Welcome to my blog! I'm an ESOL teacher and teacher trainer in the UK, and you'll find some of the websites I know about in this blog, and some suggestions on how to use them. Hope it's helpful.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Weebly

Weebly is simply the most fantastic tool!! I wasn't sure whether or not to include it in this blog as it's not strictly speaking a tool for English language learners, but it could easily be!

It's a web site building tool, but the difference is that it's free (for up to 6 pages) and much more importantly, it's practically idiot proof. If you can use Word and know how to drag and drop, you can really create a brilliant website in a really short time. Here's the advertising video - I'm honestly not on any kind of commission for this, but I'm so impressed.



The first time I put a web site together it was really painful, so this is a joy. You can put your web page together and then try out different templates, too.  For learners, you could use it for project work - they could make their own websites - I think this would be very motivating for teenagers, in particular, or you could make a class website and give each group in the class a page to complete. Alternatively, produce one yourself to give them practice in extensive reading or listening to authentic material - it's just as easy to edit as it is to set up.  Have a go - if you thought websites were something that required a professional web designer and a lot of cash or a lot of time learning the ropes, think again - you CAN do this!