1. Start by collecting websites you might use in class.Looking for websites? Here's a place to start:
Roger's TESOL Page
A Kidsafe Search Site (Why not type in the name of a holiday, such as Halloween, to test it out?)
Yahooligans
2. Save your collection either with bookmarks or on a teacher resource webpage.*Sample Teacher Resource Webpages
(created by graduate students in TSL 6372: ESL Materials for Special Purposes)Vocabulary
Amy's Idiom Resources
Brian's Vocabulary Builder
Changyong's Eating your way to English
Marlene's Vocab Corner
Mohamed's Holiday PageReading and Writing
Douglas's TESL Times
Ling-Hui's Festivals and Holidays
Nikki's Daily Delivery
Tomomi's Academic Writing HelpsListening and Speaking
James's Music, Movies, and More Fun
Kristin's ESL Pronunciation Work Page
Sunny's Mass Media ResourceCulture/Learning Styles
Christina's Connecting with the Community
Derek's Ethnography for ESL
Paige's Crossculture PageEnglish for Special Purposes
Beth's Business English
Holly's Travel Page
Shu-Huei's Sport Center
Tracy's Business Page
3. Create activity pages for your students*
Sample Classroom Activity PagesValentine's Day
Anglo-Saxon Times
4. Reset your classroom computers so your class page is now Home*
*Simple Steps for Creating a Homepage with Mozilla Composer (download a copy from here. Be sure to get the Mozilla Suite, not Firefox or Thunderbird. Look under "other")
- File/new/composer page or ctrl + shift + n.
- Click on "format" and "page colors and background" and "page title and properties" if you want something else besides a white backround.
- Type away as on a wordprocessor. (centering, changing letter size, changing colors of letters etc.)
- Add links to websites you have found. Type in name of site, descriptive phrases or instructions. Click/hold/wipe to highlight words you want to be links. Click on link on the tool bar or right click on the mouse. Type in the URL or location of the website (http://www....). Double check then click ok. To undo a link, highlight it then right click on the mouse and choose "remove link."
- Save your page. Use oneword.html as the format. NO SPACES. Check with your school as to how to save on your Internet server. You can save on your own computer or on a diskette while you are working on your page. Just remember, until it is on a server, only the person using your computer can view the website.
- Try out the page on your computer by adding the filename.html to the URL your school/class account has on the Internet server or is the file is only on your computor go to file/open file and specify the drive and directory where saved it. Select it and you'll see what it looks like.
- Continue to make additions and changes and save your work from time to time so you won't lose everything is the computer crashes.
- Remember to press reload on your browser every time you save a change so you can see the new version.
- Add graphics, pictures, and animations that you have collected by putting the cursor where you want the graphic, picture or animation to appear. Then push the image button, browse for the image in the file where you stored it on your computer, and follow the instructions in the pop up box. Remember, all graphics have to be stored in the same directory where you have stored the webpage or else it will not appear.
- Set the computers in the classroom to have your homepage as HOME by going to Edit/Preferences/Navigator and type in the URL or location of your class webpage if you have Mozilla For Microsoft Explorer go to Tools/internet options-general/address.
- To make revisions or updates to your page, bring up the page in the Mozilla browser, click file/edit page, then work on the page as with a word processor. Save with the same name in the same place, open the browser window again, click reload to see how it looks.
There is now no place like home.