English teachers are a privileged lot. Of course, there is the poetry, the novels, the discussion, debate, philosophy, the odd spelling, the plays, the spell-binding craft of writing and the essential power of reading. Well, not only all that stuff – we also have some great online resources and bloggers. This compilation is an updated collection of websites for the busy but brilliant English teacher:
Useful English Language and Literature related websites:
– #TeamEnglish has proven an indispensable hashtag on Twitter to help English teachers share resources, seek out answers and much more. Do have a scan. There is an account too: @Team_English1
– Geoff Barton‘s website is a treasure trove of resources here.
– The National Theatre website has some great packs for English teachers here.
– The RSC online has some great Shakespeare-related resources here.
– Lit Genius is a clever little website that presents lots of usable annotations of literature here.
– Grammarly blog is a very useful website for all things – yes, grammar – see here.
– Chomp Chomp is a well designed little grammar website full of a range of useful features here.
– Litrefs Quotes is really handy in sourcing a range of academic quotes on literary terms – here.
– Virtualsalt is ideal for a list of rhetorical devices, literary terms and word roots and prefixes.
– The NATE website has lots of free resources here and is a highly valued organization.
– Poetry by Heart has some useful resources here and is a valuable initiative.
– Merriam Webster, purveyors of American dictionaries have some great articles and more here.
– EyewitnessHistory presents a really useful range of 20th century texts here.
– The English and Media Centre blog is an excellent resource with great articles – see here.
– Interesting Literature is a library of interestingness that lives up to the title – here.
– A range of exceedingly good English teachers have gathered a vast array of debating topics here in ‘The Debate Bazaar‘.
– The same group have also helpfully collated essay titles in this huge ‘Essay Emporium‘.
English examination boards:
In direct competition, the English exam boards do appear to be getting better at communicating and sharing useful resources. You can find them all here: AQA, OCR, Edexcel and WJEC. Also, #teameduqas is a handy follow for those teachers whose schools follow that specification.
Recommended English-specific blogs:
There are a huge number of blogs that I would recommend for general teaching and learning, but here is just a small selection of more English-specific blogs that are regularly updated and focus on matters of teaching English:
– Andy Tharby‘s ReflectingEnglish blog is an superbly written resource for fellow English teachers.
– Chris Curtis‘ Learningfrommymistakes blog is unadulterated English blogging goodness.
– Sarah Barker‘s excellent blog, The Stable Oyster is worth cracking open to pick out pearls (sorry).
– Rebecca Foster‘s The Learning Profession has accrued a wealth of good English blogs.
– Jamie Thom‘s new blog Teacher Gratitude is a handy new blog.
– Rob Ward‘s blog – Rob Ward’s Resources has really cracking resources that I’ve shared.
– Mark Robert‘s blog Mark Roberts Teach produces some of the blogs I regularly share.
– Douglas Wise‘s douglaswise.co.uk has some really good blogs, especially the literacy shorts.
– Freya Odell‘s anewhoffod is a blog with a wealth of linked resource you can tap into.
– David Didau‘s LearningSpy blog is stuffed full of English, literacy and much more.
– Larry Ferlazzo‘s Websites of the Day is an immensely vast site from an ace US blogger.
– Mr Hanson‘s site Mr Hanson’s English has lots of literary insights for English teachers.
– Mr Pink – obviosuly a Twitter handle has the website All Ears which takes a witty slant on English.
– Mrs C Spalding‘s Teacher’s Notes blog has a great page on teaching & learning with useful ideas.
– Jo Facer‘s Reading All The Books is an enlivening source of passionate blogs on English & reading.
– Carl Hendrick is an English teacher with a great blog Chronotope with an fancy title.
– Jonathan Peel‘s English Teaching Resources blog is another site with lots of usable resources.
There are so many good blogs I simply didn’t have the space to include – this is simply a sample (apologies if I have missed any obvious blogs). Any other suggestions are welcome in the comments section. Remember, you can chat to some of these lovely people on a Monday might at 8pm using the hashtag #Engchatuk.
Interesting Video Nuggets:
– This animation on the ‘History of the English Language‘ is a really handy resource to use in English at all levels.
– Stephen Pinker has a range of intriguing videos on language on the Big Think Channel – including how language proves a window to understanding the brain.
– James Geary has produced an interesting talk on the magic of metaphor in his ‘Metaphorically Speaking‘.
– Click Revision is a general revision website that covers a range of popular texts – see here.
– David Crystal – likely the expert on the English language – has a range of superb videos on YouTube, but here he talks about spelling with ‘Spell It Out‘.
– Dominic Salles has a huge amount of English related videos and is worth a look – see here.
Hopefully you find the rest of my blog readable and useful, alongside my book on teaching English, ‘Teach Now! Becoming a Great English Teacher‘, too. Of course, after you have sunk hours into all that reading, have a great year ahead!
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Inspiring and helpful as always.
Thanks for the great feedback!
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The site really nice with good content.
I love your site. Incredibly enriching for teachers. Thanks for sharing your precious knowledge and tips.
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