“A virtual community, e-community or online community is a group of people that primarily interact via communication media such as newsletters, telephone, email, online social networks or instant messages rather than face to face, for social, professional, educational or other purposes. If the mechanism is a computer network, it is called an online community. Virtual and online communities have also become a supplemental form of communication between people who know each other primarily in real life. Many means are used in social software separately or in combination, including text-based chatrooms and forums that use voice, video text or avatars. Significant socio-technical change may have resulted from the proliferation of such Internet-based social networks.^“

There are hundreds and maybe thousands of online communities. In fact, a site I used to read years ago, The Well, is still alive and has been since 1985. For a glance at some of the virtual communities, Wikipedia has this list.

I have investigated many communities over the past year and have generally found them to be as wide-ranging as we are unique. One of my favorite bloggers, Seth Godin (who cofounded Squidoo), believes “what’s important is that it is now common, and will soon be expected that every….person will have a media platform where they share what they care about with the world.”

Many communities created by and for large companies can cost $1,000,000.00. Also I have found several blogs that evaluate how much online community managers make (generally from $60,000.=$100,000). Check out these sources: Connie Bensen and the online community report.

Why are companies investing this money? Because the old forms of getting and keeping customers isn’t working anymore. Customers no longer want to do business with companies whose only interest in them is how much money the company can make.

Lanternfish has been created by a group of ESL teachers in Asia and North America. Their aim is to bring printable quality resouces to teachers and parents. The principal contributors are Chris Gunn, Stephen Gordon, Cam Lirette, and Thomas Lavelle.

The site includes these topics and links:

Introduction:

LANTERNFISH contains printable teaching resources for language arts, TESOL, TEFL and ESL.

Back to School Worksheets

Get ready for back to school with these worksheets and activities.

Fall Worksheets

Teach fall/autumn vocabulary with these fall worksheets and activities. There are also fall flashcards and fall bingo.

Halloween  Worksheets

Teach Halloween vocabulary with these Halloween worksheets and teaching activities. Also check out the Halloween Bingo and Halloween flashcards.

I need a Ticket to Osaka, Japan?

Students practice purchasing airline tickets from ticketing agents in this line-up style role-play. Good for tourism English, Business English or false beginners who are planning to travel.

New! Frog Life Cycle Worksheets

Good content-based ESL with these Frog Life Cycle Worksheets.

New! Can I Bug You for a Sec?

A role-play where students ask for help solving a puzzle. A good classroom english role-play as students use language to talk about words.

New! Reporting Changes

A Business ESL role-play where students report changes in corporate indicators and explain reasons why changes occurred.

New! Can I take a message? Telephone English

Students practice taking and leaving message with this telephone English role-play. There is also a business English version.

New! Giving Directions

A role-play to practice asking someone out to dinner and giving directions to the restaurant. Also, Giving directions II: directions by subway or bus route. And finally, giving directions III: directions by roadmap and suggesting somewhere to go.

New! Movie Lessons!

Two great activities with worksheets, role-plays, and activities for teaching ESL for movies.

New! I’m Calling about the Apartment?

A role-play where students inquire about an apartment for rent.

New! Little Letter Tracing Worksheets:

Younger learners can practice their small letters with these ABC worksheets.

New! A Visit to the Doctor Role-play

A one hour role-play to practice expressions needed to discuss an ailment with the doctors.

New! Banking Role-Play I:

A one hour banking role-play that explores the expressions needed to do five basic transactions at a bank: deposit money, withdraw money, cash checks, exchange currency, and pay bills.

New! How Much Is It?

This shopping unit has an information gap, a survey, and a roleplay . There is also vocabulary worksheets and teaching tips .

New! Short Conversation Resources

A collection of over thirty short conversation worksheets.

New! Teaching Effective Communication Through Graded Reading Materials

An article on teaching effective communication to ESL/EFL students. There are a lot of materials prepared for the TEFL teacher in this article.

New! TEFL Grapevine

Students spread rumors to practice their storytelling skills in this loud and stimulating TEFL activity.

Young Learner Worksheets:

Basic ESL worksheets for K7 young learners. A new section with 20 new worksheets.

Grammar Soccer: Reported Speech:

A grammar activity  with extensive resources for teaching indirect reported speech.

Traveling Among Monsters Language Enrichment:

A new series of lengthy units with reading comprehension, pattern practice and vocabulary activities: Traveling Among Monsters.

The Biggleborians: This worksheet combines anthropology and ESL. Useful for teaching the present progressive and the past.

Cloze Activities:

A variety of cloze activities sorted by difficulty.

Sites For Teachers: This directory contains hundreds of listings to other teaching websites.

Featured Teaching Jobs:

SAT teachers needed in China.

Teach ESL in the Japanese public school.

Job Fair: A Role-play

A new lesson where students role-play job seekers and employer to practice their interviewing skills.

Initial Sounds and Final Sounds Phonics Worksheets

Over 30 new worksheets that cover the initial sounds of words. There are also some newly added Final Sounds Worksheets. Also check out the phonics monsters.

Alphabet Worksheets

A collection of alphabet worksheets including alphabet mazes, alphabet trains, and big letter coloring worksheets and small letter tracing sheets.

New! Juicy Baek:

A role-play for adult intermediate to advanced students. Thought provoking and fun!

Survival English:

A Crash Course for False Beginners Who are about to set off to another country.

New! ESL Surveys:

Students can survey each other using one of many survey question sheets. There is also a blank template for teachers to make their own.

Telephone Language:

A new lesson plan in the lesson plan section. A line-up style role-play where students make plans over the telephone.

The ESL Science Center:

A monthly web magazine with science articles geared towards ESL learners. This month: Reptiles, Amphibians, Science, Scientists, and Anthropology.

Writers Workshop:

The workshop has moved. Lessons on Weighing an Argument, Building an Argument, and Refuting an Argument.

Preposition Cards:

Ghosts, trolls, and aliens are in the house.Check out the Preposition Flashcards.

Hypothetically Speaking Game:

Hypothetically Speaking: A fluency game for practicing hypothetical speech. A lot of work went into preparing this game for middle/high school students. Enjoy!

Web Guide

Some excellent links to other ESL sites.

Other Resources?

The Dolch Sight Words teaching materials are new. As well as the Phrasal Verb Crosswords. The Harry Potter Worksheets.

ESL Business Activities:

Several good ESL business activities are in the Business ESL Worksheets.

ESL Game Boards:

A new section with Four Printable Game boards for communicative classes.

Holiday Worksheets

This sections contains links to all of the holiday worksheet sections:

Information Gap Exercises

The Information Gaps cover topics from shopping to rooms in a house.

Conversation Question Prompts

Themed question lists for free-talking classes.

Bingo Game:

Learn forest animal names and the conjunction ‘and’ with this Bingo Game. Now, there are many new bingo games with bingo card generators with topics such as birds, animals, kitchen objects, shapes and colors.

Opposite Concentration:

Use opposites to teach vocabulary. This section includes games and worksheets for opposites.

Food Chain Worksheets:

Activities and worksheets to teach concepts related to food webs and food chains.

City Worksheets:

Activities and worksheets with a city theme.

Insect Worksheets:

Worksheets and activities to teach insect themes.