Resources for Students

BEST SCHOOL SUBJECT WEBSITES:

ALL SUBJECTS

  • BBC

    Learn most subjects through videos, activities and summary notes for most.

  • Khan Academy

    Great explanations of key ideas in most subjects using video clips.

  • Swipestudy

    Learn most subjects through flashcards sent to your phone.

  • Easynotecards

    Learn every subject through flashcards games and quizzes – crowd sourced.

  • S-Cool

    Learn every subject through videos, podcasts, written notes, games to play.

  • Get Revising

    Learn all subjects through audio, flashcards, powerpoints, quizzes, videos, animations, self tests and study guides – crowd sourced.

  • Studyblue

    Learn all subjects using summary notes, flashcards and games, online and on your phone – crowd sourced.

  • E-Notes

    Learn most subjects through study guides, resources, discussions and Q&A.

  • Quia

    Millions of self-test quizzes in over 300 subject categories – some free some subscription.

  • Topmarks – educational search engine

    Search engine for good quality school-subject based websites.

  • Memrise

    Learn all languages and most subjects through flashcards and memory improvement software – crowd-sourced resources – easy and fun.

  • Anki

    Learn all languages and most subjects through flashcards and memory improvement software – crowd-sourced resources – easy and fun.

  • Mnemosyne

    All languages, most subjects, learn through flashcards and memory improvement software – crowd-sourced resources – easy and fun.

  • Quizlet

    Learn all languages and most subjects through flashcards, games and memory improvement systems.

  • Cram

    All languages and all subjects, learn through flashcards and memory improvement systems – crowd sourced.

  • Brainscape

    Learn every possible subject through memory improvement software systems.

  • BYJU’s

    Subscription site – one of the best for every subject at every level.

  • Seneca

    Essential knowledge needed to pass exams in over 1000 KS2, KS3, GCSE & A Level courses.

  • Cliff’s Notes

    Free summary notes in most subjects for most exams.

  • Brightstorm

    Videos explaining Maths, Science and (American) English with self tests and prep for SAT, ACT, PSAT & AP.

GENERAL

  • Free Exam Papers

    Past exam papers only for a huge range of school based and professional examinations
    Covers: all possible subjects
    Suits: GCSE, IGCSE, IB MYP & DP, GMAT, SAT etc.

  • Study It – New Zealand curriculum for NCEA

    All aspects of NCEA covered in all the key subjects – resources, standards, study guides, how to achieve each level
    Covers: English, Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths, Earth Science
    Suits: all New Zealand NCEA students L1, L2 & L3

  • Academic Tips

    Memory techniques and study techniques for all subjects.

CRITICAL THINKING

  • Critical Thinker Academy

    Tutorials to learn Critical Thinking. “Learn how to think, not what to think.”

  • Callido

    Learn Critical Thinking, Research and Problem Solving skills.”

ENGLISH LITERATURE

  • Sparknotes

    Study guides, discussion forums, analysis of characters, themes and plots.

  • Bibliomania

    Study guides, book notes, biographies, covers fiction, poetry, short stories, drama, interviews.

  • English Biz

    Essay writing, grammar, punctuation, analysis of stories, books, plays, poems, TV and films.

  • Future Learn

    Access to many English literature study courses – from 4 to 10 weeks for free.

  • The Literature Network

    Huge resource base of English Literature – books, short stories & poems with active forums and hundreds of self-tests

  • The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

    As the title says.

  • Cumming’s Study Guide

    Free study guides – very comprehensive resource base of plays, novels, poems and essays

HISTORY

LANGUAGES

  • Languages Online

    Most modern languages, lots of audio, some video, good interactive exercises.

  • Speak

    Most common European languages up to conversational level, contains written and audio material.

  • Loecsen

    Learn most modern languages through audio and video files, can hook up with own teacher.

  • Duolingo

    Learn all languages through games – easy and fun.

  • Rosetta Stone

    Learn all languages through connecting with people who already speak the language, join a community of language learners.

  • Busuu

    Learn languages through social media – connect with other learners and native speakers around the world.

  • VocApp

    Learn many languages using flashcards, games and memory improvement systems.

  • Readlang

    Learn languages through using translation software to enable you to read and learn any language.

LANGUAGES – CHINESE

  • Chineasy

    Learn Chinese characters easily.

LANGUAGES – ENGLISH

  • Talk English

    Good spoken and written English language site, mostly free, some material for sale.

  • 1-Language Online English

    Good spoken and written English language site, mostly free, some material for sale.

  • English Speak

    Learn English from the point of view of your own language, lots of audio, mostly free.

  • Vocabla

    Learn English – 300 new words per month using memory improvement systems.

LANGUAGES – JAPANESE

LANGUAGES – SPANISH

  • Study Spanish

    Lots of audio and free resources, also can link with tutor for fee.

PROGRAMMING

  • AI Coding and Programming

    Great collection of resources for using AI to help you write code

  • Code Avengers

    Learn to code – essential skill for 21st C learners.

  • Code Academy

    Learn to write code, build websites, games, and apps.

  • Code High School

    Learn to code – essential skill for 21st C learners.

  • Treehouse

    Learn to code – essential skill for 21st C learners.

  • Code School

    Learn to code – essential skill for 21st C learners.

SCIENCES

  • ChemGuide

    All aspects of the Chemistry syllabus covered – comprehensive text and pictures in all Chemistry topics

  • Learn Biology Online

    “The world’s most comprehensive database of Biology terms and topics” – huge resource base for learning Biology

  • The Physics Classroom

    Huge resource base for learning Physics, lots of interactives and games

  • No Brain Too Small – New Zealand NCEA

    Lots of Science resources for the New Zealand curriculum.

  • Nova

    Great videos on all aspects of all Sciences.

  • Scitable

    All Sciences – resources for senior students, many relevant topics.

  • Space.com

    Great space resources from Nasa.

  • Physics Central

    Brilliant site bringing Physics alive – all major physics topics well explained and demonstrated.

  • How Stuff Works

    Excellent up to date knowledge base – good resources in every Science subject with relevant examples from today

WRITING

  • Freeology

    Printable graphic organisers for writing any kind of essay, story, report, poem.

  • Essay templates

    How to write eight different types of English essay.

Feedback from teachers in Lance’s most recent workshops in schools in Doha, Dubai, Jakarta, Tokyo, Cebu & Nanjing (3):

  • Beneficial and gave me a great insight to how skills can be taught
  • Awesome, very knowledgeable on the subject very much involved in the IB
  • Well worth the time. Very useful information was shared
  • I found Lance to be engaging and thoughtful. Clearly extremely knowledgeable and experienced working with learners and educators.
  • He is a very good facilitator. He catered to all the questions with candor and ease. He knows what he is talking about.
  • The presenter is very engaging and encouraging towards the attendees
  • Very knowledgeable and shared practical examples of how to implement ATLs also shared good links
  • Persuasive, emotional, good public speaker
  • Great, he was very clear & precise also engaging & motivating! Very glad I attended this session.
  • Presented ATL as part of our tools to help our students learn

Feedback from teachers in Lance’s most recent workshops in schools in Doha, Dubai, Jakarta, Tokyo, Cebu & Nanjing (2):

  • Knowledgeable, friendly and listened to people’s comments
  • Very knowledgeable, asked interesting questions, thought provoking
  • Knowledgeable, had insightful input, able to show real examples and interact with participants
  • A unique and a great opportunity to learn more about ATL skills
  • Better than I expected and one of the best workshops I’ve attended
  • Very useful to me, I will transfer many strategies and information I have got to my school
  • Excellent and worth my weekend
  • Awesome and knowledgeable
  • Very knowledgeable and answered all questions
  • Knowledgeable, adaptable, engaging, helpful towards MYP & DP

Feedback from teachers in Lance’s most recent workshops in schools in Doha, Dubai, Jakarta, Tokyo, Cebu & Nanjing (1):

  • Worth giving up a weekend for, I have much to bring to my lesson planning and to share with my department
  • Full of teaching skills, a person who can inspire my teaching
  • Dynamic and made lessons attractive
  • Excellent presenter – good pace and level of understanding
  • Insightful and courageous – open questions with no fear
  • Clear and gave me good thoughts to consider and discuss with my school
  • Very knowledgeable and good at animating discussions
  • Enthusiastic and passionate
  • I definitely would recommend it to others
  • Absolutely amazing!

Feedback from teachers in Lance’s most recent workshops in schools in Singapore, Malaysia, Germany, Norway, England, India, Vietnam and Kazakhstan (3):

  • Excellent, above and beyond my expectations
  • Thorough, knowledgeable, approachable, helpful
  • Very clear and objective, providing a great balance between descriptive lecture and interactive exercises
  • Very professional, very advanced, utterly experienced, efficient, structured, balanced
  • Perfect!
  • Engaging, motivating, knowledgeable, pleasant to listen to, clear, inspiring
  • Dynamic, energetic, respectful, professional, knowledgeable. I appreciated the multifaceted use of technology to inform
  • An excellent investment of time and resources
  • Very knowledgeable. Accommodating to participants needs. High number of practical applications.

From Margy and John (New Zealand parents):

“xxxx hasn’t stopped talking about it (this morning and after school) and I believe Lance has instilled into her some fabulous tips for being a great learner. John and I got lots out of his presentation to the parents and we also haven’t stopped talking about it. At dinner tonight the four of us had fantastic discussions on “learning” – not the usual topic of conversation!.”

From Sue (a New Zealand parent):

“Yesterday you spoke to my daughter xxxx’s, Year 10 class at xxxx College.  She moaned about having to attend this while she was at home at breakfast day, thinking it would be one of those ‘find your learning styles’ things yet again…

HOWEVER…!  When I picked her up at the end of the day I had a different child.  She was so animated and excited about life.  She is keen to go on a trip to Cambodia and Vietnam but didn’t have the get up and go to fund-raise.  She came home, knew how she could do it, and promptly started on her plans.  She said she knows why she can be a little negative at times, what her weaknesses are etc and that she now understands how to turn these around to make positives.

xxxx has told me she feels like a new person!  I have heard about it ever since I picked her up yesterday!

Anyway, the main point of this email was just to say how impressed we all are and to say THANK YOU for your efforts.”

From a Hong Kong parent:

“My 15 year old daughter xxxx attended your seminar at xxxx this spring and she came home as a different person. She was beaming and didn’t stop talking about what she had learned from your seminar. She sat her little sister down and told her everything she had learned from you. xxxx felt she had learned something that day that would make her a better student and something she felt she could use for her whole life. Thank you for that, Lance! That was a real gift you gave her.”

From Bauyrzhan Serikov – General Director, Tamos Education, Almaty, Kazakhstan:

“On behalf of Tamos Education, I wanted to extend our deepest gratitude for taking the time to join us and conduct the world-class IB workshop. Your expertise and insights into the International Baccalaureate program have been invaluable, and the feedback from our faculty and staff has been overwhelmingly positive.

The dedication you demonstrated in imparting knowledge and best practices of teaching 21-st century skills to our educators will undoubtedly have a lasting impact on the quality of our curriculum and, most importantly, the learning experience for our students. It’s rare to find someone who can present such intricate material with clarity and passion, and we feel privileged to have had you lead this workshop.

I’d also like to take a moment to appreciate the professional and approachable manner with which you addressed every question and concern. Your willingness to engage with our team, understand our unique challenges, and tailor your guidance accordingly was truly commendable.

I look forward to any future opportunities for collaboration and would be honoured to welcome you back to Tamos Education anytime.”

Feedback from teachers in Lance’s most recent workshops in schools in Singapore, Malaysia, Germany, Norway, England, India, Vietnam and Kazakhstan (1):

  • Clear, knowledgeable and engaging, easy to listen to and to follow
  • Energetic, knowledgeable and enthusiastic
  • Very well organized and worthwhile professional development
  • Absolutely brilliant and delivered the course in a very efficient and productive manner
  • Well worth it, rewarding and very informative
  • Really a positive course. Well spent time
  • Very clear, structured, a great listener with very valuable feedback to what was said by the teachers – challenging and keeping us engaged the whole time.
  • Excellent, very knowledgeable and good at listening/responding to the audience
  • Amazing!!
  • Excellent! Lance was entertaining, knowledgeable in his field and able to answer all questions and confirm our areas of concern as appropriate, personably and professionally.

Feedback from teachers in Lance’s most recent workshops in schools in Singapore, Malaysia, Germany, Norway, England, India, Vietnam and Kazakhstan (2):

  • Some of the best PD I have been on in years
  • Engaging, dynamic, confident and experienced
  • Excellent, one of the best bits of PD I’ve done in 13 years of teaching
  • Outstanding, truly an expert in his field. He had a very engaging easy way of making me understanding ideas that are new to me
  • Today was indeed very productive, enlightening and enriching
  • Useful and inspiring to see clear ways of helping my school move forward in this area
  • Very interesting and thought provoking, made me make connections between my department PYP, MYP and DP
  • Entertaining, thought provoking, engaging, interesting. Inspirational, transforming
  • Interesting, relevant, informative and supported by evidence

From Lies Goodchild, ex-Head of Learning Support, Kings College School, London:

“The pupils explore and work through a number of skills, which they need to be successful at
learning. In that process they raise their self-esteem and confidence and they learn the importance of being resilient. The impact is immediate and amazing.
A follow up workshop for staff and a separate workshop for parents complement this programme, thus ensuring that all parties in the “pupil, parent, teacher partnership” are aware of the strategies and the level of support which are required to make learning successful. That is where the strength of this programme lies. It allows for a whole school approach to learning, which is clearly set out, well understood and most importantly easy and fun to use.

Without any hesitation, I recommend this programme to any educational establishment.”

From John Rolfe, ex-Director of Studies, Shrewsbury International School, Bangkok, Thailand:

“Lance spent the whole day with all of our Year 11 pupils, the majority of whom were second language learners. In the time I spent with Lance and the pupils I saw that they were really interested in what he had to say, as I was myself. Talking to them afterwards their enthusiasm for the course was overwhelming; they were unanimous in their opinions of how useful and interesting it was, but also how much they enjoyed it. Much of this is to do with the friendly and approachable nature of Lance who seems to draw the pupils out of themselves.

Lance is friendly adaptable and utterly professional. He will adapt courses that he has to the needs of the school and the pupils; he also runs courses for parents and teachers. I would thoroughly recommend his organisation to other international schools.”