Classroom Resources and Activities - World Languages

Toolkits and Materials

• Smarter Balanced Digital Library  (smarterbalanced.org)
• Newspaper Map—instant access to online newspapers (and translations) around the world. (newspapermap.com)
• SweetSearch is a search engine designed for students that lists websites reviewed by a team of educators. It also provides social media tools that enable users to send their results to others. (sweetsearch.com) 
• Newsela’s Text Sets Toolkit – This Learning & Support feature contains various resources to help educators to understand what text sets are, how to create their own text sets, how to edit them, how to use text sets in their classrooms…and more. Some articles are in Spanish, too.(newsela.com)  
• Digital resources and tools for creating, collaborating, researching, and sharing  (commoncore.org)
• “If it Were My Home” website—interactive tools compare living conditions throughout the world (ifitweremyhome.com)
• WebTools4U2Use: Finding the Right Tool (webtools4u2use.wikispaces.com)
• 40 Resources and Tools for Deeper Learning – K-12 Resources include a video series with supporting materials including rubrics, lesson plans, research, and strategy documents (teachingchannel.org)
• Expeditionary Learning Appendix: Protocols and Resources for ELA CCSS Curriculum, Grades 3-8, including on-going assessment strategies to check for understanding and strategies for building academic vocabulary. (commoncoresuccess.elschools.org)

  Resource Libraries

• iCONN, a comprehensive search engine for educators and students – provides all students, teachers and administrators with free online access to a wealth of essential library and information resources from trustworthy sources. It is freely accessible from every school, library, and home. Access from home requires a public library card. (iconn.org)
• Open Professionals Education Network - This website provides openly licensed education content that can be used in whole or in part. It includes links to photos, videos, audio/music, general recorded lectures & video tutorials, open textbooks, simulations and animation, as well as modular course components and complete courses. (open4us.org)
• TTEspanol—daily news stories in Spanish from the Smithsonian (tweentribune.com)
• World Languages and the Common Core — This website, from the Public Schools of North Carolina, offers links to resources which may be helpful for world language educators striving to integrate Common Core State Standards into lesson planninng and instruction. (wlnces.ncdpi.wikispaces.net)
• Newsela’s SPANISH articles – These articles are available on a wide variety of topics and reading levels, in both Spanish and English.(newsela.com)  
• Newsela’s Text Sets –There are several categories: Featured Text Sets, Spanish Text Sets, Text Sets for both literature and Social Studies, and News from Around the World.  
• The Hartford Courant Newspaper in Education Program is an online interactive classroom resource to help teachers connect students to the news. Many of the resources list Common Core Standards. Programs have been specifically designed to address the needs of Connecticut students in social studies, geography, science, math, and language arts. Resource pages are written by educators, museums, nature centers and other professional organizations. Current offerings include: Cartoons for the Classroom, Front Page Talking Points, Geography in the News, Green Room, News Video, Pulse of the Planet, This Week in History, Use the News and Words in the News. (nieonline.com)
• The Washington Post Newspaper in Education Program allows all teachers to access topical NIE Curriculum Guides on a variety of topics in all subject areas. Common Core Standards aligned to the suggested activities are listed at the end of the most recent curriculum guides. (nie.washingtonpost.com)
• OpenEd – Common Core resources in a K-12 educational resource catalog  (opened.io)
• Gooru – collaborative online community with standards-aligned, interactive learning materials tied to Common Core.  (gooru.org)
• Library of Congress – K-12 Informational Text and Multimedia Resources  (loc.gov)

    Resources for Lesson/Unit Development

• Teaching Foreign Languages K-12: Organizer List for Lesson Plans in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Russian, and Spanish from the Annenberg Learner Foundation  (learner.org)  
• World Language Standard Course of Study (dpi.state.nc.us/North Carolina)
• Project Based Learning – This website provides links to several different blogs to inform instruction on various topics including Building a PBL Culture in the Classroom, Project Management, Assessment and implementation of the Common Core. (bie.org)  
• iEarn-USA—Project Collaboration Center – enables students and teachers to design and participate in global projects (us.iearn.org) 
• Video Playlist: Educating Digital Citizens (teachingchannel.org)