The newest issue of Focus on Basics has been published. This issue is about ESOL research. Articles on instructional strategies and research have been contributed by adult literacy professionals such as Robin L. Schwartz, Betsy Kraft, Steve Reder, and Virginia's very own Donna Moss. To read everything that Focus on Basics has to offer, go to: www.ncsall.net/?id=986.

The Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks has created a series of checklists for English language learners. These checklists -- named Can Do lists -- help learners identify what they have accomplished and where they still need to improve their English proficiency. You may print the Can Do lists for free from their website at: www.language.ca/display_page.asp?page_id=412.

Chatter bots may help increase written English fluency. The first chatter bot was created in 1966 by Professor Joseph Weizenbaum of MIT to study natural language communication between man and machine. Since then, many other bots have been developed. For a list of available chatter bots, go to: www.botspot.com/pages/chatbots.html.

Starting from Square One is a handwriting/keyboarding curriculum developed by the AVKO Educational Research Foundation. This curriculum teaches reading and spelling as the alphabet is being taught. To find out more, go to: www.spelling.org/Spell/Catalogue.htm and scroll to the Handwriting section.

MegaConverter is a truly useful and fascinating tool to convert measurements of all types. To try it out, go to: www.megaconverter.com/mega2.

Xpeditions Atlas is brought to you by National Geographic. This website offers viewable and printable maps from around the world. To find the map you need, go to: www.nationalgeograpic.com/expeditions/atlas/index.html.

MarcoPolo: Internet Content for the Classroom offers electronic source materials for many subject areas. To explore what the website has to offer, go to: www.marcopolo-education.org/home.aspx.

Need help teaching money matters? Money Instructor could help you out with basic economics lessons. To learn more, go to: www.moneyinstructor.com.

Do you find it difficult to teach how to write paragraphs? Paragraph Punch may be just what you are looking for! This website leads students through a tutorial on basic paragraph writing. To find out more, go to: www.paragraphpunch.com.

Reading Comprehension Connection offers interactive, web-based lessons that improve reading comprehension and vocabulary. Check them out at: www.readingcomprehensionconnection.com.

"Tension in Class" is a new lesson that has been added to the EFF Online Teaching and Learning Toolkit. It addresses tension that can result from multi-generational students in one class. To learn more, go to: http://eff.cls.utk.edu/toolkit/example_tension_in_class.html.

Who Passed the GED Tests? The 2003 GED Statistical Report. The newly designed report profiles the number of adults who need a high school diploma and describes those who have earned one during the 2003 calendar year. In keeping with the changes ushered in with the 2002 Series GED Tests, the focus changed from who took the tests to who passed the tests. This report enables the reader to gain not only a clearer understanding of those people who passed the tests, but also a sense of how each jurisdiction uses the GED Tests as the basis for awarding high school credentials. To order this report, go to: www.acenet.edu/bookstore/pubInfo.cfm?pubID=356.

The National Coalition for Literacy has prepared an update to help clarify the issues involved in the 2006 Budget and Appropriations. Included is information on how the budget system works, what budget reconciliation is, and an analysis of welfare reform being discussed as part of the House Reconciliation package. Additionally, a short yet informative list of definitions concerning the budget is also available. To learn more, go to: www.national-coalition-literacy.org/analysis.html.

Do you belong to any of the NIFL listservs? If you are a subscriber to any of these listservs, you are aware that there have been many guest discussions facilitated by leaders in the field of adult literacy. Don't worry if you didn't save those discussions. They are now archived on the NIFL website for you to refer back to at any time. To view which discussions are available, go to: www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_guests.html. If you are not already a member of these listservs and would like to find out more, go to: www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/discussions.html.

Would you like visual examples of integrating technology? OTAN offers videos of teachers using technology effectively in the classroom. To view them, go to: www.otan.us/Itap/index.cfm?fuseaction=videogallery.

The Adult Literacy Education Wiki has worked hard on developing their Tech Questions section. To find out if the questions they answer are the questions you have about technology and adult literacy, go to: http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/AleTechnologyQuestions.

Rubistar is a free resource for creating customized rubrics to use in your teaching. To start making your own rubrics, go to: http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php.

The LINCS Family Literacy Special Collection has added a professional development section. There are many free opportunities listed as well. To find out more, go to: http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/FamilyLit/professional_dev.html.

The Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy has recently added 34 new annotations to its annotated bibliography that is searchable as an entire document or by sections. The sections and the entire bibliography can also be downloaded and printed as PDF files. To read the bibliography, go to: www.ed.psu.edu/goodlinginstitute/bibliography.htm.

Special Health Literacy Resources

LINCS Health and Literacy Special Collection
www.worlded.org/us/health/lincs/

Healthy Roads Media
www.healthyroadsmedia.org/

FirstFind
http://firstfind.info/ (click on the Health link)

Medline Plus's Easy-to-Read Health Topics
www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/easytoread/easytoread_a.html

Michigan Cancer Consortium's Making the Choice: Deciding What to Do About Early Stage Prostate Cancer Booklet
http://healthteam.msu.edu/hsr/PEM_Booklet_7-21-04.pdf

LaRue Medical Literacy Exercises and Online Medical Literacy Learning
(in English, Arabic, Hmong, and Somali) www.mcedservices.com/medex/medex.htm

El Paso Collaborative Health Literacy Curriculum
www.worlded.org/us/health/docs/elpaso/