Mariana Cardona Jose Luis Cedillo Adriana Lara Angel Elhoim

A wide range of electronic language- teaching materials are available to the contemporary teacher. Materials that can be downloaded and carried to the classroom in a traditional manner. Others can be used online, yet others can be accessed from CD-ROMs.

Other popular websites related to downloadable materials for teachers all around the world are:  Dave Sperling’s ESL café  English Club  Eslbase

Many exercises available online and on CD-ROM focus on grammar and vocabulary. Among the most common activity types are multiple choice (possibly displayed in a drop- down menu; gap fill, typing in the answer, and drag and drop. Exam practice disks on CD-ROM are very popular, as learners can do unlimited extra practice. Interactive online materials can be found on publishers’ and independent websites like:  EFL net:  OUP Test it, fix it test est

Vocabulary input for learners includes special vocabulary for ESP (English for Specific Purposes) areas. Each of the following sites provides links to categorized vocabulary lists:  About.com English Vocabulary  BBC Learning English english english  Dictionary of English Idioms ms ms

Games are another electronic alternative to books and paper-based exercises. They are principally aimed at younger learners, although there are also games which can be used by adults. They focus on topics such as vocabulary, spelling and grammar. The following websites are sources of games for use online:  British council learn English central: games-homepage.htmhttp:// games-homepage.htm  English Word Games today.com/wordgames.htmlhttp:// today.com/wordgames.html  Free English Games  Interesting things for ESL learners

The following websites can be useful sources of podcasts for your classroom.  ESL pod  TOEFL Podcast  English Feed  The language key – Business English Pod To search for other ESL/EFL podcasts, visit Englishcaster, a directory website dedicated to listing these types of website:

Interactive materials on the web and on CD.ROM offer opportunities to develop language skills, such as reading, speaking, writing and pronunciation. While reading a text on screen, learners can click on a word and bring up an explanation in a new window. Fluency practice is usually organized by the teacher, and is an area which is less catered for by electronic ELT material. However, some limited speaking practice is available on CD- ROM. Some writing CD-ROMs have an facility so that the final product of a writing task can be ed to the teacher for evaluation and marking

Nowadays, the course book is just one component in a suite of material, which may include both CD-ROMs and online exercises. Selecting the best mix of materials of a course is nowadays an increasingly important part of the teacher’s role. Recently, the range and variety of support material offered by publishing companies has grown tremendously. One particular product, the Macmillan English Campus, offers exciting ways of integrating online material into courses, as a complement.

A recent trend has been to include a CD- ROM or multi ROM in the back of the course book. The latter can be used both as an ordinary audio CD and with a computer as an interactive CD-ROM. You issue the course book and ask learners to load the disk on their own PC. This enables the learner to follow the course unit by unit, doing extra grammar activities listening or pronunciation work on CD-ROM.

The support offered by publishers’ websites can be rich and varied. As you work through a course book, you can get extra ideas for your lesson. This unit by unit support may consist of hyperlinks to websites which extend the content of each chapter. In addition to interactive exercises online, you can access e-lessons. An e-lesson is a term used by Macmillan for an off-the-shelf worksheet which offers a classroom activity, this worksheet is downloadable. To subscribe to an e-lesson go to:

The Macmillan English Campus is an internet- based, interactive learning environment that helps learners to practice English, it contains a database of over 2,500 interactive activities, covering grammar, vocabulary, listening and pronunciation practice. It also contains news articles, tests, web quests language games, grammar reference units and preparation exercises for the Cambridge ESOL and TOEFL exams. The campus comprises material for adult, general English and Business English courses. The material covers six language levels. All you need is an ID to access.

A final option is to create your own materials that fit your learners’ needs exactly. A popular piece of software for authoring exercises is Hot Potatoes, which is free and prepared to post your creations. Hot Potatoes enables you to create the following types of exercises:  Multiple-choice quizzes  Gap-fill texts  Ordering and matching activities  Jumbled sentences and words  Crosswords To download the installation files, register and access tutorials on using Hot Potatoes, go to Half Baked software inc’s website:

There are many opportunities and benefits afforded by creating the right mix of electronic materials, online and offline, to enrich a language course:  Appropriacy and reliability  Motivation  Enhanced listening  Up-to-date content  Flexibility

Sharma P. & Barrett B., Blended Learning, Macmillan Books For Teaching, 2007, p. 35 – 46.