Wordle

http://www.wordle.net/

Purpose:

A Wordle is a creatively designed collection of words taken from a text with the most frequently occurring words appearing in large print. The website also allows users to work with texts written in a host of other languages such as French, Spanish and Dutch.

Relevance:

A Wordle can make vocabulary and grammar learning more interesting.

It facilitates group work.

It allows both teachers and students to be creative when working with texts or vocabulary lists.

A Wordle can be used to encourage use of the target language in the classroom.

This tool can also be useful in giving feedback to students about common spelling or grammatical errors.

Tip:

A Wordle can be an interesting way to start off a grammar lesson. Select a text from a newspaper, song or magazine. Create your Wordle and distribute among students. Ask students to work in groups to identify a particular grammatical structure, suggest a rule indicating how the structure operates and, using other words in the Wordle, create examples of grammatically sound sentences. Once you are satisfied with the results, introduce the original text and have students compare their sentences with those found in the text.

Limitations:

It is not possible to save a Wordle in a jpeg or pdf format. 

Breaking News English

http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/

Purpose:
This website provides printable lesson plans on a wide variety of current events, along with its MP3 recording and interactive activities to aid vocabulary learning.

Relevance: 
If you believe that students retain vocabulary better when hearing it and seeing it in context then this site is a definite must.

Tip: 
For every news event there are eight possible vocabulary related activities that you are free to use imaginatively. I particularly like the Flash Card quiz. Toward the end of the lesson, these flashcards can be used in a game of Taboo for a fun, creative review of vocabulary met during the lesson.

Limitations: 
This site has massive potential. The only limitation to it really is the layout. There are many ads on the website which makes it a little difficult to differentiate between actual website content and external links.

LanguageGuide.org

http://www.languageguide.org/

Purpose: 
This interactive website contains a variety of vocabulary items in a number of different languages. It also even offers interactive reading passages and grammar guides in a few select languages.

Relevance: 
Learning vocabulary can sometimes be boring for students. This site makes vocabulary-learning fun and can potentially motivate students to learn topic specific vocabulary outside the language classroom. Students can choose their level and practice their listening and speaking skills on a variety of topics.

Tip: 
Given that each topic contains labelled diagrams, each webpage can serve as a potential printable worksheet. Teachers can say a vocabulary item and have students write down the word in the appropriate space.

As a homework assignment, students can be instructed to review a particular topic on the website and then write a story using all or some of the items featured.

Limitations: 
This site focuses primarily on audio comprehension and repetition activities, it is therefore up to the teacher to incorporate the vocabulary provided in other skill areas. 

Also, the website is a work in progress: some categories, such as the Grammar pages available in French are not available in English.