Thursday, August 1, 2013

Online Reading Resources

E-Readers



Reading Portals


Free lesson plans and materials provided by the International Reading Association.  You can search for materials by keyword, grade level, and resource type. They also provide a variety of materials on reading-related professional development.


Popular in American Classrooms. More than 1000 leveled books (27 levels), multiple genres, comes with worksheets, flashcards, supplemental materials.  $100/classroom, but provides a sample of free materials.


English reading from EnglishClub.com  http://www.englishclub.com/reading/
A reading portal that includes articles on reading strategies,  reading level tests,  links to free books, level based readings with pre-reading vocabulary and post-reading quizzes.


From a U.S. public television station, resources about teaching reading., author Interviews, and  themed booklists.


StarFall.com   http://www.starfall.com/
Excellent resource for younger students learning to read, but most content is too childish for middle schoolers.   

  
Sources of Reading Materials - Assorted Literature


English E-reader - a nice selection of graded readers that include recent publications

BooksShouldbeFree.com Public domain audio books available for browsing. Easy to search, nice interface. ReadPrint   http://www.readprint.com
Thousands of of classics online - some free, some not. Site also includes reading groups, discussions, and reviews.


The Literature Network  http://www.literature.org/
Mostly old classics, but some books by H.G. Wells, Henry O. and Jonathon Swift might be age-appropriate.  Some books also include quizzes and discussions.


The Online Books Page  http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/
Project Gutenberg Children  http://gutenberg.org/wiki/Category:Children%27s_Bookshelf
Fighting the Whales
More than 1,000,000 books available, but many are old or not age-appropriate.


Booksie Young Adult Section http://www.booksie.com/young_adult
40,000+ plus short stories, novels, and essays written and published by users.  Other users can comment on stories (which usually includes very authentic teenage language)


Dozens of stories for use as ‘Mad Libs’. Good part of speech practice.



  Reading Materials - Storybooks and Read Aloud



International Children’s Digital Library   ChildrensLibrary.org
The Alien
1000’s of children’s books from around the world , sortable by age level and book type.


Story Online   Storylineonline.net
Videos of famous people reading storybooks. Includes printable handouts with activities, but not the original text of the books.
FreeKidsBooks   Freekidsbooks.org    Free downloadable storybooks.


StoryBird    Storybird.com
Allows users to make their own visual stories using contributed illustrations. Thousands of user generated stories to read and discuss.

Children’s Storybooks Online    Magickeys.com/books
Illustrated books sorted by level (young children, older children, young adults)


Tarhell Reader    Tarheelreader.org
Hundreds of easy-to-read  user-generated books illustrated by using Flickr photos.


Archive.org Children's Library   http://archive.org/details/iacl
Thousands of copyright-free children’s books in a variety of formats (e.g.pdf, mobi, html).
List of Children's Books for Reading  http://www.techsupportalert.com/free-books-children
Links to many sources of free children’s books and reading material


ESLFast   http://www.eslfast.com/
A collection of 365 short stories for language learners. Each story include a slowly read audio and there are also quiz and dictation activities for each story. .


An assortment of stories, poems, and tongue twisters - some with audio recordings.


A few dozen American folk tales retold within several basic easy-reading paragraphs.


  

  Book Reviews, Recommendations, and Discussions


Affiliated sites that provide book reviews, author interviews, and reading lists.


Reviews, recommendations, ‘best of’ lists,  and discussions of recent books


  

  Sources of Reading Materials - articles and news stories


Eight different sites (e.g. BreakingNewsEnglish.comfamouspeoplelessons.com, and lessonmovies.com) that have thousands of lessons on a variety of topics.  Each is based on a short text and provides a variety of print-ready activities and sometimes audio recordings.


BBC news stories with activities and downloadable materials and audio
Daily subtitled video news with a transcript and teaching materials.


ManyThings Reading    http://www.manythings.org/
Hundreds of short readings (many from Voice of America) with audio recordings. Also includes a large collection of jokes.

Sources of high-interest authentic reading materials for adolescents


Time for Kids http://www.timeforkids.com/
Simplified articles from the magazine, Kid reporters, and lesson materials. Seventeen magazine    http://www.seventeen.com/
Fashion, Beauty, and Celebrity articles aimed at teen girls


Teen Ink    http://www.teenink.com/
Fiction and non-fiction writings by teens for teens


Discovery Girls    http://discoverygirls.com
Aimed at tween girls. Main magazine unavailable online, but blog posts and discussions are.


AImed at teen girls - full text of stories on style, health, advice, entertainments, and fun. Some content might be to ‘adult’ for middle school students


Originally a scouting oriented magazine.  Includes video game reviews, jokes, and blogs.
Print-friendly materials on countries, animals, and science.  The site also has a variety of videos, games, puzzles, and photo activities.  


Produced by National Wildlife Federation.  Many animal-related articles and some comic style stories.  The site also includes games and print-ready handouts, posters, and activities.


Students from around the world meet to talk about issues, present their ideas, and respond to other children. This site also includes a chat forum with live message exchange.


Comics



Kidjutsu, Comics for Kids  http://www.kidjutsu.com/browse/comic
Free comics sorted by type and age level


Dr. Frost   Comic    Discussion
International comics translated into different languages (mostly English)


Comixology   http://comixology.com
Large selection of comics for sale, but with a decent selection of free ones which change weekly. Some might not be appropriate for middle schoolers.


  Korea-related Materials


Short articles about Kpop in English


KppStarz    http://www.kpopstarz.com/
Short Kpop articles and musician profiles


Kpop celebrity news and very active discussion forums


24-7Kpop    http://24-7kpop.com/
Includes Kpop news, event reports, and current event stories


Kpop lyrics romanized and translated into English, along with some Kpop news stories


Popgasa.com   http://popgasa.com/
English lyrics for Kpop songs


Withs2.com   http://withs2.com/
English Subtitles (.srt files) for Korean movies and TV shows




English Language Bloggers in Korea


English Discussions about life in Korea
  

  
Transcripts, Subtitles, & Lyrics
Sites that contain lyrics for thousands of popular English songs
A-Z Lyrics   
http://www.azlyrics.com
Lyric Training (interactive with music videos  http://www.lyricstraining.com/


Transcripts for English Movies & TV Shows
Internet Movie Script Database  http://www.imsdb.com/
Movie Scripts & Screenlays http://www.moviescriptsandscreenplays.com/


Sites where you can download .srt files (subtitles) for English movies & TV Shows
TV Subtitles Tvsubtitles.net  
Allsubs.org Allsubs.org
OpenSubtitles  OpenSubtitles.org   (Korean Subtitles)  
Subtitle Seeker SubTitleSeeker




  Extensive Reading


ER Central    http://er-central.com/
Dedicated to developing an Extensive Reading and Extensive Listening approach to foreign and second language learning. Lots of potential resources - many still ‘coming soon’.


Rob Waring’s ER Page    http://www.robwaring.org/er/
A variety of resources and explanations of What, How, and Why of ER


Extensive Reading Foundation    http://erfoundation.org/
Graded reader lists, Yearly awards, professional organization information


Korean English Extensive Reading Association (KEERA)   http://keera.or.kr/
Bilingual site that  fosters learning and academic excellence by working with members, institutions, and individuals to create a safe, fulfilling, and academically enriching environment for Extensive English reading education in Korea.


Online level tests from different publishers.
Oxford  
http://elt.oup.com/student/bookwormsleveltest
Ace Reader’s Free Reading Test  http://www.freereadingtest.com/


Book Report Forms


  

  Assorted Tools for Teaching Reading
Screen Readers  List of options at: http://usabilitygeek.com/10-free-screen-reader-blind-visually-impaired-users/
Speakit: Chrome Extension
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/speakit/pgeolalilifpodheeocdmbhehgnkkbak?hl=en
Dictionary Extensions  
Google Dictionary


These can be useful for quickly checking the meaning and pronunciation of words online. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-dictionary-by-goog/mgijmajocgfcbeboacabfgobmjgjcoja?hl=en


Other Optionshttp://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-chrome-extensions-lookup-words-meanings-browse/

Online HIghlighters
Diigo  
http://Diigo.com   (browser plugins: https://www.diigo.com/tools/ )
An excellent social bookmarking tool that allows you to bookmark sites online, highlight certain sections, and add sticky notes. Diigo Search for reading+efl links:
https://diigo.com/search?adSScope=community&what=reading%2Befl

Standalone Chrome Extensions


  

  Reference
UsingEnglish  http://usingenglish.com
Tremendous resource for reference, asking language questions, and printable handouts.


Tells how common a word is based on the British National Corpus.

Google Translate
http://translate.google.com
Aside from translation, provides authentic usage examples from the web, pronunciation, and a saveable phrasebook.


Provides a graphic representation of how words are related and provides nuanced definitions.


Lexipedia http://www.lexipedia.com/
SImilar style to Visual Thesaurus


100,000+ articles that use a more basic level of English. easier sentence structure, and more limited vocabulary


  Assorted  Sites and Tools not specifically related to reading
Mobile friendly, make-your-own  flashcard site with thousands of existing sets. Automatically creates learning activities, games,and quizzes from the sets.

Voki  
http://voki.com  
Speech-to-text animation.  Users can choose a character design and either type what they want the character to say or record the audio.  


ELLLO (English Listening Laboratory Online) http://elllo.org/
Provides audio and video of people having authentic English conversations. Recordings include a transcript and activities for vocabulary development and comprehension.


On the street interviews with native English speakers. Each video comes with a transcript and learning activities.



  Mobile Tools & Resources


Amazon Free Downloads  http://www.amazon.com/
Search Amazon’s kindle store for terms like ‘young adults’, ‘teen books’, ‘children’s literature’, or a specific title or genre. Then sort by ‘Price: Low to High’. You will need to set up an Amazon account, but once you have done so, you can download the Kindle file (.azw) to your computer. You can then use a program like Calibre
(http://calibre-ebook.com/) to view the book or convert it to a pdf or other mobile formats.  You can also convert the tile to simple text, if you’d like to use that for presentation materials.


Apps


The free version  comes 25 short stories that can be used to assess the students reading fluency and comprehension. Premium versions ($2~$4) includes 250+ stories.  


Hundreds of comic strips viewable on a mobile device.


Comicology https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.iconology.comics

Reading Bee ESL English
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.readingbee.studiointii
Uses readings on current events, science, health, economics, US history



Level-based reading comprehension activities

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