Holiday Wishes!

Hello all, from everyone at the Language Teacher's Toolbox, we wish you a happy holiday season! We will be back in 2010 where we will begin in earnest with content from every language! Visit us again soon!

ESL/ELT/EFL: Teaching Resources

Hello all, Chris here,

today I have a large set of links for those teaching English. Included are some of the best sites for free materials as well as other important links such as the TESOL site. You can also find these links conveniently located in the ESL useful links section the right side of the blog. Although extensive, the list is never complete. If you have any sites you would like to share with us feel free to either leave a comment or send us an email. Enjoy!

• Aardvark's English Forum
• Activities for ESL Students
• California Distance Learning Project
• Camel's Nose - Useful ESL Links for Teachers and Students
• Children Only ESL-EFL
• Dave's ESL Cafe
• English Baby
• English Club
• English For All
• English Page
• English To Go
• ESL Focus
• ESL Galaxy
• ESL Games
• ESL Kid Stuff
• ESL Lab
• ESL Lesson Plans and Resources
• ESL Lessons
• ESL Monkeys
• ESL Partyland
• ESL PDFs
• ESL Teachers Board
• ETA Newsletter
• Interesting Things for ESL Students
• Internet TESL Journal Links
• IPA Fonts
• Language Links
• National TESOL Website
• One Stop English
• Owl Purdue ESL Handhouts
• The EFL/ESL Page
• To Learn English
• U.S. Deparment of Education
• Ultralingua Online Dictionary
• Ultralingua's Online Grammar Explanations
• University of Iowa Phonetics
• University of Victoria English Language Center Study Zone
• Useful ESL Links
• Using English
• Word Skills
• CATESOL
• Yahooligans

German: Role-Playing Situations

Hello all, Chris here,

today I have a set of simple Role-Playing situations for use in German classes. The situations are broad enough to be easily adaptible for other languages and various levels. Enjoy!

• You want to buy tickets for a concert. Call the ticket office and ask several questions in order to get the information you need.
• Your neighbor is going on vacation and has aksed you to take care of things while he/she is away. Ask at least five questions to find out what you need to know.
• You want to rent an apartment. Talk to the building manager and describe what you want. Ask at least five questions to find out everything you need to know.
• You are left alone with a friend's grandparent. Make polite conversation with him/her while you wait for your friend.
• A friend calls and invites you to a party. You need to know more about the details of the party before you accept or decline the invitation. Ask several questions in order to get the information you need.
• You are looking for an apartment-mate. Ask several questions that will help you to decide if this person will be a good apartment-mate for you.
• (German) You will be living with a host family in Stuttgart next year. You call the family, introduce yourself, and ask several questions in order to learn more about them.
• (German) You go to the university's library in Berlin to find book s for a class project. Ask the person at the front desk several questions in order to get the information you may need to use the library.
• (German) You go to the reception desk of a hotel in Hamburg. Describe the type of room you want. You have a price limit (TBD). Ask at least five questions to get more information about the area.
• (German) You are in Berlin. You missed your plane to Chicago. Ask the person behind the counter at least five questions to find out what you need to know to get to Chicago quickly.

The above are just a small sample of possible role-playing situations that can be used in the classroom, across multiple languages, and scaled up or down in difficulty depending on the required level. In a future article, I will discuss some advanced role-playing activities and ways in which to expand the above situations with detailed information for the roles of both teachers and students. Questions and comments welcome!

German: Sandra Bullock Speaking German!

Hello all, Chris here, today we have a video of Sandra Bullock at the Bambi awards giving her acceptance speech in German! Enjoy!



Can anyone spot her small mistake?

Japanese: Ashita ga arusa music video

Hi all, Junko here, this is my first post.

Here is a fun Japanese music video.

「明日があるさ(Ashita ga arusa)There is always tomorrow」

Enjoy!