ESL Resources

Virginia Department of Education ESL

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.

Equipped for the Future (EFF) Teaching/Learning Toolkit
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 downloaded.

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:

  • Phrases for Conversation (complete with audio for repetition and pronunciation)
  • Picture Dictionary (hundreds of pictures of everyday items for vocabulary development)
  • Academic Vocabulary Exercises (for self-study and practice)
  • Great Links to the best ESL/EFL materials on the Internet

For teachers:

  • Tips for teaching speaking, writing, reading,
  • Business English, idioms, and
  • TOEFL Textbook recommendations for various courses and levels Handouts for use in supplementing lessons

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.

The ESL Quiz Center

ESL Reading for English Language Learners
The site includes: original and adapted versions of classic texts, including ghost stories, adventure stories, comic stories and poems. It also has pod casts.

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.

ESL Slang Page
A search-able list of American slang words and phrases with short definitions.

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.

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

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

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: http://marzioschool.free.fr/index.htm.

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

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

World Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA)