GCF Learns Fun Reading Lessons

GCF Learns is a free, yes I said FREE!, online site to learn basic reading and speaking skills. You can learn other skills too, like microsoft products. The basic reading site focuses on 1,000 words with a variety of activities for different learning styles. It has a section for ELL and another for basic reading.

If your student is comfortable with games, he or she will like the reading game activities. This site is available on a smart phone. This means students can learn on the go, standing in line or waiting in the car to pick up their child and more.

Many lessons include video and/or audio. A student can use it even if they have lower reading skills. There is even a lesson on how to bake a cake.

Free Online Adult Education Learning Opportunities

Community Announcement: Reminder: Special Discussions This Week Courtesy of LINCS_Communications Dear members, As a reminder, we have two special discussions occurring this week (and beyond) in the LINCS Community. Please join us for these events and share your knowledge with our 10,000+ members. Join the Financial Literacy and Postsecondary Completion groups from February 3-14 for a special discussion in which adult education program managers, counselors, and teachers from a range of adult education programs will share their strategies and techniques for incorporating financial literacy into their adult education programs. Starting Wednesday, February 5 (Digital Learning Day) in the Technology and Learning group, a month-long discussion connected to the Digital Learning Day: Four-Part Technology Tools Webinar Series will occur. Have a great Monday, The LINCS Community Team --

VALF Technogy Petting Zoo & Annual Meeting May 10

Do you use your cell phone to make lessons fun and provide authentic instruction for students? Would you like to learn more about Apps on your Smart Phone & Kindle Fire?  Have you used texting to share a word of the day or provide other practice for students ?  Would you like to learn more about using portable technology to enhance instruction?  Come to the VALF Annual Meeting at the Florida Literacy Conference.

Our program is titled:  VALF Literacy Technology Petting Zoo  Annual Meeting on Thursday, May 10 at 3:15 PM - 4:45 PM at the Hilton in downtown St. Petersburg 

Bring your own dumb or smart phone, e-book, laptop or tablet or try out ours and hook into free wireless provided by VALF during the program. 

Win a door prize at the Volunteers for Adult Literacy in Florida (VALF) Annual Meeting.

The presenters will be Sandy Newell, President  and Sara Nelson, Secretary, Volunteers for Adult Literacy in Florida

Smart Phone Apps -- Not Just Momma Bell's Phone

Ways to learn continue to evolve.  Collaborative learning is now possible because of social networking and the new media.  New technologies accommodate different learning styles than pen and paper lessons, and smart phones put the potential for learning in the hands of many.   E-books are becoming more mainstream in 2011, and one of the newest tools being used today is the smart phone.

Your phone comes with the ability to record video, an easy way to record a dialog for your student.  They can then listen to it, practice and send you their practice session.  

If you don't want to use video, there are Apps that can be downloaded to turn a phone into a tape recorder.  Students can record their audio stories through a traditional recording on this.   

There are even Apps that capture a person’s vacation with photos, audio and writing.  One of the popular ones is (My Vacation).  There is a free lite version that will capture one trip.  To do more, pay $2.99 to ITunes.   

Even a humorous program like Talking Tom can provide a silly way for an ELL to practice speaking English and send a short story to their tutor via their Smart Phone.  The the basic version is free but can be enhanced if you pay.