BB2 Unit 9: Our Busy Lives

Practice for Thursday, June 2, 2016

 Starfall -- Letters and Reading

House Chores 1 -- Learning Chocolate

Housework -- Learning Chocolate

Clothing Review -- Learning Chocolate 

Clothing Review 2 -- Learning Chocolate

Present Progressive/Present Continuous Practice

American Culture

It's a little difficult to tell the difference between what is "American culture" and what may be the culture of a region of the United States that you live in.
I know that as a Californian who moved to Iowa 12 years ago, I have sometimes had difficulty figuring out Iowa culture. I make mistakes, get offended, offend others, and I can only imagine how confusing it can be for someone moving from an entirely different country to the U.S. 
Below is a list of links that will take you to websites that give information and helpful tips about American Culture. The best thing you can do, though, is find a trusted American friend or teacher who can answer your questions and give you good information about how to best interact with other Americans.

Northeastern University International Students and Scholar Institute

Penn Global International Student and Scholar Services

International Student Guide to the United States of America

USNews.com 5 Keys to Understanding Your American Classmates (short article, not thorough)

Living American.com

 

Present Perfect Practice

Here are some links to pages where you can practice the Present Perfect Tense online:

Perfect English Grammar

• Present Perfect Simple Form Exercise 1 
• Past Simple or Present Perfect Exercise 1
• Past Simple or Present Perfect Exercise 2
• Past Simple or Present Perfect Exercise 3
• Past Simple or Present Perfect Exercise 4

Reading Help

About.com English Reading Comprehension Help
Short articles with online quizzes to check your understanding.

• Beginning English Reading Comprehension
• Intermediate English Reading Comprehension
• Advanced English Reading Comprehension
• Miscellaneous English Reading Comprehension Articles with Quizzes

United States History/Civics

Presidential Elections
      --Read an article about United States Presidential elections and take an online quiz to check your understanding

Online Grammar Games

Verb Viper on Arcademic Skill Builders
    Subject-Verb agreement practice

Fun Grammar Games for Kids
     Basic English Punctuation, Conjunctions, Prefixes & Suffixes, and Verbs & Nouns

Verb Lists Links

EnglishPage.com
   An alphabetical list of irregular English verbs with the base, simple past, and past participle forms

UsingEnglish.com
    Common English Irregular Verbs list
    Alphabetical with the base, past simple, past participle, third person singular (present), and present participle (gerund)

 
ESLLounge.com
      Most Common 50 Irregular Verbs

Grammar.ccc.commnet.edu
     An alphabetical list of common English irregular verbs

Pronunciation

Oxford Dictionaries
   This is a great online dictionary that has sound buttons so you can hear a person saying the word.

ESL Teacher Resource Links List

Here are a few links to websites I've found to be helpful in teaching ESL--printable worksheets, lists, and such.

Stickyball.net

Verb Tense Worksheets on Englishforeveryone.org
    --This is a fabulous, generous website with lots of printable worksheets. Materials are copyrighted and intended "to be used by teachers in school or at home."

Newcomer Activities at EverythingESL.net
   --This is a great resource for all kinds of things from lesson plans to research.

Grammar Websites

First-English.Org
Practice verb tenses online


Perfect English Grammar
Online Grammar Exercises

• Present Perfect Exercise (positive)
• Present Perfect Exercise (negative)
• Past Simple or Present Perfect? 1 
• Past Simple or Present Perfect? 2  
• Past Simple or Present Perfect? 3 
• Past Simple or Present Perfect? 4  

ESL About.com
Online exercises and quizzes on English grammar    

• Grammar for Beginning Level English Learners  
• Grammar for Intermediate Level English Learners 
• Advanced English Grammar
• English Grammar Structures and Forms Explained

Phonics and Spelling Links

Spellzone
The lists below are free to view, but to be able to use all of the other features, like listening to words and playing some practice games, there is a cost. For a single user the cost is $45 for one year. 

• Long a Spelling Patterns
• Long e Spelling Patterns
• Long i Spelling Patterns
• Long o Spelling Patterns  
• Long u Spelling Patterns

ABC Fast Phonics

• Click and listen to a woman read the text in a slow, clear voice. (Note: Listening feature does not work on my iPhone.)
• From names of letters to their sounds within words.
• Main headings are: Sounds and Letters, Words, Consonants and Vowels, Blends, and Common Words. 

Reading Vowels

I found this on manythings.org, a fantastic website with lots of ESL resources. It's a simple little video, three minutes long, showing and singing about vowel diphthongs and digraphs.

Phonics 3: Diphthongs and Digraphs Video