Archive for category English

The Playground from ABC of Australia

I’m not convinced that everything on The Playground is completely educational, but much of it is. There are a lot of opportunities for incidental English (ESL) vocabulary learning. This online games site is entertaining and rewarding to play. My kids and I like Olivia and the Olivia sections were impressively done. My daughter played Olivia for a while, but after that she went right back to her old favorite, Starfall.

Much of The Playground website is animated, colorful, and interactive. Some of the games (such as Jakers) require some reading of instructions, which might make those games difficult for preschoolers. It’s definitely worth a visit. If you do try it, let me know what you liked best.

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Online Games for Preschoolers at CBC

The CBC has a number of good literacy, language, and numeracy games online.   They’d definitely be good for preschoolers, kindergarteners, and many first graders.   I think they’d also be excellent for beginning learners of English (ESL).

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Voice of America

The Voice of America has excellent programming for English language learners in Special English which is English with a restricted vocabulary.  As far as I know, all VOA Special English content is available at the site, so you can see video, listen to radio, or read the transcripts.  It seems like it would be an excellent resource for both adult and teen learners of English as a second language (ESL).

The VOA website also has content in dozens of other languages, including common languages like French, Hindi, and Russian, as well as less commonly spoken languages such as Kirundi, Khmer, and Croatian.

Voice of America (VOA) News in Special English

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Fisher-Price

The Fisher-Price website has a load of games for kids.  I’m not a fan of all of them but there a few good ones. The Toddler and Preschool sections may also be useful for older kids who are still learning basic alphabetics or basic English vocabulary.

Our favorite so far has been the ABC (Alphabet) Zoo Game, which is really good for toddlers and even babies who can use a keyboard but can’t really manage the mouse yet.

Fisher-Price's ABC Zoo Game

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BBC Games for Bitesized Kids

I’m not sure if they are politically correct or not (see the depictions of Native Americans), but the BBC has a number of good online literacy games for kids.  I believe these games are best for kids who’ve mastered basic alphabetics and blending.

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