Online Weekly Self-Study Sites

Overview

Every week you finish these 4 things:

An online Reading Circle topic and discussion.

An online Self-Study Site activity.

An offline Rosetta Stone or Printable Workbook Lesson.

Your Weekly Report and Work Plan.

Online Self-Study Website

This section of the web site has the Online Self-Study Site choices from Fall 2008, Winter 2009, and Spring 2009. Links will not be maintained after the completion of the course 6/22/09. You can go to websites below for...

Fall 2008 |Winter2009 | Spring 2009

Fall 2008

Set #1, Adventures

Go to: Action Mazes. Try one or more of the adventures (e.g. The Evil Landlady, First Aid, or Castaway).

Go to: Online Maps Games. Play a map game in a place that you like.

Go to: Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab. Choose one or more of the listening topics.

Set #2, Food

Go to: Make My Very Own Pizza and make your favorite pizza.

Go to: Food Quizzes from CBS News. What topic do you know best? What topics is newest to you?

To test your knowledge of US eating habits, go to: Table Manners. Which table manners in your home are the same and which ones are different?

Set #3, People and Colors

To take another color personality quiz go to: The Psychology of Color.

To read about more painters go to: Painting Learning and Teaching Resources.

To make your own on-line drawing you can send to your teacher or other students go to: Imagination Cubed.

For English vocabulary and grammar go to: Color Idioms, Color Maze or English Grammar Errors.

Set #4, Sports

Go to: Basic Exercise & Activity Tracker or The Physics of Baseball.

For more sports related activities, go to: Play Basketball, Basketball Grammar, or Sports Word Quiz.

Set #5, US Places

Go to: The Oregon Trail and find your way across the country.

Go to: Fun State Facts or US History Maps. What 3 new things can you discover?

Go to: Grammar Quizzes or Activities for ESL Students (A4ESL) and find and activity that is fun for you. Take the quizzes as many times as you like (these are testing-as-learning activities).

Set #6, Famous People

Go to one or more of these sites: Famous People from History, Christopher Columbus (male) and Florence Nightingale (female), or Famous Homes & Properties and their People. Who is your favorite famous person, and why?

Go to: Famous People, A Quiz on Articles for optional grammar practice.

Set #7, The Ideal School

To think more about high school courses, go to: Do you deserve a high school diploma? (This is just for fun. It is not serious!)

To think more about an "ideal" school, find one or more partners and go to: WebQuest, The Ideal School.

To think more about an "ideal" school by yourself, go to: Global Village: Design Your Ideal School.

Go to: First Day of Class. Hear a recording and test your listening skills.

For English vocabulary and grammar go to: Grammar Quizzes or Interesting Things for ESL Students and find and find something that interests you.

Set #8, Fall Holidays: Halloween (October) and Thanksgiving (November)

For Halloween holiday activities, go to: A Detective for Halloween or Halloween Madlib.
Fill in the blanks and click on the "See Your Wacky Web Tale" or " Create a Story" button to make a funny Halloween story!

For a Thanksgiving web quest, go to: US Thanksgiving Holiday.

For a simulation of colonial life, go to: The Jamestown Online Adventure. "Start the Adventure" to play the game. See if your colony can survive.

For Thanksgiving grammar activities, go to: a) Thanksgiving in the USA, b) The First Thanksgiving, or c) How Thanksgiving Becomes a National Holiday.

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Winter 2009 Choices, Review of Fall 2008 and Winter 2009 Self-Study Choices:

Set #1, Smoking

Go to: You and Me, Smoke-Free Quiz and try the quiz! What was your score? Did you learn anything surprising?

Go to: Tobacco Free and ENTER the interactive web site. What were 2 interesting things you found here?

Go to: Joe Chemo. Who is he and what does he wish? Try the activities (Test Your Tobacco IQ, Smoke-o-Scope, Send a Free E-Card, etc.).

Go to: Tobacco World and try one or more of the quizzes. Check your answers with the answer key on the same page.

Go to: Video Center, Human Atlas: Smoking Cessation. Note: This site may require a faster Internet connection. If you watch it, ask yourself which kind of self-study site you like best? A video one like this one, or one of the others above instead? And, why?

Set #2, Heroes

Go to: Directory of Heroes.
This is a list of many kinds of "heroes." Choose one or more heroes to read about. Do you agree that it is a good example of a hero? Why, or why not?

Go to: Martin Luther King, Jr., The Legacy of a Leader.
Look at a slideshow of Dr. King's life. You can also take a quiz. What 2 new things did you learn about him?

Go to: MLK Online.
Choose: Read one of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s most important speeches. You can also listen to it and view a short video of the 1963 speech in Washington, D.C. What important message was he telling the people of America? Do you think this message is still important today? Why, or why not?

Go to: Modal Quiz 1, ESL Quiz Center, Modal Quiz 1, and/or ESL Modals, I-TESL-J, Igor Gashchuk.
Heroes do what they "should," "can," and "must" (these are all modals). Take a quiz and check your grammar knowledge about modals!

Set #3, 7 Wonders of the World

Go to: The Wonders of the World Quiz. See how you score on a quiz about some world famous places.

Go to: Seven Wonders of the World: Interactive Map. Explore this map to read and learn more about amazing places around the globe.

Go to: Seven Wonders Panoramas. See the new seven wonders up close in a panoramic, 360 degree movable photo. (Caution: may load slowly on your computer.)

Go to: Are You Pharaoh Material? Take this fun quiz to see if you would or would not make a good Pharaoh in ancient Egypt.

Go to: Comparative and Superlative Quiz and/or Forming Comparative and Superlative Adjectives. Are the 7 wonders big? Which ones are bigger? Which one is the biggest? Click on one or both of these links. Read about this grammar point and take a quiz to work on your comparative and superlative grammar.

Set #4, Environment

Go to: EPA Environmental Games, Puzzles and Activities. Play and learn more about climate change.

Go to: Oregon Go Green - Quiz. How "green" do you think you are? Take this quiz and find out.

Go to: Raw Materials Lineup. Where do the items come from?

Go to: Energy Quiz. Test how much you know about energy.

Go to one or more of the following pages on work on grammar activities: 1) Nouns, 2) Adjectives/Adverbs, 3) Adverbs, 4) Verbs or 5) Verbs.

Set #5, New Technologies

Go to: RoboCop Shoots Nets. Video (may download slowly). As you are watching, try to take notes and answer these questions: Who would want to use this and why? What are the advantages and disadvantages? Would you want to have one?

Go to: Visual Thesaurus. See connections among words and expand your vocabulary. Start by typing in " bicycle" and see what you get. Try other words. You can move the mouse over any word to get a definition.

Go to: Superlatives Quiz and/or Comparatives and Superlatives Quiz. Grammar practice.

Set #6, Valentines Day Holiday (February 14th)

Go to: St. Valentine Quiz. Test your knowledge of the history of Valentine's Day.

Go to: Valentine's Day Vocabulary Quiz. Select the correct word to test your vocabulary.

Go to: Vintage Valentines. Look at the University of West Virginia's interesting antique Valentine's Day card collection. Choose one to write and send to a friend.

Go to: Flowers to Mail. Arrange a bouquet of flowers in this interactive web site.

Go to: Chocolate Challenge: Take an interactive quiz to test your knowledge of this delicious treat. (Warning: May download slowly).

Set #7, Human Characteristics

Go to: Power Animals. Choose a card. Which animal did you get? Do you agree with the qualities described? What did you learn?

Go to: World Music Quiz. Take the quiz to see what you know about the countries of some famous world musicians.

Go to: Music Vocabulary. Test your knowledge of music vocabulary.

Set #8, Money

Go to: Science quiz. Who wants to win $1 million (fake money)? Test your knowledge of science.

Go to: Money. Ready, Click, Spend (audio and video).

Go to: Expressions with time and Prepositions with time. Grammar practice.

Go to: Simple present and past progressive. Jumbled sentences. Click on the words in the right order to try to make a sentence.

Set #9, Famous People in Pop Culture

Go to: Cinema. Learn more about how Hollywood movies are made.

Go to: Match the Eyes to the Star. Drag the eyes to the Hollywood movie star names.

Go to: Color Oprah. Just for fun, try this interactive coloring page.

Go to: Oprah's New Dog. Learn about the new addition to Oprah's family.

Go to: Slumdog Millionaire. The official movie website. (Caution: may load slowly).

Go to: Bollywood. Read about how Simple English Wikipedia describes Bollywood.

Go to: Bombay TV. Make your own English subtitles for Bollywood movies.

Go to: Film Collocations. Quiz yourself on common movie vocabulary.

Go to: Spelling Bees Interactive. Challenge your spelling abilities. Start with grades 6-8. Try 9-10 or 11-12 for harder ones.

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Spring 2009

Set #1, Nature

Go to: The Flower Garden Game. Try to solve the puzzle.

Go to: The Four Seasons Game. Try a simple game using the seasons of the year.

Go to: Weather Forecast, The Four Seasons. Hear a recording and test your listening skills.

Go to: Airline Travel. Hear a recording and test your listening skills.

Go to: Grammar Test. Try your grammar skills. Try Simple Present Tense, #3.

Set #2, Survival of the Fittest

Go to: Guinness World Record Photo Gallery. Look at and read about some other records.

Go to: Extreme Survival Quiz. Take the test to see if you can survive these record situations.

Go to: Expedition Africa. Be the first to take this expedition. Flash game. Caution! Large file, may load slowly.

Go to: Camping Under the Stars. Listening practice and more.

Go to: Comparative & Superlative Quiz. Test your grammar.

Set #3, World Culture

Go to: Dave's ESL Cafe World Culture Quiz. Take the quiz.

Go to: Culture Quest World Tour. Click on a region to take a tour.

Go to: Survival Quiz. How well would you survive in the wilderness?

Go to: Dan's Kitchen and Is This Good English ? Challenge your grammar knowledge.

Set #4, Families

Go to: English Family Quiz. Take the quiz to practice family vocabulary.

Go to: First Female Correspondents. Read about the first women news reporters in the United States.

Go to: Couple Adopts Children. Read and do practice activities about a family that adopts a child. Listen and do the activities.

Go to: Family Relationships. Listen and do activities about family.

Go to: Grammar Review. Practice your grammar.

Go to: Is This Good English Part 2. Check your proofreading skills.

Set #5, Healthy Lifestyles

Go to: Living to 100 Life Expectancy Calculator. Answer the questions. See how long your life will be.

Go to: What's the Matter. Match the correct word.

Go to: Aches and Pains. Work on your vocabulary.

Go to: Emergency. Read and take a quiz.

Go to: Changing the Face of Medicine. Learn about the circulatory system and read about an amazing woman doctor.

Go to: A Healthy Lifestyle. Listen to the and test your comprehension skills about health.

Go to: Why Exercise is Wise. Challenge yourself. Read more about the importance of exercise.

Go to: Ears Part 1 and Ears Part 2. Do the cloze reading exercises.

Go to: At the Doctor. Click on "See Full Cartoon" to watch and hear. Click on "Exercises for this Dialogue" to find practice activities.

Go to: Vocabulary Building Exercise. Try "Parts of the Body" or "Parts of the Face" to get started.

Set #6, Eating

Go to: Food Picture Vocabulary. Drag and drop the words to the correct place.

Go to: Idioms about Food. Test your knowledge of food related terms.

Go to: Food Classification. Drag and drop the categories of food to the correct place.

Go to: Asking About Restaurants. Read, listen, and take a quiz to check your comprehension.

Go to: Food Vocabulary. Test yourself to see if you know which food related word belongs in the sentences.

Go to: Eating Fish. Watch a video and read along.

Go to: Going to San Jose. Take a grammar test on verb tense.

Go to: Yes/No Questions in English. Watch the instruction and take a test.

Set #7, Jobs (Careers)

Go to: Matching Jobs. Match the jobs to the descriptions.

Go to: The Insight Game. Take a quiz to find out what type of person you are (click on "skip" to enter).

Go to: The Doctor is In. Find out about what an eye doctor does.

Go to: Find a Career. Answer a questionnaire to find a career.

Go to: Job Hunting 1 and Job Hunting 2. Listen and check your comprehension.

Go to: Job Hunting 3 (challenge yourself). Listen and check your comprehension.

Go to: Homophones. Take a quiz about words that sound the same, but are spelled differently.

Go to: Grammar. Drag and drop "but," "too," and "either."

Set #8, Music and the Effects of Sound

Go to: Music Vocabulary Quiz. Test your knowledge of music terms.

Go to: Music Maze. See how quickly you can recognize these instrument words and finish the maze.

Go to: A Different Drum. Match the name of the instruments.

Go to: Instrument Storage. Learn about different instruments. You can even hear them.

Go to: Take Back the Beat. Learn about the history of some musical instruments.

Go to: What Makes Music Sound Sad. Read about why some music sounds sad. Listen to the samples.

Go to: Movie Show Times. Listen to the speaker and test yourself.

Go to: Too or Very or A Lot and Too or Either or But. Grammar practice.

Set #9, English Around the World

Go to: Ages of English. Learn about the different periods of the English language.

Go to: It's Greek to Me. Learn about the Greek word root influences on the English language.

Go to: British vs. American Quiz. Take this quiz to see if you know the different vocabulary words in British and American English.

Go to: American and British Spelling Quiz. Take a quiz to test what you know of British and American spelling.

Go to: Borrowed English Words from Arabic. Test your knowledge of words in English that have Arabic beginnings.

Go to: Short Circuit. Play a game to work on prefixes and suffixes.

Go to: Is this Good English Part 3 and Some, A, The. Grammar practice.

Go to: English Language Center. Check your listening.

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©2008, 2009 University of Oregon, American English Institute. All rights reserved. Last updated: 23 June 2009, LOB.
This is a collaboration between the U.S. Embassy Baghdad, the University of Oregon's Linguistics Department/American English Institute, and universities and secondary schools throughout Iraq.