U.S.A. Learns

http://www.usalearns.org

“U.S.A. Learns is an outgrowth of a project that was conceived by the U.S. Department of Education (ED), Office of Vocational and Adult Education, Division of Adult Education and Literacy (DAEL).  DAEL promotes programs that help American adults get the basic skills they need to be productive workers, family members, and citizens.  The major areas of support are Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education, and English Language Acquisition.  These programs emphasize basic skills such as reading, writing, math, English language competency and problem-solving.”–From the website.

Interesting Things for ESL Students

http://www.manythings.org/

“This web site is for people studying English as a Second Language (ESL) or English as a Foreign Language (EFL). There are quizzes, word games, word puzzles, proverbs, slang expressions, anagrams, a random-sentence generator and other computer assisted language learning activities. Even though the primary focus is for ESL, native English speakers may also find some interesting things on this site. This site is non-commercial and has no advertising. TESL/TEFL teachers may want to recommend this site to their students.”–From the website.

Sounds of English

http://www.soundsofenglish.org/

This is a websited designed by two ESOL teachers for learners of English and their teachers.  Many helpful links, exercises, acitivities, and more.

Copies of the materials may be used only for educational and non-profit purposes.

Self-Study Quizzes For ESL Students

http://a4esl.org/q/h/

“These HTML-only “self-study” quizzes should work on any computer that is able to access the Web. These quizzes DO NOT require JavaScript, Java or a special plugin such as Flash. “–From the website.  Quizzes to hep with grammar, homonyms, idioms, and more.

Foreign Language Online Dictionaries and Free Translation Links

http://www.yourdictionary.com/languages.html

http://www.yourdictionary.com offers on-line dictionaries for about 300 of the languages spoken in the world.

Thsrs (The shorter thesaurus)

http://www.ironicsans.com/thsrs/

Very simple to use:  Type in a long word and receive shorter synonyms.

U.S.A. Learns

http://www.usalearns.org/index/welcome.cfm?CFID=2467107&CFTOKEN=57966250&jsessionid=1a30a8b3f621f824ddb6165e1c783c4653f2

“U.S.A. Learns is an outgrowth of a project that was conceived by the U.S. Department of Education (ED), Office of Vocational and Adult Education, Division of Adult Education and Literacy (DAEL). DAEL promotes programs that help American adults get the basic skills they need to be productive workers, family members, and citizens.”–From the Website.  This is a free site to help adults learn English and improve basic reading, writing, speaking, and life skills.

VOA Pronunciation Guide

http://ibb7.ibb.gov/pronunciations/index.cfm

This Voice of America guide is a database of pronunciation keys and audio files (mp3) with guidance for pronouncing names of people and places in the worldwide news.  Four search types are available: exact search, near search, list lookup or origin browse.

The Owl : Free Writing Help

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

“The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University houses writing resources and instructional material, and we provide these as a free service of the Writing Lab at Purdue. Students, members of the community, and users worldwide will find information to assist with many writing projects. Teachers and trainers may use this material for in-class and out-of-class instruction”–From the Website.

The Story Starter

http://thestorystarter.com/

“The Story Starter provides 763,591,140 creative ideas and writer prompts for writers of all ages. All of the story starters are randomly created. This idea generator can be used for short stories, novels, plays, scripts, or just for fun.”–From the Website.

MLA Language Map

http://www.mla.org/census_map

The Modern Language Association (MLA) offers a map that allows users to find Unitd States Census data on the languages spoken in specific areas of the country.

The Sounds of American English

www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/frameset.html

This is an easy-to-use multimedia tool that allows each user to see where the sounds of our language come from and to hear what they sound like.  Users can view animations that illustrate the movement of each sound, or read step-by-step instructions.

The Phrontistery

http://phrontistery.info/

This is a great site for all the word lovers!  (And all those who answer the calls of word lovers…)  Features of the site include: the International House of Logorrhea (an online dictionary of rare and obscure words), the Compendium of Lost Words, 2- and 3-letter Scrabble word lists, and many other etymology resources.

Virginia Quarterly Review

www.vqronline.org/issues/

The Virginia Quarterly Review: A National Journal of Literature and Discussion has just opened up its archives.  Visitors to the site now have access to everything published between 1975 and 2003.  Browsing is possible from the link above, or you can search the archives.

The Language of Local Government

www.cityofpsl.com/city_clerk/language_local_gov.html

Here you can find a list of terms and abbreviations which are often used in local government settings.  The list was created for newly appointed officials, but it could be equally helpful to all citizens.  If  you need to know what a swale is, or what TRIM stands for, check here.  From the city of Port St. Lucie, Florida.