THE LITERACY LIST

ESOL/ESL/ELL Web Sites

English for Speakers of Other Languages, English as a Second Language and English Language Learning

ABC English

Free site for English as a second or foreign language students, in English or Spanish,"using theories from Applied linguistics." Includes online assessments and instruction.

Activities for ESL Students
Quizzes, tests, exercises and puzzles

Adult Education ESL Teachers Guide
Designed as an introduction to new ESL/ESOL/ELL teachers, this includes an orientation, beginning and intermediate lessons and accompanying teacher training modules, and a  section on teaching nonliterate adults.

California Distance Learning Project
The goal of the California Distance Learning Project (CDLP) is to expand learner access to adult basic education (including ESOL/ESL/ELL) services. It includes: News Stories (some recent, some not); Family, Community and Work; ESL Connection Online; Workplace ESL Online; How To Vote; How to Be Heard; Safe Streets; Employment Application; How to Get a Job; and the California E-mail Projects. (See Email Project below.) Learners can get information about a wide range of topics on audio, and sometimes on video, as they read along. After they listen to or read each story they can do reading comprehension and vocabulary exercises.

Center for Adult English Language Acquisition (CAELA, formerly NCLE)
Located on the Center for Applied Linguistics Web site, this features FAQS on Adult ESL, ESL Program standards information, issues of CAELA Currents, a brief on ESL Reading Instruction, and other info about CAELA publications and services.

Dave's ESL Cafe
Current news, geography, grammar, history, idioms, slang and words, people, reading comprehension, science, world culture, writing

English as a Second Language
A starting point for those who want to learn English from using Web sites, this also includes Web sites for teachers.  The author is an experienced ESOL Web-site designer. There are many good sites linked here.

English for All
A free Web-based multimedia system for adults learning ESL/ESOL/ELL. It incorporates California standards for High-Beginning ESL and the Skill Modules of the Latino Adult Education Skills Project (LAES). EFA materials include: an interactive Web site that is the core of the program, five stand-alone video tapes, each containing four 15-minute programs, five CD-ROMs designed to work with the EFA Web site, and printable materials for students and teachers that are available as .pdfs or in Rich Text Format (compatible with most word processors). After watching a video, learners can practice listening, vocabulary, grammar, comprehension, and "life skills" based on the video segment.

Equipped for the Future (EFF)Teaching/LearningToolkit
The EFF Toolkit is a resource for teachers who want to build curriculum around students' goals and life contexts. While the Toolkit is based on the Equipped for the Future Teaching/Learning Cycle and the EFF Standards, the Examples and Tools in the Toolkit are a resource for any teacher who wants to contextualize instruction. Examples are complete descriptions of particular lessons and are organized by content and by instructional setting. The Tools used in the Examples are linked and often include worksheets that can be dowloaded.

ESL Blues
Pre-intermediate to high-intermediate level English

ESL gold
This is a free commercial site with phrases for conversation. lots of listening, speaking, reading and writing exercises, grammar explanations, ideas for teaching and links to other ESL/ESOL/ELL sites.It includes audio, pictures, handouts, and quizzes. All materials are free to ESL students and teachers, and are categorized by skill and level. ESL gold contains, for example:

For students: For teachers:

ESL Lesson Plans and Resources
A straightforward, comprehensive list of lesson plans and one of the best hypertext lists of practical, teacher-oriented ESL/ESOL/ELL resources I have seen.

ESL Loop
This is a collection of sites related to English language teaching and learning. It includes the California E-Mail Project Homepage, TESL Ontario, and Computers and English Language and Literacy Education, among others

ESL Monkeys
Free English language learning materials and tools for self-study or classroom learning, including reading and writing lessons, word of the day tool, free ESL books, story room, students’ forums, school search and more.

ESL Reading for English language learners
The site includes: original and adapted versionsof classic texts, including ghost stories, adventure stories, comic stories and poems. It also has podcasts.

ESL Resource Center
Free ESL/ESOL/ELL lessons in: reading, writing, vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, listening, spelling and idioms a "Discovery Trail" game for learning facts and background information.

The Fairfax County Family Literacy Curriculum
"The Fairfax County Family Literacy Curriculum is designed to be used in a multi-level adult ESOL family literacy class. There are four modules to choose from: Introductory (Self, Family and Community), Government (Schools and Community), Health (Medicine and Stress), and Consumerism (Shopping and Making a Budget). Each module provides easy to follow lesson plans and activities for adult English language learners at the literacy through intermediate levels and includes parent/child activities, computer/ internet activities, and reproducible worksheets. A list of recommended texts and websites is included in the appendix. The curriculum was written by Betsy Lindeman Wong, an experienced ESOL and family literacy teacher and was piloted at over twelve sites in Fairfax County."

Glossary of Second and Primary Language Acquisition Terms
This is a very useful list of terms and definitions used by ESOL/ESL/ELL teachers, teacher trainers and researchers.

Grammar for English Language Learners
A comprehensive list of links to on-line grammar and writing sites

Harnessing Technology
This Web page includes common problems faced by ABE and ELL teachers in the classroom, and solutions to these problems which use technology.  The Web page is updated from time to time and, as an incentive, those who contribute problems and technology solutions have access to the most recently updated page, at a different address.

Home buying Readiness ESOL Web sites
These sites are from projects funded by the FannieMae Foundation.  They include student and teacher writings, lesson plans and teacher resources to enable ESOL students to improve English language skills while learning about American culture through home buying readiness content.

How to Buy a Home in the United States
 http://www.geocities.com/sgaer/home/

Internet TESL Journal
Lots of usable information for classroom teachers, including lesson plans.

Learning Resources
Learning Resources offers Web-based instruction using current and past CNN San Francisco bureau news stories. Western/Pacific LINCS (part of the National Institute for Literacy's LINCS), Literacyworks, and CNN's San Francisco bureau partnered to develop an online literacy site that benefits all learners and instructors. Learning Resources' intended audience is adult learners, tutors and teachers, but learners of all ages are encouraged to use this material to promote better literacy. Modules include the full text of each story and interactive activities to test comprehension. The learner can choose to read the text, listen to the text, and view a short video clip of the story. Modules are designed so the learner can use them independently. An instructor can also incorporate a story into class activities and lesson plans. A multimedia format helps with clues, so a reader can get meaning from the text. One can read a story in full, in an abridged version, or in outline form. Students can listen to the story read aloud or watch it as a video. Afterward, they complete a series of exercises testing vocabulary and reading comprehension, and then they write their own ending. The learning experience involves many different components to assist a new reader.

Learn English Feel Good
Free English grammar and vocabulary exercises for beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels.

LINCS ESL Special Collection
Includes reviewed resources for learners, teachers, tutors and administrators, and a showcase of ESL/ESOL/ELL resources on the Web.

Multimedia English Classroom
This is for low intermediate to advanced learners. It has some U.K. and some U.S. material. Some of the videos are hilarious.

National Immigration Forum
Current information about issues of concern to teachers of immigrants, including citizenship.

Northeast Literacy Tech
New England Literacy Resource Center's  Using the Internet in Instruction

  Colorful Clothesline

  • http://Hub1.WorldEd.org/docs/clothing/index.html

    • A lesson created to introduce level 1 ESOL/ELL students to clothing, colors, and color patterns. Students can test their knowledge of colors and clothing. Select a category below to practice vocabulary.  Then take a quiz to test what was learned.

    Real English ONLINE
    Real English Online requires registration but then offers a free subscription with authentic video interviews with ordinary English speakers, and interactive ESOL/ESL lessons for beginner, pre-intermediate, intermediate, upper-intermediate and advanced ESOL/ESL learners. Each video interview includes related short audio or video segments used in practice exercises.

    An alternative. which does not require registration, and includes over twenty video segments will be found at:

    REEP (ESL) Curriculum
    Arlington, Virginia Education and Employment Program (REEP) "on-line adult ESL instructional system to assist educators in enabling adult students of English to navigate U.S. systems in the 21st century.... The system consists of 9 proficiency levels ranging from low beginning to advanced. While each level is designed for 120 to 180 hours of instruction, the needs assessment component provides the flexibility needed to customize curricula for more intensive or less intensive instruction."

    Resources in Language Testing WWW Page
    A great list of ESOL assessment sites

    Sounds of English
    Offers pronunciation instruction. It explains how each sound is made and offers audio and video examples with exercises.

    Study Zone
    University of Victoria, British Columbia's English Language Centre online lessons

    U.S. Citizenship Study  Pages
    Adult learners can study online for the U.S. citizenship test.  There is a $30 registration fee for students who live outside Minnesota.

    U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

    VOLTERRE-FR
    Pointers to Internet projects for learners and teachers of ESOL

    Web Learning Projects (Formerly Email Project)
    Includes current and completed on-line adult learning projects such as the annual Cookbook Project, the Internet Pizza Project, Home Remedies, an adult learners' annotated bibliography and others

    Updated 5/18/08 by