A reader tipped me off to this great list of ways to use comics in the classroom. The list is extremelly comprehensive and includes sections on the benefits of using comics in the classroom, great resources for using comics in the classroom, suggested comics for reading in the classroom, tools for creating comics in the techie classroom, creative ways to use comics in the classroom, lessons plans using comics for elementary/middle/high school classrooms, manga and anime, and free comics for educators.

With 100 tips, tools, ideas, and resources, this list should convince you of the why and how of using comics as teaching tools. Enjoy! Comics in the Classroom 100 Tips, Tools, and Resources for Teachers

StoryPlace Elementary Library has great printout activities, topsy turvy tales (interactive stories), and a suggested reading list. These interactive stories help making reading fun. The reading list provides students with great off-line reads.

You can use the StoryPlace Elementary Library topsy turvy tales as a reading center in the classroom. Students can read along with the interactive books. This site is great for struggling and new readers. The offline reading suggestions will help students find books that they will love during a trip to the library.

Tips: There is also a StoryPlace for preschoolers.

Help Me 2 Learn: Grammar is an outstanding way for students to learn the difference between nouns, pronouns, verbs and adjectives. Help Me 2 Learn is actually a pay for learning website, but Grammar 1 is a full demo of the grammar game for FREE!

This is an incredible interactive that will help your students learn four parts of speech: nouns, pronouns, verbs, and adjectives. The interactive has a baseball theme and begins with some coach time where your students learn about the different parts of speech. Each part of speech is introduced by the coach and accompanied by several interactive examples. Students get a single when they learn about nouns, a double when they learn about pronouns, a triple when they learn adjectives, and a home run when they learn about verbs. There is a speed round game where students will play a game identifying parts of speech they have learned. Finally, students can do a word sort in the Home Run Derby game. This game is truly impressive, especially considering that it is FREE to use with your students!

Help Me 2 Learn: Grammar 1 is a great site to use in a computer lab setting. The coaching and game is paced according to student input. Students can learn at their own pace and get immediate learning feedback throughout the game. The Coach Time section of the site could be completed as a whole class with an interactive whiteboard. Students can take turns interacting with the coach time at the board. After completing Coach Time as a whole class, set up a grammar center where students can play the Speed Round, and Home Run Derby.

This site is a comprehensive way for students to learn about nouns, pronouns, verbs, and adjectives. This is a site that is worth letting students take time with individually in the computer lab setting.

The Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia has introduced the MyLINE portal for Malaysian students of higher learning. Online Resources for Learning in English is a service that offers resources for self-access language learning covering study skills, academic reading, writing and listening, grammar and other resources for learning in English for full-time students of public institutions of higher learning in Malaysia.

The service allows you to choose what you want to learn at your own pace. According to the information available on MyLine portal,

MyLinE is different from other available online language learning resources in several aspects. The following are some of its distinctive features:

1. Learning resources for higher education: The learning resources are designed and developed specifically to meet the academic and professional needs of students at tertiary level.

2. Resources for learning English and learning in English: The instructional materials and activities include not only resources for learning English, such as input and exercises on grammar and language use, but also informative resources in English on various disciplines and professions, such as information on the career path of a specific profession.

3. Interactive and self-explanatory activities: The pattern of information presented contains input on a topic, exercises to reinforce understanding of the input and answers with explanation to provide feedback on students’ performance.

You can visit the website at http://myline.utm.my/

Learning English vowels can be a great headache for students. English teachers, especially often struggle to find the best way to teach them the correct pronunciation of the vowels.

One way is often to get help from “native speakers”. This is a useful video obtained from YouTube that could perhaps lend a hand!

This is a lesson plan for blogging activities that can be conducted in a English language classroom. It helps the students to discuss issues and practise reading comprehension.

Sometimes, we tend to be long-winded when it comes to explaining things in English. The Plain English campaign is responsible of solving this problems. They believe that eeryone should have access to clear and concise information.

Here are some examples of long-winded official writing, with the suggested improvements by PlainEnglish.co.uk.

Before
High-quality learning environments are a necessary precondition for facilitation and enhancement of the ongoing learning process.

After
Children need good schools if they are to learn properly.

Before
If there are any points on which you require explanation or further particulars we shall be glad to furnish such additional details as may be required by telephone.

After
If you have any questions, please phone.

Before
It is important that you shall read the notes, advice and information detailed opposite then complete the form overleaf (all sections) prior to its immediate return to the Council by way of the envelope provided.

After
Please read the notes opposite before you fill in the form. Then send it back to us as soon as possible in the envelope provided.

Before
Your enquiry about the use of the entrance area at the library for the purpose of displaying posters and leaflets about Welfare and Supplementary Benefit rights, gives rise to the question of the provenance and authoritativeness of the material to be displayed. Posters and leaflets issued by the Central Office of Information, the Department of Health and Social Security and other authoritative bodies are usually displayed in libraries, but items of a disputatious or polemic kind, whilst not necessarily excluded, are considered individually.

After
Thank you for your letter asking for permission to put up posters in the library. Before we can give you an answer we will need to see a copy of the posters to make sure they won’t offend anyone.

For more, go to http://www.plainenglish.co.uk

If you’re interested in learning a language, iTunes has a whole section of podcasts devoted to language.

To get there, just head to the Apple iTunes Music Store, then go to Podcast -> Education -> Language Courses. You can get started perfecting your Spanish, French, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or Italian (to name some of the most popular) in no time, and best of all, they’re mostly all free. Try out the fun way of learning a language!

There are several public and private institutions of higher learning in Malaysia that offer TESL as a learning programme apart from taking the course of study via teacher training institutes nationwide.

The standard minimum requirements for pursuing a TESL degree is a good credit in SPM English (perferably B3 and above), and a Band 4 and above for MUET, apart from the compulsory credits for Bahasa Melayu (SPM) and Pengajian Am (STPM). You need to demonstrate good proficiency in the English language with passion for teaching.

We have listed them in the following list. We’ll be posting more details on the programme offered in each of the institutions from time to time and if you have information you would like to share, feel free to email us.

Public Institutions

University of Malaya (UM)
Level: Bachelor’s Degree Level (Bac. of Education)
Faculty: Faculty of Education
Interview Details: Need interview
Duration: 8 semesters (approx 4 years)

International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM)
Level: Bachelor’s Degree Level (Bac. of Education)
Faculty: Institute of Education
Interview Details: No interview
Duration: 8 semesters (approx 4 years)
Remarks:only for IIUM Matriculation students

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)
Level: Bachelor’s Degree Level (Bac. of Education)
Faculty: Faculty of Education
Interview Details: Need Interview
Duration: 8 semesters (approx 4 years)

Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS)
Level: Bachelor’s Degree Level (Bac. of Education)
Faculty: School of Education & Social Development
Interview Details: Need Interview
Duration: 8 semesters (approx 4 years)

Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)
Level: Bachelor’s Degree Level (Bac. of Education)
Faculty: Faculty of Educational Studies
Interview Details: Need Interview
Duration: 8 semesters (approx 4 years)

Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM)
Level: Bachelor’s Degree Level (Bac.of Arts with Education/Bac.of Education)
Faculty: School of Educational Studies
Interview Details: No Interview
Duration: 8 semesters (approx 4 years)

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM)
Level: Bachelor’s Degree Level (Bac. of Sc with Education)
Faculty: Faculty of Education
Interview Details: Need Interview
Duration: 8 semesters (approx 4 years)

Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM)
Level: Bachelor’s Degree Level (Bac. of Education)
Faculty: Faculty of Education
Interview Details: Need Interview (Bumiputra Candidates Only)
Duration: 8 semesters (approx 4 years)

Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI)
Level: Bachelor’s Degree Level (Bac. of Education)
Faculty: Faculty of Language
Interview Details: Need Interview
Duration: 8 semesters (approx 4 years)

Private Institutions

Open University Malaysia (OUM)
Level: Bac.of Education

Universiti Industri Selangor (UNISEL)
Level: Bac.of Education

This is a lesson plan made for teaching the poem "If" by Kipling using Simple Plan’s song – Perfect. It’s a lesson that students really enjoy and can relate it well.