Designed to meet a third through sixth grade language arts curriculum- grammar and spelling, parts of speech and sentence structure, lsynonyms and antonyms, build vocabulary. This incorporates Word Munchers, Schoolhouse Rock/Grammar Rock, Writing Trek. Designed for native speakers, but useful for ELLs.
CD-ROM based on the textbook series for high school and adult learners, designed to build vocabulary, math, and computer skills around life-skill topics. Level 1 and 2 sold separately.
HyperCard-based exercises and tests to teach the sounds of the English alphabet (choice of US or UK versions) to teenagers and adults. The program uses black and white graphics, recorded sounds, and speech animation. The program can be downloaded from ftp://ftp.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/pub/mirror/sumex-aim.stanford.edu/edu/alphabet-academy-13.hqx
For beginning level students with zero or near zero English literacy levels. Teaches and tests the names of letters, upper/lower case matching, alphabetical order, etc. Select American, Canadian, British or Australian models. Students can record words and sentences. 5 user license: AUD$190; 10 user license: $285; site license: AUD$380. CD-ROM.
A multimedia package based on 12 EFL songs by Christopher Jones. The songs cover a wide range of vocabulary, grammar and functions. The package uses a wide variety of activity types created with the Authoring Suite. Demo available. Contact the publisher for pricing.
Elementary; explore words, rhyming, letters, and stories.
9-level series, each with 16-24 lessons. Major emphasis is on grammar and vocabulary development, with a variety of exercises that include voice recording and comparison with the model. Extensive record-keeping and management that prints out reports and certificates. Schools subscribe for a period of time and pass the costs on to students. The package includes books and a dongle (hardware key). Students can work at home in the book, then enter their answers on the computer to check them. The company offers on-site teacher training.
Students see a sentence to complete at the top of the screen, and try to shoot a billiard ball at the pocket near the appropriate homonym. Correct choices make it into the pocket. The word lists can be customized. The English and ESL version includes two sets of disks, one in English and one in Spanish. In the Spanish version, vocal instructions are in Spanish and text is in English. Part of the Heartsoft Bestseller collection.
The Tutorial section teaches the parts of the body and face. Students can then use Build-a-Face and Build-a-Body to choose the characteristics of either a body or face by answering basic, either-or questions, which are both spoken and written. After all the questions are answered, the BodyBuilder assembles the face or body, saying all the words as it proceeds. An online glossary is also available.
A two CD-ROM comprehensive course that introduces English for professional, social and travel situations. Business to Go! emphasizes speaking and listening skills and is divided into eight everyday situations: hotels, travel, appointments, directions, greetings, socializing, eating out and work. Each situation includes: listening exercises, target vocabulary, pronunciation activities, role-play exercises, and video clips.
Eurocentres teachers have used Wida's authoring programs and created ready-to-go library disks for almost all levels, elementary to advanced, concentrating on vocabulary, grammar practice, etc, but also exam practice including TOEFL. There are 35 disks in all. 27 of the titles are available in Macintosh format (contact the publisher for details). Windows version due out in February 1999; that will be called the Eurocentres CALL Library for English. These packages are now sold by Wida.
Uses Wida's Gapmaster program to offer a range of practice materials for English for Academic Purposes students. 21 exercises work on finding the missing words, word building, finding and correcting mistakes in a text, answering questions about a written text, and analyzing data in a table. A student workbook, teacher's manual, and learner's manual are included.
Designed for new immigrants to Canada, this uses multiple choice quizzes, typing and dragging exercises, and database searches on health, job search, vocabulary, grammar, literacy, and life skills topics. Minimum hardware requirements: 286 IBM/compatible, color monitor, mouse. Site license for $600.
Practice for beginners in recognizing the value of (US) coins and bills. The ESL version includes a set of disks in Spanish as well as in English. This program is also sold as part of the Heartsoft Bestseller package.
A CD-ROM based encyclopedia, which is notable for its ease of navigation and quality of articles, which are written at 10th grade reading level. Its multimedia elements are somewhat uneven--the charts and photos are excellent comprehension aids, the digital movies and sounds aren't as helpful. Good introduction to research skills, even for lower level proficiency students. The Windows version has one feature that is definitely worth looking into. It's called Editing Room and it's basically a multimedia report writing option. Students can take pictures, videos, animations, sound, and even create narration to develop a multimedia slide presentation of their research findings. There are sample shows on the disk which give students ideas for things they can create. It's a great deal considering you get the encyclopedia with all of its images and sounds and this multimedia report writer on one disk. (Magoto)
Text analysis and concordance software. Powerful and flexible program. You can download a 30-day trial from the website at http://www.concordancesoftware.co.uk/.
This program is a comprehensive approach to reading and language development. In the first phase, students see, hear, say, and record each word. The second phase is a reading of the lesson text, 2-3 sentences per screen. The same text is then presented in a timed reading exercise, one phrase at a time. Next the student completes reading comprehension exercises. Students can refer back to the text to find the answer, and on an incorrect response the computer highlights the sentence where the answer should have been found. For vocabulary practice, students complete words from sentences in the text and choose the correct spelling. Directions are spoken in English and Spanish. This is sold separately or as part of the ESL/Basic Literacy bundle.
These collections are to be used with a concordancer, such as MonoConc or MicroConcord, which lets you search large text libraries for all occurrences of a word. This is an excellent way of dealing with many questions which arise out of corrections of written work, such as 'What is the difference between first and at first?' or '..I don't care and I don't mind?' Collection A taken from 'The Independent' newspaper; Collection B taken from OUP publications.
Crossword puzzle maker. Includes a thesaurus to help in generating clues. This package received several recommendations and was praised for being easy to use, though it helps to read the documentation in order to take advantage of all the features. Puzzles can be solved on screen, printed out, or exported to a word-processor.
CD-ROM version of one of the original crossword puzzle generators. Has multilingual capability. Crosswords can be played onscreen or printed out.
Students can listen to clues or read them onscreen. Comes with 100 puzzles and authoring capability. Can use colors and fonts to differentiate clues and subjects. Puzzles can be solved on-screen or printed out. Requires Windows and a sound card.
This simple ESL program developed by teachers focuses on clothing and accessory vocabulary. Students dress male and female characters through commands they give. Students see graphics and vocabulary words, and use both in activities. The program includes an online speaking glossary. Multiple program site licences available.
Dramatized retellings of Round the World in 80 days, A Christmas Carol, Alice in Wonderland, and Robin Hood on interactive CD-ROM supported by dictations, fill-ins, character matrix, and on-line comprehension aids. For listening, reading, and vocabulary development. Voice recording. Pricing options include per-student-use cost. Contact the publisher for details.
Basic to intermediate-level comprehensive program for pre-teens and teens. It includes not only general English (listening, speaking, vocabulary, reading, grammar), but also the social language needed for school and school subjects such as math, geography, history, and science. A record and playback function is included. Record-keeping includes a "study score" function.
Vocabulary-based practice that also includes some grammar, listening, and speaking. After vocabulary and some grammar practice, learners can listen to a story using target vocabulary and structure while reading along. Learners can record themselves for feedback by the teacher. Beginning vocabulary and academic vocabulary sets are available.
A HyperCard-based application for ESL and Adult Basic Education with text, graphics and sound created by the Adult Success Center at Idaho State University. Learners click on an item to hear it said and see the word. The disks cover topics such as science, mammals, birds, and workplace terms. These disks run as a set from a common menu. This is a dictionary; as such, it does not come with additional activities beyond looking and listening. Send them 10 disks and postage and they'll copy this and send it back to you.
The English Teacher is now distributed as an online service for Spanish speakers. Other languages are planned. Vocabulary and grammar concepts are reinforced systematically and periodically. The three major components are Working on Words, Building up to Grammar, and Express Yourself in English. These include a variety of exercises, sound, and video. In addition, the program includes RCT: Right Click Translator to translate any word and listen to its pronunciation and READY: Reviews Elapsed According to Daily Yield, that administers and monitors students' study time and statistics according to their performance, programming reviews and examinations over extended intervals of time. Free chatting with the Teacher's Desk and, email and chatting with other students. Free trial: any user can register and download the program for free, which will allow five sessions (24 hour maximun per session) of usage. No credit card required for registering or downloading. Registration and first month's subscription for $29, then $9 per month.
This CD-ROM-based program uses graphics, sound, animation, and text to improve pronunciation skills. Learners can record and compare their speech. Customized versions are available for speakers of French, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, German, Chinese, Hindi, Portuguese, and Russian.
Ten volumes of exercises to use with the Wida Authoring Suite programs (Gapmaster, Storyboard, Matchmaster, Choicemaster, Testmaster). These have been ported from the DOS-based CALL for English originals. Volumes include Elementary Grammar, Vocabulary, and Functions; Intermediate Grammar and Vocabulary; Advanced Grammar, Vocabulary, and Functions; Cambridge Proficience Practice, and International Business Topics.
Expeditions is a CD-ROM based version of the Prentice Hall Regents series by the same name. It includes a variety of notional/functional lessons in 12 units integrating text, sound, and color graphics to let students practice listening comprehension, vocabulary development, and speaking. The recording option lets students compare their voices with the original and participate in conversations in the lessons. Online help is available from anywhere in the program. Requires System 7 or higher and 20MB of free space on the hard drive.
Financial English is a video-rich CD-ROM based on a consultation session with an experienced accountant explaining how to go about setting up a company and managing its finances. The content is authentic both in the sense that it is an expert answering questions without a script and because his answers are the same as he usually gives to his clients. The authentic language is scaffolded with language support, including a glossary of terms, listening to the summaries in clear standard English, and a range of exercises such as gap fill, ordering, jigsaw, and collocation activities. The descriptions of business procedures and the weighing up of alternatives form the basis of reporting tasks which encourage students to break out of the shell of passive learning. A review is online at http://www.lydbury.co.uk/besig/resources/cdroms/add-140599.htm.
This is a program to retrieve words containing specified letters, sounds, or belonging to specified grammar categories. Runs under Windows 95. Requires additional download from Oxford Text Archive. Free for download from http://www.stir.ac.uk/epd/celt/staff/higgins.htm.
Now called Creatorial; see description there.
Multimedia English course for true beginners ages 10-17. The focus is on listening, vocabulary, and grammar, with speech recording and playback available. Course material includes school vocabulary and situations, as well as work on letters and numbers. Lessons are sequenced and incorporate review. The management module lets teachers assign placement and track student progress. Pricing options include per-student-use cost. Contact the publisher for details.
A database of over 30,000 sentences in context with over 2200 keywords. Users can search and edit sentences, add sentences, and create language exercises. Keywords include academic language from the Birmingham Corpus and the Academic Word List from Victoria University in New Zealand. Each keyword includes a minimum of 10 contexts, and entries include different parts of speech, proverbs from different cultures, quotations, facts about countries, and trivia. The user can search and edit these sentences, and add more keywords or sentences of their own. And with a couple of mouse-clicks, users can choose a sequence of sentences, and build them into a complete language exercise. The program was created by Gerry Luton and Martin Holmes of the University of Victoria in British Columbia.
This program uses animation, sound, and graphics. Students learn the vocabulary with various exercises, then run the hotel. They need respond to requests from guests and send the appropriate person: room service, housekeeping, maintenance, or the bellhop.
Graphics, text, and sound are used in exercises and tests to help students learn the rooms of the house, furnishings for each room, and six prepositions of location. The HouseKey Activity requires the student to use the vocabulary to find five keys hidden in a house. Finding a key in one room allows access to the next. The program offers help with verb choice, prepositions, and spelling, and includes a glossary with sound.
Teaches American idioms and slang through lessons with examples and multiple-choice quizzes. A demo is available at the website. A discount is available when the program is downloaded rather than purchased on a CD-ROM.
Users (or teachers) add links to use as content resources. Insightin offers instant dictionary access, exercise generation, spaced repetition, and progress tracking. Download a trial version from the website.
See Language Solution, The: Interactive English. Sold by Wida as Interactive English.
This CD-ROM-based program teaches and tests spelling and vocabulary comprehension. The teacher can customise by adding own key words, context sentences and number of syllables per word.
This freeware HyperCard stack plays QuickTime Karaoke files. Classroom management is interesting if you have several people trying to sing along with different songs simultaneously, so it works best with a class-sized speaker and projection panel to keep the group together. It's easiest for all but the most advanced students to look at the lyrics ahead of time. Files can be added by pasting or typing in the names of additional songs (also available on Geoff Taylor's website). Seven sample karaoke songs are included with the downloadable file. Requires HyperCard 2/2.1 or HyperCard player, QuickTime 2.5 system extension. The 120K stack can be downloaded from http://www.paddocks64.freeserve.co.uk/Pages/se-kar-qt-songs-jbox.html (DH)
Vocabulary-based CD-ROM with graphics and sound; elementary ed.
CD-ROM version of a text by the same name. Point and click operation, with no writing required. Uses graphics, animation, and voice recording and playback. Includes student tracking software. Approved by the California Instructional Technology Clearinghouse.
Large-scale, CD-ROM-based systematic vocabulary improvement drill with sound. Designed for native speaking adults who read at the 0-4th grade level. Students see the words on the monitor, hear them pronounced correctly, say and record the words, and listen to both pronunciations for comparison. 87 lessons are divided into five 'breaks.' Each break is self-contained, contains up to 700 words, and teaches a unique set of reading skills. An Instructor's Resource Guide contains installation and operating instructions, strategies for teaching the adult learner, and a placement test.
Vocabulary and pronunciation skill building with over 2200 words, speech recognition, learning games and activities. Requires a CD-ROM drive.
Three CD-ROM set, with Math Munchers, Word Munchers, and Knowledge Munchersª (formerly Trivia Munchersª Deluxe). Arcade-style games. Word Munchers drills the variant spelling of vowel sounds. Students are presented with a model (/i/ as in fish), they then move around a grid selecting all of the other words that have the same vowel sound while trying to avoid little monstors that randomly move through the grid. The program can be set so that students will only work on a limited set of vowel sounds. There is no instructional phase to the program, so teachers will want to either preteach the common patterns and exceptions or encourage their students to be persistent discovery learners. Knowledge Munchers is a trivia-style game in arcade form. Math Munchers works on math skills. MECC titles are now sold by Learning Company School.
A versatile and fast concordancer, very professionally done. It works on huge text files and produces concordance output on screen which can be manipulated in numerous ways (e.g. sorted by 1 to n words to right or left of target, source text can be accessed, non-productive items ejected, printing to file, etc.). Comes with an excellent manual explaining many uses of concordancers. The optional corpora are separated into business, science, humanities, etc. texts, generally taken from British newspapers. Recently upgraded.
Concordance program. Can load multiple files totaling several million words, then view contents from within the program. Searches can be case-sensitive or case-insensitive, have wildcards, and include non-letter characters such as '-' or apostrophes. Unwanted concordance lines can be deleted, while a multi-line context can be displayed for a given concordance line. A word list function with a frequency count and calculation of the frequency of collocations is also included. Results can be sorted by search word, text order, or first or second word to the left or right. An earlier and less full-featured version, MonoConc for Windows, is $70.
An computer-based flash card system designed to teach English as a second language to children. Features several games for learning the vocabulary and the capability for students to listen to digitally recorded pronunciations of each word and also to record their own voices. If using an IBM or compatible, this program requires an MPC-compliant machine and runs under Windows.
Students work through exercises to learn vocabulary related to the family. Then they try the MysteryFamily Activity, where three members of a family are hidden behind silhouettes. The student must guess their identities by asking them questions and listening to their responses. For help, students may read a short biographical sketch about each person. The program keeps track of the number of questions asked and includes a special display when all identities are correctly guessed.
CD-ROM version of the classic dictionary for beginners. Also available: English-Spanish and English-Chinese versions.
With this program learners work through words from the University Word List, the 2000 most common words in academic English. They can study the word lists, practice, test themselves, and store words they need to work more on into a special review list for focused practice. Runs on Mac 6.0+.
This program from John McVicker takes any plain text (ASCII) file and uses it for timed and paced readings with an online glossary, nth word and grammatically-focused clozes, sentence and paragraph jumbles, and vocabulary practice such as clozes where all vowels or consonants are deleted or learners see only half the word. Another feature is that the program tracks what the learner did in the 'Notes,' which can be printed out before the learner quits the program. It is very helpful to see the strategies learners use when doing the cloze. The notes also record which words were looked up during the reading, the definition from the glossary, and whatever the learner typed to help him or her remember the word. The readings that come with NewReader are relatively advanced. Because it is easy to add text to this program--anything you have done in your word-processor and saved as plain text can be dropped in the NewReader folder for immediate use--it can be for any level. For the money, it's tough to beat, and the program is regularly updated.
Story-telling and creation. Designed for native speakers.
The learner plays the role of a cook in a restaurant, first learning over 60 food and beverage vocabulary words, then filling orders. Working efficiently brings a bonus, with a paycheck at the end of the shift. The program includes digitized sound and an online glossary.
Vocabulary presentation program organized around four thematic units: shopping, meals, appearances, and home. Display mode presents the target words together with a corresponding picture and digitized pronunciation one by one. In Matching mode the students match the word to the picture--testing what they've learned. Teachers can modify the order and content of lessons for each student. Has IntelliKeys overlays for students with limited manual dexterity. CD-ROM.
104 Idiom lessons with a picture, a description of the idiom and a recorded sample sentence. Exercises and quizzes are also included. CD-ROM.
This CD-ROM includes Crossword Creator, Wordsearch Creator, KrissKross (like Scrabble), Quote Falls, Cryptograms, and Cryptoquizzes. What sets this apart from many others is that graphics, sound, and video clips can be included in the clues. Hundreds of predesigned puzzles, including New York Times puzzles, are on the CD-ROM (though these are not specifically for ESL). Puzzles can be played on screen, printed out, or exported to a word-processor (sound and video may not transfer, and certainly won't print out). Contains both the Crossword Creator AND Wordsearch Creator.
Seven animated interactive language games, focusing on word identification through listening or reading. Can be purchased with QRead and QPictionary as a set for $100.
Multimedia picture dictionary for young learners of English, divided into two sections - category groupings and word list. Features a talking ABC board and other colorful graphics. Words are pronounced and displayed. Alphabet knowledge is taught using animation and sample words for each letter. Can be purchased with QRead and QPictionary as a set for $100.
Three sets of CD-ROMs for a multimedia review of reading, grammar, and vocabulary. Reading 1 and 2 have a variety of texts including letters, magazine articles, stories, and humor. Grammar 1 and 2 review English tenses with anecdotes, short stories, articles, and dialogues. Vocabulary 1 and 2 use video clips with topics including leisure and hobbies, the environment, and the world of entertainment. Exercises and practice tests are included in all of these sets. Each set of two CD-ROMs can be purchased separately for $140. Lab, network, and site options are also available.
The two CD-ROMs contain a total of 8 units, each of which cover a specific vocabulary area. Words and sentences are presented through games and activities at different levels. The series focuses on the target language in specific settings; The Guard House (numbers), The Home (family relationships), The Paint Factory (colors), The Tailor's Shop (clothing), The Gym (parts of the body), The School (classroom), The Grocery Store (food), and The Theater (feelings). QSteps provides exposure to authentic language in natural contexts by means of an intuitive user interface for young learners. CD-ROM. Can be purchased as part of QKids with QSurf for $740.
Quickstart, a video-based CD-ROM, teaches the basics of English by focusing on Electra, a cyber-visitor who emerges from a computer. Electra has no understanding of English or of concepts of possession, money, or romance which in turn leads to very humorous situations. Through the use of integrated video clips, this multimedia course introduces vocabulary in five different everyday settings, focusing on reading, speaking, listening and basic knowledge of the alphabet. Record and playback ability, reading, listening, and speaking exercises, and an alphabet review feature make learning fun and interactive. Basic English instructions combined with comprehension questions allow students to work at their own pace. Quickstart introduces a vocabulary of approximately 650 words.
Students race against a clock to complete a Concentration type game. Matches can be pictures of activities with corresponding words, picture to picture, or word to word. The program comes with a library of 60 animated pictures of actions to be used in the game. Teachers can also create new matches of word to word such as irregular and present tense verb forms, etc. A demo of this program is on the TESOL/CELIA CD-ROM. Now part of One-Pick Pack (English only) or Language Pack (Spanish or French), which includes Ace Detective, Ace Explorer, Ace Inquirer, Ace Reporter, Easy Street, Race the Clock Language Arts, Word Hound, and some math titles.
This program is designed to make learning to recognize letters and words fun for younger children. It uses brightly-colored graphics with smiling animals to motivate sound-symbol practice. Several different types of exercises are included, mostly phonics-related. Students can choose which type of activity to do; a record-keeping function is included so that the teacher can see what the learner worked on and how s/he did. CD-ROM.
Thirty stories; games that promote phonics, word recognition and comprehension. On CD-ROM.
Multimedia drill with game elements. Teacher editions include 2 copies of the software plus teacher materials.
Literacy skills are the focus, with audio prompts. Icons show how to make letters, and graphics are used for letter associations. The rodeo motif comes in with the Cactus Kid, who lassos 104 cartoon graphics which begin with corresponding letters. The English and ESL version includes 2 sets of disks, 1 in English and 1 in Spanish. This title is included in Heartsoft Bestsellers.
Dictionary that can be accessed from within an program. Also includes model letters. CD-ROM.
Internet curriculum service for grades K-8 providing access to teacher plans, discussion groups, on-line chats with authors, thematic guides. Includes an ESL/Spanish department. Articles, books, experts and resources are accessible. Areas include the Math Center and the Writing Center.
Learners practice classroom objects, colors, and class subjects, then try the SchoolDay Activity -- guessing whose locker is whose by interviewing six students and looking at the contents of the lockers. Students read and hear the responses of the students.
Digital English Spanish dictionary including synonyms, verb conjugations and idiomatic expressions, and an interactive computer-aided translator (ICAT). SEER helps students develop and improve full English Spanish bilingualism.
Spell It Deluxe helps students learn basic spelling rules, master the spelling of thousands of commonly misspelled words, practice proofreading, and continually improve those skills. One of its unique feature is the availability of new word lists each month on the Davidson Internet site (www.davd.com), extending the value of the software by providing a fresh supply of spelling challenges. Upgrade of Spell It Plus. Teacher editions include 2 copies of the software plus teacher materials.
Multimedia drill with game elements. Teacher editions include 2 copies of the software plus teacher materials.
Includes various activities (including word searches, crosswords, flash card and jumbled words) to practice present lists (arranged by topic) as well as up to 100 lists entered by the teacher. Teachers can also edit all preset lists. After each set of words has been practiced, there is a spelling bee. Words to be spelled are either spoken or flashed on the screen.
This program helps users memorize vocabulary (or other memorizable items, such as spelling lists and irregular verb forms). It spaces repetitions of items in such a way as to maximize learning. ESL version available. Teachers can add their own databases of items for their students to learn. Runs under DOS or Windows.
Vocabulary building game with a record option that compares the learner and native speaker pronunciations. Help is available in more than 40 languages.
Simple multiple choice format program with a question and four possible answers involving choosing the right phrasal verb. Includes and on-line (editable) dictionary of phrasal verbs and full help. Very easy to use. Price includes site license. The program can be ordered over the Internet at: http://www.classicweb.com/usr/jseng/sean/ls_home.htm
Multiple-choice practice, graded into five levels. The LinguaSy Grammar of English is included. Designed for ESL/EFL.
Learners help Fred the frog find nice tasty flies for him to eat, in the form of words that fit into a set, while avoiding words that don't fit. Authorable. British English in the words included.
TextMangler imports any text file and 'mangles' it - it leaves the first and last sentences alone, but jumbles the rest. For example, if you have two sentences with 'and' it will switch the second halves of those sentences around. After the students have read a text, the teacher can give them a mangled version of it and ask them to use the mangled version to help them reconstruct the text. The students are thereby provided with all the vocabulary and sentence structures that they need, but they need to have understood the text to be able to use the mangled version to help them reconstruct it. It does not work well with very short texts, or texts where there is a very wide range of vocabulary; it needs a certain amount of repetition to work well. (Addis)
This 18-disk CD-ROM program supports the Prentice Hall Regents ESL program for Grades 1-6. Each of the disks links directly to and is fully integrated with a Student Theme Book and provides a variety of interactive activities (using animation, sound, and graphics). Activities include Screen Play: manipulating objects on the screen; Match Game: matching words and phrases; Story Reader: listening and reading; Story Maker: manipulating visuals and text to create a story; Draw and Share: drawing and coloring pictures; Puzzle: jumbled ideas and sentences; Story Completer: choosing words or pictures to complete a passage; Text Analyzer: highlighting portions of text onscreen; Comic-Strip Maker: writing and recording dialogue and creating captions to make a story; and Writing: a word-processor with pre-writing. Theme Connections 1 is oriented toward K-3; others toward 3-6.
Learners study vocabulary related to time, then go to work in a tourist information kiosk, answering questions using the time and numbers vocabulary. Various people come up and ask about the arrival and departure of trains and busses, as well as when concerts, exhibitions and other events take place. Learners look up information onscreen to find the answer. An online glossary is included.
CD-ROM-based spelling program for young learners. Full year of instruction on each CD, with 14 activities and 3 games for each of 60 word lists. Learners can create their own stories and create their own storybook with the words. Extensive classroom management.
Students reconstruct a text. They are guided by lines where the letters used to be. They type a word and if it is in the answer, it will appear in the proper place. Authorable. Freeware.
This is not ESL stuff, but most of it can be easily demonstrated by the teacher, and kids catch on real quick. Includes seven educational games. Students explore the on-screen hideaway, learning about music, animals, mathematics, sentence structure, money & place value. Requires CD-ROM drive.
Students learn about health problems, important ways to reduce health risks, how to record and track personal health information and organizations that are valuable sources of further information. The health database is completely bilingual in Spanish and English and includes toll-free numbers. Requires a CD-ROM drive.
Vocabulary practice with five elements: SAT, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, and VOA Special English. Each has 12,000 words, with definition, phonetic spelling, and pronunciation. Users can create their own "books" of words. Each book contains eight flash cards for focusing on specified words. Each word can be assigned to a difficulty level of 0 to 5. Each user has his or her own study record and software setting, which is saved automatically when you quit the program. Study methods include a word ticker, recall, spelling, listening, multiple choice, memory game, and a Star Wars game. A demo can be downloaded from the website. See a CNET review at http://www.download.com/Vocaboly/3000-2279-10304079.html?tag=lst-0-9#cnetReview.
Vocabulary practice program that offers study and test modes, including grammar exercises and completion tests. Students can set up a learning agenda, with target dates for learning specific words. The program also allows learners to collect words while they are using other applications, then import them into the program. Vocabulary files are available both with the program and in an online archive. Words can be saved as linked primary or secondary (derivatives) lists. Lists can be imported from Excel and exported as HTML. The program allows multiple uses on the same computer, each with his/her own files and record-keeping system. A shareware version can be downloaded from the website at http://www.bastiuk.de/english/vocprof/downloads.htm.
Multimedia flashcard creator; ready-made translating flashcards are available between English and over 40 other languages. Powerful editor: voice recording, image edition, smart keyboard switch between 2 languages. Free for schools; $15 shareware otherwise. Download from the website at http://www.paul-raedle.de/vtrain/home.htm. Also on the website is a free tool for collecting words and phrases called WordClip.
CD-ROM multimedia dictionary with video, graphics, sound. 700 words can be accessed alphabetically by language or through the eight categories. Includes four games. Mac and Windows CD-ROMs sold separately.
See Ultimate Word Attack.
Multimedia, thematically-organized vocabulary for native speakers. Very easy to use. Only available outside the US through a Prentice Hall Regents international distributor. CD-ROM.
Teaches 1500 words using 40 different interactive games and puzzles.
Students direct a mouse making its way through a maze, avoiding the cat and trying to reach the dog house, where they are asked questions about vocabulary. At the beginning level, learners are asked to match a picture/word combination with one of two below. Learners progress to more difficult matching questions as they work their way through the game. All instructions are spoken. Learners get more points with each correct answer. Learners can listen to instructions in English or Spanish. Available on CD-ROM or disks. A separate Spanish version is also available. A demo version is on the TESOL/CELIA CD-ROM. Now part of One-Pick Pack (English only) or Language Pack (Spanish or French), which includes Ace Detective, Ace Explorer, Ace Inquirer, Ace Reporter, Easy Street, Race the Clock Language Arts, Word Hound, and some math titles.
'Discussions' describe each word's synonyms, antonyms and derivations. Audio available in word lists and discussions. Five types of exercises: flashcards, column matching, laser review, and multiple choice involve synonym matching, while sentence completion requires typing in the best word from the set being studied. Sound, graphics, exercise variety, and a high level of user control make this one popular. Created for 4th grade-PhD native speakers, so the lowest 5 levels are most useful for ESL. Requires a CD-ROM drive. Individual volumes are approximately $40 each; sets range from $160-$400, depending on the number of volumes. (Seaver)
Comprehensive vocabulary practice with tutorial, practice, and test (including authoring) modules. Text and audio. With teacher's manual in notebook form. CD-ROM.
This CD-ROM lets students select the words they want to learn and then throughout the day, AutoLearn displays a custom mix of reminders. Frequent exposure to new words; pop quizzes; an entertaining and instructing screen saver; in-depth information about each word; spoken pronunciations; Info Cards displaying over 5,000 tips, examples, definitions, synonyms, and antonyms; flash cards; and quick reference printouts are features.
WordFill is an extended cloze testing engine. It displays a text with some words replaced by dashes and the student must complete the text. The teacher can decide which words are removed, so a Beginners text can have only a few words removed while an Advanced text has all but, say, proper nouns removed. It also has a timed display option so students can see the complete text for several seconds -useful for speed reading practice. (The number and duration of this display can be set by the teacher.) The program has a built-in word processor, on-line interactive tutorial and over 60 pre-loaded texts (half in business English). Texts can be added or edited freely. Very easy to use. Works with all main European languages (including support for accented characters). Runs on Win 3.1 or later (including Win 95). Mouse recommended. A demo of the program can be downloaded or an order placed over the Internet from: http://www.classicweb.com/usr/jseng/sean/ls_home.htm
Creates three types of word search puzzles: standard wordsearch (target words are hidden in a grid of letters), clues puzzles where students see clues to the hidden words, and fill-in-the-blank puzzles where students see a paragraph with the missing words found in the puzzle. Can be solved on screen, printed out, or exported to a word-processor.
Integrated suite of programs for looking at how words behave in texts. WordList shows a list of all the words in a text, set out in alphabetical or frequency order. Concordancer shows any word or phrase in context, and KeyWords finds the key words in a text. Various smaller tools and extensive on-line help also included. Distributed exclusively over the World Wide Web at http://www.oup.co.uk/elt/software/wsmith/.
Players choose one of four modules, Make Words, Master Words, Mixed Words, Match Words, and accumulate points in any module toward the Hall of Fame. Make Words allows players to create as many small words as possible from a longer word orphrase of up to 30 characters. Long words can be selected from a pre-selected list or entered individually per round. Master Words challenges players to decipher a four-letter word by receiving clues as to what letters are correct and in the right place or correct but in the wrong location in the word, MasterMind-style. Mixed Words scrambles long words or phrases from the same lists as the Make Words. Players have an assignable amount of time to decipher the word and enter it in the appropriate field. Match Words asks players to match words or short phrases to the given clue according to criteria set for each game. The time to find each match is also assignable. Information about up to 100 players can be stored in the Player's List. Students and teachers can easily create word lists for play. Teacher editable parameters are protected by password.
Everyday vocabulary. Uses graphics, voice recording, human quality speech, and quiz, presentation and print-out options. Create a word list for each student, save it and add new words anytime. Six programs: People, community, house, outdoor, actions, adjectives with 80 words apiece. Has IntelliKeys overlays for students with limited manual dexterity. CD-ROM.
World geography game on CD-ROM.
English vocabulary through pictures program. Point to the image to see the word, click to hear it. Listen to sentences about the pictures. Self-tests in comprehension and reproduction of vocabulary, with progress reports available. Part 1 "Home and Family": house, garden, rooms, furniture and household objects, family relationships, occupations and pets. Part 2 "Education and Leisure": classroom objects, school subjects, numbers, shape and colour, seasons, months, days and dates, time, weather, geography, parts of the body, music, free time and sports. Part 3 "Out and About": town, shops, clothes, food and drink, transport, railway station, on the road, directions, the farm and the zoo. Help is available in English, French, Spanish, or German. Each CD-ROM sold separately or all three as a set.
Playing with words. Designed for native speakers. CD-ROM. An online demo is available at http://www.WriteExpress.com/rhymer.html.
A series of 24 word games. Children collect pieces of the Wheel of Knowledge when they play each word game. When they have collected all 24 pieces, the space alien Zak is able to go home again. Students can use a 2000-word online dictionary to help them solve the puzzles. Available in British and American English versions. CD-ROM.
Vocabulary program that presents words in context with their opposites, one pair of sentences per exercise page. Other modes are Browse, where learners can view all of the synonyms and antonyms; Review, where learners can see the words they worked on before and re-do them; and Search mode, where learners can search the database for any combination of characters or for one of the eleven classified categories of opposites. The program has both British and American English, and points out the differences where they arise. A demo can be downloaded from the website at http://www.doxa.cwc.net/downdemo.htm.
Please click on an option below.