Learn English Online with Videos

Here's a sweet website for English learners who have access to broadband Internet (at home, school, or the library): www.englishcentral.com.

It features real video clips of all different genres - everything from President Obama taking questions from reporters to movie trailers and TV commercials to business speakers. Videos are organized topically by category, and also sorted into "easy," "medium," or "hard," categories so learners can choose material that is appropriate to their level and interests.

Learners are prompted to record themselves repeating the audio from the video clips, so using this site does require that learners have access to headphones with a microphone.

It's free to use, though users must complete a brief registration form with an email address.

If you try it with your learners, let me know how they like it!

Computer Literacy Textbook for Adult Learners

ABE teachers often ask me if there is a particular textbook or curriculum that I can recommend for teaching basic computer skills to low-literate and/or non-native English speaking adults.

While I'm not normally in the habit of pushing one publisher's content over another, here is one book that at least makes the attempt to serve this need - and there are very few that do, so it's probably worth taking a look.

The title is Out and About in the World of Computers and it's published by Alta ESL.

Has anyone used this text? If so, leave me a comment and let me know how you liked it. Or, if you know of another title that serves the same niche, please share it!

You can check it out on the Alta ESL website.

Online Tools for Job Seekers

The U.S. Department of Labor has collected and organized online tools for job seekers on its Career One Stop website.

In addition to traditional job boards and career exploration sites, there are sites/tools for social media job searches and "niche" job boards for specific job markets.

If your adult learners are looking for work or for career building information, check them out at: http://www.careeronestop.org/jobseekertools/.