English
This page contains links to cultural resources in English.
Ads
- A searchable database of ads from around the world (search by country, industry, media/type of ad--audio/print/video, etc.)
Audio
- Very nice database of mp3 recordings in a variety of languages (Arabic, Catalan, Chinese, Corse, English, French, German, Italian, Occitan, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, etc.) categorized by topic and searchable by language, level, gender, age, and length (Shared by Amy Lenord)
- A radio show with human interest stories
- A crowd-sourced collection of texts in Spanish (and a variety of other languages), shared by language learners who found them helpful or interesting. The site allows you to search by categories (fiction, non-fiction, conversations, songs, and others) and to build a list of texts, a word list, and flashcards based on what you have read (if you are signed in).
Biographies
- A collection of interactive biographies of a variety of famous historical figures in simple English
Children's Literature
- Searchable database of children's books in a wide variety of languages (including Arabic, Chinese, Croation, English, Farsi, Filipino, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Mongolian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, & Thai), categorized by age, color of cover, genre, length, topic, etc., that can be read online
- An interactive map containing links to legends and folktales from countries around the world read by native speakers in a variety of languages, including English
- Children's picture books read aloud by famous actors and actresses
There's a Book for That - A wonderful blog that posts reviews of interesting children's books (many of them non-fiction)
- Collection of stories from around the world in both English and the target language including many less commonly taught languages
Comics
Pedagogical Resources Related to Comics
A website created by graphic novelist Gene Yang that contains a history of comics in education, reasons for using comics in education, and quality resources (both online and print-based) for educators who wish to use comics in their classrooms. (From Gene Yang)
Cultural Comparisons
Dollar Street - Use the dropdown menus on this incredible site to choose countries and topics for comparison based on socioeconomic level. Your selections will bring up photos of whatever you chose from the countries you selected. The site contains many common everyday objects, people, and situations (e.g., adding spices to food while cooking, alarm clocks, answering phones, arm watches, armchairs, backyards, bathrooms, bedrooms, beds, bikes, boats, books, bowls, brushing hair, brushing teeth, car keys, carrying water, cars, ceilings, chickens, child rooms, chopping food, cleaning equipment, cleaning floors, closing the front door, computers, cooking, cooking pots, cooking utensils, cups, cutlery, diapers, dinner guests, disability aid, dish brushes, dish racks, dishwashing soaps, dishwashers, doing dishes, drinking water, drying clothes, drying dishes, earings, eating, everyday shoes, families, family snapshots, favorite home decorations, favorite items in kitchen, floors, freezers, get water, glasses, go through mail, goats, grains, guest beds, hairbrushes, hallways, handwashing, hands, and so forth.
Documentaries
Games
Images
- Searchable database of high quality, professional, royalty-free images including many culturally authentic images from around the Spanish-speaking world
Infographics
Informational Texts
- Magazine and newspaper sites, categorized by country and topic, from 200 countries around the world
- World news, written in simple English and divided by Level 1, 2, and 3. You can also filter it by "funny, history, information, interesting, nature, news, sport
- A collection of texts on different science and social studies topics in English. Each article is available in at least 4 different reading levels, and each article has a short quiz and writing prompt available as well. Some articles come with exercises that teachers can download for free as well.
- A collection of front pages from today's newspapers from around the world
- A map that plots the locations of newspapers from around the world--can be filtered by language (Arabic, English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, etc.)
- A database of text sets for science and social studies that can be filtered by grade level, text type, and activity type
Interviews
- A site containing human interest audio interviews with people from around the United States
- A sound library that contains environmental sounds, music, radio, and collections of interviews in English
- Videos of eye-witness testimony given in English and a vareity of other languages regarding various topics related to a whole host of topics, including acceptance, anti-semitism, choice, civil rights, courage, culture, deportation, discrimination, education, empathy, faith, family, fear, genocide, hate, human rights, humanity, hunger, identity, memory, refugees, religion, resilience, stereotypes, and a whole host of other topics (click language and your target language to access the videos for your language)
Literature (See also Children's Literature)
- A list of high quality children's books in English that are unique in their language, content, or culture compiled by Cherice Montgomery
- Free books in the public domain that are available in text and audio formats
- A collection of books, e-books, and other texts in a wide variety of languages. Use the advanced search feature to find texts in English
Magazines
- Magazine and newspaper sites, categorized by country and topic, from 200 countries around the world
- High interest stories written in simple English and illustrated with many photos that have captions that basically retell the story in simplified English.
Music
- Culturally authentic songs in English organized by continent, country, holidays, and language
News
- A collection of texts on different science and social studies topics in English. Each article is available in at least 4 different reading levels, and each article has a short quiz and writing prompt available as well.
- A collection of front pages from today's newspapers from around the world
- A fantastic, searchable site with news stories of interest to kids written in simple English with photos that have excellent captions that summarize the main points of the articles
- A map that plots the locations of newspapers from around the world--can be filtered by language (Arabic, english, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish)
Oceans
Poetry
A database of poems in a very wide variety of languages that can be filtered by country, language, or poet. Each poem is read aloud and accompanied by biographical information about the author. Translations to numerous languages are provided as well.
Resources & Other Texts in English
- A popular celebrity gossip magazine in English
- A collection of books, e-books, and other texts in a wide variety of languages. Use the advanced search feature to find texts in English.
Videos
- Links to a list of children's educational programs in English
- A list of movies that are good for teaching academic content in English, with pedagogical materials included.
Pedagogical Resources
Blogs
Phenomenal site filled with creative, practical, proficiency-oriented ideas for world language teaching and learning
- Blog that contains daily readings and pedagogical activities for students learning English
Excellent resources for building, tracking, and assessing proficiency
Excellent materials for building, assessing, and tracking proficiency from Alyssa Villareal
- A list of blogs curated by Larry Ferlazzo in 2009
Materials grounded in the CI approach.
Information
Handouts from an ACTFL 2010 presentation that contain a comic analysis worksheet form, a comic creation worksheet that asks students to analyze complementarity, contrast, and redundant relationships among images and text, lesson plans, project rubrics, and more
- A PowerPoint presentation from an ACTFL session that contains loads of great examples for engaging students with culturally authentic texts in pedagogically sound ways
Instructional Materials
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- Magazine available in English and the language of your choice. Each issue is organized around a conceptual theme. Excellent visuals make great bulletin board material if you buy these in your local bookstore instead of viewing online. CAUTION: Much of the material in these magazines is NOT appropriate for classroom use, so teachers should preview and select carefully.
- News and informational articles available in three different levels in English
- Site offers weekly news podcasts in English. Each one comes with transcripts of the various news stories, targeted grammar and vocabulary, pronunciation exercises, and quizzes. Some of the content is free, but a paid subscription is required to access the full content from the site
- A collection of text sets for English/Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, and Social/Emotional Learning in English and Spanish with comprehension quizzes, writing prompts. Each text can be viewed at different reading levels
- The Little Prince, available in three different levels as both print and audio text. Students can take an online placement test to determine which level to use.
World-wide statistics on energy, environment, food, government and economy, health, population, technology, and water in English that update in real time
- Search for educational videos in English
Silk Almond Milk: Milk of the Land - A catchy, 0:30 second commercial in English that consists almost exclusively of verbs (rise, shine, farm, grow, hold, clamp, shake, quake, reshake it, drop, scoop, pile, box, take, weigh, sort, send, chop, dice, smooth, blend, reblend, milk) made very comprehensible by the video footage that accompanies them