Links
Use the comment facility to suggest links or note dead links. Thanks. All checked 18 September 2007.
GUIDE
UPDATE 18 November 2008: Yes it has been a while. I just added a couple, and plan to check the page very soon. Meanwhile, do report any broken links or make suggestions. I have reopened comments to facilitate that. Comments are moderated so ones judged to be spam or mere commercial promotions will not appear.
- Blogs
- Australian life and culture
- boys education
- English grammar
- English language
- English studies
- equity and welfare issues
- esl for students
- esl for teachers
- gifted education
- literacy
- literary theory
- literature genres
- literature works and authors
- mainly for teachers
- Media and Film studies
- multiculturalism
- pedagogy
- Quiz pages
- reading
- Shakespeare
- student help
- study skills
- writing
- web things
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Assorted blogs
All sites checked and working 18 September 2007.
- Beyond School: Clay Burell — “I’m a high school humanities (English and history) teacher at Korea International School near Seoul. Teachers from elementary, middle, and high school classrooms at my school are starting to ‘kick some addictions’ and explore doing things differently. Feel free to contact me if you’re interested in connecting classrooms.”
- blog of proximal development — “I want my students to realize that learning is not about making your work conform to some standard imposed by the teacher. Learning is about creating your own standards and adjusting them based on your goals. Learning is about setting your own goals and monitoring your own progress. It is about having conversations with yourself and others. So, instead of imposing, I want to ask: What do you want to accomplish? What do you think is good? What would make you feel proud? I want to promote a process of questioning and I want to do it through dialogue.”
- Charles Nelson’s Explorations in Learning — “Confusion is the beginning of learning. Satisfaction is the end of learning.”
- Educational Blogs: edblogger praxis — “Find Examples of Educator Blogs Online. Participate and comment. Are you an EdBlogger & EdPodcaster? Submit your blog (s).”
- English writer John Baker — this leads to an excellent group of entries on the craft of writing.
- Jeffrey Hill’s English Blog — “My name is Jeffrey Hill and I am head of the English Department at the Normandy Business School in Le Havre, France.”
- MikeArnzen PhD: Pedablogue — “A Personal Inquiry into the Scholarship of Teaching.” Mike is on sabbatical so the blog is on hold until August 2007. Still a lot to read there though.
- MyScribbles: Write-ups of an Afghan — young aspiring Afghan journalism student in Pakistan.
- Lines from a Floating Life
- Rampantred’s Weblog also includes excellent pages on ESL and Literacy.
- Resources for ESL/EFL Teachers — “This site contains both original and previously published resources for ESL/EFL teaching that I have used successfully in the classroom. I also include recommendations for resources available elsewhere, which are subject to any restrictions as stipulated by the owners of that material.”
- Shakespeare Film Blog: Duncan and Ennis Macleod — A Queensland Uniting Church minister and his English teacher wife explore a number of Shakespeare’s plays and their transformation into film.
- The ELAR Classroom (English/Language Arts/Reading) — Rebecca Aguilar — “The ELAR Classroom is an archive blog created by Rebecca Aguilar, an M.Ed. in Texas, who writes—mostly what she’s learned about teaching English/Language Arts/Reading.”
- The Reflective Teacher — “I’m now a second-year teacher of Language Arts at an Unnamed Middle School in an Unnamed City in an Unnamed State. Everything you read here is true, though most identifiable information has been changed to keep everything as private as possible. Conversations with students are as word-for-word as I can get them; emails with parents are similarly accurate (unless I change the wording for anonymity); the lessons are real and the downloads I post are the exact same things I give to my students.”
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Australian life and culture
All sites checked and working 18 September 2007.
- 200 Famous Australians
- An Illustrated Life of Simpson, the Man with the Donkey
- Australian Culture and Identity links from EDNA
- Australian Culture for prospective students
- Australian stories on specific topics about Australian history and culture
- Children’s Book Council of Australia Awards
- Convict Creations. Com
- History Trust of South Australia
- Indigenous Australians
- InternationalBusinessCenter.org facts on Australian culture
- Misrule: the home of Australian children’e books — site upgraded October 2007.
- Multicultural Australia
- Oz Culture
- Oz Lit Australian literature database — this site, sadly, seems to be decaying, not having been updated since 2000.
- Search cultureandrecreation.gov.au — links on Australian literature
- Perry Middlemiss Australian Literature Site — has much useful information.
- Radio Australia’s “Understanding Australia”
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boys education
All sites checked and working 18 September 2007.
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English grammar
All sites checked and working 18 September 2007.
- 330 Grammar Topics
- Active and Passive Voice
- An Online Course in Functional Grammar (advanced)
- Common Errors in English
- English Grammar Online
- Guide to Grammar and Writing
- Indirect (Reported) Speech: Tense Change
- ineffective use of passive voice
- Internet Grammar of English
- Jack Lynch: Guide to Grammar and Style
- Jane Straus: The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
- Summary of Verb Tenses
- Verb+Preposition Combinations
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English language
All sites checked and working 18 September 2007.
- A Handbook of Selected Punctuation Marks: Sandra Penrose
- English Usage in the UK and USA
- Hutchinson Dictionary of English Usage Online. (UK)
- Language and Gender
- Right Words New Zealand: Articles on grammar and punctuation
- The American Heritage Book of English Usage online
- The Visual Dictionary — “learn by way of image with thematic, clear and precise pages, with concise and rigorous texts.” In English or French.
- Weasel Words
- World Wide Words: Michael Quinion
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English studies
All sites checked and working 18 September 2007.
- BBC: AS Guru English
- English21: alternative study design for Year 12 English
- Englishbiz.co.uk
- Intute Arts and Humanities — very comprehensive gateway site.
- John Lye: Critical Reading: a Guide
- London School of Journalism English Literature Resources
- NSW English Teachers Association
- NSW HSC Online: English
- Online Literature
- The Fundamentals of Critical Reading and Effective Writing — a great site for Year 10 upwards.
- Voice of the Shuttle — very advanced.
- Web English Teacher
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equity and welfare issues
All sites checked and working 18 September 2007.
- Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia
- beyondblue: depression, anxiety, and related issues
- Bullying No Way!
- Diversity, Multiculturalism, and Safe Zone: Wright State University
- Family Acceptance
- Gender Equity–a framework for Australian Schools (PDF)
- GLBT Resources on this site
- Helping the Underachieving: Steven M. Nordby
- Reach Out!
- The Age of AIDS (PBS)
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esl for students
All sites checked and working 18 September 2007. These sites lead you to thousands of ideas, tutorials, quizzes and other resources!
- Aardvark’s English Forum
- About ESL
- Dave’s ESL Cafe
- David Appleyard’s English Toolbox
- English Bites — Australia Network
- English Daily
- Learn English Site (ESL earlier stages) — Jacob Richman
- Real English is good for EFL and ESL. It uses video of authentic English from different parts of the world.
- Virtual Language Centre Hong Kong
- World English
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esl for teachers
All sites checked and working 18 September 2007.
- Age and Length of Time it Takes to Learn English: Virginia Collier
- ATESOL New South Wales
- Center for Applied Linguistics
- Claire Bradin Siskin: Computer Assisted Language Learning
- Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Exceptional Students
- Dartmouth College: English as a Second Language
- Dave’s ESL Cafe Teacher Forums
- English Grammar Glossary
- ESL Teacher Handouts
- ESL Teacher Support Material (Victoria)
- George Spanos: ESL Math and Science for High School Students: Two Case Studies
- Glossary of Language Acquisition Terms by Lowell Greenberg
- Helping ESL Writers Grow by John M. Green
- Jim Cummins: Second Language Acquisition / Literacy Development
- My ESL Writing Scales (on Geocities)
- PDF ESL Guidelines NSW
- Resources for ESL/EFL Teachers
- Responding to non-native speakers of English (link updated)
- Stages of Language Acquisition General Behaviors of LEP (ESL) Students (USA) PDF File
- Students from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Backgrounds (Western Australia)
- Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL)
- Teaching ESL Students in the Mainstreamed Classroom by Cynthia L. Wallace
- Ten Common Fallacies about Bilingual Education
- The ESL Magazine
- The Internet TESL Journal
- Using Cognitive Strategies to Develop English Language and Literacy
- Vivian Cook: Second Language Acquisition
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gifted education
All sites checked and working 18 September 2007.
- A Glossary of Gifted Education: Steven M. Nordby
- Gifted Education Research Resource and Information Centre UNSW
- Gifted Education Resource Institute (GERI) at Purdue University
- Gifted Education Victoria
- SENG: (Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted)
- TalentEd online New England University Armidale
- The “me” behind the mask: Miraca U. M. Gross
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literacy
All sites checked and working 18 September 2007.
- 21st Century Literacies: Tools for Reading the World
- Center for Media Literacy
- Critical Literacy for Empowerment (Winnipeg)
- Developing Critical Skills for the Internet
- Literacy Page on this site
- Media Literacies and Critical Pedagogy in a Multicultural Society: Kellner
- Mem Fox: Australian writer and literacy expert
- Reading the World Wide Web: Critical Literacy for the New Century: Horning
- Visual Literacy K-8 — “We plan to close this site permanently in June 2007.” What a shame! But it is still there.
- Visual Literacy and the Classroom
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literary theory
All sites checked and working 18 September 2007.
- Deborah Appleman home page — “Deborah Appleman is Professor of Educational Studies and Director of the Summer Writing Program at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. Her primary interests include adolescent response to literature, multicultural literature, and the teaching of literary theory to high school students. A high school English teacher for nine years, Deborah works weekly with high school teachers and students in both urban and suburban schools. She is the author of Critical Encounters in High School English.”
- Ideology: A Brief Guide
- Introduction to Modern Literary Theory
- Introduction to Postcolonial Studies
- Introductory Guide to Literary and Critical Theory
- Literary theory–comprehensive articles and links
- Some Factors Affecting/Effecting the Reading of Texts
- The last critic? The importance of F. R. Leavis
- THEORY CHECKLIST: a working document
- The Valve: a literary organ — mainly for teachers or 3 and 4-unit HSC students.
The Valve is a literary weblog dedicated to the proposition that the function of the little magazine can follow this form. We mean to foster debate and circulation of ideas in literary studies and contiguous academic areas. Since a narrow academic focus would be unlikely to serve this primary project, our focus is not narrowly academic, nor purely literary. Authors are free to wander so long as they do not make positive nuisances of themselves with respect to our general aims.
Authors’ ideas, faiths, hypotheses, stubbornnesses against assaults of reason and evidence, points of literary honor, interests, temperaments, obsessions, political affiliations, high-bouncing utopian ideals, limpet-like reactionary attachments, elective affinities, stylistic crotchets, journalistic forays and hobbyhorses are their own…
- The Voice of the Shuttle — very advanced. “VoS is woven by Alan Liu of the U. California, Santa Barbara, English Department with a team of department graduate students and others.” Amazing place.
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literature genres
All sites checked and working 18 September 2007.
- Literary Genres – What are they?
- American Hard-Boiled Crime Fiction
- Crime Fiction database
- Hardboiled Heaven — free Tripod site so downloads slowly because of scripts and ads.
- Genre : a Collection of Provocations and Koans by Matt Greenfield — “I don’t agree with all of the statements that follow, and they don’t all agree with each other. But I find them all “good to think with,” as the anthropologists say.
- Literary Genres & Modes — from The Victorian Web: a hub page for all the major genres used in that period.
- Literary Gothic
- Major Literary Genres– BBC AS Guru site.
- The Evolution of Comedy As a Literary Genre by Michelle A. Broskovich.
The curriculum unit I have developed by participating in The Pittsburgh Teacher’s Institute course “Comedy from Aristophanes to the Present” will examine the evolution of comedy as a literary genre. At the beginning of the course I knew nothing about comedy. Maybe that it was supposed to be funny. Ha-ha.
My proposed research project will consist of three areas. The first segment of my unit will provide a unit lesson plan to bring the genre comedy into the classroom. Many schools teach tragedies, yet very few schools teach comedy. I knew nothing about comedy at the beginning of the course. I have broken down the research into manageable and presentable blocks of information for teachers and students to experience comedy.
The second section will focus on the history of comedy. This section will provide detailed, background information on the origins and development of comedy through history. Secondly it will examine the literary elements of comedy. This portion will evaluate and explain the essential elements and ideas of comedy.
The final segment will provide a unit lesson plan to bring the genre comedy into the classroom. Many schools teach tragedies, yet very few schools teach comedy. I knew nothing about comedy at the beginning of the course. I have broken down the research into manageable and presentable blocks of information for teachers and students to experience comedy.
- Robert Harris, “The Purpose and Method of Satire” (advanced)
- Why I Love Crime Fiction, by Leonard Chang
- Writing the Mystery (Chapter 1) by G. Miki Hayden. “G. Miki Hayden’s more recent achievements include the 2004 publication of New Pacific (Silver Lake Publishing), and the issuing of the second edition of her book, Writing the Mystery, as well as the winning of the 2004 Edgar for the best short crime story-”The Maids,” set in Haiti in the 1700s. “
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literature works and authors
This list could prove endless! I have just included a few that have come up in my tuition. Links checked 18 September 2007.
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mainly for teachers
Just a taste! Links checked and updated 18 September 2007.
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Media and Film studies
All sites checked and working 18 September 2007.
- Ad Dissection 101
- Blade Runner (Answers.com)
- Center for Media Literacy
- Cinema: how Hollywood movies are made
- Deconstructing a Web Site
- Film Noir
- GCSE English – studying media
- International Movie Database
- Male Ads
- Martin’s Film Noir Page.
- Media Awareness Network (Canada)
- Rotten Tomatoes Film and DVD Guides
- Sam Femiano and Mark Nickerson: How do Media Images of Men Affect Our Lives?
- ScreenSite for educators and students
- The MCS (Media and Communications Studies, pronounced ‘mix’) site
- The Price of Happiness: On Advertising, Image, and Self Esteem
- Tom Nakayama: Images of Men in Advertising
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multiculturalism
All sites checked and working 18 September 2007.
- 15 Misconceptions About Multicultural Education: Jerry Aldridge and others.
- Amin Maalouf: Deadly Identities
- Color Blind: Teaching Tolerance — a new US site worth looking at.
- Geneva Gay: A Synthesis of Scholarship in Multicultural Education
- Immigration Fact Sheets Australia
- Multicultural Australia
- Multiculturalism page on this blog
- NSW Charter of Principles for a Culturally Diverse Society
- Racism No Way
- Revision or Ideological Makeover? HREOC’s “Face the Facts” Rejigged
- Standards Magazine (Colorado)
- The Multicultural Pavilion (USA)
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pedagogy
All sites checked and working 18 September 2007.
- Book List from Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (USA)
- Building Blocks for Standards-Based Reform (USA) — “This site offers an ever-expanding set of Blueprints for effective standards-based reform. After current research cycles are completed, there should be more than 100 strategies in the Blueprints database.”
- Critical Pedagogy on the Web
- Integrated Curriculum (I-CANS designed and maintained by Literacyworks Washington State)
- Luciano Mariani, Milano, Italy: Learning Paths
- Mariani: Teacher Support and Teacher Challenge
- Putting the Learner at the Center
- Quality Teaching in NSW
- The Space Between: Creating a Context for Learning: J.C. Herz
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Quiz pages
All sites checked and working 18 September 2007. Leads to thousands of quizzes!
- Activities for ESL Students
- Dave’s ESL Cafe Quiz Page
- English Blues Diagnostic Quizzes and Tests
- English Club ESL Quiz Page
- Englishjet Online Tests
- Fun Trivia: Do you know Englishes?
- Gamezone: English Language Games that you can play online
- Interesting Things for ESL Students
- Online Grammar Quiz
- Puzz.com’s 1001 Best Puzzles eBook
- Quiz Central on About.Com’s ESL pages
- Self-Study English Vocabulary Quizzes
- VEC English Grammar Test
- World English Quiz Page
- Writing English Online Tests
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reading
All sites checked and working 18 September 2007. The choice does reflect my having worked most recently in a boys school.
- American Libraries Association Reading Lists
- Books for boys
- Books for Boys in Year 9 and 10–from Victoria.
- boys and books — James Roy
- Breaking down boys and books
- Guys Read
- James Moloney Home Page
- Learning To Read: Resources for Language Arts and Reading Research (USA) — “The purpose of this web page is to improve the quality of reading instruction through the study of the reading process and teaching techniques. It will serve as a clearinghouse for the dissemination of reading research through conferences, journals and other publications.” Links to developments in literacy, professional materials, research and critical issues.
- Teaching Tips: Reading Comprehension Strategies (USA)
- Understanding Middle School Readers
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Shakespeare
All sites checked and working 18 September 2007.
- About Shakespeare
- Folger Shakespeare Library for K-12 teachers — the lesson plans are good.
- Gail M. Feldman, “Adapting Shakespeare to Film”
- Mister William Shakespeare and the Internet
- In Search of Shakespeare: Shakespeare in the Classroom — PBS site: “Developed in partnership with the Folger Shakespeare Library, these classroom resources were designed around six thematic strands: Shakespeare’s Language, Shakespeare on Film, Performance, Primary Sources, Teaching Shakespeare to Elementary Students, and Teaching Shakespeare with Technology. Under each theme you will find professional development strategies and lesson plans, a multimedia library of curriculum resources, and much more. Each component integrates the study of Shakespeare’s greatest works with his life and the times that defined him.”
- Race and Othello on Film
- Shakespeare Online
- Shakespeare’s Life & Times
- Shakespeare’s Life and Times: Home Page — This site is supported by the University of Victoria and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Not the same as the page above.
- Shakespeare’s Sonnets — really beautiful site that has the sonnets, commentary, line-by-line explanation of harder ones, and great pictures and links.
- Teaching Shakespeare Through Exercises on Acting and on the Basic Emotions — “This article describes a college Shakespeare course employing participatory methods. Students carried out a series of exercises designed to put them in touch with the basic emotions and to approach the plays in terms of those emotions. Students carried out other exercises derived from actor training–including vocal warmups and memorizing and delivering two speeches. Various experiments are described which attempted to engage students more immediately with the plays. Plays mentioned: Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, and The Winter’s Tale.”
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student help
All sites checked and working 18 September 2007. See also tab above “Student Help”.
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study skills
All sites checked and working 18 September 2007.
- A List Of Fallacious Arguments
- BBS: AS Guru Study Skills
- Fallacy Files — “The present hypertext web version, The Fallacy Files, was first published on March 11th, 2001, and is the result of this score of years of research and fieldwork on the fallacies.”
- How to Study
- Overcoming Procrastination
- So you have to do a Research Project?
- so you wanna improve your study skills…
- Study & Exam Strategies for senior students
- Study Skills Self-Help Workshop
- University of New England: academic writing
- Where Does Time Go? Online questionnaire.
- Writing Essay Exams
- Writing Exam Essays about media or nonfiction texts
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writing
All sites checked and working 18 September 2007.
- 12 Point Checklist for Writing Feature Articles
- Feature Articles [Wikipedia]
- About Fiction Writing
- Academic writing (Open University UK)
- Dartmouth College Writing Program
- English Writing Style – Sentence, Paragraph and Essay Writing Skills
- Garbl’s Writing Center
- How To Write Effective Paragraphs — Jim Hayes
- Improving Your Writing
- Jack Lynch: Getting an A on an English Paper
- Practise using the tools of writing — goes to a gateway; you’ll have to search there to find the relevant material.
- Short Guide to College Writing by Joseph M. Williams and Lawrence McEnerney
- Short Story Writing
- The Paragraph: Purdue University Online Writing Lab
- The UVic Writer’s Guide
- The Write Place Catalogue: LEO: Literacy Education Online
- Top 10 Tips for Writing Dialogue
- University of New England: academic writing
- Write better dialogue: Jessica Page Morrell
- Writing in the disciplines: W.F. Garrett-Petts
- Writing on the Edge
- Writing Tips: Essay Builder
- Writing with Precision: punctuation demystified
- Writing with Writers — from Ashton Scholastic.
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Web things































Find a dead link? Please let me know.
Re: ESL link suggestion
Hi Neil:
I thought you might enjoy my new ESL site
http://www.inspirationlane.blogspot.com/
Thanks, Susan. Your blog will prove very useful. Congratulations.
Hi !
I have a website called:
Learn English
http://www.learn-english.co.il
Learn English is a free, on-line, educational resource helping
ESL and EFL students to learn English words. The flash site
incorporates 40 topics, along with over 1,500 English words
and phrases. When you click on a word or phrase you can
hear it spoken. The high quality audio was created
in a sound studio.
The site is multilingual. The menus, transliterations and
translations are in four languages: French, Hebrew
Russian and Spanish.
There is an English Only menu, for those who prefer
not to use language translations and transliterations.
Both students and teachers will find the site easy to use
and very educational. As mentioned, the site is free for all.
Feedback (in English) is welcome.
Please consider adding the site to your links at:
http://neilwhitfield.wordpress.com/classified-links/
Thank you for considering the site.
Have a good day,
Jacob Richman
jrichman@jr.co.il
Thanks, Jacob, but you can’t have looked hard enough. Your site is already there under “ESL for Students”!
Hi !
I have a website called:
Vocabulary Learning Fun
http://www.vocabulary.co.il
“Vocabulary Learning Fun” is a free educational website helping
students build vocabulary and spelling skills. It is particularly popular
with ESL & EFL students, both children and adults.
The flash site incorporates 219 topics, along with over 10 thousand English words and phrases. Topics include grade level words, rooms in a home, sports, health, and careers.
There are six different games each of which can be played interactively on the computer or printed out. There are six games are HangMouse (like Hangman), Crossword Puzzle, Word Search, Vocabulary Quiz, Picture Match Game, and Word Scramble.
The games can be played on the computer or printed out. Students and teachers find the site easy to use, fun, and very educational. As I mentioned, the site is free.
Please consider adding the site to your links at:
http://neilwhitfield.wordpress.com/classified-links/
Thank you for considering the site.
Have a good day,
Mary Jones
info@vocabulary.co.il
Hi !
I’d like to submit a site called:
Time4Learning
http://www.time4learning.com
Time4Learning has online math, language arts, science, and social studies, preschool to middleschool curriculum.
It’s an online home-based learning system with multimedia lessons, interactive exercises, printable worksheets,
assessments and quizzes for use in homeschool, tutoring, or summer programs. Kids love the learning games, parents
love the low cost and reports.
Please consider adding the site to your links at English/ESL-and More.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Best regards,
Kris
kris@time4learning.com
A commercial site. The demo material I looked at would be OK for some. Some good interactive exercises. Package not entirely useful for Australians though. — N.
This page is attracting lots of spam. I am therefore closing it, but please use the contact page or guest book if you want to report a dead link or make suggestions.