FREE EDUCATIONAL AND DOCUMENTARY VIDEOS FOR LEARNING ENGLISH: THE CONNECT
WITH ENGLISH SERIES FROM THE ANNENBERG FOUNDATION, AS WELL AS OTHER FREE RESOURCES
Retrieve free documentary and educational videos:
WatchKnowLearn
TED VIDEOS: (“Riveting Talks by Remarkable People,
free to the world.”)
FREE ESL VIDEOS: Free ESL video quizzes and resources for ESL /
EFL students and teachers. FREE ESLVIDEO: WATCHNOW : (English Grammar: Verb Tenses)
See also:
(Writing Essays)
THE ANNENBERG FOUNDATION has free educational and documentary
videos in all subject areas.
One video series in particular, Connect with English, follows the adventures of Rebecca as she
travels across the U.S. The series is available at this URL:
http://www.learner.org/resources/series71.html Access to this entire video series is free. This description of
Connect with English is from the overview in http://www.learner.org/:
“Through the story of Rebecca, an aspiring singer on a journey across America, Connect with
English touches on life's important issues: leaving home, parenting, education, work, love, success, and loss.
All of the characters use meaningful, natural language that students can put to work immediately in their own lives.
Each episode features dialogue that is slightly slowed down and subtly simplified. Key lines are repeated, idioms
paraphrased, and important events retold. There are constant visual clues to meaning, such as written signs, notes,
and documents. Facial expressions, gestures, and body language also reveal meaning for students. Closed captioning
can be used as a teaching and literacy resource. For levels from high beginning through low and high
intermediate.”
Other free videos from the Annenberg Foundation on ESL themes:
"Usage and Mechanics:" Workshop 5 of
Developing Writers: A Workshop for High School Teachers, reviews effective strategies for teaching grammar. Web
materials include an interactive to help you assess your own methods of assessing student work.
Dave Barry's humorous views on grammar
Teaching Grammar presents certain challenges. The article
"To Grammar or Not to
Grammar: That Is Not
the Question!" in PDF format emphasizes the importance of teaching grammar in the context of writing.
The article is included in
Workshop 8 of Write in the Middle: A Workshop for Middle School Teachers
Explore sentence syntax as it relates to
math and patterns in our Teacher's Lab Syntax Store
