Learning English BBC World Service

Tonight I googled the adverbs moreover and however and found Learning English on the BBC website. Perhaps I'll be able to link some of the material in my English 21 class. The BBC Learning English homepage has free lesson plans for English teachers that can be downloaded. Obviously the site is aimed at ESL students and if taught from a British perspective (apartments are flats, etc), but as many of my students, especially in the developmental classes are second language students even if they are not classified as ESL by the college, I will need to investigate these lessons.

I found another site that gives a very clear explanation of *fair use.*

Sites to explore for materials

Three sites that I want to explore when I have more time are

Project Gutenberg

Bartleby

Slideshare

My colleague Marion Heyn found a Slideshare Powerpoint presentation on writing an analytical essay that I want to review for possible use.

First thoughts

So far I'm not impressed by the Open Source materials I've found in my subjects, but I'm hoping that will change. The ones I've found the most interesting and useful are the MIT open course materials. For the English 101 class I'm teaching online I've been able to cobble together a course from materials I've found on the web from various sources. I've been doing the same with and English 33 class I'm teaching as 'web enhanced.' I'm also using inexpensive current non-fiction, Jeremy Scahill's Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army (both classes) and Chandrasekaan's Imperial Life in the Emerald City (English 101). Both books can be obtained at no cost from the public library.