Teachers who work with English as a Second Language learners will find ESL/ESOL/ELL/EFL reading/writing skill-building children's books, stories, activities, ideas, strategies to help PreK-3, 4-8, and 9-12 students learn to read.
About Webcasts
A webcast is a video broadcast that you watch on your computer. Colorín Colorado webcasts are archived (they are not offered live). This means that you can come to the Colorín Colorado website to watch a webcast any time, day or night. Most computers already have everything you need to watch our webcasts.
For information about these professional development webcasts please read the general information below. You'll also find answers to frequent technical questions.
The following is an example of what you will see when you begin watching a webcast. The video presentation happens in the upper left. The PowerPoint slides appear in the right. An index in the bottom left allows you to skip ahead or back.
General information
Colorín Colorado webcasts feature top experts in the field of reading. Our aim is for you to have a similar learning experience to what you would have if you were to attend a session at a reading conference. The difference is that from the webcast window (see example above) you can stop the presentation, rewind, or skip forward.
The Colorín Colorado webcasts about English language learners, include a video presentation that is synched to the presenter's PowerPoint slides. An index in the bottom left corner allows you to easily skip ahead or back. For these webcasts, the video presentation is 45-minutes long.
Anyone is welcome to watch Colorín Colorado webcasts. There is no charge. Your organization may also use them as the centerpiece of in-service and staff development workshops.
In addition to the video presentation, all webcasts offer the following:
- transcript
- presenter biographies
- recommended readings
- sample discussion questions
Technical questions
We recommend that you test your computer ahead of time to make sure your computer has everything you need to watch a webcast.
Colorín Colorado webcasts are encoded at different bit rates so both dial-up and broadband Internet users can watch without the video breaking up on the screen. The webcasts are also closed-captioned.
What do I need to view the webcast?
The following configuration is required to view the webcasts:
- Microsoft Windows 98, NT, ME, 2000, or XP
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher
- Windows Media Player
- Windows Media Player for Mac
- Internet connection
Most computers already have Windows Media Player installed, or you can download it now. If you are using an old (version 6.4) player or a computer running Windows NT or Windows 98, you may experience a delay before you see and hear the webcast as the Media Player downloads and installs the latest codecs required to view this webcast.
Note to users with Windows XP, Service Pack 2: When you first play a presentation that contains animations, you will need the Microsoft Animation Runtime component. If it is not present on your system, a security warning will appear that asks if you want to install it. Select "install" and download the installer. Reboot if necessary.
I use a Macintosh computer. How can I view the webcast?
If you are a Macintosh user and you do not already have Windows Media Player for Mac installed, you can download it now. Once you've done so, follow the link to "View video without slides" on the page of the webcast you wish to watch.
The webcast is playing, but suddenly I can't see or hear the video.
During the webcast, if you stop seeing or hearing the video, try clicking the "stop" button, then click the "play" button. This will attempt to reconnect to the video stream. If this does not work, please close your Media Player and click the link on the web page again. If you continue to experience trouble, please contact us and we will do our best to assist you.
