PodCasts

10 English idioms in 10 minutes is a podcast I came across and the title pretty much says it all. The narrator (if that's what you call the voice of a podcast, think about it: the person talking may not necessarily be the author) presents listeners with an English idiom, repeats it, explains it in detail, then provides an example. For instance, he brings up the phrase "To pile on the pounds." He then describes this idiom as: "to put on weight, to become fat quickly." He illustrates this idiom with the sample: "Megan's really piled on the pounds since I last saw her."
The podcast would be very helpful for students learning English because it covers commonly used idioms that students may here amongst their English speaking peers, on television, in songs, all over the native English speaking world. A podcast like this one can provide students with a large sample of English idioms and their meaning while a teacher may be unable. Idioms should be apart of an ESL curriculum, however it is unlikely that a teacher has the time or capacity to touch upon them all. By providing students with a link to this podcast a teacher can ensure that students will have at least a minimal amount of exposure to frequently used English idioms.

ePals

Epals seems like a pretty neat place. It offers a variety of tools connecting classrooms around the world. It creates what they call a "Global Community" allowing schools and districts to connect in an online community.

The Learning Space is much like a wiki insofar that it provides a single site of access for students, teachers, administrators, teachers, whoever, to collaborate on a project or work. What makes Learning Space really neat is the ability to include a particular school or district enrolled in ePals.

SchoolMail is a safe, secure alternative to pen pal projects commonly used in the K-12 environment. It allows students the opportunity to communicate with other students from schools all over the world, also connected to the ePals community. The tool offers a variety multilingual communication solutions; including instant language translations.

In2Books is kind of cool. It enrolls children in a sort of mentoring program which connects them to adults who share reading habits and interests. This is another neat alternative to the traditional pen pal system. The tool is completely monitorable by teachers to ensure the students safety.