Reading activities?

Does anyone have any suggestions for reading materials I can find online? I'm looking for all different types of writing: historical, natural science, economics, on culture, music, sports, etc. I'm specifically looking for articles about a page in length. Of all kinds.

Resources I'm currently using include:
the British Council podcasts suggested by Isabel in an earlier entry
Time: Your Body. A User's Guide. This is a great resource. (It's being sold on amazon for $28.00, but I bought it in an airport for $11.99, the price stated by the UPC symbol.) How each body system (respiratory, digestive, circulatory, nervous, etc.) functions is described in a page. Some are explained in half a page. Most of my students find this book interesting.
Boggle's Worlds two article downloads
The Onion
The New York Times -- these articles are generally a bit too long, often 2-3-4 pages. However there are usually several interesting articles to read.

Update: Here's another great reading resource at Hannah's suggestion: the BBC's Words in the News. Thanks ;)

Here is some great advice on EFL reading activities.

If you have any suggestions, please comments. Perhaps someone knows of other English teaching sites like he British Council.
Thanks. ;)

Boggle's World ESL rocks!

I love Boggle's World ESL. It has several good activities for English learners.

Here are my personal recommendations from this site:

• These activities for false beginners. They were a little confusing to me trying to figure them out at first, but as soon as you start the activity, it all falls into place. They worked very well with a small group of false beginners that I taught a while back.
• My students and I love this activity. It's designed to talk about movies, and everyone has seen lots of movies so there's plenty to talk about. It's great for pretty much all levels.
  

An activity with gerunds and infinitives

I found a great activity on gerunds and infinitives. There is no good, easy rule your students can learn so they know when they must follow a verb by a gerund and when it must be followed by an infinitive.

For example:

I like water skiing.
I like to water ski.
"Like" can be followed directly with either a gerund or an infinitive.

I quit smoking.
I quit to smoke. XX - This is a verb that, if followed directly by a verb, must be followed by a gerund.
"Quit" can only be followed directly by a gerund.

She offered to bake a cake.
She offered baking a cake. XX
If "offer" is followed directly by a verb, it must be an infinitive.


If you want a good list of which verbs are followed by which, check out Profesor Moya's excellent book, units 12 and 13. --He does make an occasional mistake, but for the most part I like his book, it's jam-packed with info, exercises, lists. It's great reference material.

I just caught one of his mistakes. He has "forget" as one of the verbs that can only be followed directly with an infinitive. It can be followed by a gerund. However, this actually changes the meaning of the sentences. Compare:
I forgot to turn off the stove.
I forgot turning off the stove.


Activity

To start with, ask your students to give several examples each of gerunds and infinitives. Be sure your students know the difference between a gerund and a present participle first. Write down all the words on board (probably around 10-15). I have my private students give me 5 gerunds and 5 infinitives.

Next, ask them to make sentences with each word to introduce them to the application. When they are done, initiate open discussion in the class to review and rectify flaws.

When this hurdle is crossed and your students are familiar with the usage of the ten words, involve your students in sorting out the verbs according to their usage. Ask them to divide the words under three heads -

1. Verbs used with gerunds only
2. Verbs used with infinitives only
3. Verbs used with both gerunds and infinitives.

Assist your students' progress by adding new verbs in each category.

Repeat the whole course of action as many times as you like. Your students will benefit from this practical method of teaching Gerunds and Infinitives English.

It's suggested not to use this activity with groups of more than 10 students.

This is where I found the activity.

About.com: 10 Top Lesson Plans

While I'm figuring out how to put downloads on this blog, chew on this site for awhile. It lists some excellent lesson plans, from people who might have a hint more experience than yours truly.

I tried this pronounciation lesson with a student today and it seems to work VERY WELL. I believe just doing this lesson once really helps students afinar sus oidos to English pronounciation. My student seemed to think it worked well too.

Listening Activities

I try to bring a listening activity to 1 out of every 2 or 3 English classes for variation and a more fun way to practice. Songs are a good idea, but I'd suggest making sure you have a song that practices the grammar or conversation skill covered that day. Also, finding a listening activity with a script is really good so that the students can look over what they heard and then go over new vocabulary on their own.

To do these activities, you need some sort of MP3 player and portable speakers. I have speakers that cost $40 in Chile so they're probably much cheaper in the U.S. and they're perfect for classes.

For the songs, put the lyrics in a word document and put blanks in the place of about 7-15 words depending on the length of the song and the student's level. BE SURE that you have the correct lyrics. Speaking from experience, it's very embarrassing and can seem unprofessional to have a wrong word typed there.

I also don't know where I'd be without itunes podcasts because there are so many great ESL tools there that are free. When you have more advanced students, you don't even need to search for ESL materials--just find your favorite podcast and go to the website because most of them have scripts you can download. Some are free and others, like NPR podcasts, charge for scripts.

I continually use the British Council's podcasts because you can download the audio and the script that comes with grammar activities plus supplemental materials. There's a wide range of topics so you can use them for all ages. Go here to check them out.

A couple tips for choosing songs for students:

1. be careful with slang incorrect grammar and make sure you're OK with detailed questions about each word.

2. make sure the singer of the song has a clear voice and that he/she annunciates. also, make sure they pronounce the words similar to how one would speaking. I've had trouble with Fiona Apple because while she has a very clear voice, she tends to drag out some syllables which confuses students.

3. make sure your students are interested in these activities. i have some that beg for songs every class because it's fun, but it can also be very frustrating if the song is too hard and the lyrics don't make sense.

Today, I'm using the Red Hot Chili Peppers' song If to go along with a lesson on the second conditional. While Anthony Kiedis doesn't have the clearest voice, most Chileans love the band and are very familiar with their songs so it's just a plus that this song is not only good, but grammatically correct ;)

There are also plenty of free short (5 minutes or less) video podcasts that are great if you're OK with bringing your laptop to class.

I'll update this page with more listening links once I sort through my saved files.

Happy teaching!