First, Breaking News English. This is literally about Breaking News, because Sean Banville posts a current news text every three days on this site and, with it, a huge range of linked activities. Unlike many text-based English language sites which offer quantities of comprehension questions designed to keep students quiet, his tasks are largely intended to have the opposite effect. The tasks are mostly designed to be downloaded as pdf and mp3 files, but there are also some clever little on-line interactive reading activities. The paper-based tasks are ideal for classroom use because they include speaking and group activities. If the text has been meaningfully explored in the classroom, the interactive tasks would be good to set for self-study: they would be motivating and extend the range of reading sub-skills and vocabulary development.
There's no login, it's free and there's no chance your students will have met the material before. Click on the screen below and I will take you through one of the news items.
However...
Any cons? None, really. Like anything else, it might be tempting but, don't overuse it.
http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/
Sharing websites like this is just one of the many possible uses of Jing. This tool enables you to 'draw' a screen around a text and then activate a video recorder so you can record a commentary,highlight or move the cursor to the part you're talking about and at the same time scroll down. Your recording can be stored in your own account but, more usefully, you can sent the URL to whoever you want to share it with. You can embed your video recording like this into a blog, but I've starting using it more frequently to comment on lesson plans my trainees send me before their teaching practice. I e-mail them the link: they click and run the video. I know some people prefer to see their feedback in black and white, so I checked with them and, so far, they've been very positive. I suspect it feels like a (one sided) tutorial but it has the added bonus of being able to rewind your tutor and for your tutor it's so much quicker to do. Though I haven't explored this possibility yet, there is no reason why your students shouldn't download this tool onto their own computers at home and start using it to record and send reading and pronunciation homework. Most people should manage with the free version, though there is a paying pro version for longer recordings and larger storage space.
However...
The recordings in the free version only run for five minutes.
http://www.techsmith.com/jing.html?gclid=CPbV49aTma4CFcEntAod0TTxJw
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