great websites for esol teachers and students
TRANSCRIPT
Sites for Grades PreK-2
o Literacy Center.net - an early childhood language learning site. Includes French, Spanish, and German.
o Starfall.com- Reading instruction and reading games for students in Pre-K-1. It's hard to believe this site is
free.
o ReadTodayJoin the reading revolution! Teach a child to read.
o Continent song Good for students learning the names of the continents.
o Reading is Fundamental.This site has many stories for Pre-K-2 students.*
o Storyplace.org -a site with online stories and activities. Grades pre-K-Kindergarten.*
o Kiz ClubStories about a variety of topics for grades 1-3
o Online Story Time-This site is more for teachers but has many online stories.
o Martha Speaks.This site is good for beginning ELLs in grades k-2.
It is advertised as a pre-school site but the stories are suitable forK-1 students.
o British Council Stories -This site has many stories that are read aloud. Check for spelling and
pronunciation differences.
o Games on PBS Kids - Games for K-2. "WordPlay" can be used for students in grades 3-4.
o Arthur -Sequencing activity where students hear a story and put pictures in order.
o Storyline Online -A terrific site with stories read by actors from the ScreenActors' Guild. Grades 1-4.*
o Reading-A-To-Z - This is a commercial site with free books that you can download and print. Grades 1-4.
o Raz-kids.com-Reading and listening activities for elementary age students.*
o Tumblebook Library - Click on "stories." A large collection of stories from the Los Angeles Public
Library. All grades.
o Clifford - Activities pre-K-2.Try the reading and writing section with students in grades 2-3.
o Videos - Short Clifford videos. Click on "See and Hear." Grades K-2.
o Berenstain Bears Games and Songs - Great activities for young children including word games, songs and
puzzles. Grades K-2.
o Game Goo - Learning that sticks - Great learning games for young children. Grades K-2.
o The Reading Lady Includes short plays for students in grades 1-2.*
o Enchanted learning Printable books and for students in grades K-4.
o Discover Science Simulations Science content from Houghton Mifflin Science Series.
Sites for Grades 3-5
o MadLibs for Advanced Beginners in Grades 3-5
o KidsKnowit Network - Learning videos for students is grades 3-6.
o Reading is Fundemental. Look at the writing activities for students in Grades 2-5.
o Grammar Gorillas for Advanced Beginners in Grades 3-5
o Stories for Kids for Advanced Beginners in Grades 3-5
o Kiz ClubStories about a variety of topics for grades 1-3
o Bookhive.com -This site has multicultural children's stories told by famous storytellers. Be sure to click on
"Listen to a story." For Grades 2-5
o Songs for Kids - Grammar songs for students in Grades 2-5.
o Postcards from Buster - See Buster�s adventures from various places in the U.S. Each city
has video, audio, map skills and games. Grades 3-5.*
o Arthur -Games from Arthur. Grades 2-5.
o Captain Underpants - Make a comic. Grades 2-4
o Scholastic - A program for kids to make flashcards. Grades 3-8.
o Surfing the Net with KidsSite with games and puzzles in different subject areas.
o Write a book report - Students make a book report sandwich. Grades 4-8.
o Literactive This site has great oral stories and games for grades 1-12.
o Spelling Wizard - Use spelling words to make a word search or sentence scramble. Grades 3-6.
o The Story Starter, Jr. - Select a story starter for students in grades 4-12.
o Tumblebook Library - Online stories read from the Los Angeles Public Library. All grades.
o Poetry - Gives examples of different types of Poetry.
o Science vocabulary - Label pictures using science vocabulary. Grades 4-8.*
o Songs and Rhymes- Songs for students in all grades.
o Songs for ELLs with words.*
Grades 3-12.
o Word Game Intermediate students in grades 5-8.
o Owl online This is a good grammar site for 6-12
o FunBrain reading Intermediate students in grades 5-8.
o Zoom - Games, activities and science experiments from the TV Show Zoom. Grades 4-6.
o U.S. Symbols - U.S. Government information from Ben's Guide. Grades 3-5.
o Social Studies Vocabulary Games - Vocabulary from U.S. government. Grades 3-5.
o Spiders. Spider activities for kids. Gr. 3-6.
Sites for Grades 4-8
o Listening Activities - Designed for older students but pronunciation and listening activities could be used
for students grades 4 and up.*
o iKnowthat This link takes you to map and social studies activities for grades 5-12.
o BrainPop-This site has some free sections to teach grammar. Look up "nouns" and watch the video. Grades
5-8. Grades 3-8. *
o Multicultural Stories -Stories from around the world by Nick Jr. Grades 3-8
o Brainteasers, Puzzles and Riddles - Kids' page from the National Institute of Environmental Health
Sciences. Grades 5-8
o Translation Site - Students can bookmark this site to translate words from English to their native language.
Grades 3-12.
o Interactive games and activities - Social Studies Games from Ben's Guide to the U.S Government. Grades
5-8.
o Audio Comprehension - An audio concentration game for Grades 4-12.*
o Homophone game - Match homophones in this concentration game.* Grades 4-8.
o Wordsearches - Wordsearches on U.S. Presidents. Grades 4-8.
o Movie Trailers Listening activities using movie trailers for Grades 5-12.
o Vocabulary Vocabulary games - From Interesting Things For ESL Students, aa collection of vocabulary
games for Grades 6-12.
o WordBuilder Great site for phonics practice. Grades 4-12
*taken from www.everythingels.net
o Purdue Online Writing Lab: The OWL is a wonderful repository of practice sheets and linguistic primers
for learners at all levels.
o Dave’s ESL Cafe: ESL teacher Dave Sperling’s in-depth site provides numerous lessons about sentence
structure, word use, and more.
o ESL Partyland: The festive name is an indicator of how laid-back this handy ESL site can be. Various
exercises let students practice writing and reading as they use external sites to boost their
comprehension.
o Breaking News English: These inventive lesson plans teach ESL by drawing inspiration from recent
news and global affairs. Packed with information about word usage, grammar, and more.
o ESL-Lounge: Hundreds of awesome exercises make this site a fantastic tool for students. Parts of speech
and vocabulary are classified by difficulty.
o Activities for ESL Students : This pared-down website offers grammar quizzes at multiple degrees of
difficulty and for learners from dozens of different language backgrounds.
o Using English: A handy reference guide to major parts of speech and their usage, with bonus material for
ESL instructors.
o 5-Minute English: This wonderful site not only offers a variety of lessons and exercises, it also boasts
links to other helpful ESL programs, books, and schools.
Spelling and Pronunciation
o Business English Lessons: There are dozens of key phrases on this site complete with audio clips to
help ESL students practice clear pronunciation.
o Antimoon: Learn to recognize the sounds in the English language and use correct intonation.
o English Zone: Take on English spelling, including possessives, verb endings, contractions, and more,
with this site.
o Learn That Word: Learn vocabulary and spelling on this site. You can narrow down your lessons by
commonly misspelled words or TOEFL vocabulary.
o BBC Learning English: This resource from the British channel offers all kinds of lessons and tips for
learning English, including pronunciation, vocab, and grammar lessons.
o Learn English Kids, British Council Though this site is aimed at kiddos, anyone trying to get a grasp
on English spelling and speaking will find its games fun and useful.
o English Leap: This site has several helpful pages; this one in particular gives a great overview of
pronunciation rules for different letter combinations in English.
o Funbrain: This site has a lot of games for kids to learn all kinds of subjects, but ESL students can use it
to make their reading lessons more fun. Play the reading games or the Spell Check quiz to practice
your spelling.
Vocabulary and Writing
o Answers.com’s Idiom Dictionary: When a phrase doesn’t make sense literally, turn to this idiom
dictionary to understand what it means.
o Flash Card Exchange: This browser-based tool lets you study thousands of words, create your own flash
cards, and sort cards based on category and learner language.
o 20-Minute ESL Lessons: These audio lessons cover basic vocabulary for a variety of everyday situations,
including office life.
o Vocabulary Can Be Fun: This site offers a variety of entertaining games designed to enhance vocabulary
use through interactive play.
o Pizzaz: This site uses poems and short stories as writing examples and exercises to teach creative writing
and usage.
o About.com English Vocabulary: About.com has a number of resources for ESL including these helpful
business vocabulary lessons for several different industries.
o Aardvark’s English Forum: In the student section of this forum, you can read famous quotations, work
your way through novels in English, and do interactive language exercises to understand the written
English language better.
o Vocaboly: Download a free trial of this site’s vocabulary builder and then test your knowledge.
o Quizzes and Worksheets
o Self-Study Quizzes for ESL Students : Just what it sounds like. These tests will help students learn
grammar, tricky words, vocabulary, and more.
o Vocabulary Quizzes: These word quizzes cover everything from animals and food to famous quotes and
American slang.
o Advanced English Grammar Exercises : This plain website hosts dozens of detailed quizzes broken down
by topic.
o ESL Resource Center: This site was created for ESL teachers, so plenty of worksheets, tips, and lessons
are available and work well even for those teaching themselves or trying to get ahead.
o ESL HQ: Get access to hundreds of worksheets for learning English from this online forum.
o iSL Collective: This ESL teachers’ forum is a great place to find worksheets for practice or teaching
yourself English. Browse through hundreds of topics that have already been uploaded, and check back
for more as teachers around the world add them.
o English Gateway: Download these ESL worksheets to test yourself and use the teacher notes to double-
check your knowledge.
Podcasts
o ESL Podcast: Regular updates and easy categorization make this podcast a great resource.
o LanguageCaster: A large majority of the non-English-speaking world is crazy about football (soccer
to Americans), so this podcast uses sporting news and analogies to teach English.
o China232: There are dozens of helpful podcast lessons here that students can use to learn about
North American language and culture.
o Culips: Billed as “a podcast for English learners throughout the world,” this fantastic site tailors
content to a variety of languages. Hosts use news, history, and slang to break down the quirks of the
English language.
o ESL Aloud: These lessons range from basic word instruction to more complex scenarios like going
to the store or working in an office.
o Podcasts in English: This site offers free podcasts for anyone looking to learn English. They’re
separated by skill level and subject so you can choose what fits you best.
o British Council Learn English: The British Council provides three series of podcasts to help learn
the language and practice your listening skills.
YouTube Channels
o VOA Learning English: With this Voice of America channel, you can hear news and feature stories
in American English, but spoken 33% slower than normal to make it easier to follow along. You’ll
get a grasp on a wide range of vocabulary subjects.
o Listen and Read Along: This is exactly what it sounds like. Listen to stories and read along with
them by following the highlighted word. Hear pronunciation and intonation while getting a better
grasp on sentence structure.
o TOEFL TV: Get English-learning tips and learn about questions that appear on the TOEFL test.
o OMGmeiyu’s channel: This site is great for Chinese speakers. YouTube user OMGmeiyu uses her
animated style and knowledge of Chinese to help native Chinese speakers learn English in a fun and
relatable way.
o English with Jennifer: The host of this channel is a great ESL teacher for those who needs more
guidance than just reading off of websites. She’s separated her videos into playlists covering
vocabulary, verb tenses, pronunciation, and more.
o English Teacher Melanie: If you need some help with your pronunciation, particularly with an
American accent, English Teacher Melanie goes into detail in her videos, covering each sound and
explaining differences between American pronunciation and that of other areas .
o EF podEnglish: These English lessons are broken up into five-minute chunks and by skill level, so
you can get a quick lesson whenever you can fit it in.
o Teacher Phil: Study basic English, business English, idioms, and more with Teacher Phil. You’ll
learn how to speak with an American accent and use proper English, even taking on some of the
more confusing language rules.
*Taken from: http://oedb.org/ilibrarian/50_essential_resources_for_esl_students/