A collection of English Lessons
The following list of links was collected by OpenCulture.org…..
English
- 6 Minute English iTunes Free Downloads Web Site
- Learn and practice useful English with the BBC.
- Better @ English iTunes Free – Feed – Web Site
- Focuses on conversational English, with an emphasis on idioms and slang.
- Business English iTunes Free Web Site
- Learn the English you will need to function effectively in an American business environment.
- Effortless English iTunes Free Feed Web Site
- It gets solid reviews.
- English as a Second Language iTunes Free Feed Web Site
- A very well liked collection of ESL lessons. Over 100 episodes in the collection.
- English in the Real World - iTunes Free
- The focus here is on the business world and things financial.
- English for Spanish Speakers (’Por Fin Aprende Ingles’) iTunes Free Feed Web Site
- Si usted haya asistido al menos a un curso de ingles, y usted necesita la oportunidad de escuchar al ingles y hablar el ingles, entonces ‘Por Fin Aprende Ingles’ es el podcast perfecto para usted. Presentado por Carla Staufert-Sauvier, una profesora de Mexico, y Jade Lindquist, una profesora de los EE UU.
- ESL Business News iTunes Free Feed Web Site
- A weekly wrap of international business news read in slow, clear English. Listen to the broadcast and follow along in the accompanying script.
- Grammar Girl iTunes Free Feed Web Site
- Grammar Girl provides short, friendly tips to improve your writing. Whether English is your first language or your second language, these grammar, punctuation, style, and business tips will make you a better and more successful writer.
- Speaking English iTunes Free Feed Web Site
- 100+ lessons focusing on English pronunciation and vocabulary.
- The English We Speak - iTunes Free – Web Site
- Each week, the BBC looks at phrases used in the English language.
- Tu Ingles! iTunes Free Feed Web Site
- “Tu Ingles” is designed to help Spanish-speakers improve their ear for English. The weekly program features drills of verb conjugation, interviews, advice about idioms, and excerpts of speeches and other recorded spoken material from famous English speakers.
Bookmark our free English lessons section.
Animated Cursive
Cursive Practice
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Cursive Writing Practice
Cursive Video Tutorials
Writing in Cursive; Letter “A”Aa
Writing in Cursive; Letter “B”Bb
Writing in Cursive; Letter “C”Cc
Writing in Cursive; Letter “D”Dd
Writing in Cursive; Letter “E”Ee
Writing in Cursive; Letter “F”Ff
Writing in Cursive; Letter “G”Gg
Writing in Cursive; Letter “H”Hh
Writing in Cursive; Letter “I”Ii
Writing in Cursive; Letter “J”Jj
Writing in Cursive; Letter “K”Kk
Writing in Cursive; Letter “L”Ll
Writing in Cursive; Letter “M”Mm
Writing in Cursive; Letter “N”Nn
Writing in Cursive; Letter “O”Oo
Writing in Cursive; Letter “P”Pp
Writing in Cursive; Letter “Q”Qq
Writing in Cursive; Letter “R”Rr
Writing in Cursive; Letter “S”Ss
Writing in Cursive; Letter “T”Tt
Writing in Cursive; Letter “U”Uu
Writing in Cursive; Letter “V”Vv
Writing in Cursive; Letter “W”Ww
Writing in Cursive; Letter “X”Xx
Some songs with lyrics
New ESL site with technology tutorials and videos
www.englishlearns.com has a new look and new resources. The videos and tutorials are very helpful to those needing to catch up on basic computer skills. English learners will love the links on the main page. Teachers can use the printables on the teacher resources page.
www.englishlearns.com
Phrasal Verbs List
Here is a large list of phrasal verbs for reference.
100 Printable Templates
Here is a link I discovered on Freetech4teachers.com It has templates for cartoons, worksheets, brainstorms and much more.
Templates
Manythings.org
My favorite site and the site that introduced me (along with many others) to the possibilities of computers in education!
Grammar Power Points…
Gerunds, infinitives, verbals and other English grammar powerpoints for your studying pleasure….
English Banana
This site has a lot of teaching resources. The link here goes directly to a section where you can download an entire series of books full of ESL worksheets. You don’t have to print each 200 page book, just browse through it and print what you like.
Mr. Coburn’s Blogroll Summer 2011
Mr. Perez’s class activities
Grammar Exercises – Conditional sentences – if
- Conditional sentences – statements
- Conditional sentences I, statements
- Conditional sentences II, statements
- Conditional sentences III, statements
- Conditional sentences I – II, statements
- Conditional sentences I – III, statements
- Conditional sentences – negations
- Conditional sentences – type I
- Conditional sentences – type II
- Conditional sentences – type III
- Conditional sentences – type I – II
- Conditional sentences – type I – III
- Conditional sentences – mixed (Multiple choice)
- Conditional sentences – type I, simple sentences
- Conditional sentences – type I, special forms
- Conditional sentences – type II, simple sentences
- Conditional sentences – type II, special forms
- Conditional sentences – type III, simple sentences
- Conditional sentences – type III, special forms
- Conditional sentences I – II
- Conditional sentences I – III – Exercise 1
- Conditional sentences I – III – Exercise 2
- Conditional sentences I – III, special forms
- Conditional sentences – mixed (Fill-in Exercises)
- Conditional sentences I, Exercise 1
- Conditional sentences I, Exercise 2
- Conditional sentences II, Exercise 1
- Conditional sentences II, Exercise 2
- Conditional sentences III, Exercise 1
- Conditional sentences III, Exercise 2
- Conditional sentences – various (Fill-in Exercises)
- Find the correct conditions – Exercise 1
- Find the correct conditions – Exercise 2
- if-clauses – main clauses – Matching Exercise
Mr. Perez Activities
Word order in statements with expressions of place and time 
Word order in affirmative sentences – Exercise 1 
Word order in affirmative sentences – Exercise 2
Word order in affirmative sentences – Exercise 3
Word order in affirmative sentences – Exercise 4
Word order in affirmative sentences – Exercise 5
Carl Heine: Elearning Architect
Technology and education specialists must read this guy’s site. Very interesting.
Dr. Carl Heine
Grammar Exercises
News Stories for English Lessons
Here is a nice site I stumbled across while searching for ESL listening exercises.
News English Lessons
California Career Zone
Here is a nice site for researching career choices.
CASAS Activities
Here a nice site from the Milipitas ESL Computer Lab with some activities for CASAS tests organized by test number. There are many other resources teachers will find useful as well.
Employment Vocabulary
Here is a nice link to employment vocabulary words. This is one page in a much larger employment resources site for life skills lessons.
Storycorps for Listening
Storycorps is a project aimed at “Providing Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share and preserve the stories of their lives.” The site created for Storycorps allows visitors to listen to these wonderful interviews of the everyday American.
Storycorps
Semicolon: The most feared of all punctuation
When Kurt Vonnegut was asked for advice to new writers he said, ” Never use a semicolon.”
Fear no more! Here is a detailed and illustrated explanation of the most feared punctuation on earth.
How to use a semicolon
Semicolon Exercise
Punctuation Tutorials
Punctuation Exercises
Phrases and Clauses Power Point
Phrases and Clauses Power Point with nice and simple explanations.
Traffic Signs
Traffic sign images for beginning literacy students and life skills lessons.
Nice Resume Builder
Resume Companion is a very user-friendly resume builder that works great for ESL students. They input the information and the formatting and writing is completed automatically.
Need a presentation on a topic?
Don’t have time to make one? Well, on authorstream you can find presentations, in high quality, on a number of subjects. Just download the presentation and save it on your computer. It’s yours!
Box.net
Box.net is an application that allows you to upload files and share them. It is similar to Google Docs, but seems a little easier to use. This is a great way for teachers to distribute information quickly and efficiently.
Wordle for Synonym and Word Variety Lesson
Read this document: Click here first
Now go to Wordle and paste the text of the document to create a word cloud.
What words were used most often? Use the thesaurus to find synonyms for over used words.
Wordle on Steroids
Tagxedo is a cool new cloud generator with lots of features.
Step by Step Google Docs Instruction
Here is an article on using some new features in Google Docs. I have said it before and will say it again, if you don’t use Google Docs, you are missing out on one of the coolest free resources a teacher or student or anyone could ask for.
Google Doc New Features
Free Educational Software
That;s right, Free! Download any educational program free of charge. There are a variety of levels and subjects to choose from. A very useful resource in these times of budget cutbacks.
Best Technology Sites
Larry Ferlazzo is a man I admire. He is dedicated and consistent and helps so many educators. Whenever I am feeling stumped for lesson ideas or new techniques or tools, I check out Larry’s blog.
Below is a link to his Best Technology Sites list. Thanks again Larry.
Best Technology Sites
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2010/04/11/best-technology-sites/
Technology Links for ESL Students and Teachers
Here is a link to ITESL. This is a great resource for ESL technology links. There are so many useful links on so many topics I will refrain from trying to describe the massive compilation available and let you explore for yourself. You won’t be disappointed.
C4LPT has a great List of Tech Tools for Teachers and Students
I began compiling a list of great tools for educators and then ran across this list on Jane’s E-Learning Website. It was such a great list I decided I didn’t need to compile my own. Thanks Jane and C4LPT.
Learning Tool List
WordPress is the Future of the Internet
O.K., I stole that line from an article. The article link is below. I had to share it because I am a WordPress convert. After using Blogger, DevHub, Wikispaces, Edublogs and so many more website builders, WordPress has proven to be the best. So here is an article by a guy that agrees with me.
WordPress Is Fantastico!
How the Internet Works
What is Java? What is ActiveX? How does the internet work? Here are 20 questions and 20 answers for those with an urge to understand.
How Does the Internet Work?
My English Images for Worksheets
My English Images has some nice worksheets on a variety of ESL topics. They are all free and printable. They have attractive graphics as well.
Google docs for teachers
Upload student work, host important docs online, start using the cloud and more with Google docs. If teachers aren’t using this free resource, they need to get on it fast. Just sign up and you will know what I mean.
Google for Teachers
Websites for Kids: Parents Choice Awards
A list of sites voted most educational and accessible for kids.
Parents Choice Awards
Powerpoints for math
When I was a 4th grade teacher math was sometimes a difficult subject to get across to my students. I developed a lot of strategies that improved student understanding and engagement. One strategy that was quite effective was the use of Powerpoints. Below is a list of Powerpoints, some of which I actually used years ago, that are quite useful and effective for math teachers and students alike.
Math Powerpoint
Google Power User
Here is a guide to the Google features that many people don’t know about. You still have a flash drive? You must not be using Google docs. You have a cell phone and a TomTom? You need to read this.
Google Power User Guide (Maximum PC Link)
Mouse? What mouse?
Do not assume your students know how to use a mouse! Many students have no idea how to move a mouse or what buttons to click or what a scroll wheel is for.
The following sites help students with mouse skills and are important tools in any ESL computer lab.
40 mouse skill games
Mousercise
Irregular Verbs Listen and Repeat
Listen and repeat these irregular verbs. A great beginning activity.
Google Apps for Education: Why aren’t we using it?
I don’t know.
Google Apps for Education
Test your search skills
Here is a search skills test using Google and a timer to evaluate your mastery of internet searches. Think you are a Google master? Try the test…
Search Test
Information Illiteracy
Here is a link to an article on the importance of information literacy. Information literacy is the ability to navigate through the massive amount of information provided to us by search engines like Google. It is an essential skill that we are finding few people possess. It needs to be a c ore competency and as this article suggests, it is rarely emphasized as the essential skill that it is.
Information Literacy: A Neglected Core Competency
Resumes for McDonalds, Walmart and Burger King
Here are links to some popular online resumes. The resumes are real world practice for ESL students building life skills.
Resume Practice Links
Copyright For Teachers
Here is a link to the copyright laws for teachers.
Teachers Fair Use
Great Teacher Tools
This site allows you to make worksheets, flashcards and handouts with customizable words and images. It is a very useful tool.
Teacher Tools
ESL Glossary of Terms
Here is a useful list of terms ESL teachers need to know.
ESL Glossary
Search Strategies in Plain English
Search skills are an important asset in today’s world. Here is an instructional video for students to improve their search skills.
Search Strategies in Plain English
Great Blogging Video
Here is a link to a great introduction to blogging in the classroom. If you are a newbie to classroom blogging this video is worth a look.
Free Technology for Teachers: Blogging Video
Listening and TPR Exercises Online
This site has listening activities and reading activities for basic ESL skills. I discovered the site on Larry Ferlazzo’s blog ( which I highly reccomend ).
Online TPR Exercises
Create a Screencast
Screentoaster has been around for a couple of years now, but I thought a reminder of this easy to use free tool was in order. Give it a try and add lessons or presentations to your site in minutes.
Jing is the more widely used and a little more complicated screencasting tool. If you are more tech saavy you probably would be better off using Jing. If you need a screencast quickly and easily, then Screentoaster would be your best bet.
Find Kermit
How are your search skills? I found Kermit in 49 seconds. Try it yourself…
Search Skills Test
Student Learns English by Publishing a Book
Here is an interesting story about an ESL student that wrote a book in English.
Videos as an ESL tool
TESLclips is a great resource for videos to use in an ESL classroom. With clips from sitcoms like Seinfeld and Home Improvement, this site is sure to be a big hit with students.
TESLclips
Latin Roots
I taught a class today and was asked for advice on building vocabulary by one of the students. My advice was to learn the Latin and Greek roots of English. From around 100 frequently used roots a new ESL student could learn tens of thousands of new words. Here is a link to get you started.
Latin Roots
Publish Your Own Book
LuLu.com is a great site and I haven’t talked about it in a while. It allows you to publish a book, CD or DVD by uploading files to the site. Once uploaded you can print one copy or one hundred copies. Of course you have to pay for the printed product in book form. The great thing about this site is that it publishes on demand. If there are only two customers, it only prints two books. No up front cost or leftover inventory of unsold books.
Give it a look and it might be just the tool you need for your first great novel
LuLu
Computer Tutorials
Inpics.net is a great computer tutorial website with tutorials on access, publisher, and word. I will be using our computer ESL Lab. It might also be useful for Teacher Training. Give it a look.
Great Grammar Page
I ran across this fantastic page of grammar handouts and instructions. I immediately used the terms section with great success in a level 5 ESL class. It is a real gem of a resource for instructors looking for helpful handouts for grammar instruction.
www.careervoyages.gov
www.careervoyages.gov is a resource for job market information. You can click on an industry, find out the jobs projected to be in demand in that industry and view the salaries by state. This is a good career planning tool.
ESL Worksheets
This is a popular link for lesson ideas and worksheets for the ESL classroom. Many topics are covered and the worksheets are free, printable and in easy to use formats.
Flashcard Tool
Here is a nice tool for flashcards. You can create your own set and study any topic you like. It would be a great tool for teachers that want to review before a test or a teacher could create a set of flashcards and host them on a class websites for students to study at home. I am going to use this site as I prepare for my upcoming graduate school exam. I will let you know how I do.
How to Quickly Learn a Language
I ran across this blog post and was intrigued. As an ESL teacher and a language learner myself, this article gives me something to think about and a reason to hope that one day I will be able to speak to my Chinese neighbor with ease.
Keyboarding Skills
Keyboarding Skills are essential in todays technological environment. Here are some games students can use to sharpen this important first step in technology integration.
Keyboarding Skills
Evaluating Web Pages and Information Found on the Web
I found this link today and was very impressed. It is a guide for evaluating webpages. This is an important skill as more and more of our resources come from the internet. There is also a link here giving guidelines for evaluating information found on the web.
Evaluating Web Pages
Learn to Type and Rock Out with an English Moose
This site has always been a big success in my classes. Try it for yourself.
Datapig has great free Excel tutorials
Excel has so many features it is hard to learn them all. Datapig is a site with free screencast tutorials on the most useful excel features. It is a great resource for anyone with data to organize and analyze. Datapig also has tutorials on Access and they are free. This would be a great way for someone applying for an office job to strengthen their computer skills.
Voice of America for English Learners
This site is full of articles on topical events and issues written especially for ESL students. All of these articles are also available in MP3 format. Students can read along as they listen to the MP3 podcast, pausing or rewinding when necessary. VOA special English is a fun and effective way to increase vocabulary, improve pronunciation and sharpen reading skills.
VOA also has a link at the bottom of the page to Words and their stories which has short articles on various idioms in the English language. Words and Their Stories is available in MP3 format as well.
A new punctuation mark?
Do we need a punctuation mark for sarcasm?
Lessons for Living Well
Lessons for Living well is a great site for students to learn about eating healthy. Students at an intermediate ESL level can work independently and learn many new health vocabulary words.
Top 5 Sites for Learning English
With so many English Learning Sites out there, it’s important not to waste your time filtering out scam and advertising sites that care more about earning a dollar than helping students become fluent. The following sites have received the highest ratings from ESL students. They are all free. They are all high quality. Most importantly, they are all highly effective in helping students become fluent English speakers.
This site is used in primary schools throughout the United States. It is an excellent tool for developing a solid foundation of the English phonic and phoneme rules that are essential for a fluent English speaker.
Istutter
A friend of mine showed me this site. It is for stutterers, but the content can be used with ESL students as well. See what you think..
www.pocketmod.com is my new favorite list maker
If you are always trying to get organized by making lists, you are going to love www.pocketmod.com. It allows you to create and print small schedules. Here is a description from the site:
The PocketMod is a new way to keep yourself organized. Lets face it, PDAs are too expensive and cumbersome, and organizers are bulky and hard to carry around. Nothing beats a folded up piece of paper. That is until now. With the PocketMod, you can carry around the days notes, keep them organized in any way you wish, then easily transfer the notes to your PDA, spreadsheet, or planner. The PocketMod is a small book with guides on each page. These guides or templates, combined with a unique folding style, enable a normal piece of paper to become the ultimate note card. It is hard to describe just how incredibly useful the PocketMod is. It’s best that you just dive in and create one.
Training Videos for Teachers
Teachers new to the use of technology will find this site very useful. teachertraingvideos.com is a great site.
Make Use of Guides
MakeUseOf.com is a fantastic site for keeping up to date on the latest technology tips and tricks. Over the holidays I wanted to create a CD of Christmas music and was having some difficulty with certain songs that I wanted to include in the compilation. I found all the answers to my questions in a guide on the MakeUseOf.com website about Internet Music. The site also has guides for internet search, BitTorrent, networks, iTunes and many more. Check out the complete list of guides for a convenient resource to most of your computer questions.
Here is the ultimate computer geek link list!
A large, nicely categorized list of links for the internet aficionado. If you do not know what these links are then you should check them out. A teacher can’t really be considered tech savvy if he/she doesn’t know what Stumbleupon or Vimeo is.
Teacher Tools
Tools for educators has some great stuff for teachers including a bingo card creator, dice maker, worksheet maker, crossword maker and certificate maker. The tools are all easy to use and make a busy teachers life a little easier.
A Link for Using Google Maps to Tell a Story
I discovered this set of instructions today and had to share it. It is an exciting way for students to use Google maps to present a story or presentation or a report. I think it will be a big hit with teachers and students alike. I am going to try it with a class today. I will let you know how it goes.
ITESL Computer Assisted Language Learning
Here is a page with tons of links to CALL resources. Research, Activities and downloads are included in the list of resources. If you are new or just need some ideas about effectively using computers in the ESL classroom, this is a great place to start your research.
A Nice ESL Tutorial Site
I stumbled upon this site by viewing a powerpoint presentation they had uploaded to authorstream. My students like the tutorials and I like how easy they are to use.
Robert Kennedy’s speech on the day MLK was assassinated
This is an amazing speech and shows what a great leader Robert Kennedy was. On the day of King’s assassination their were riots in all of the major cities across the U.S. Theonly exception was the city where Robert Kennedy gave this impromptu speech. Right off the top of his head, he delivered a masterpiece!
Martin Luther King Jr. Final Speech
The last speech MLK gave before his assassination. He seemed to know something bad was going to happen.
Conversation Questions for ESL Students
Listed by topic, this sites conversation questions are all-encompassing. Students can become familiar with English conversations on almost any topic thanks to this fantastic list.
Phonics and Fry’s 300 Word List
Spelling can be a difficult skill to master in English. Here is a site with worksheets from Open Court Phonics. I have also included a link to Fry’s 300 Words
Englishcentral.com
Pronunciation practice is difficult for ESL students. Englishcentral.com is an excellent site for students that are looking for a way to practice pronunciation. The site is also a good tool for teachers that want to keep track of students progress. The site can give scores to students using voice recognition software. I am very impressed by this site. See what you think.
BetterTalking.Com Interview Practice Tool
This site is pretty cool. Simply register with your name and email and you will be given a phone number to call and a code to enter. After entering the code you will be asked several interview questions. When the interview is complete all your answers will be displayed in sound files for you to listen to or download. Try it out here.
Wisconsin Teacher Ideas
I stumbled upon this site last night and liked the interface. It is a nice way to utilize a website for idea exchange among educators. Take a look.
Education Technology Journal
Finally, an academic journal taking technology in education and publishing research on it’s effectiveness. For so many years the educational technology arena has needed this kind of access to research results that were not funded by a software firm.
Education and Technolgy
Click Here
The Philosophy of the Internet
Forgive me for this, but I am a sucker for this sort of thing. I was a philosophy major and I miss these lectures that snap things back into perspective. So if you like Kierkegaard, read this lecture for a deeper comprehension of where the internet and the enlightenment fulfill the same purpose
Read this Lecture
Understanding Google Wave and It’s Implications
I have heard about Google Wave for a while now. It isn’t available to the public yet, so I have no first hand experience with it. I don’t know anyone that uses it. I don’t really understand what it is. That is until I read the article linked here. Now I have seen the light. Google Wave will change the world.
Teacher Resource for Worksheets and Lesson Ideas
Below are links to two great ESL sites that have worksheets and lesson ideas for ESL students and teachers. I have used them both with great success.
ESLflow
www.englishlearns.com
www.englishlearns.com is a site created for the students and staff at the El Monte/ Rosemead Adult School. It is full of useful teacher and student resources. It also has examples of ESL student blogs.
Ted Talks New Feature
TED is a great way to keep up with the newest ideas percolating in the minds of our greatest thinkers. Today TED launched a new feature called Best of the Web. These talks are not restricted to talks given at TED conferences, but are talks collected from across the internet.
Interesting and Useful Verb Tool
Type a word and verbinator will conjugate it. The tool might be useful to students and teachers.
Check out these free web tools!! Unbelievable…
This is a list of 10 free web tools that few people know about. You may not be able to use all of them, but I guarantee at least one of them will make your life much easier!
ESLFLOW
This site is my favorite place to find teaching ideas for ESL classes. It has many topics and printable worksheets. ESLFLOW.COM
Englishspeak.com
Translate English words, phrases and conversations into many languages and hear proper pronunciation for every word. Easiest and highest reviewed website by ESL students everywhere. www.englishspeaks.com
Nice PDF Tool
Have you ever opened a PDF file and found it was locked. Here is a solution! PDF filler allows you to type and edit any PDF file, even if it is locked. It comes in handy.
Videos for the Classroom
Teachertube offers great educational videos for use in educational settings. Unlike Youtube, it is not blocked by most school filters.
Free Audiobooks
Lit2go is a site full of free audiobooks. Students and teachers will find this site very useful. Make that drive during rush hour a productive and enjoyable one by burning a book to a CD.
Printable Flashcards and Powerpoints
This site is very useful. It has printable flashcards for basic English words and phrases. It also has powerpoint flashcards that can be used with a projector in the classroom when first learning these words or phrases.
Irregular Verbs Practice
One of the most difficult aspects of learning English is mastering the irregular verbs. One way to commit the irregular verbs to memory is through chants. At www.manythings.org you can find a podcast with the irregular verbs recited in chant form accompanied by music. I have used this in a classroom setting as a daily activity with great results. Students can practice these chants at home. They not only help with the memorization of irregular verb tenses, these chants also give students pronunciation practice. Practice makes perfect!
Laryy Ferlazzo’s Blog is great!
Larry Ferlazzo has the ultimate ESL and teacher technology blog. It was his blog that gave me the idea of starting this blog you are reading right now. The link below is to a page Mr. Ferlazzo made with links to teacher handouts available throughout the internet. It is very extensive and will take some time to explore.
I have also included a link to Larry Ferlazzo’s blog. I suggest you check it out. It is updated consistently and always provides readers with inspiring and up to date information on technology in the classroom.
Beginning Vocabulary
Languageguide.com is a picture vocabulary site with audio. It is interactive and very helpful for beginning low and pre-literate students. There are many categories to choose from and most student students find the interface very user-friendly.
This site is not only for English vocabulary, but has several languages to choose from. As an ESL instructor I have often used it as a resource when trying to communicate with non-English speaking students.
Prepositions for Beginners
Prepositions can be troublesome for beginning ESL students. The link below provides elementary practice on the basic prepositions in English. It is a self-directed activity excellent for computer labs serving beginning ESL learners. It begins with a quick lesson and is followed by three quizzes. It encompasses listening, reading and visual recognition. Just another tool in your English Learning bag of tricks.
Student study links
This site has tons of useful links for teachers and students of ESL.
Lingro
Enter a web site url and make all words on that page clickable for definitions. Click here…
More Teacher Handouts
I found this site by chance while stumbling along the internet. It is a very well put together resource site for beginning ESL teachers that need some materials and ideas. Take a look and explore the different sections for printables, lesson ideas and more.
Teacher Handouts
ESLFlow.com is a fantastic resource for printable teacher handouts and lesson ideas. There are hundreds of topics with links to very useful worksheets. It is an invaluable site for ESL teachers.
Myenglishimages.com is a site with handouts on ESL topics. What sets this site apart are the images on the printable worksheets. Images are always useful to language learners and this site takes that into account .
A song a student sang to me….
Click the link below to hear a song sung to me by an 81 year old ESL student. I wonder why all the other students laugh when they hear it?
ELLLO for listening practice
ELLLO is a great site for listening practice. I often have trouble downloading or listening to the podcasts on ESL sites, but this one worked very well. My students loved it and I found it a great resource for listening skills practice.
Basic Vocabulary
Useful little site for vocabulary practice.
Useful Site for ESL
This a great ESL site with a leveled organization and easy interface.
More ESL resources…..
This site is full of ESL resources. It is created for French speakers, but the resources on the site can be used for any ESL student. Take a look and I guarantee you will find something useful for your classroom.
Create material for students online and check their progress…
Kubbu is a site that allows teachers to create student activities. I included an example from Larry Ferlazzo’s post that to give you an idea of just one of the possibilites.
Lots of Vocabulary games and more…
These games are related to stories in a text book but you don’t need to read the stories or own the textbook to benefit from most of the activities. Try the site out here.
32 great internet tools for teachers, students or humans in general….
Larry Ferlazzo has posted a best of list with 32 great sites on it. Check it out.
Phonics and Learning to Read
This is hands down the best site on the web for learning to read English! I have seen amazing results with my students in pre-literacy classes after using this site. From letter recognition and phonics to beginning reading, this site is top of the line!
VOA
Halloween Project How to list
An unbelievably long list of Halloween projects and how to pull them off. I was amazed at the huge selection.
Columbus Day Resources
Here is a link to a list of Columbus Day Sites.
Miro is like itunes for video, but it’s free!
Miro allows you to keep a collection of videos for your own personal use in your classroom or at home. It makes using videos in lessons easy.
Google apps for education fixes school email and file sharing hassles
Google apps for education now offers free email and collaboration tools. It saves schools a lot of money and frees up time for the IT crew. It seems to be a solution to a lot of the budget problems California Schools are experiencing. Many Universities and city governments already use it including Notre Dame, Northwestern, Purdue, Columbia and the city of Atlanta.
Create a chatroom for English practice with up to 12 students
Tinychat allows you to create a chatroom for up to 12 users. This might be a great tool for English writing practice between students and teachers.
Easy translator
tradukka.com/ is a simple translator with a nice and simple interface.
YAPPR update
YAPPR was a great site that allowed users to watch videos transcribed in English and a few other languages. It was one of my favorite sites. Unfortunately they have begun charging a fee. It looks like YAPPR will be scratched off my list of best ESL sites. It’s too bad it couldn’t make it. It was a great site.
Easy Website Creator
Wix is a flash website creator that is free and easy to sign up for. The websites it allows you to create are quite attractive visually. I haven’t fully explored it’s features but it looks promising.
Pageflakes keeps all your favorite sites open on your homepage
Pageflakes is a useful tool that allows you to choose up to 10 sites to keep open and loaded on your homepage. It can really make your computer routine efficient.
If you use Firefox I suggest Speed Dial for the same purpose.
Obama’s Speech
Here is a text of Obama’s speech. I keep hearing a lot of controversial reactions to the speechin the media. I wanted to see if the speech warranted any concern. I thought it would be best to post the text here so we can all read it and decide for ourselves.
Brainpop ESL Launches Today!!
Brainpop is a site with short educational animated videos on many topics. I have used it many times with great success as an introduction to new topics in science, math, history or other subjects over the years. Today they are launching a series of videos covering ESL topics. I am very excited and suggest everyone talk a look.
The Big List
The Big List is a website from Long Beach City College filled with ESL lessons and links.
USALearns webcast for new users
USALearns.com has posted a webcast on OTAN that introduces the site to new teachers. This is one of the best free English sites out there. The webcast is definitely worth a look.
Teacher Tool Downloads (fantastic)
Filehippo.com shares some great downloads on this page. For video converting and audio recording or editing, this list of free downloads is all you need. The tech savvy teacher probably already uses most of these. If you haven’t heard of them, check them out, it’s 2009 already!!! Donate your SRA’s to a third world country and turn your computer into a full fledged multimedia producer and publishing house.
Idioms
Idioms, plain and simple.
Open Office
Open source suite of office tools.
Teacher Tools
Teachers love tools that make their job easier. Well, this is one great site. It has several simple tools for teachers that come in handy and give teachers more time to relax.
Karaoke
Karaoke English is a fun site for students to practice listening skills with popular songs of the past. A limited selection of songs, but always a hit with students.
Comprehensive list of links…
This site has a comprehensive list of links that may put ESLTek out of business. Check it out and you will find something useful, guaranteed!
Learning Games
Here is a neat site for learning games. Kids gotta have fun! They might as well learn…..
Englishspeak is a great site for beginning language learners
The number one benefit of this site is it’s feature which translates words, phrases and even dialogues into many different languages. It also has audio so the student can practice pronunciation. Highly reccomended for beginning learners that just want to know common phrases to get by…
USA Learns
Many schools in California are shutting there doors this summer due to the budget crisis. Students in some districts will have to wait until September to resume their ESL classes. There are ESL schools that students can pay for courses in the summer, however the fees can be prohibitive to many. Thank heaven for sites like USALEARNS! This site is a free English course that students can register for and complete on their own schedule. Check it out! It’s fun, high quality, multilevel and free of charge.
Fun with Cartoons in ESL
Simple and quick site for 1-6 panel cartoons in black and white
More options, in color, but takes some time to master all the possibilities
The first comic maker I ever used. Simple with funny ( maybe sarcastic) looking characters
the following sites allow animation…
Go animate is one of the best known free animation makers…
This was a suggestion from a fellow teacher that uses it in his ESL class with great results…
Top 100 search queries used by kids
What do you think kids look for on the web? Well here is an article and a list to answer that question. Some results are predictable, some worrisome.
Typing Skills
Research has shown that English Learning Programs are only beneficial if students have the skills to use the computers! This seems obvious, however many students are sat in front of a computer with an English program running and told to begin. It is essential that teachers assess students skills before putting them on the computer. The following link is a great site for improving students typing skills. It is fun and effective. I have used it many times and can testify to it’s quality.
Larry doesn’t stop!
I am often asked where I find all of the sites about ESL that I am constantly recommending. The answer is simple. I check into Larry Ferlazzo’s blog a few times a week. Larry is amazing. He posts links to at least 3 blogs related to education every day. Explore the archives. You’ll be glad you did.
Make a video of yourself for your blog
Recordr is a great tool for embedding a video of yourself in your blog or website. Very Useful.
Easy and nice looking slide presentations
Powerpoint is old! 280 slides is new!
YAPPR.com
Watch videos and have them subtitled in one of many languages. A great tool for ESL students. Music, news, humor, and many other video topics including the president’s weekly address.
Math Practice
Embed audio on your blog or or website
Audiopal allows you to embed audio on your website using text to speech, a telephone or a computer mike. It’s free and easy!
Short Biographies of over 30,000 people
This is a great resource for ESL students. It is a great tool for assimilation. I have noticed many students aren’t aware of cultural figures that I mistakenly assumed everyone had heard of. Just this week I mentioned Albert Einstein and discovered almost a third of my class had never heard of him. I hope you find Factmonster useful.
