Resources for reading 

Reading is the language skill which can best be practised using the Internet. Although the number of sites in other languages is growing, English is still the most important language in Internet. Students practice the skill of reading authentic English with any simple task they accomplish using the internet: searching for information, reading an outline, visiting a desired site, skimming to find the right information, reading the lyrics of their favourite songs or the news from magazines and newspapers on-line. One can even read entire books on-line. Furthermore, the WWW offers a wide range of prepared activities and lessons aimed at improving the skill of reading. I have selected some of them. 
 
  

Reading tasks Authentic English

  

   Reading tasks 

• Fluency Through Fables, This section of The Comenius Group offers a selection of fables with follow-up multiple choice and true/false exercises: Vocabulary Matching, True and False Comprehension, Vocabulary Completion and Written Discussion. The exercises are good. (I had a little trouble working out the directions to choose the correct answers, so be sure to do it yourself first!). Even for beginners, this could be a good starter since the fable is simply written.

• Kid pub, a site where students can join a fantasy world by reading all type of stories written by kids from all over the planet.

• Impact Online, a joint project of the University of Illinois College of Education and Passport Educational Publishing. It offers about twenty short texts on current events, health, etc., at intermediate and advanced level, complete with detailed vocabulary help and the facility to call up a sound clip of glossary entries.

• Aesop's Fables, a collection of fables which have been taken from the "PaperLess Reader Club" and have been adapted and illustrated by different people. Students can read the traditional as well as the modern version of these fables. A long list of fables and Fairy tales can be reached at Children's works , a directory of stories for children with different versions.

• OPPortunities in ESL: Theme-based pages , pages developed and recommended for use, in theme-based (content-based / whole language) tasks or projects. The sources are distributed in different topics: contemporary issues, cultural issues, history and culture, holidays and just for fun. Some of this references link you to a Places to Go and Things to Do" format . I recommend you to visit the contemporary issue AIDS, International AIDS Awareness Day: December 1, 1997 Activities for TESOL Classes , a list of links with material related to Aids, with tasks and questions to be answered by students.

 

Authentic English 

English newspapers

• The Sunday Times 

• The Daily Telegraph

• The New York Times 

• Time Magazine 

• CNN online (Cable News Network). This is a useful resource for current affair information. It provides a daily Classroom Guide : a set of worksheets relating to that day's broadcast, showing news clips and timings, suggesting activities, and pointing to other Web sites that can provide students with further education.

• All media links. Visit this site to find out about different media links (magazines, newspapers, radio and television).

• Drew's Script - o - Rama, whit links to the full scripts of a lot of films (a very valuable material to prepare worksheets).

British & American Literature

• 16th - 19th Century Classics 

• Pride and Prejudice , interactive reading of this novel by Jane Austen.

  
• Shakespeare, access to the complete work of Shakespeare.

  
• 20th Century Classics

  
• Books On- line , a collection of stories, books and poems on-line.

    
• Children's Literature Web Guide

British and American culture and civilization

• Learn English on the Net . This British Council funded web-based reading materials comprises a set of "sessions" aimed at intermediate students, including an introduction to the Council Web site, youth culture, Higher Education and multicultural Britain. Students are asked to do some tasks, -ordering material, making notes, writing-, with pages designed to be used in class.

• Tables of Contents for All Issues of Post-modern culture

  
• British Tourist Authority , the British Tourist Authority (BTA) is an official site which serves as a guide to the lively cities, literary heritage, spectacular National Parks, delightful and picturesque fishing villages, beautiful gardens, varied coastline of Great Britain and an endless list of things to see and do in London. An excellent set of material to be used in class with a varied set of activities (reading comprehension, project, scavenger hunt...) which can be prepared according to the level of your students.

Go back to links for teachers 
 
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