Resources for Teachers
Introduction
Below are links to websites with practical resources for teachers and students on topics and activities such as English language, teaching grammar, writing guides, professional development, American history and government, STEM, and U.S. culture.
Classroom Visits
Do you want to invite an American diplomat to speak to your class?
We very much enjoy meeting and talking with students. If you would like to have a member of the U.S. Embassy team speak to your class on a topic of your choice, contact us at luxembourgpublicaffairs@state.gov
Common topics include:
- U.S. history
- U.S. government and politics
- U.S. holidays
- Geography and regions of the U.S.
- Work of the Embassy
- Life of a diplomat
- American culture and sports
English Language
American English Resources: These are free quality resources for teachers from the U.S. Department of State to support English teaching and learning. You can adapt these and include them in your lessons.
- Comics for the English language classroom. These resources can make your classes more engaging and creative for those young learners into comics, while also working on reading.
- English Club Materials. If you have the idea of starting an English language club in your school or community, these free resources can help you. You may find a handbook for your own training, and other materials.
- American Culture, music, and games. These resources help you integrate the American culture in your lessons with fun materials.
- The Monster Book of Language Teaching Activities. If you’d like to make your lessons more engaging, and involve varied activities, this book (with more than 150 activities) can be a great resource. It’s free to download and share with your colleagues.
- Facebook Page: You can invite your students to like this Facebook page to get daily content on vocabulary, pronunciation, and other resources to improve their English.
- American English YouTube Channel: The channel includes vocabulary lessons, American idioms, conversation English language videos, pronunciation videos, and more. Also, the videos are organized per level. Check it out, subscribe, and use it!
Voice of America – English News and Reading Comprehension. If you’re interested in working with news, or reading comprehension with your students, you can use VOA’s Learning English website. Here you’ll find up-to-date news, with quizzes at the end, video lessons, and pronunciation tips.
American Rhetoric. Full text, audio, and video database of the 100 most significant American political speeches of the 20th century and some Hollywood movie speeches
Professional Development
For teachers interested in always learning more, improving their practice, and growing professionally. These free resources are helpful for learning about theories, methods, strategies, and even free online courses.
- American English Webinars. Here’s a list of webinar recordings and their presentations on topics such as pronunciation teaching, the four skills, teaching methods, fun and games, etc.
- Teacher’s Corner. This is a hub for practical resources on topics like assessment, teaching grammar, professional development, U.S. culture, STEM, different types of learning styles, etc.
- English Teaching Forum is the premier publication (journal) for English teachers worldwide. It includes helpful and practical articles in different topics, and is open for submissions, and you can access it for free.
- American English for Educators Facebook page is a community of English language professionals from around the world. Their daily content is intended to help educators develop professionally, find new classroom material, and share experiences.
- English Teachers Professional Development – Visit this Youtube playlist to watch videos about interesting topics for teacher development.
- Videos about learning theories and other topics. Watch these videos if you’re curious about learning theories and topics such as motivation, curriculum development, classroom management, feedback in the classroom, tech, grammar teaching, and others.
- Online Professional English Network (OPEN). This webpage provides massive open online courses (MOOCs) on different topics such as ELT methodology, English for STEM, English for Journalism, and others. These courses are free, and anyone can enroll. You don’t need to contact us, just follow the process on the website! At the end of these courses you earn a verifiable online badge.
Writing
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Writing Center. Handouts on all kinds of writing topics and videos on specific techniques.
- George Mason University Writing Center. Resources for general writing and writing for academia, business, humanities, and science. The site also provides guidance for research writing, tips on notetaking and reading critically, and links to resources for ESL writers.
- The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL). This website includes various suggested resources, mainly help with writing skills as professional writers, with adult basic education, and for grades 7–12 instructors and students.
- Writing Center at Harvard University. Instructional handouts and materials.
American History
- Library of Congress. Learning Page by the Library of Congress offers classroom materials and professional development to help teachers use primary sources from the Library’s vast digital collections.
- Smithsonian American History Museum. Hundreds of free, innovative online resources for teaching and learning about American history.
- Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum. Explore resources for learners of all ages from the American Women’s History Museum and others.
- Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Resources for teachers designed to ignite critical thinking skills and creativity for diverse audiences.
- Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. Transforming teaching and learning about Native Americans.
- U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum: Teachers. Explore Museum suggestions for where to begin teaching about the Holocaust.
- National Park Service: Teaching with Historic Places. Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) offers teaching tools and lesson plans to help educators engage young people with powerful stories representing America’s diverse history.
U.S. Government and Civics
- Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government for Kids. Learning tools for K-12 students, parents, and teachers.
- U.S. Government’s Official Web Portal. Learn about the United States, including American holidays, the American flag, as well as the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the U.S. government.
Science & Geography
- NASA Education.– NASA’s portal for Educators.
- National Parks Service Teacher’s Page. National parks are America’s largest classrooms. Find lesson plans about these great places on the National Parks Service Teacher’s page.
- Science for Kids. From the USDA Agricultural Research Service.
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Teacher Resources. Find an array of environmental and science based lesson plans, activities and ideas from EPA, other federal agencies and external organizations.
- National Institute of Health STEM Teaching Resources. These are teacher’s guides to two weeks of lessons on the science behind selected health topics.
- Smithsonian Science Education Center. Curriculum resources for transforming the learning and teaching of science.
- Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. From videos to ready-to implement classroom activities, the Air and Space Museum is here to help you get your learners excited about air and space.
- Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Teaching resources on topics in natural history from science to social studies.
- Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. Offering a wide variety of videos and hands-on activities and experiments for home and classroom use to help you get your students excited about environmental science!
U.S. Holidays, Arts & Culture
- Celebrate! Holidays in the U.S.A. This book discusses the ten federally-recognized holidays in the United States, as well as many celebratory days. Download as an e-book or as individual PDF chapters.
- Smithsonian American Art Museum: Resources for Teachers. SAAM’s education resources for teachers use artworks as invitations to explore historical eras, literary themes, and connections to the present day. Contextualized within the people, movements, and stories of the United States, these artworks provide rich opportunities to uncover complexities and perspectives and put new knowledge to use.
- National Portrait Gallery. The Portrait Gallery has a variety of resources for the classroom that have been developed to complement our exhibitions.
Additional Resources
- New York Times – Learning Network. Teach and learn with The Times: Resources for bringing the world into your classroom.
- Annenberg Learner. Teacher resources and professional development across the curriculum
- PBS TeacherSource. 4500+ free lesson plans and activities on arts & literature, health & fitness, math, science, social studies, and more.
- Peace Corps Educator Resources. Online educational resources based on the Peace Corps experience such as global issues, cross-cultural understanding, the environment, etc.