Skill Building
Follow the links on this page to a wide range of useful skill building sites
Touch Typing
In a world where computers rule, knowing how to touch type speeds up your work time, gets you away from homework and out to play sooner. Try any of these sites to find a programme that suits you:
Typing Web uses a tutorial system that provides instant feedback after every free typing lesson. Typing Web offers beginners lessons through to advanced typing lessons for free. You can register to track your progress or you can use Typing Web without registering. Tux Type is a fun, open source, program designed to help young students learn touch typing skills. Students can play a variety of games which increase in difficulty as a student’s skills improve. Tux Type is available for Mac and PC and you’ll need to download the programme. For a typing program that doesn’t require software installation try the program from Sense Language. The program is web based, but is also available for use offline. A feature of Sense Language’s typing program is that you can create your own typing activities or use the standardized lessons. Good Typing is a free online typing skill development program. It provides 27 graduated lessons designed to help you learn to use the entire keyboard correctly. Power Typing hosts a small collection of five typing games that you can use to develop your typing skills. The two easiest games to access are Alphabetic Rain and See Don’t. [Reviews of these sites from "freetech4teachers" blog]
Practice (or practise? for a chocolate frog, you tell me) Your English Skills
The following websites have a range of games and skill building activities to support developing literacy. Enjoy!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/spelling/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize/literacy/index.shtml
http://www.gamequarium.com/spelling.html
http://www.smic.be/smic5022/exercisesvocabulary.htm
http://www.wordplays.com/p/index
http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic86.htm
http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/interact-la.htm
English word games are available at Games Zone. There are easy games at Moshi Monsters, and you can sign up for more Free English Games at this link. The EdAlive site has a wide range of games and activities for literacy, numeracy and other learning skills and is well worth a look. At QuizTree you can start on the spelling page or from their home page and learn a host of other skills, including maths, science, economics, music, sports and more. For more complex activities you could try the English Club site for ESL (and other) learners. It has listening lessons, reading lessons, speaking lessons and writing lessons. There are also links to grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary lessons.
