English Literature Websites
Teachit: The new version of this popular website continues to offer everything you like about Teachit: the 2000+ pages of English, Drama and Media teaching resources, the online lessons, monthly newsletter and web links. Accessing all of this free content is now easier because Teachit have changed the underlying site structure and added a keyword, text and author search function. Teachit also has a new subscription service, TeachitPLUS, which offers adaptable versions of top Teachit resources for under 40p per week.
Andrew Moore's Resource website is a site is a collection of guides and tutorials for students, teachers and trainee teachers of English language and literature. The materials are aimed at the upper end of secondary education in the UK, but many are suitable for college and university students. The number of resources on the site is not vast - just over a hundred - but this can be misleading, as each guide is very substantial. The guides currently cover the whole curriculum for GCSE English, and most areas of GCE English Language. There are also plenty of materials for KS3 English, media at KS3, GCSE English literature and media, and GCE English literature and theatre studies. The author is an experienced teacher who has worked as an examiner for English and literature. The resources are written to help students succeed, without letting work take over their lives - at least, that's the theory.
English Teaching in the UK: This site is maintained by Harry Dodds, a former Head of English in Oxfordshire, and now Senior Lecturer in Education and freelance in English and ICT. Harry has set up this site to be a forum for teachers of English. The site provides nearly 3,000 links links to other websites under headings such as A Level Resources, Booklists, Children's Literature, Classics, Antiquity, Mythologies, Drama and Theatres, Essentials for Teachers, Gender, Hypertext Writing, Key Agencies, Literacy, Literature Resources, Teachers as Managers, Old English Resources, Poetry, Reference Materials, Lesson Plans, Revision Pages, Special Needs, Subject Organisations, Student Self-Assessment and Writing your own Web Pages.
English Biz GCSE: An English and English Literature GCSE revision site that offers students a straightforward way of finding out how to improve their GCSE grades.
GCSE English: GCSE Guide is a site developed specifically for students and for those wanting help with GCSE level exams. It has been created in a simple way, with a very wide range of content that enables quick and valuable usage. The site is wholly free to use and is frequently used by teachers, pupils, college students and professors from all around the world. The site includes an English section with every topic necessary for GCSE level exams, coursework advice and practise papers with answers. Finally there is also a Bookshop where carefully selected texts have been added to give that extra bit of help.
Writers in the USA: 1860-1960: Brief biographies of seventy-eight writers born in the United States. This includes novelists and playwrights such as Louisa May Alcott, Sherwood Anderson, James Baldwin, Edward Bellamy, Ambrose Bierce, Mary Borden, John Jay Chapman, Stephen Crane, Theodore Dreiser, Ralph Ellison, Hamlin Garland, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Dashiell Hammett, Lillian Hellman, Ernest Hemingway, Sinclair Lewis, Jack London, Edwin Markham, Arthur Miller, Frank Norris, Clifford Odets, Eugene O'Neill, Dorothy Parker, David Graham Phillips, John Dos Passos, Upton Sinclair, Gertrude Stein, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Mark Twain, Edith Wharton, Edmund Wilson and Richard Wright.
To Kill a Mockingbird: This website on Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird was developed by Linda Taggart-Fregoso in the Schools of California Online Resources for Educators (SCORE) Project, funded by the California Technology Assistance Program (CTAP). The novel depicts the themes of misunderstanding and prejudice and this unit presents an opportunity for students to explore these concepts. This unit asks students to consider the following questions: Why do good writers use symbolism in their writing? Why is point of view an important technique to consider when writing? Why is it difficult to persuade others to be just and courageous? How do you support interpretations? What makes a good piece of persuasive writing?
Stories from Rainbow's Edge: Designed to brighten KS2 Literacy Hour, Rainbow's Edge is a small village which contains most of the Nursery Rhyme characters that you have heard about. They spend their time wandering through the village telling their stories. But these stories are not their usual stories. They try to answer some unasked questions and are designed to make you think!
Charlotte Bronte: One of the many websites produced by George Landow and his team at Brown University. The Biographical section includes a 'A Brief Biography', 'Autobiographical Elements in Jane Eyre', 'Charlotte Bronte Chronology' and on a website in Japan, an 'E-text version of Elizabeth Gaskell's 'The Life of Charlotte Bronte'. The 'Political and Social Contexts of Jane Eyre' is particularly interesting with information on 'The Governess and Class Prejudice', 'Class Attitudes in Jane Eyre', 'Age Difference in Victorian Marriages', 'The Position of Middle Class Women' and 'Is Jane Eyre a Feminist Novel?'
Infant Explorer: An excellent website for Key Stage 1 produced by teachers working with the Canterbury Environment Education Centre. Every term a new story designed to be used within the literacy hour is added and so far The Swan Story, In the Autumn and Sebastian's Waddle are available from the site. Each story encourages the children to explore seasonal changes in the environment and includes NLS keywords, photographs, moving graphics and sounds. The story contains interactive sections which encourages the use of email and provides opportunities for the children's work to be published on the site.
Gareth Pitchford's Primary Resources: Illustrated by humorous cartoons, Pitchford has provided a wide range of lesson ideas and resources for primary teachers. This includes a good section on Literacy Hour Resources such as 'Nouns and Adjectives Game', 'Lego Instructions', 'Types of Sentences', 'Conjunctions' and 'Thesaurus Work'. Pitchford, who teaches at Edleston Primary School, also provides materials for Maths, Science and Art and numerous links, including one to Paul Cockcroft's Literacy Hour Resources.
The Standards Site: The Standards Site is managed by the Department for Education and Employment's Standards and Effectiveness Unit (SEU). The main objective of the site is to supply teachers with "guidance and tools to help schools improve effectiveness, raise standards and reduce workload". This includes providing literacy materials and schemes of work. There is also a detailed section on 'The National Literacy Strategy' which contains material under headings such as 'What is Literacy?', 'About the Framework for Teaching', 'Resource Area', 'What is the Literacy Hour' and 'What should literate children be able to do.'
Loopy Land: As the title of this website suggests, Loopy Land provides a less traditional approach to delivering the National Curriculum. Lara Savory has made the material that she has been using with her Y6 group available to the Internet community. This includes, Liquorice Hour (new ideas for teaching the literacy hour), Loopy Learning Discussion (on-line debate), Left to Write (tips for teaching left-handed children) and Loopy Star Sites (ratings, with links, of other educational sites).
William Shakespeare: Created and maintained by Jeremy Hylton at the Corporation for National Research Initiatives, this website contains the electronic version of the Complete Works of Shakespeare. A powerful search-engine enables the user to search all the material for selected words or phrases. There is also a chronological and alphabetical listing of the plays, a collection of the most popular Shakespearean quotations, and a detailed glossary. Another section deals with the most frequently asked questions by users. The discussion area is very popular and often involves pleas for help with essay titles such as "Comic Female Monologues" and "Triumph and Tragedy in Shakespeare's Life". There is also a comprehensive list of other Shakespeare resources on the Internet.
Absolute Shakespeare: Created by James Hodge the Absolute Shakespeare contains Shakespeare's plays, sonnets and poems. Study Shakespeare with plot summaries, essays, character analyses, quotes, biography, pictures, timeline, trivia, the Globe Theatre and links.
The Victorian Web: The Victorian Web is the result of Brown University's Institute for Research in Information and Scholarship Intermedia Project. At the moment there are 44 British writers on the website. This includes Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Browning, Lewis Carroll, Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson and Lord Tennyson. Each author has an overview page where the material is listed under the following headings: Biography, Works, Victorianism, Science, Literary Relations, Visual Arts, Themes, Setting, Characterization, Image & Symbol, Narration, Genre, Religion and Philosophy and Related Websites. These sections might include one page of information or a list of twenty or more pages. This site is a great research archive and fully deserves the many awards it has received.
Robert Louis Stevenson: The Robert Louis Stevenson website is managed by Richard Dury at the University of Bergamo. The website receives considerable support from the Robert Louis Stevenson Society based in Australia and Edinburgh's Robert Louis Stephenson Club. Material is listed under the following headings: Life and Works, E-Texts, Images, Museums and Library Collections, Events, Bibliographies and Links.
Children's Storybooks: This websites provides a collection of illustrated stories for young children to read online. Titles include Round Bird Can't Fly, Kitty Wants a Box, Buzzy Bee, The Counting Story, Alphabet, Animals Can See at the Zoo and Farm Animals. Some of the stories have linking activities such as Riddles, Maze and Colouring Book. The website also includes online stories for older children and young adults.
D. H. Lawrence: The Rananim Society is a D.H. Lawrence e-mail discussion group. Two of the members of this group from Ontario, Canada, have produced a site dedicated to the work of D. H. Lawrence. As well as producing original material, the Rananim Society have collected together all the sites on the Internet that relate to Lawrence and his work. One list includes 'Pilgrimages and Homages' and provides links with places where Lawrence lived. 'Eastwood and DH Lawrence' supplies information (text and photographs) on the four houses that Lawrence occupied in Eastwood. Special emphasis is placed on his birthplace, 8a Victoria Street, which is now maintained as a museum. From here there are also links with other related websites: 'Eastwood', 'Picture Gallery of Old Eastwood' and 'About Nottingham'.
Elizabeth Gaskell: Literary genius is not always rewarded with good websites. Elizabeth Gaskell is one of those writers who will obtain a growing readership thanks to the devoted care and attention of the Gaskell Society. The site provides links with electronic texts of her work. There are also copies of rare, 19th century illustrated versions of her work. Other linked websites include: 'Gaskell Portrait Gallery', 'Knutsford, Past and Present', 'Elizabeth Gaskell's Manchester' and 'Gaskell Studies and the Internet'. There is also detailed information about past editions of the Gaskell Society Journal and a free newsletter on the writer.
Zuzu: On this website Beck Underwood's artwork provides a stimulus for creative writing. Children can submit their work for possible online publication. Subject categories includes science-fiction, holidays and animals. The website also contains sections on Mysterious Stories, Poetry, Courageous Kids, Neighborhood Reports, Virtual Vacations, Interviews and Broadway Reviews.
Kids' Space: Launched in May 1995, Kids' Space was established to break down cultural, religious, ethnic and racial barriers between children of the world by promoting cross-cultural collaboration in creative projects. The site now features creative writing from more than 150 countries. The website also includes Kids' Space Communication for communication activities, such as penpals.
Discovering Dickens: An interesting approach to the work of Charles Dickens that has been created by Lucy Davis of 'Schools of California Online'. The material has been produced to help students learn "more about the time and circumstances which influenced Dickens". Students have a choice of five different cases. Each case requires the student to visit several Internet sites that specialize in specific knowledge about Charles Dickens. Case One involves a look at the everyday life of Charles Dickens. Students visit two Internet sites 'Dickens' Home' and 'Dickens' House Museum' and are given assignments that involve them comparing their life with those of people living in 19th England. Case Three explores the links between Dicken's novels and his experiences of childhood poverty.
Free Resources for English Teaching (FRET): This website provides free, printable resources, lesson plans and schemes of work for teachers of English language and literature at secondary level. Taking the strain out of your job so that you don't need to ... um ... fret! The site is organised according to the National Curriculum Orders for English covering reading, (poetry, prose, drama, media, non-fiction) writing and speaking / listening in the relevant key stages so just think of FRET as your online, Departmental filing cabinet. Contributions also welcome.
Native American Stories: A website that features stories from native American tribes, which include contemporary, humorous, tragic, and older 19th century narratives about traditional tribal lifeways. There are also traditional stories, myths, legends, tall tales and teaching stories. The website, produced by Paula Giese, also includes a collection of biographies of late 19th and early 20th century authors.
19th Century British and Irish Authors: This is a gateway site that lists all the known websites on 19th century British and Irish authors. The full list is over twenty pages long (it is constantly being updated). For regular visitors there is a 'What's New?' section. The authors are listed in chronological order. This is a good starting point for anyone carrying out research into 19th century writers.
T. S. Eliot: Bruce Bong has produced a very personal view of the work of T. S. Eliot. Bong attempts to imitate the style of his other literary hero, Raymond Chandler. This is unsuccessful but Bong does supply a list of websites that are useful to anybody studying the work of T.S. Eliot. The website provides links to T. S. Eliot discussion groups, articles and other sites that contain biographical details of the writer. Bong also includes examples of poems where the writers have attempted to parody Eliot's style. The website also directly links you to websites where you can print out Eliot's poems.
Under5s is the site for everyone involved in pre-school education and childcare; teachers, nursery nurses, students, child minders, nannies, and of course, parents. The creators of this website believe that preschool is the most important stage for learning; positive experiences provided at this time having a lifelong influence. The authors also believe that education should be fun, and actively encourage learning through play. The site has free information and resources, including - topic webs, lesson plans, worksheets, colouring pages, activities and more. It is also an interactive site with message boards, feedback forms and polls.
Storytellers: Native American Authors Online is an collection of websites for published authors. Most of these sites have been constructed with the collaboration of the author. The rest are either the author's independent site or a site constructed for a college course. A special emphasis has been placed upon poets as there is less information available for these writers. Included on each site is a photograph, a short biography, some of the author's writing (typically poetry), the awards the writer has won, a list of publications, including anthologies, and a bookshop where these books may be purchased. A calendar of the public appearances for the authors is available, and virtual greeting cards with portraits of many of the authors can be sent. Links to related websites are also provided.
Poetry Class: The Poetry Class website reflects the ethos of taking the fear out of poetry. What this site offers is plain language, printable poetry workshops for immediate use in classrooms, a glossary of terms, interviews with poets, recommended books, and key stage requirements tagged to particular poetry workshops on our site. Poetry Class vet each external poetry site listed in our resources section to ensure that it matches its standards for clear language, contains useful information about (or examples of) poetry and poetic forms, and is easily navigable for all users.
Representative Poetry On-line includes about 2,350 English poems by 368 poets from Caedmon, in the Old English period, to the work of living poets such as Marge Piercy and Mark Doty. This anthology represents poets from Africa, Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. Its collections build on a university teaching textbook published by the University of Toronto Press from 1912 until 1967 to which several dozen scholars contributed, including Kathleen Coburn, Northrop Frye, Marshall McLuhan, Donald Theall, and R. S. Woof. Representative Poetry On-line serves both the poetry student and teacher at school and post-secondary levels, and the poetry lover. It offers classical critical works on poetry, a glossary of poetic terms, annotations on words or passages in the poems, and four indexes (poets, titles, first lines, chronology, and calendar). It represents good poetry of all periods and types, African-American, children's, classical, comic, feminist, and popular, and aims at giving a reliable, helpful edition of each poem.
Poetry4kids is the biggest collection of hilarious poetry for kids anywhere on the net. Written by popular children's poet Kenn Nesbitt, poetry4kids is packed with funny, whimsical, clever and zany poems, and is guaranteed to make you giggle. In addition, Mr. Nesbitt's "How To" section teaches children how to write their own funny poetry, and his "Link" page boasts one of the Internet's most comprehensive listings of children's poetry resources. If you like humorous poetry, don't miss this site.
Walt Whitman: The Walt Whitman Archive is an electronic research and teaching tool that sets out to make Whitman’s vast work, for the first time, easily and conveniently accessible to scholars, students, and general readers. Whitman, America’s most influential poet and one of the four or five most innovative and significant writers in United States history, is the most challenging of all American authors in terms of the textual difficulties his work presents. He left behind an enormous amount of written material, and his major life work, Leaves of Grass, went through six very different editions, each of which was issued in a number of formats, creating a book that is probably best studied as numerous distinct creations rather than as a single revised work. His many notebooks, manuscript fragments, prose essays, letters, and voluminous journalistic articles all offer key cultural and biographical contexts for his poetry. The Archive sets out to incorporate as much of this material as possible, drawing on the resources of libraries and collections from around the United States and around the world.
First World War Poetry: This seminar is intended as an introduction to First World War poetry. As well as the poets Wilfred Owen, Rupert Brooke, Isaac Rosenberg, Siegfried Sassoon and Edward Thomas the seminar looks at women poets in the First World War. Each poet and topic includes the following: (a) an introduction, (b) a featured poem, appropriate to the seminar's theme, (c) some literary criticism of the featured poem, (d) other relevant information or texts, (e) a selection of other poems appropriate to the poet/topic.
Wilfred Owen: This website includes four of Wilfred Owen's most popular poems: Anthem for Doomed Youth, Dulce et Decorum est, Strange Meeting and The Parable of the Old Man and the Young. There are also links to other websites on Wilfred Owen and his poetry.
The Tolkien Society is an international organisation with the aim to encourage and further interest in the life and works of the late Professor J.R.R. Tolkien, author of two of the most well-known and best-loved books of the late 20th Century, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. This site has information about JRR Tolkien, the books he wrote, his life and books others have written about him.
Novel Guide claims to be the premier free source for literary analysis on the web and aims to provide an educational supplement for better understanding of classic and contemporary literature. It gives a summary of chapters, character profiles and top ten quotes.
Teachit Competition: Many of you grappling with the new English A/AS specifications should visit this website for ideas, inspiration and even prizes. Cambridge University Press and Ink Pellet magazine have offered a selection of great books for twenty-one Teachit contributors. The 'Cambridge Contexts in Literature' series provides a flexible range of resources for the new Advanced Subsidiary and Advanced GCE qualifications. Teachit has one complete set of all eleven books to give away, plus ten sets of three popular books in the series; 'The Great War in British Literature', 'Post-Colonial Literature' and 'Metaphysical Poetry'.
Little Animals Activity Centre: Another excellent website produced by the BBC for young children. Characters featured include Micky Maker, Digby Mole, Foxy Dancer, Count Hoot, Puzzlesnuff and Storybear. Each one has a set of activities for children including word and music games, riddles, mazes, math activities, treasure trials and interactive games.
George Orwell Resources: This website, devoted to the work of George Orwell, includes a short biography, an extensive bibliography, quotes, photographs and links to online texts. This includes novels, nonfiction books, pamphlets, broadcasts, essays, articles, poetry, letters and book reviews. The website also includes links to resources that can be used by students studying 1984 and Animal Farm.
Reading-Now has resources for building early word recognition skills. These teacher created materials provide the necessary practice to help students succeed in decoding and sight word recognition skills. The practice is done in context along with game cards, flash cards, and certificates for achieving success at each level. The veteran teacher-author enables students to practice with varied reinforcement activities.
Spelling it Right features more than seventy pages of advice and exercises. Worksheets emphasise spelling patterns rather than spelling rules and deal with topics such as syllables, memorising strategies, word beginnings and endings, consonant blends, proof reading, adding prefixes and suffixes. Roger Smith, an experienced English teacher and examiner, originally aimed the site at parents who were concerned about their children’s spelling and were keen to help them improve. However, it soon became apparent that adults were also using the site to overcome their own spelling weaknesses. Teachers, too, print out the worksheets for use in the classroom and many schools and colleges in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand now include a link on their own web sites so that parents, students and teachers can easily access Spelling it Right.
Grammar Lady: Mary Newton Bruder is the person behind this impressive website. Bruder informs the visitor on the home page that "the purposes of the site are to be helpful, to raise consciousness about correct language use, and to remind everyone of the ways to have fun with language". The Grammar Hotline/Web site is a free service that attempts to answer quick grammar, punctuation, spelling, and other points about language.
Of Mice and Men: An excellent website for anyone teaching or studying John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men. The website is designed to be an annotative guide to the novel. As you travel through the site, you will find hundreds of definitions to help you get more out of your reading. Click on any one of the chapter links in the frame on the left. There you will first find a short synopsis of the chapter. You will also find phrases and sentences from the book that contain words that students may have had trouble understanding. Click on any of the highlighted words, and you'll be taken to a glossary page where you will be able to find the word's definition. The website also provides help with allusions (references to various people, things, geographical locations, etc.) and idioms (expressions).
Wired for Books: Read, listen, watch: these are the options for visitors to the website, Wired for Books. Using streaming media to deliver sound and video, the folks at the Ohio University Telecommunications Center are trying to get people, both young and old, excited about books. The offerings range from scholarly discussions to children's stories, from Shakespeare to Anne Rice. In-house audio productions of Macbeth and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland attract the audio book lovers, as do CBS Radio's famous author interviews, conducted by Don Swaim from the 1970s to the 1990s. The site also provides a virtual space for Ohio University writers and scholars. Notable local authors include Terry Anderson reading his poems from The Den of Lions, written while he was held hostage in Beirut during Lebanon's bloody civil war. Sometimes, special visitors to the university, such as Antonya Nelson, (In the Land of Men) stop by to record a story.
INKENT: Gareth Thomas teaches secondary English at the Archbishop's School in Canterbury. The inkentENGLISH website began in 1997 as an English teachers' links site, but since the advent of a number of good sites catering for English links, the site has evolved into a practical platform for his own teaching. It contains material to support lessons, homework, and e-texts for current work. The site is under constant revision and by the end of August 2002 it will contain all his Schemes of Work for English planned out for the school year.
ProQuest Literature: This subscription service website features over 106,000 fully searchable plays, poems and prose works. These are presented alongside thousands of secondary resources including reviews, articles, reference works, video clips and contextual images. The service also contains a growing range of teaching resources including a series of GCSE schemes of work.
International Educational Services: The introduction and use of computers for students presents an immense opportunity for teachers and students to be innovative, to enhance and extend their classroom experience! The International Educational Services website based in New Zealand contains English teaching resources for age 11 to 17. This includes units on novels, poetry, genre, drama and English skills. Units can be ordered and downloaded off their website. International Educational Services also provides a free online English resources newsletter with sample units and free puzzles.
Story Street: A free companion website from Longman to accompany Story Street, the fiction strand of the new reading programme Literacy Land. However, this website is ideal for practising Literacy and ICT skills even if you don't use the Story Street books. You can take a virtual tour of Story Street, find out about and email the authors including Jeremy Strong or send a postcard to a friend. The Story Street School Magazine is updated termly with new articles, jokes and news and schools are invited to send in their own magazines for publication on the website. The website offers a registration facility to notify you when new materials and special offers of interest are added to the website.
Anne Bronte: This web site presents both a literary, and a pictorial account of the life of Anne Brontë - younger sister of the more generally well known Charlotte and Emily - of 'Jane Eyre', and 'Wuthering Heights' fame respectively. It has a particular focus on Anne's connections with the seaside resort of Scarborough; a place she loved; a place she portrayed in both her novels - 'Agnes Grey' and 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall'; a place where she wished to open her own school, and the place where she ultimately died and was buried. In 1897, a journalist declared 'It is impossible to stand by the tomb of the authoress of "Agnes Grey" and "The Tenant" without becoming possessed of a great yearning to know more about her'; and it was this sentiment, coupled with the knowledge of the hundreds of people who visit Anne's grave at Scarborough each year, that inspired me to create this website. The site presents you with a range of pages - covering various aspects of Anne, her life, and her achievements.
Lord of the Flies: William Golding published Lord of the Flies in 1954. The book describes in detail the exploits of a band of young children marooned on a desert island after a plane crash. This website contains descriptions of the main characters, summaries, and themes and symbolism in Lord of the Flies, as well as a 3-dimensional rendering of the island. Additionally, vocabulary words with definitions have been added to the site. If you can't find everything you need here, links are also provided for further reading.
Charles Dickens: David Perdue's impressive website provides a comprehensive account on the life and work of Charles Dickens. The site includes a detailed biography of Dickens by David Cody, notes on his complete work and a compendium of his characters. There is also a timeline, an interactive map of 19th century London, an article on Dickens' journalistic career and a message board where you can post questions on Dickens.
Questique is a unique strategy crossword board game that can be played in a home, school or further educational environment. Rare amongst skill based games, it is suitable for children, families and adults. Play is possible from elementary to advanced levels. A simple handicapping system allows players of mixed abilities to all compete as equals. Even a highly educated language teacher and a below average ability child of eight can be a match! It is an excellent language teaching aid, especially in relation to spelling and vocabulary development. The game includes many options, one of these being "fast play". This is ideal for active minds and impatient players of all ages - no need for an egg timer here to keep the game moving! Questique is fun, challenging and educational and can be played solo or by up to four players.
Little Explorers: This website provides 1,885 illustrated dictionary entries. Each word is used in a meaningful example sentence. Most entries have links to a related web site. Just click on an underlined word (or its accompanying picture), and you'll link to a great web site related to it. A picture-dictionary format is used to link to hundreds of carefully-chosen child-friendly sites around the world. Since the pictures are links, even pre-readers can surf with a minimum of help and guidance from their favorite adult. Older kids can use Little Explorers as a school reference. This is the English version; just click to use the English-French, English-German, English-Italian, English-Portuguese, or the English-Spanish version.
Project Gutenberg: This website publishes out-of-copyright works online for free. This generally means that the Gutenberg texts are taken from books published pre-1923. So you won't find the latest bestsellers or modern computer books here. You will find the classic books from the start of this century and previous centuries, from authors like Shakespeare, Poe, Dante, as well as well-loved favorites like the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the Tarzan and Mars books of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Alice's adventures in Wonderland as told by Lewis Carroll, and thousands of others.
Redbridge Literacy Website: This website is for all primary and secondary teachers of literacy, both within English and beyond. The site features downloadable lesson plans and resources, ideas to support literacy work in schools and relevant news and updates from official bodies, such as QCA, the National Literacy Strategy and OFSTED. The Key Stage 1 and 2 areas of the site are well established, and offer particular support to English Co-ordinators working in primary, whilst the Key Stage 3 area offers a whole range of Year 7 and 8 units of work in medium and short term planning formats, along with Literacy Across the Curriculum resources. The website also features details of all INSET courses, primary and secondary, run by the London Borough of Redbridge; these courses are open to teachers from all areas.
English Teacher File: The purpose of English Teacher File is to help the English teacher to find quickly, and often without leaving the school, an increased variety of aids and resources. Whether s/he's working in a large inner city school or alone in isolation somewhere, the only requirement to obtain these aids is an Internet connection. The Internet has made assistance readily available as you'll see when you start following some of the links, whether you're at home or at your school. As well, any links you wish to add will be welcomed as long as they serve the needs and/or interests of teachers of English worldwide. There is also a file drawer which you are invited to visit and to take from it what you wish. It will be a source from which to obtain tests, quizzes, chapter reviews, critical notes that others have used successfully and whole lessons other teachers worldwide are willing to share.
Experience of War: An anthology of over 100 extracts, both prose and poetry, dealing with war - with particular reference to the First World War. Maintained by Steve Brown, the website includes work by Rupert Brooke, Julian Grenfell, John McCrae, Isaac Rosenberg, W. B. Yeats, Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, Edmund Blunden, Edward Thomas, Charles Hamilton Sorley, Robert Graves, Rudyard Kipling, Ivor Gurney and Carl Sandburg.
Glossary of Technical Theatre Terms: This website produced by Theatre Crafts includes a list of over 1250 definitions. The material is listed under Lighting, Sound, Stage Management, Costume, Stage Design, Rigging, Theatre Building, Directing, Theatre Jobs, Administration and Forms of Theatre. A useful website for any teacher or student who wants to develop detailed knowledge of theatre terms.
Word Detective: This is the online version of the Word Detective, a newspaper column that answers questions about words and language. The Word Detective is written by Evan Morris and appears in newspapers in the U.S., Mexico and Japan. The Word Detective receives hundreds of questions every week, and Morris does not promise to answer every question he receives. If the question is answered, it will appear first in The Word Detective newspaper column and then be posted on this web page. You can also buy a hardback collection of The Word Detective columns from the site.
ClassicReader: At ClassicReader you can read, search, and annotate great works of literature by authors such as Charles Dickens, Leo Tolstoy, William Shakespeare, Aldous Huxley, Thomas Hardy, and many others. The collection currently contains 651 books and 906 short stories by 196 authors. This includes 96 books for children. New works are added to the collection on a regular basis, many at the suggestion of readers. The works are split into seven categories which may be accessed via the links at the left of every page.
Elizabeth Gaskell: This website, created by Mitsuharu Matsuoka of Japan, is devoted to the work of Elizabeth Gaskell. 'Mary Barton: A Tale of Manchester Life' was published in 1848. With its cast of working-class characters and its attempt to address key social issues such as urban poverty, Chartism and the emerging trade union movement, Gaskell's novel deeply shocked Victorian society. In her books Gaskell expressed a deep sympathy for the poor and suggested the need for large-scale social reform. As well as Mary Barton the website includes E-texts of Cranford (1851), Ruth (1853), North and South (1855), Sylvia's Lovers (1863) and Wives and Lovers (1866).
Language Laboratory: This website uses Merlin, an animated interactive Microsoft Agent Character, to provide a basic overview of the eight parts of speech of English grammar. To access the site, the user must have Version 4.0 or better of Internet Explorer with Microsoft Agent installed, plus the Microsoft agent named Merlin, freely available from Microsoft Corporation from their website.
Roald Dahl: An educational website dedicated to the work of Roald Dahl. It includes biography of Dahl, timelines, pictures, articles, games, polls, downloads, greeting cards, auctions and contests. In the Classroom area there are resources under the headings Student Help and Teacher Ideas.
Alex Catalogue of Electronic Texts is collection of digital documents. The scope of documents in the collection include items from American literature, English literature, and Western philosophy. The Catalogue has a number of unique features. First, not only can you search for and display texts from the collection, but you can also search the content of located texts. Moreover, you can search the content of multiple documents simultaneously. For example, you can first locate all the documents in the collection authored by Mark Twain. Next, you can search selected documents for something like "slav" (which includes slave, slaves, slavery, etc.) to draw out themes across texts.
Classic Short Stories: A collection of online electronic short stories by writers such as Guy de Maupassant, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Anton Chekhov, Rudyard Kipling, James Joyce, Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Ring Lardner, Virginia Woolf, Dylan Thomas, Dorothy Parker, H. G. Wells, Jack London, William Carlos Williams, Evan Hunter and Roald Dahl.
Teachit Primary Competition: In a bid to develop its new Primary resources area further, Teachit is offering great prizes to Primary teachers in return for Primary English and Literacy resources. The first prize is a school site licensed version of the excellent Kar2ouche Primary Curriculum The Romans interactive educational software (worth over £270) and the second prize is a complete Oxford Spelling Kit. To enter, teachers simply need to send their resources, ideas or worksheets to Siobhain Archer, the Site Editor, by the end of October, 2002.
Jane Austen: A comprehensive website on the life and work of Jane Austen. The site has links to annotated and illustrated e-texts versions of Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, Emma, Persuasion, and Northanger Abbey. Students can also access her minor works, poems and letters. There is also a collection of online academic articles on Austen available from the site.
Poetry Showcase: TeachIt believes that the Internet should be a two way process, with students able to upload their own work as well as downloading ideas and information. For this reason they are now offering a 'virtual classroom display' where teachers can reward and motivate effort by publishing students' work. And, if the glory is not enough reward the first 50 young writers will also receive their own Oxford Schools Dictionary. The Poetry Showcase 2002 will be running alongside National Poetry Day on October 10th and Teachit are inviting poems on the subject of celebration.
Novel Guide: This free website provides an educational supplement for better understanding of contemporary and classic literature. It currently features 72 books but it adds more each week. Recent additions include Measure for Measure, Huckleberry Finn, and Notes from the Underground. The most popular books with students include Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm and The Great Gatsby. The material is divided into six sections: Novel Summary, Character Profiles, Metaphor Analysis, Theme Analysis, Top Ten Quotes and a Biography.
First World War Literature: A collection of biographies of men and women who wrote about the First World War. There are sections on War Poets (16), War Journalists (34) and Writers and the War (26). The website also features entries on Accredited War Journalists, Defence of the Realm Act, British War Journalism, War Office Press Bureau and journals published during the war such as Workers' Dreadnought, Simplicissimus, Kladderadatsch and The Masses.
Book Box: This Channel 4 website is aimed at encouraging 9 to 13 year-olds to read. It provides information on 40 popular writers of children's classics along with interviews, games and activities. There is also a writing toolkit to aid creative writing. Authors featured include Roald Dahl, Jamila Gavin, Anthony Horowitz, Terry Jones, Beverley Naidoo, Terry Prachett, Philip Pullman and J. K. Rowling.
Booktrust: National Children's Book Week (7th to 13th October 2002) celebrates the world of children's books. It is an annual focus on the enjoyment of reading, with the aim of encouraging as many children as possible to get into books. Each year Booktrust provides colourful and useful resources to promote National Children's Book Week. This year they have produced resource materials for both Key Stage 1-2 and 3-4 with two core posters featuring the illustrators Axel Scheffler and Bee Willey, together with bookmarks, stickers and postcards.
World Wide Words: This website investigates international English from a British viewpoint. Created by Michael Quinion, the 1200 plus pages is divided into sections, each with its own theme and index. Sections include Articles, Reviews, Topical Words, Turns of Phrase and Weird Words. There is also a free World Wide Words newsletter that goes out every Saturday.
Dictionary of Slang: A large online dictionary on the rich colourful language we call slang. Produced by Ted Duckworth, the website adds new entries every month. If you are unable to immediately find the term you are looking for, try the slang search. A short essay giving an outline of the parameters of this site and brief information on slang can be accessed on the introduction page.
Ye Olde English Sayings: Explanations of English sayings and customs. Recent additions include clink, black market, son of a gun, patent leather, done to a turn, beat about the bush, cut through the red tape, getting tanked, pitcher, wet your whistle, saved by the bell, threshold, chew the fat, burning the candle at both ends, giving them the cold shoulder, getting a square meal, frog in the throat, upper crust, eating humble pie, turn the tables and clean your plate before you have dessert.
Origin of Phrases: Chuck Moreland's website explores the meaning of common phrases. The material is organized into two sections. One is a list of phrases with origins already identified. The other is a list of phrases whose origin the author is seeking. You can send an email to Chuck Moreland if you have something to add to a phrase already identified or if you have information about the origin of a phrase. If he likes your submission he will add it to the list and give you credit.
Beowulf in Cyberspace: Beowulf on Steorarume (Beowulf in Cyberspace) centres on a free online edition of the Anglo-Saxon epic poem "Beowulf", including: the original Old English (OE) text with MS notes; new English translation with facing OE text; German translation with facing OE; supplemental OE texts with translation; Old English glossary (in progress); audio & visual resources.
Luminarium: This website, created by Anniina Jokinen, combines three sites first created in 1996 to provide a starting point for students and enthusiasts of English Literature. The material is organised under three headings: Medieval, Renaissance and 17th Century Literature. Each entry includes a brief biography plus links to articles, quotes and online versions of the writer's work. The website is extremely well designed and contains music and art from the respective time periods.
Literacy Matters: The site specializes in providing free literacy lesson plans and resources for Early Years to Y7 teachers. The Medium term and weekly lesson plans are based on good texts and are cross referenced to the National Literacy Strategy Framework for Teaching objectives. The plans are written by former teachers who continue to try out these ideas in the classroom. The site also contains an 'Ask the Expert' section, a discussion forum and has many useful links.
English Job Maze is a British/Australian ESL/EFL job & information site for ESL/EFL teachers and schools around the world. It also contains a wealth of free TEFL industry-related info for teachers, including profiles of TEFL qualifications, tips on writing CVs and answering interview grammar questions. The four owners of the English Job Maze are all University of Cambridge DELTA -qualified, and have extensive English as a Foreign Language classroom, management and materials writing experience.
LibrarySpot: Published by StartSpot Mediaworks in the Northwestern University, LibrarySpot is the first in a family of vertical information portals designed to make finding the best topical information on the Internet a quick, easy and enjoyable experience. LibrarySpot is a free virtual library resource center for educators and students, librarians and their patrons, families, businesses and just about anyone exploring the Web for valuable research information. To date, LibrarySpot has received more than 30 awards and honors.
Roget's Thesaurus: Peter Roget was a physician at the Manchester Infirmary. As a young man he began to compile a simple wordlist for his own use and during his lifetime he continued to improve and add to it. In 1852 he published his Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases, a collection of words and phrases arranged according to ideas rather than alphabetically. This website provides a free online version of this amazing work.
Fiction Junkie is devoted to the art of skimming. Here you'll find a diverse range of recently published books - or to be more precise, the first couple of chapters. Although many online booksellers offer the chance to read excerpts from books, only Fiction Junkie brings them together under one electronic roof.
Fetch Book Info: This website provides is a quick way to compare prices of new and used books. Whether it's used college books, used textbooks, new fiction books or new poetry books, it will find the book stores providing the lowest available prices. Just enter the name of the book you are looking for, and we will find book reviews, alternative books and the store providing the best price after comparing dozens of book stores.
Anthem for a Doomed Youth: This major exhibition of manuscripts, letters, diaries, works of art, photographs and personal mementoes is currently showing at the Imperial War Museum. The Anthem for a Doomed Youth website features biographies of the twelve poets in the exhibition: Edmund Blunden, Rupert Brooke, Robert Graves, Julian Grenfell, Ivor Gurney, David Jones, Francis Ledwidge, Wilfred Owen, Isaac Rosenberg, Siegfried Sassoon, Charles Sorley and Edward Thomas.
International Dialects English Archive: The International Dialects of English Archive, IDEA, was created in 1998 as a repository of primary source recordings for actors and other artists in the performing arts. Its home is the Department of Theatre and Film at the University Of Kansas, in Lawrence, KS, USA, while associate editors form a global network. All recordings are in English, are of native speakers, and you will find both English language dialects and English spoken in the accents of other languages. Each recording is briefly described so that you may better assess whether or not to download it.
Stufun: Studies need not be boring. It can be interesting and students can enjoy learning. This is the motto of Stufun. The first phase of Stufun included definitions of the grammatical terms, questions in pictorial forms, quizzes and exercises which would encourage students to think. To make it more interesting, it has introduced eight cartoon characters who are a part of the Stufun family. The second phase of Stufun includes Gictionary (Online Picture Dictionary), Similar Sounding Words and Interactive Exercises.
Guide to Grammar and Style: A collection of articles on grammar and style by Jack Lynch. The entries are of two types: specific articles on usage, and more general articles on style. The specific articles cover such mechanical things as when to use a semicolon and what a dangling participle is; the general articles discuss ways to make "proper" writing even better. The specific articles can be further divided into two classes: (1) grammatical rules and matters of house style, matters rather of precedent than of taste; and (2) more subjective suggestions for making your writing clearer, more forceful, and more graceful. The specific articles are intended for quick reference, such as when you have to find out whether which or that is appropriate.
Wikipedia Encyclopedia: Wikipedia is an international, open content, collaboratively developed encyclopedia. The project started in January 2001 and currently covers a vast spectrum of subjects and has over 100,000 articles in English as well as about 37,000 articles in other languages. The Literature Encyclopedia includes sections on Genres, Literary Techniques, Literary Figures, Literary Themes and literature by country or language.
John Keats: A comprehensive study of the life and works of John Keats. The website includes a biography, a chronology of his life and work, in-depth studies (Byron on Keats, Shelley on Keats, Fanny Brawne, Keats and Rome), selections from his letters, contemporary descriptions, latest news on John Keats (new biographies etc.), critical opinions, images, bibliography and links.
Learning Packs: This websites offers more than 2,000 ready made worksheets for students aged 10-18. Although there is a charge for this service there are more than 100 free worksheets to try. You can download, or print the sheets, amend them or adapt them as you wish. If they do not meet your requirements exactly you can simply use the ideas on the worksheets to inspire you when you design your own. There are no copyright restrictions. This includes English Literature Guides - Animal Farm, The Go-Between, I'm The King Of The Castle, Great Expectations, An Inspector Calls, Macbeth, Of Mice And Men, To Kill A Mocking Bird, Pygmalion, Romeo And Juliet and Twelfth Night.
Dorothy Parker: Dot City was launched in 1998 to create something unique online: a site devoted to Dorothy Parker's life in New York. The award-winning writer and peerless wit was a quintessential New Yorker, and that's what this site celebrates. Dot City takes you to her homes and apartments, the hangouts where Mrs. Parker and the Algonquin Round Table met, and even to a few places you may not have heard about. You can also listen to Dorothy Parker reading more than 30 poems. Autographs and interviews are in The Gallery for Parkerites; visitors can explore Dottie's days in Hollywood, the latest news items and also links to related sites.
Jack London: A website devoted to the life and times of Jack London. The website includes a biography, photographs and articles about Jack London and his family. The website provides online versions of several of his short stories and the novels The Call of the Wild, White Fang and The Sea-Wolf. There are also newspaper articles that he wrote while covering the Russo-Japanese War and the Russian Revolution.
Storytelling in the Classroom: David James has reduced his full-time teaching in order to promote the use of Storytelling in the Classroom. The website provides everything you need to deliver lessons, whose targets meet several of the National Curriculum criteria, to Primary School children upwards. Free lesson plans, texts, activities, assessment sheets and worksheets are available as is a download of David James telling "Call of the Sea". The SEN area provides any number of short tales with related activities which form self-delivering literacy lessons for 11 year olds.
Litnotes UK is a website for teachers and students studying AQA English Language and Literature and Media Studies. The site contains comprehensive notes on set texts, language and media topics. Sections include Glossary of Media Terms, Mass Media & Culture, Reading Media, Reality & Representation, Audience Theory and British Newspapers.
Twelfth Night Revision: This website provides basic overviews of each act of Twelfth Night. There are also quizzes on each act, the plot and individual characters. The website also features a collection of interactive games and exercises on Twelfth Night including Shakespeare's Accident (Act III, Scene 1), Shakespeare Shootout, Shakespeare Hoop Shoot, Walk the Plank and Fling the Teacher.
Nada's ESL Island: Free resources for English/ESL teachers and students. A handful of organized links, online materials, worksheets, rubrics, lesson and unit plans. Tests & quizzes, online exercises, in addition to a plethora of tips and techniques for teaching. Nada Abi Samra, teacher at the American Community School, Beirut and Saint Joseph University, Lebanon, created the content and maintains the website.
Glossarist: Looking for the definition of a term in a particular subject can be difficult and time consuming. Glossarist is a searchable directory of over 6,000 glossaries and topical dictionaries. Catagories include Arts & Culture, Business, Careers & Employment, Computers & Internet, Economy & Finance, Education, Entertainment, Family & Relationships, Government, Politics & Military, Health, Medicine & Fitness, Humanities & Social Sciences, Law and Justice, Lifestyle, Media, News & Weather, Reference, Science, Sports & Recreation, Technology and Transport.
Famous Last Words: In 1927, Nicco Sacco, about to be executed for a crime he did not commit, remarked: "If it had not been for these things I might live out my life talking at street corners to scorning men. I might have died unmarked, a failure, unknown. Now we are not a failure. This is our career and our triumph. Never in our full life could we hope to do such work for tolerance, for justice and for man's understanding of man." Leo Tolstoy, on attempts to persuade him to become a Christian before he died, gasped "Even in the shadow of death, two and two do not make six." Whereas the American Civil War leader, General John Sedgwick, remarked "They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance..." This website provides an interesting collection of famous last words, including those of Casanova: "I have Iived as a philosopher and die as a Christian." When it was suggested to Karl Marx that he was dying and should prepare some last words he said angrily: "Get out! Last words are for fools who haven't said enough."
Literary Theory: This website is devoted to Literary Theory and includes articles on Theodor Adorno, Aristotle, Roland Barthes, Homi K. Bhabha, Maurice Blanchot, Gilles Deleuze, Jacques Derrida, Terry Eagleton, Umberto Eco, Michel Foucault, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Dick Hebdige, Martin Heidegger, Luce Irigaray, Julia Kristeva, Jacques Lacan, Friedrich Nietzsche, Plato, Gayatri Spivak, Virginia Woolf and Simone de Beauvoir.
Kid's Review: This website has been developed by parents who noticed first hand how easy it is to motivate children to use computers but how difficult it can be to motivate the same children to pick up and read a book. They also recognise how important other children's views are in book choice. Kids' Review enables children to share their own book reviews within a protected environment. A new Teacher Review section allows teachers to share their views on how these books can be used successfully with children.
Shakespeare's Life and Times: This site is divided into the ten sections: Shakespeare's Life, The Stage, Society, History & Politics, Background of Ideas, The Drama, Literature, Art, and Music, Some Plays Explored and Reference & Indexes. Each section is divided into "chapters." Links followed by an asterisk open up a "pop-up" note on the same page; links without the asterisk go to a different page; links external to the site are signalled in green, and open a new window in your browser.
Teachit: A year ago Siobhain Archer, Garry Pratt, and their team of part-time editors launched Teachit Mark II and TeachitPLUS. Since then the site has developed and expanded - now you have the pick of over 3700 pages of completely free PDF resources, or, if you're one of the growing band of TeachitPLUS members, over 2400 of these pages can be customised, differentiated or used on screen.
Today in Literature: This free site offers interesting and engaging stories about literature and writing that bring writers and their works to life. Each day visitors can read a story about a literary event that occurred on that day in history - the story of Charles Dickens' refusal to give a private reading of "A Christmas Carol" to Queen Victoria; the story of James Joyce first meeting with Sylvia Beach; the story of Sherwood Anderson's death by toothpick; and so on. Subscribers receive other date based material as well. Teachers can use the material to give background to works of literature, to stimulate interest in writers and books, and to analyse the structure and technique of the essays.
Voice of a Long Generation: George Orwell once said, "... above all I wanted to make political writing into an art', which he certainly did. But there was purpose behind his art. His provocations were always deliberately intended to challenge his readers as well as the establishment. On this BBC Art and Literature website Sir Bernard Crick describes the life, and far-reaching influence, of this maverick political writer.
Nellie's English Projects: These English Projects, produced by Nellie Deutsch, are content based lessons designed to provide students and teachers with clear instructions on how to write and present research papers. Students are evaluated for the process as well as for the final product. The site provides evaluation rubrics and clear instructions on how to do the projects. ESL Projects makes extensive use of WebQuests. These are web lessons designed by both teachers and students. WebQuests are structured mini projects. They consist of introduction, task, process, resources and evaluation.
Walter Scott Digital Archive: The Walter Scott Digital Archive is an Edinburgh University Library online resource created in the Special Collections Division. It is designed around the extensive Corson Collection of Walter Scott material held in Special Collections. It is hoped that in time this website will become the main source of information on the life and work of Sir Walter Scott on the web. The website includes a detailed biography, letters, image database and recent articles on Scott.
Informed Librarian Online is a monthly compilation of the most recent tables of contents from over 275 titles - valuable domestic and foreign library and information-related journals, e-journals, magazines, e-magazines, newsletters and e-newsletters. This current awareness service helps keep you informed and abreast of all library trends. It is an easy, timesaving way to tame your professional reading tiger, and is very popular among all types of library and information professionals.
KS3 Grammar: This is a tutorial in grammar for teachers of English at KS3 - the UK terminology for ages 12-14. It explains all technical ideas and terms, and makes some suggestions for using them in teaching, and especially in the teaching of writing. It doesn't try to cover the whole of English grammar, but presents enough grammar to satisfy the DfES requirements for teaching English at KS3.
Cats in the Classroom: These teaching materials have been produced by Cats Protection. Using the themes of animal rights, pet care, responsibility, community and the media to explore the use of language and information to inform, provoke and persuade, this resource provides structured but flexible support for English at Key Stage 3 and within the 5-14 Curriculum in Scotland. A bank of resources including poems, prose extracts, historical accounts and role-play scenarios are used to stimulate debate and discussion leading to a project of creating an advertising campaign to promote positive cat care.
Art of Letter Writing: There was a time, not so long ago, when letter writing was taught in schools and when it was still considered one of the major subjects one needed to learn in order to progress through life on both a social and a business level. Nowadays the business letter holds sway above all forms of letter writing, but the art of composition has given way to a sudden influx of form letters, and to a series of well-meaning, if limiting, publications on how to write a business letter. The aim of this website is to give readers a few ideas on how they might begin writing personal letters, either to penfriends or to their own families. It also provides some great examples from writers such as Virginia Woolf, John Greenleaf Whittier, Lord Byron and Fanny Kemble.
Testing, Targets and Tables: In a week which saw another Philip Pullman attack on the three Ts of testing, targets and tables and a continued debate around how we encourage reading and writing for pleasure we're asking for your comments. How do we avoid teaching by tick-box when things are so test and target driven? How do you give your students the freedom to enjoy and cherish reading and writing instead of simply teaching to the next test? Share your tips and/or concerns in the 'testing, targets and tables' discussion in the Teachit staffroom.
National Children's Book Week: The 6th October saw the beginning of National Children's Book Week. This event celebrates the wonderful world of children's books. It is an annual focus on the enjoyment of reading, with the aim of encouraging as many children as possible to get into books. The Booktrust website provides colourful and useful resources to that will help you run your book week or event effectively.
Project Gutenberg: Hosted by ibiblio, the Public's Library and Digital Archive, Project Gutenberg is the Internet's oldest producer of free electronic books (eBooks or etexts). Project Gutenberg began in 1971 when Michael Hart was given an operator's account with $100,000,000 of computer time in it by the operators of the Xerox Sigma V mainframe at the Materials Research Lab at the University of Illinois. Recently the Project Gutenberg team published its 10,000th ebook.
The Canterbury Tales: Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales between 1387 and 1400. It is the story of a group of thirty people who travel as pilgrims to Canterbury. The pilgrims, who come from all layers of society, tell stories to each other to kill time while they travel to Canterbury. The book has been a best seller since William Caxton first printed the stories in the 15th century. Internet users are now able to view the first editions of The Canterbury Tales online rather than having to visit the British Library where the original versions are kept.
World Wide School Library: This collection of 1,535 online texts is part of the impressive World Wide School Library. Material is organized under the following categories: Adventure, Animal Tales, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Detective, Drama, Epics, Essays, Fantasy, Historical, Horror, Humour, Literary Studies, Mystery, New Age, Other Tales, Plays, Poetry, Romance, Science Fiction, Shakespeare, Short Stories, Social Commentary and Western.
English Banana: This website features over 350 free printable worksheets for ESL, EFL and English language students and teachers. New ones are added every week. There is no subscription required. The English Banana website also contains many fun language quizzes for practise at home or in the classroom - covering reading, spelling, grammar, vocabulary, and general knowledge. The site also features a fun collection of Javascript games such as Snake and Pong as well as language games.
The Devil's Dictionary: In June 1913 Ambrose Bierce went to Mexico where he disappeared. It is not known exactly when or how he died but it has been suggested he was killed during the siege of Ojinaga in January, 1914. Ambrose Bierce's classic work, The Devil's Dictionary was first published under the title, The Cynic's Word Book, in 1906. Definitions include: Learning (the kind of ignorance distinguishing the studious); Education (that which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding); History (an account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly fools); Mad (affected with a high degree of intellectual independence); Happiness (an agreeable sensation arising from contemplating the misery of another) and Positive (mistaken at the top of one's voice).
Edgar Allen Poe: His first book, Tamerland and Other Poems, was published at his own expense in 1827. It went unnoticed. It was not until the publication of his first collection of short stories, Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, in 1840, that the critics began to take note of the work of Edgar Allen Poe It was his pioneering detective story, Murders in the Rue Morgue, published in his own Graham's Magazine, that eventually made his name. On this website, people can access the complete text versions of almost all of Poe's poems and short stories.
Hot Lingo features a 75,000 word English dictionary, comprised of both American and British variants. Version 2.0 is even more user-configurable: including a customizable user dictionary that can now contain up to 32,000 user-defined words. Hot Lingo has applet support for Lotus iNotes, and Microsoft Exchange Server Outlook Web Access (OWA) 5.x and 2000 - the two most popular remote messaging products available today. Hot Lingo is compatible with all of the Windows operating systems.
English Distance Course: The University of Kalmar's English Distance Course Portal Page provides the links to the following courses: English 1-10p, English 11-20p, English for Computer Science, Business Writing, Teaching English to Younger Children and Practical English. You are welcome to visit our page and find out about what we do. Please note, though, that some of our courses require you to have a working knowledge of Swedish, and that not all of the courses are offered every term. Kalmar is situated on the south-east coast of Sweden.
SATS: Recently a group of authors published a statement that included: "We think that children’s understanding, empathy, imagination and creativity are developed best by reading whole books, not by doing comprehension exercises on short excerpts and not from ticking boxes or giving one word answers. It is our view that reading for pleasure is being squeezed by the relentless pressure of testing and we are particularly concerned that the SATs and the preparation for them are creating an atmosphere of anxiety around the reading of literature." This website was set up by campaigners against SATs in the NUT and contains facts, figures and arguments about the issue of SATs.
School Express: This website provides over 6,000 free worksheets on a wide variety of different subjects for children aged between 3 and 10. The section on Language Arts includes worksheets on Abbreviations, Adjectives, Adverbs, Alphabetizing, Antonyms, Synonyms, Homophones, Classifying, Compound Words, Contractions, Direct and Indirect Objects, Nouns, Plurals, Prefixes and Suffixes, Pronouns, Proofreading, Punctuation and Verbs.
Learn: This Guardian owned website covers every element of the national curriculum in each subject at each key stage. The English Literature section includes material on Reading (comparing texts, following an argument, news or views, selecting, collating material), Writing (the writing process, writing appropriately different purposes of writing structuring your writing effectively, grammar trouble spots, vocabulary & spelling, publishing your writing), Speaking and Listening (contexts, activity types, speaking purposes & skills, practice).
Alistair Cooke: The former New York correspondent of the Guardian (1947-1972) died yesterday at the age of 95. To celebrate his achievements the Guardian has placed online some of the articles he wrote for the newspaper. This includes articles on the United Nations (1947), Humphrey Bogart (1949), Al Jolson (1950), Cancer and Smoking (1954), Art and the Age of Violence (1957), Fidel Castro (1959), Marilyn Monroe (1962), Assassination of John F. Kennedy (1963), Cassius Clay (1964) and the Assassination of Robert Kennedy (1968).
WriteNet: Teachers & Writers Collaborative was founded in 1967 by a group of writers and educators who believed that writers could make a unique contribution to the teaching of writing. The organization runs WriteNet, a valuable resource for writers and teachers interested in teaching imaginative writing! You can register to join its popular e-mail listserve, where writers and teachers advise each other on methods for teaching writing to students. All WriteNet list-serve messages are automatically routed to your e-mail account. To view an archive of these lively and informative messages, go to the Teachers &Writers Discussion Group.
Ask a Librarian: Public libraries in the UK run reference and information services staffed by librarians who are experts at finding information for you. Public libraries throughout the UK are working together to provide Ask a Librarian. When you ask a question on the enquiry page it is automatically routed to one of the participating reference libraries which receives it as an email message. Using their skill and experience the librarians will identify the best sources, print or electronic, for discovering the answer. They will send you an email message as soon as possible with their response to your enquiry.
ICT English Survey: The Fischer Family Trust carries out surveys into ICT use in schools. Surveys conducted between 2000 and 2003 generated responses from 179 English departments in secondary schools. The report summarises details of the ICT resources used in English. The most popular websites were Teach It (21/179), Bytesize (18/179) and Learn (13/179). Other materials used extensively in English departments include Microsoft Word, Successmaker, Excel, and Microsoft Publisher.
RymeZone: Students can use Ryme Zone to help write poetry and song lyrics. To use RhymeZone, type a word into the search box, select a function in the dropdown list next to the box, and then hit "Go get it!" to view the results. Here are the different functions that you can select from that dropdown list: Rhymes: (words that rhyme with the word you typed in); Synonyms (words that are the same or similar in meaning to the word you typed in). Also included are Antonyms, Definitions and Homophones.
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