I heard about this website from a friend of mine. She said that it was very useful for ELLs and that I would really like it, and it turned out that she was right. This website is so helpful to students and teachers alike. Students can practice spelling, grammar, and writing. The site offers many different language arts lessons, as well as various word lists. For example, the teacher can access a word list for science vocabulary, and either print it out, or have students work with these words on the computer. It is obviously more interactive if the students have a chance to practice using these words on the computer because they will then have the opportunity to take a spelling or vocabulary test, play a game, etc. They can even print a worksheet containing those words, and use it to practice writing them. There are just so many different things that students can do to help support their English literacy. I would definitely recommend this site to both students and teachers. It makes teachers lives so much easier because they do not have to spend countless hours creating word lists, quizzes and worksheets. It is already done for them! For students, this is a fun and effective way to learn English.
The only criticism I have is about the vocabulary tests. I took one at the kindergarten level just to see what it was like, and I do not think it was grade appropriate. It was a test on several different sight words, and students had to choose the correct sight word based on the definition given. I found the definitions to be a little complex. For example, one of the definitions was "to occur, exist, or go" and the answer was "be". I do not think most kindergartners would use the words "occur" or "exist. I also found the same to be true for a first grade "sound-alike" word test. In my opinion, the definitions were too complex for first grade. However, teachers can still get some useful ideas from spellingcity.com and can adapt the material in any way they see fit.
http://www.spellingcity.com
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