I had an interesting conversation or rather, “snippet” of conversation today. We were discussing language learning/teaching websites and the person I was talking to blurted out, “Just give me the top 5, NOTHING ELSE!”.

Now, I think too much it seems. So much does depend on the context. The age of the students, their learning styles, your class environment, access to the internet, curriculum objectives, L1 etc……… However, I was on a roll, so I stated my top 5. (plus, been doing a series on games along this same “top 5” line).

The internet has offered up so many great sites over the years. See my top 60 video below (or click here for the interactive version). These 3 however, have rose to the top and stood the test of time. Interesting how neither are about skype or meeting people. Just plain old fashioned learning…. Only one without “audio”. Each one, I’ve linked to the full tutorial on the ELT and Tech wiki.

1. Voicethread. http://voicethread.com Without a doubt, revolutionary. More of a platform than a site. It changed the way we interact as learners/teachers online.

2. Quizlet. http://quizlet.com Flashcards and language go together. But the teenager who created this threw in games and voice. Wow!

3. Tarheel Reader. http://tarheelreader.org Under the radar, this site I found at its start and I’m still just overjoyed by its simplicity (it was developed for the learning disabled – and my contention is that language learners are learning disabled). Can’t praise enough.

4. Storybird. http://storybird.com Wow! Narrative/stories are the backbone of language and literacy. This site takes it to a new and beautiful level. Create stories with amazing illustrations.

5. EnglishCentral. http://www.englishcentral.com Think of a video corpus. You can “mine” thousands of videos and pull up vocabulary you want. You can speak and get feedback. All in an environment with engaging content. I’m part of EnglishCentral solely because I can help and see how powerful the technology really is.