The Practiced Business Writer

Kenneth Beare from ESL.About.com has reviewed The Practiced Business Writer--the book I co-authored with Joanne Slutsky. Please take a look at the review here.

You can find some other reviews at Amazon.com.

If you've seen our book, or are using it for instruction or learning, we'd like to hear from you, too!

E-Portfolios

Electronic portfolios allow students to reflect on their learning process, make connections, revisit learning experiences, and share their accomplishments. Consider using electronic portfolios in your courses.

My students in a Methods Course for Second/Foreign Language Teachers designed their own e-portfolios for the course. They all reflected very positively on this experience. If you want to have a look at their work, read their reflections and lesson plans, and get access to very useful lists of online resources for their particular teaching contexts, please go to this post in our Class Blog:

TEACH l2: Online Resources for Language Teachers

Russian Webcasts, Videos, and Audio

Visit these websites for authentic and simplified Russian webcasts, videos, and audios for language learners of Russian.

• NCRLC Russian Webcasts
  This website casts the news in simplified standard Russian.
• RussianLessons.net
  This website presents articles in both Russian and English. These articles are designed for advanced language learners of Russian.
• Polyglot Videos
  In this website, you'll find selected Russian videos from YouTube for beginner, intermediate and advanced learners of Russian.
• Listen2Russian.com
  This website has audio files for language learners of Russian. Here you can hear and practice Russian words, phrases, and sounds.

Songs for Teaching

Songs are an excellent resource for language activities. They promote listening comprehension in a fun way. Here are some of my favorite sites for working with songs.

Songs for Teaching has a wonderful collection of lyrics (most with audio files) that can be used to teach a variety of topics to learners of all ages. This website also has a specific section that groups songs according to their target language:

• If you are looking for Spanish songs, click here and here.
• If you are looking for French songs, click here.
• If you are looking for German songs, click here.
• If you are looking for ESL/EFL/ESOL songs, click here.
• IF you are looking for Chinese songs, click here.

If you are looking for songs that promote literacy, then here are some suggestions:

• Songs that Promote Reading
• Literary Connections - Songs that Build Reading and Language Skills
• Animated Song Books for Children - Puppy Readers

Other sites for working with songs with young learners in the ESL/EFL class are:

• Kids Music Town
• Free Songs for Kids

If you are looking for already-made activities for songs, then go to Songs from ToLearnEnglish.com. Most of the lyrics come with audio and interesting activities. You can even create your own activity and post it here. Because the contributions come from anybody who wishes to contribute, some activities are not that good. Yet, this website is a valuable resource for creative ideas and songs.

Also, check out this blog (Using songs for Teaching). It has some great ideas for using songs in the language classroom.