile a simple wordlist for his own use
and during his lifetime he continued to improve and add to it. In
1852 he published his Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases, a collection
of words and phrases arranged according to ideas rather than alphabetically.
This website provides a free online version of this amazing work.
Fiction
Junkie is devoted to the art of skimming. Here you'll find a diverse
range of recently published books - or to be more precise, the first
couple of chapters. Although many online booksellers offer the chance
to read excerpts from books, only Fiction Junkie brings them together
under one electronic roof.
Fetch
Book Info: This website provides is a quick way to compare prices
of new and used books. Whether it's used college books, used textbooks,
new fiction books or new poetry books, it will find the book stores
providing the lowest available prices. Just enter the name of the
book you are looking for, and we will find book reviews, alternative
books and the store providing the best price after comparing dozens
of book stores.
Anthem
for a Doomed Youth:
This major exhibition of manuscripts, letters, diaries, works of art,
photographs and personal mementoes is currently showing
at the Imperial War Museum.
The Anthem for a Doomed Youth website features biographies of the
twelve poets in the exhibition: Edmund Blunden, Rupert Brooke, Robert
Graves, Julian Grenfell, Ivor Gurney, David Jones, Francis Ledwidge,
Wilfred Owen, Isaac Rosenberg, Siegfried Sassoon, Charles Sorley and
Edward Thomas.
International
Dialects English Archive: The International Dialects of English
Archive, IDEA, was created in 1998 as a repository of primary source
recordings for actors and other artists in the performing arts. Its
home is the Department of Theatre and Film at the University Of Kansas,
in Lawrence, KS, USA, while associate editors form a global network.
All recordings are in English, are of native speakers, and you will
find both English language dialects and English spoken in the accents
of other languages. Each recording is briefly described so that you
may better assess whether or not to download it.
Stufun:
Studies need not be boring. It can be interesting and students can
enjoy learning. This is the motto of Stufun. The first phase of Stufun
included definitions of the grammatical terms, questions in pictorial
forms, quizzes and exercises which would encourage students to think.
To make it more interesting, it has introduced eight cartoon characters
who are a part of the Stufun family. The second phase of Stufun includes
Gictionary (Online Picture Dictionary), Similar Sounding Words and
Interactive Exercises.
Guide
to Grammar and Style: A collection of articles on grammar and
style by Jack Lynch. The entries are of two types: specific articles
on usage, and more general articles on style. The specific articles
cover such mechanical things as when to use a semicolon and what a
dangling participle is; the general articles discuss ways to make
"proper" writing even better. The specific articles can
be further divided into two classes: (1) grammatical rules and matters
of house style, matters rather of precedent than of taste; and (2)
more subjective suggestions for making your writing clearer, more
forceful, and more graceful. The specific articles are intended for
quick reference, such as when you have to find out whether which or
that is appropriate.
Wikipedia
Encyclopedia: Wikipedia is an international, open content, collaboratively
developed encyclopedia. The project started in January 2001 and currently
covers a vast spectrum of subjects and has over 100,000 articles in
English as well as about 37,000 articles in other languages. The Literature
Encyclopedia includes sections on Genres, Literary Techniques, Literary
Figures, Literary Themes and literature by country or language.
John
Keats: A comprehensive study of the life and works of John Keats.
The website includes a biography, a chronology of his life and work,
in-depth studies (Byron on Keats, Shelley on Keats, Fanny Brawne,
Keats and Rome), selections from his letters, contemporary descriptions,
latest news on John Keats (new biographies etc.), critical opinions,
images, bibliography and links.
Learning
Packs: This websites offers more than 2,000 ready made worksheets
for students aged 10-18. Although there is a charge for this service
there are more than 100 free worksheets to try. You can download,
or print the sheets, amend them or adapt them as you wish. If they
do not meet your requirements exactly you can simply use the ideas
on the worksheets to inspire you when you design your own. There are
no copyright restrictions. This includes English Literature Guides
- Animal Farm, The Go-Between, I'm The King Of The Castle, Great Expectations,
An Inspector Calls, Macbeth, Of Mice And Men, To Kill A Mocking Bird,
Pygmalion, Romeo And Juliet and Twelfth Night.
Dorothy
Parker: Dot City was launched in 1998 to create something unique
online: a site devoted to Dorothy Parker's life in New York. The award-winning
writer and peerless wit was a quintessential New Yorker, and that's
what this site celebrates. Dot City takes you to her homes and apartments,
the hangouts where Mrs. Parker and the Algonquin Round Table met,
and even to a few places you may not have heard about. You can also
listen to Dorothy Parker reading more than 30 poems. Autographs and
interviews are in The Gallery for Parkerites; visitors can explore
Dottie's days in Hollywood, the latest news items and also links to
related sites.
Jack
London: A website devoted to the life and times of Jack London.
The website includes a biography, photographs and articles about Jack
London and his family. The website provides online versions of several
of his short stories and the novels The Call of the Wild, White Fang
and The Sea-Wolf. There are also newspaper articles that he wrote
while covering the Russo-Japanese War and the Russian Revolution.
Storytelling
in the Classroom: David James has reduced his full-time teaching
in order to promote the use of Storytelling in the Classroom. The
website provides everything you need to deliver lessons, whose targets
meet several of the National Curriculum criteria, to Primary School
children upwards. Free lesson plans, texts, activities, assessment
sheets and worksheets are available as is a download of David James
telling "Call of the Sea". The SEN area provides any number
of short tales with related activities which form self-delivering
literacy lessons for 11 year olds.
Litnotes
UK is a website for teachers and students studying AQA English
Language and Literature and Media Studies. The site contains comprehensive
notes on set texts, language and media topics. Sections include Glossary
of Media Terms, Mass Media & Culture, Reading Media, Reality &
Representation, Audience Theory and British Newspapers.
Twelfth
Night Revision: This website provides basic overviews of each
act of Twelfth Night. There are also quizzes on each act, the plot
and individual characters. The website also features a collection
of interactive games and exercises on Twelfth Night including Shakespeare's
Accident (Act III, Scene 1), Shakespeare Shootout, Shakespeare Hoop
Shoot, Walk the Plank and Fling the Teacher.
Nada's
ESL Island: Free resources for English/ESL teachers and students.
A handful of organized links, online materials, worksheets, rubrics,
lesson and unit plans. Tests & quizzes, online exercises, in addition
to a plethora of tips and techniques for teaching. Nada Abi Samra,
teacher at the American Community School, Beirut and Saint Joseph
University, Lebanon, created the content and maintains the website.
Glossarist:
Looking for the definition of a term in a particular subject can be
difficult and time consuming. Glossarist is a searchable directory
of over 6,000 glossaries and topical dictionaries. Catagories include
Arts & Culture, Business, Careers & Employment, Computers
& Internet, Economy & Finance, Education, Entertainment, Family
& Relationships, Government, Politics & Military, Health,
Medicine & Fitness, Humanities & Social Sciences, Law and
Justice, Lifestyle, Media, News & Weather, Reference, Science,
Sports & Recreation, Technology and Transport.
Famous
Last Words: In 1927, Nicco Sacco, about to be executed for a crime
he did not commit, remarked: "If it had not been for these things
I might live out my life talking at street corners to scorning men.
I might have died unmarked, a failure, unknown. Now we are not a failure.
This is our career and our triumph. Never in our full life could we
hope to do such work for tolerance, for justice and for man's understanding
of man." Leo Tolstoy, on attempts to persuade him to become a
Christian before he died, gasped "Even in the shadow of death,
two and two do not make six." Whereas the American Civil War
leader, General John Sedgwick, remarked "They couldn't hit an
elephant at this distance..." This website provides an interesting
collection of famous last words, including those of Casanova: "I
have Iived as a philosopher and die as a Christian." When it
was suggested to Karl Marx that he was dying and should prepare some
last words he said angrily: "Get out! Last words are for fools
who haven't said enough."
Literary
Theory: This website is devoted to Literary Theory and includes
articles on Theodor Adorno, Aristotle, Roland Barthes, Homi K. Bhabha,
Maurice Blanchot, Gilles Deleuze, Jacques Derrida, Terry Eagleton,
Umberto Eco, Michel Foucault, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Dick Hebdige, Martin
Heidegger, Luce Irigaray, Julia Kristeva, Jacques Lacan, Friedrich
Nietzsche, Plato, Gayatri Spivak, Virginia Woolf and Simone de Beauvoir.
Kid's
Review: This website has been developed by parents who noticed
first hand how easy it is to motivate children to use computers but
how difficult it can be to motivate the same children to pick up and
read a book. They also recognise how important other children's views
are in book choice. Kids' Review enables children to share their own
book reviews within a protected environment. A new Teacher Review
section allows teachers to share their views on how these books can
be used successfully with children.
Shakespeare's
Life and Times: This site is divided into the ten sections: Shakespeare's
Life, The Stage, Society, History & Politics, Background of Ideas,
The Drama, Literature, Art, and Music, Some Plays Explored and Reference
& Indexes. Each section is divided into "chapters."
Links followed by an asterisk open up a "pop-up" note on
the same page; links without the asterisk go to a different page;
links external to the site are signalled in green, and open a new
window in your browser.
Teachit:
A year ago Siobhain Archer, Garry Pratt, and their team of part-time
editors launched Teachit Mark II and TeachitPLUS. Since then the site
has developed and expanded - now you have the pick of over 3700 pages
of completely free PDF resources, or, if you're one of the growing
band of TeachitPLUS members, over 2400 of these pages can be customised,
differentiated or used on screen.
Today
in Literature: This free site offers interesting and engaging
stories about literature and writing that bring writers and their
works to life. Each day visitors can read a story about a literary
event that occurred on that day in history - the story of Charles
Dickens' refusal to give a private reading of "A Christmas Carol"
to Queen Victoria; the story of James Joyce first meeting with Sylvia
Beach; the story of Sherwood Anderson's death by toothpick; and so
on. Subscribers receive other date based material as well. Teachers
can use the material to give background to works of literature, to
stimulate interest in writers and books, and to analyse the structure
and technique of the essays.
Voice
of a Long Generation: George Orwell once said, "... above
all I wanted to make political writing into an art', which he certainly
did. But there was purpose behind his art. His provocations were always
deliberately intended to challenge his readers as well as the establishment.
On this BBC Art and Literature website Sir Bernard Crick describes
the life, and far-reaching influence, of this maverick political writer.
Nellie's
English Projects: These
English Projects, produced by Nellie Deutsch, are content based lessons
designed to provide students and teachers with clear instructions
on how to write and present research papers. Students are evaluated
for the process as well as for the final product. The site provides
evaluation rubrics and clear instructions on how to do the projects.
ESL Projects makes extensive use of WebQuests. These are web lessons
designed by both teachers and students. WebQuests are structured mini
projects. They consist of introduction, task, process, resources and
evaluation.
Walter
Scott Digital Archive: The Walter Scott Digital Archive is an
Edinburgh University Library online resource created in the Special
Collections Division. It is designed around the extensive Corson Collection
of Walter Scott material held in Special Collections. It is hoped
that in time this website will become the main source of information
on the life and work of Sir Walter Scott on the web. The website includes
a detailed biography, letters, image database and recent articles
on Scott.
Informed
Librarian Online is a monthly compilation of the most recent tables
of contents from over 275 titles - valuable domestic and foreign library
and information-related journals, e-journals, magazines, e-magazines,
newsletters and e-newsletters. This current awareness service helps
keep you informed and abreast of all library trends. It is an easy,
timesaving way to tame your professional reading tiger, and is very
popular among all types of library and information professionals.
KS3
Grammar: This is a tutorial in grammar for teachers of English
at KS3 - the UK terminology for ages 12-14. It explains all technical
ideas and terms, and makes some suggestions for using them in teaching,
and especially in the teaching of writing. It doesn't try to cover
the whole of English grammar, but presents enough grammar to satisfy
the DfES requirements for teaching English at KS3.
Cats
in the Classroom: These teaching materials have been produced
by Cats Protection. Using the themes of animal rights, pet care, responsibility,
community and the media to explore the use of language and information
to inform, provoke and persuade, this resource provides structured
but flexible support for English at Key Stage 3 and within the 5-14
Curriculum in Scotland. A bank of resources including poems, prose
extracts, historical accounts and role-play scenarios are used to
stimulate debate and discussion leading to a project of creating an
advertising campaign to promote positive cat care.
Art
of Letter Writing: There was a time, not so long ago, when letter
writing was taught in schools and when it was still considered one
of the major subjects one needed to learn in order to progress through
life on both a social and a business level. Nowadays the business
letter holds sway above all forms of letter writing, but the art of
composition has given way to a sudden influx of form letters, and
to a series of well-meaning, if limiting, publications on how to write
a business letter. The aim of this website is to give readers a few
ideas on how they might begin writing personal letters, either to
penfriends or to their own families. It also provides some great examples
from writers such as Virginia Woolf, John Greenleaf Whittier, Lord
Byron and Fanny Kemble.
Testing,
Targets and Tables: In a week which saw another Philip Pullman
attack on the three Ts of testing, targets and tables and a continued
debate around how we encourage reading and writing for pleasure we're
asking for your comments. How do we avoid teaching by tick-box when
things are so test and target driven? How do you give your students
the freedom to enjoy and cherish reading and writing instead of simply
teaching to the next test? Share your tips and/or concerns in the
'testing, targets and tables' discussion in the Teachit staffroom.
National
Children's Book Week: The 6th October saw the beginning of National
Children's Book Week. This event celebrates the wonderful world of
children's books. It is an annual focus on the enjoyment of reading,
with the aim of encouraging as many children as possible to get into
books. The Booktrust website provides colourful and useful resources
to that will help you run your book week or event effectively.
Project
Gutenberg: Hosted by ibiblio, the Public's Library and Digital
Archive, Project Gutenberg is the Internet's oldest producer of free
electronic books (eBooks or etexts). Project Gutenberg began in 1971
when Michael Hart was given an operator's account with $100,000,000
of computer time in it by the operators of the Xerox Sigma V mainframe
at the Materials Research Lab at the University of Illinois. Recently
the Project Gutenberg team published its 10,000th ebook.
The
Canterbury Tales: Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales
between 1387 and 1400. It is the story of a group of thirty people
who travel as pilgrims to Canterbury. The pilgrims, who come from
all layers of society, tell stories to each other to kill time while
they travel to Canterbury. The book has been a best seller since William
Caxton first printed the stories in the 15th century. Internet users
are now able to view the first editions of The Canterbury Tales online
rather than having to visit the British Library where the original
versions are kept.
World
Wide School Library: This collection of 1,535 online texts is
part of the impressive World Wide School Library. Material is organized
under the following categories: Adventure, Animal Tales, Charles Dickens,
Mark Twain, Detective, Drama, Epics, Essays, Fantasy, Historical,
Horror, Humour, Literary Studies, Mystery, New Age, Other Tales, Plays,
Poetry, Romance, Science Fiction, Shakespeare, Short Stories, Social
Commentary and Western.
English
Banana: This website features over 350 free printable worksheets
for ESL, EFL and English language students and teachers. New ones
are added every week. There is no subscription required. The English
Banana website also contains many fun language quizzes for practise
at home or in the classroom - covering reading, spelling, grammar,
vocabulary, and general knowledge. The site also features a fun collection
of Javascript games such as Snake and Pong as well as language games.
The
Devil's Dictionary: In June 1913 Ambrose Bierce went to Mexico
where he disappeared. It is not known exactly when or how he died
but it has been suggested he was killed during the siege of Ojinaga
in January, 1914. Ambrose Bierce's classic work, The Devil's Dictionary
was first published under the title, The Cynic's Word Book, in 1906.
Definitions include: Learning (the kind of ignorance distinguishing
the studious); Education (that which discloses to the wise and disguises
from the foolish their lack of understanding); History (an account
mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about
by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly fools); Mad (affected
with a high degree of intellectual independence); Happiness (an agreeable
sensation arising from contemplating the misery of another) and Positive
(mistaken at the top of one's voice).
Edgar
Allen Poe: His first book, Tamerland and Other Poems, was published
at his own expense in 1827. It went unnoticed. It was not until the
publication of his first collection of short stories, Tales of the
Grotesque and Arabesque, in 1840, that the critics began to take note
of the work of Edgar Allen Poe It was his pioneering detective story,
Murders in the Rue Morgue, published in his own Graham's Magazine,
that eventually made his name. On this website, people can access
the complete text versions of almost all of Poe's poems and short
stories.
Hot
Lingo features a 75,000 word English dictionary, comprised of
both American and British variants. Version 2.0 is even more user-configurable:
including a customizable user dictionary that can now contain up to
32,000 user-defined words. Hot Lingo has applet support for Lotus
iNotes, and Microsoft Exchange Server Outlook Web Access (OWA) 5.x
and 2000 - the two most popular remote messaging products available
today. Hot Lingo is compatible with all of the Windows operating systems.
English
Distance Course: The University of Kalmar's English Distance Course
Portal Page provides the links to the following courses: English 1-10p,
English 11-20p, English for Computer Science, Business Writing, Teaching
English to Younger Children and Practical English. You are welcome
to visit our page and find out about what we do. Please note, though,
that some of our courses require you to have a working knowledge of
Swedish, and that not all of the courses are offered every term. Kalmar
is situated on the south-east coast of Sweden.
SATS:
Recently a group of authors published a statement that included: "We
think that children’s understanding, empathy, imagination and
creativity are developed best by reading whole books, not by doing
comprehension exercises on short excerpts and not from ticking boxes
or giving one word answers. It is our view that reading for pleasure
is being squeezed by the relentless pressure of testing and we are
particularly concerned that the SATs and the preparation for them
are creating an atmosphere of anxiety around the reading of literature."
This website was set up by campaigners against SATs in the NUT and
contains facts, figures and arguments about the issue of SATs.
School
Express: This website provides over 6,000 free worksheets on a
wide variety of different subjects for children aged between 3 and
10. The section on Language Arts includes worksheets on Abbreviations,
Adjectives, Adverbs, Alphabetizing, Antonyms, Synonyms, Homophones,
Classifying, Compound Words, Contractions, Direct and Indirect Objects,
Nouns, Plurals, Prefixes and Suffixes, Pronouns, Proofreading, Punctuation
and Verbs.
Learn:
This Guardian owned website covers every element of the national curriculum
in each subject at each key stage. The English Literature section
includes material on Reading (comparing texts, following an argument,
news or views, selecting, collating material), Writing (the writing
process, writing appropriately different purposes of writing structuring
your writing effectively, grammar trouble spots, vocabulary &
spelling, publishing your writing), Speaking and Listening (contexts,
activity types, speaking purposes & skills, practice).
Alistair
Cooke: The former New York correspondent of the Guardian (1947-1972)
died yesterday at the age of 95. To celebrate his achievements the
Guardian has placed online some of the articles he wrote for the newspaper.
This includes articles on the United Nations (1947), Humphrey Bogart
(1949), Al Jolson (1950), Cancer and Smoking (1954), Art and the Age
of Violence (1957), Fidel Castro (1959), Marilyn Monroe (1962), Assassination
of John F. Kennedy (1963), Cassius Clay (1964) and the Assassination
of Robert Kennedy (1968).
WriteNet:
Teachers & Writers Collaborative was founded in 1967 by a group
of writers and educators who believed that writers could make a unique
contribution to the teaching of writing. The organization runs WriteNet,
a valuable resource for writers and teachers interested in teaching
imaginative writing! You can register to join its popular e-mail listserve,
where writers and teachers advise each other on methods for teaching
writing to students. All WriteNet list-serve messages are automatically
routed to your e-mail account. To view an archive of these lively
and informative messages, go to the Teachers &Writers Discussion
Group.
Ask
a Librarian: Public libraries in the UK run reference and information
services staffed by librarians who are experts at finding information
for you. Public libraries throughout the UK are working together to
provide Ask a Librarian. When you ask a question on the enquiry page
it is automatically routed to one of the participating reference libraries
which receives it as an email message. Using their skill and experience
the librarians will identify the best sources, print or electronic,
for discovering the answer. They will send you an email message as
soon as possible with their response to your enquiry.
ICT
English Survey:
The Fischer Family Trust carries out surveys into ICT use in schools.
Surveys conducted between 2000 and 2003 generated responses from 179
English departments in secondary schools. The report summarises details
of the ICT resources used in English. The most popular websites were
Teach It (21/179), Bytesize (18/179) and Learn (13/179). Other materials
used extensively in English departments include Microsoft Word, Successmaker,
Excel, and Microsoft Publisher.
RymeZone:
Students can use Ryme Zone to help write poetry and song lyrics. To
use RhymeZone, type a word into the search box, select a function
in the dropdown list next to the box, and then hit "Go get it!"
to view the results. Here are the different functions that you can
select from that dropdown list: Rhymes: (words that rhyme with the
word you typed in); Synonyms (words that are the same or similar in
meaning to the word you typed in). Also included are Antonyms, Definitions
and Homophones.
Rhymer:
Find rhymes without stressing, sweating, or fretting. Rhymer does
the work for you. Find the rhymes you need to complete your masterpiece.
With over 93,000 words, Rhymer takes the storm out of brainstorming
so you can spend your time creating. Great
for songwriters, poets, advertisers, teachers and kids! Windows or
Macintosh compatible. Rhymer appears on Word's Tools menu and lets
you insert rhyming words directly into your document. If you have
a different word processor, you can still run the program by itself
and use the Windows clipboard to copy and paste words into your document.
Do you
want to have your website listed in our web directory? If so, send
a brief description (about 150 words) and the URL to spartacus@pavilion.co.uk.
