At NewsDirectory.com, you can quickly find more
than 7,900 online English-language newspapers and
magazines from all over the world!
To find a newspaper, just choose a country. To
find a magazine, choose a subject that you think
is interesting. (You can also search by title.)
"The Wizard of Oz" is a classic American story
about a young girl from Kansas, who goes to
a magical land called Oz and has many exciting
adventures.
The story was made into a movie in 1939, and is
one of the most popular American movies of all
time.
The writer of the story, L. Frank Baum, wrote
many other stories about Oz. At this site,
you can read 18 different Oz Stories!
How would you like to be an actor? At this
site, you'll find lots of scripts that you
can use to perform Reader's Theater! (You
can also just read them for fun!)
Reader's Theater is kind of like regular theater,
with actors and scripts, but the actors READ the
scripts. You can stand on a stage or in front of
the audience, and you can also use lighting or
small sets to make it more dramatic. These stories
are very short, so maybe you can perform more
than one.
Your Turn: This is a great classroom project. Give all
the actors a script, and then rehearse the
reading several times. Try to find ways to
make the production more dramatic (lights,
sets, etc.) When you're ready, perform it
in front of your classmates! This is a great
way to have fun and learn English!
Do you write many letters? What kind of
letters do you write? Do you write about
your feelings, or do you only write about
things you are doing?
Do you use email to send your letters, or
do you use a paper and pen?
Rivertrout.com is a beautiful site that will
give ADVANCED students (or students looking
for a challenge) a chance to read some very
well-written letters.
These kinds of letters are called "literary
letters." The writer is like an artist who
uses the English language to paint beautiful
word pictures. They talk about feelings and
ideas.
Just click on the FIN to read Letters of Hope,
the HEAD to read Letters of Reason, or the
HEART to read Letters of Passion.
Your Turn: Try to write your own "literary letter."
Write a letter to someone who is important
to you. Write about your feelings.
Read your letter out loud. Does it sound
like a poem, or maybe a novel? Does it use
English to paint a word picture?
When you're finished with your letter, don't
forget to send it!
Here's a great site for ADVANCED students or students
who are looking for some challenging reading material.
Spark Online is an electronic magazine that features
several short essays on a variety of topics. Read a
short excerpt and then click on the title to read the
whole essay. The site also includes a discussion
board where readers can discuss various topics.
Click on "Archived Issues" to read the 20 previous
issues of Spark Online.
Your Turn: These essays could be used to start lively classroom
discussions or debates. For a debate, find an essay that
is controversial. Debate teams may want to use the Internet
to do some more research on the topic before they start the
debate.
Folk and Fairy Tales are very old stories that
are passed on from generation to generation.
This is a wonderful collection of stories
from countries all over the world.
Find out Why the Fish Laughed, a story from
India. Read about The Princess and the Glass
Mountain, a story from Scandanavia. Discover
what happens when The Lion and Hare Go Hunting,
a tale from Africa.
Your Turn: Read several of these stories. What things
do you think are similar about these stories?
What things are different? Do most of the
stories have a happy ending or a sad ending?
Do the stories try to teach a lesson?
Think about a popular folk or fairy tale
from your country. Write down as much of
the story as you can remember. Now tell
your story to the rest of the class.
Answer any questions your classmates have.
Do you drink tea? Tea is a very popular
drink in many countries. At this site,
you'll find some short stories and
poems about tea or about drinking tea.
Activity: What's your favorite drink? How often
do you drink it? How does it make you
feel?
Do you have a special memory that is
related to your favorite drink? Write
a short story or poem about it and
share it with your classmates.
How fast can you read? At this site,
you can check your reading speed! Just click on START when
you're ready to begin. When you finish reading about the
Chinese Zodiac, click on FINISH. The computer will tell
you how long it took you to read the story, and how many words
per minute you read. You can use this with any text to check
your reading speed. See if you can improve your words per minute rate!
If you like mysteries, you'll enjoy this
short mystery story.
You can read a new Twist every week, or
you can read previous stories by clicking
on Twist Archive.
Your Turn: As you are reading the story, try to guess
how the story will end. After you finish the
story, answer this question:
What did you think would happen? Were you
right or wrong? Then click on DISCUSS
THIS MYSTERY to see what
other people thought would happen.
What ending would YOU write for this story?
