This altruistically-inclined website made it to Time.com's 50 Best Websites last year, and aims to do things simultaneously--improve students' English vocabulary, and feed the hungry at the same time. Students pick the answer they think corresponds to the vocab word, and for each correct answer, rice is donated to the United Nations World Food Program. It's simple, to-the-point, and can be a quick means of getting pupils to put a little into their word bank daily, as well as into the stomachs of the underprivileged. For teachers who are so inclined, other subject areas as diverse as Chemistry, Art and Geography are also available.
Time Online
One of my all-time favourites--this website carries up-to-the-minute news, and all the complete, international versions of the magazine online. Plenty of text related to pop culture, travel, current affairs, science and technology and everything in between that are perfect for adaptation for comprehension exercises. Also picture essays abounding that are useful for oral practice. Every single issue of the magazine ever published is also available on the online archive, so you can dig as far back as you need, or want to.
Youtube
This one's fairly obvious but a big help--especially for the we're-too-jaded-to-learn-anything set. At the Secondary Level, videos selected with a bit of care can yield gems for teaching text types, such as narratives (see local, award-winning short film 'The Trainee' by Craig Rosenthal for a perfect example of Intro-Rising Action-Climax-Resolution with humor) and persuasive text types (I used this informercial to introduce persuasive speech on a grubby, uninspiring afternoon in class to a fair amount of success).
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