I am sure others have their favorites, but here are a few suggestions for
starters:

Software:

Oxford Picture Dictionary Interactive: This program contains all of the
words in the Oxford Picture Dictionary, is organized by topic like the
dictionary, and allows students to operate at a number of levels: listening
and reading, listening and spelling, etc. It includes a couple of games for
reinforcement.

Rosetta Stone: Introduces vocabulary slowly, having the student click on one
of four choices displayed. The full version covers quite a bit of vocabulary
structures. Theoretically, students are supposed to learn the same way they
learned their first language, by just listening, clicking, and breezing
through the program. My better students don't do it that way, especially my
Russian speakers. They plod through the program very deliberately with a
Russian dictionary in one hand. Most of them have already mastered Russian
as a second language, having come from FSU republics. I can't really say
I've mastered anything other than English so how can I argue with them?
Rosetta stone has a number of modes like the OPD, listen and read, read,
listen and type, and listen and speak with voice recognition (I am not
impressed with the VR.)

ELLIS- This is a program that includes video clips of actual speakers in
social situations with a complex interface that allows the user to explore
the language at a number of levels. Users can slow the speech down, view
articulation diagrams to see how sounds are produced, choose to explore
idioms and cultural expressions, play a role in the dialogue, and test their
comprehension of the dialogue.

NOTE: You may need to remind your purchasing department about the law of
supply and demand. These programs have a limited market and can't recover
development costs based on volume. They are not cheap!

 

Websites:

Randall's Cyber-listening Lab http://esl-lab.com/   This site has dozens of
conversations for students to listen to and then take quizzes on

A4ESL..org http://a4esl.org <http://a4esl.org/>  Part of the Internet TESL
Journal http://iteslj.org <http://iteslj.org/>  site, A4ESL has quizzes and
puzzles created by teachers for their students, shared with the Internet
community.

English for All- I haven't gotten as good a response from students about
this site, but I feel it has potential. English for All is a DVD series
created by LA Unified and Sacramento County Office of Education. The online
site contains all of the video and supporting exercises. The topics include
employment, taxes, housing, and the education system. http://myefa.org
<http://myefa.org/>  .Teachers can set up a class on check on student
progress through the website.

 

 

Bruce Moon

Adult ESL instructor

Sacramento, CA

 

 

 

  _____  

From: englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Neil Rigole
Sent: Saturday, November 25, 2006 7:37 AM
To: The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List
Subject: [EnglishLanguage 849] Request for software advice

 

Hi all,

Recently I was asked to provide some advice related to ESL software (I am
the Instructional Technology Director for a small k12 system without an ESL
background and with limited ESL technology-based resources in our system).
We have had a family from Russia move in to our system this year (with two
elementary age children), and although we are providing resources for the
kids (we have an ESL teacher providing services as well), I have been asked
if I could find some software or web-based resource recommendations to
assist their parents. Thanks in advance for any advice or recommendations!

 

 

Neil

 

 

Neil Rigole

Director, Instructional Technology

Monroe County Schools

Forsyth, GA

rigolen at monroe.k12.ga.us

www.monroe.k12.ga.us

 

 

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