Topic of the Week Version 1.0

Thursday, March 11, 2010

ESL Resources

Short URL of this page: http://bit.ly/cbcesl

Handout: Top 10 Things ESL Students Should Know About the Library

Online Library Reference Databases
(You don't need a password to use these on CBC campus, but you can login from home with the quarterly library password posted in Angel "Library Research" open course.)
Oxford English Dictionary (OED)
Oxford Reference Online
Encyclopedia Britannica Online
Daily Life Online Essays about the domestic, economic, religious, and other aspects of people's daily lives, ancient to modern.
CultureGrams Concise, readable information about countries and cultures.
MAS Ultra - School Edition

Books
List of CBC Library books on ESL (mostly for ESL instructors)
List of CBC Library language dictionaries

A few sample books
Author: Blamires, Harry.Title: The Cassell guide to common errors in English /Publisher: London : Cassell, c1997.Call Number: PE1460 .B64 1997Location: Reference

Civics and citizenship toolkit: a collection of educational resources for immigrants / Publisher: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Institute of Museum and Library Services, U.S. Govt. Printing Office, 2007. Information about the toolkit.

Practice Makes Perfect : English Grammar for ESL Learners/by Swick 2005
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/cbcpasco/docDetail.action?docID=10155012&p00=practice%20makes%20perfect

Local Public Library (Mid-Columbia Library) Resources

Online Database

Learning Express

Go to their Electronic Resources page;
Scroll down to the end of the page and click on Learning Express Library;
Click on "New User" to register for free;
The Username should be your 14-digit mid-columbia library ID card number
Make up a Password for yourself;
Once logged in, to practice TOEFL: search "toefl" and you will find TOEFL iBT Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing Practices and lessons
Or click on "US Citizenship" tab and you can practice the 100 civics, history, and government sample questions for the citizenship test. (The USCIS government website also has Study Materials for the English Test and Study Materials for the Civics Test.)

Tumblebooks:

Free Websites

Free Online Learning at Goodwill Community Foundation (‘hundreds of free online lessons on Computers, Reading, & Math)

Agenda Web (‘hundreds of free English exercises’)

Typing Web (‘free online typing tutor’)

Free Rice (‘vocabulary builder that helps to fight world hunger’)
Spelling City
OWL resources for ESL from the Purdue Online Writing Lab for second language writing.

Vocabulary Builder from Vocabulix, a commercial company (you can hear the pronunciations)
Activities for ESL students by The Internet TESL Journal

Learn English lessons from U.S.A Learns (for beginning and intermediate learners, you can hear the lessons with videos)

ESL Video Lessons from Real English (you can hear the lessons with videos)

Learner.org Interactives: Spelling Bee

Learner.org Storytelling: Cinderella

List of Resources for ESL students designed by Ampheon, a commercial web development company .
Dave’s ESL Café resources for students
Starfalls Learn to read website.
English Health Train: English language skills for health care

More Links:
www.manythings.org
www.eslpod.com
www.learn-english-online.org
www.welcometousa.gov
www.lingual.net
www.studyguidezone.com/ged
www.usalearns.org
www.newsforyouonline.com
www.conquiztador.com *
http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone
http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com
http://www.typingtest.com/
www.freetypinggame.net
http://www.learn2type.com/TypingTest

Other Useful webpages:

GED
Compass Test Prep
Evaluating Sources| UC Berkeley Library "Evaluating Web Pages"
CBC's Financial Aid page
CBC's New Student page
Occupational Outlook Handbook - Narrative descriptions about occupations, particularly about training and advancement; by United States Dept. of Labor
- Sample occupation profile in Spanish using the free Google Translate service.
Occupation Explorer by Washington State Employment Security Department
Occupation Profile search by CareerOneStop, Sponsored by the U.S. Dept. of Labor
go2web20.net: hundreds of “Web 2.0 Tools and Applications” for your computer

ESL Goals and Orientation

updated y.y. 5/15/2012

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Youth Violence & Juvenile Justice

Billitteri, Thomas J. "Youth Violence: Are “get tough” policies the best approach?" CQ Researcher 5 March 2010. Several recent violent crimes by youths, including the vicious beating death of a Chicago honor student by a mob of teenagers, have sparked a new look at urban youth violence. Despite a steep overall drop in youth crime in recent years, researchers say many urban areas continue to be plagued by homicide and other violence involving young offenders. Some experts say tougher sentencing laws and a greater focus on parental responsibility are the best ways to fight the violence, while others argue for more federal money for social programs and anti-violence efforts. In some cities, collaborative approaches involving police, educators, community leaders and neighborhood groups are aimed at pressing youths to forsake violence while offering them a path toward redemption. Meanwhile, two competing proposals are being considered on Capitol Hill, and major foundations are funding programs to help youths in trouble.
From the CQ Researcher. Reprinted with permission from CQ Press.

Katel, Peter. "Juvenile Justice: Are sentencing policies too harsh?" CQ Researcher 7 Nov. 2008.

Other Articles

EBSCOhost:
Subject(youth & violence) - over 560 full-text articles

juvenile* and (justice* or delinquen*) and United States - over 1250 full text articles

juvenile* and (correction* or detention or rehabilitation) and United States - over 300 full text articles

ProQuest:
Location (united states) AND Subject(youth) AND Subject (violence) - over 200 full text articles

SU((juvenile*) and (justice or delinquen*) ) AND GEO(united states) - over 550 full text articles

Reference

Gale Virtual Reference Library: Entries related to Juvenile Justice from several scholarly encyclopedias covering law, crime and justice issues

ABC-CLIO eBook Collection: McShane, Marilyn D. and Frank P. Williams. Youth Violence and Delinquency: Monsters and Myths, Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2007.