Internet Resources for Students Parents and Educators.
Note-All websites are very useful in the ELL classroom as well as classrooms with non-ELL’s. These
websites are very practical in use and they offer a variety of information to be used as whole group, small
group, or one on one instruction. Some are student centered as well as teacher centered!
http://www.eslkidstuff.com/MembersMenu.htm
This site contains many resources for the elementary ESOL teacher. The main menu includes the following:
flash cards (with pictures), worksheets, craft ideas, on-line games and activities, teaching tips, links to articles,
and more. The site is fairly user friendly. It provides many ideas for activities to use in the classroom and
organizes them alphabetically.
www.pbskids.org/lions
This site is based on the PBS kids show “Between the Lions.” It has a number of resources for phonics
instruction, phonemic awareness, vocabulary development, fluency, and comprehension. The games on the site
are engaging and fun. The site has a section for educators and parents. It provides ideas for lessons. There is
also a section on specific research studies that have looked at the effects of viewing the show on school
children. One of the studies specifically addresses ELLs.
http://www.manythings.org/
This site is a grouping of resources for learning English as a second language. There are games and activities
that learners can play. The site has sections of games for vocabulary, grammar, sentence patterns, listening,
reading, spelling, etc. There are many games and quizzes with picture support provided. The site’s resources
can be used K-12 (and for adult learners, as well).
http://www.colorincolorado.org/
The Colorin Colorado site is for educators and parents. It is a bilingual website, in English and Spanish. It
focuses on Spanish speaking ELLs and their families. The site provides numerous resources to teachers,
librarians, administrators, and families of ELL students. It has links to activities, strategies, research, and other
information for users. The site focuses on children in the preK-grade 3 age range.
http://www.readingrockets.org/audience/teachers/
This site is filled with information on teaching reading and other literacy skills to children. There are tabs for
educators, administrators, librarians, and families. Experts have sections devoted to answering questions about
student learning issues and providing advice to educators and families. There are links to current research in
reading. The website provides resources for working with families, working with struggling readers, and
strategies for teaching reading. The site is available in both English and Spanish.
http://www.favoritepoem.org/index.html
This site houses the information, videos, and other resources related to the “Favorite Poem Project.” This is a
project founded by Robert Pinsky, the 39th Poet Laureate of the US. The project is a collection of videos of
Americans commenting on and reading their favorite poems. There are videos of people from all walks of life
included. This site may be a helpful resource for activities for ELLs involving the listening domain of language
development. It may also be a springboard for lessons in poetry for older (middle school and older) students.
http://www.languageguide.org/
This site has links to interactive diagrams for over 12 languages. When the user clicks on “English,” for
instance, a list of links to many topics appears. To explore the vocabulary of a topic, for example, “the body,”
the user clicks on that topic and a diagram comes up of a person with body parts marked with lines and circles.
The user can scroll the mouse over these marked areas, and a voice will say the part of the body and display the
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word. This site may be helpful to ELLs as they learn English vocabulary. The information is provided to the
learner both in visual and auditory formats, and it is somewhat interactive as the user must scroll over the
picture to determine the information they will receive.
http://www.elllo.org
This site is the English Listening Lesson Library Online. It provides 1,000 lessons to those who would benefit
from listening to English language conversations that are presented in a naturalistic format. Each of the lessons
has a picture related to the conversation, a transcript of the conversation, and a recording of the conversation.
The listener can also hear about other cultures from English speakers around the world.
www.readwritethink.org
This website is sponsored by the International Reading Association and the National Council of Teachers of
English. The site provides numerous resources for teaching reading and writing to teachers in two categories:
classroom resources and professional development. Under the classroom resources, lesson plans, student
interactive, calendar activities, and print-outs are provided. Under the professional development tab, teachers
can access information on strategies, professional library resources, and online development courses. There is
also an area of the site that provides parent and afterschool resources.
http://www.freelang.net/dictionary/index.php
This site has free dictionary downloads for over 250 languages. It organizes its dictionaries alphabetically and
by language family. The site also provides links to various free translation applications online. The user can
find translations of various word lists and sayings in numerous languages. These lists are often put together by
Everything ESL: this site lists many different sites to help ESOL student’s in and out of the classroom. The sites are
divided into grade levels so you can find the appropriate sites for the student.
http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/elementary_sites_ells_71638.php
Storyline Online: this site has many different stories that are read by a person from the book, they also have the
captions on the bottom of the screen so the students will be able to listen and see the words as it is read to them. It can
be viewed full screen so that the captions are a little larger.
http://www.storylineonline.net/
Literacy Center: this site lets you choose from 4 different languages to work on different activities to work on language
development. This site would be for beginning to develop a second language. There are also lesson plans that go along
with the different activities.
http://www.literacycenter.net/
Easy CBM: this site allows you to measure student fluency, reading comprehension, and math skills. All of the activities
are leveled and can be printed there are also online quizzes. You can enter data so that you can track their progress.
www.easycbm.com
Book Report Sandwich Station: on this site students can put in the information about a book that they read and it will
walk them through each section of the report. At the end they can print out their report to share with the class.
http://www.scholastic.com/kids/homework/sandwich.asp
English Club: worksheets for ESL students. The worksheets give examples for the student and the worksheets are in PDF
format so they can be projected onto the smart board. This way the students can have a visual on their desk and one on
the board that the teacher can write on as well.
http://www.englishclub.com/esl-worksheets/index.htm
Teaching Vocabulary in Context: this is a great resource for ESOL teachers with some good ideas to teacher vocabulary
in context to make it meaningful and fun.
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http://doritsasson.suite101.com/teaching-vocabulary-in-context-a38469
Dictations-Writing Practice for Beginning Language Learners: this site has many different dictations which focus on
specific learning points. The student can listen to the dictation and write down what they hear; this would be a good
listening/writing activity to see where they are in their language acquisition.
http://esl.about.com/od/listening/a/b_diclist.htm
Grammar Chants: these would be a fun way to introduce/review grammar in the classroom. You could have a student
lead the chant and then they could switch off it would be a fun way for the students to put their own creativity into the
chants.
http://esl.about.com/od/grammarchants/Grammar_Chants.htm
Six Group Activities for Teaching ESL Children: this site gives has six ideas that get the kids involved in the in the lesson
by playing games. They are very simple and probably common sense but give a little explanation of how to split into
groups and get started.
http://iteslj.org/Lessons/Elliott-GroupActivities.html
www.manythings.org - This is a site that offers a variety of activities centered on listening, speaking, reading,
and writing. This site can be used across the grade levels. It can be used for levels of entering through
bridging.
www.eslgamesworld.com - This is an interactive site packed with games to challenge all levels of play.
Games include L-Arts, Grammar, and math activities. Some games are printable, presented as PowerPoint, and
there are also game templates to download. The levels if guided can be from entering to bridging.
www.eslpartyland.com – (ESL Party land-Teach English as a second language) This is site where you can log
on as a student or teacher. This site provides information on ways to learn English as a student and teaching
English as a second language. When you navigate through the site as student or teacher you will also have an
opportunity to play games/activities centered on grammar. It also allows teachers to teach lessons that deal with
speaking (conversation), listening, and reading. The site appears to be more geared to the middle or high school
student, but can be tailored to fir younger students as well.
www.linguistic-funland.com - (Linguistic Fun land) A website that provides a vast list of other websites whose
focus is the ELL. The sites offer activities and provide information from the beginner to the advanced learner.
Some of the websites are free, while others offer opportunities to become paid members. I visited one of the
sites that I have listed as number
www.spellingcity.com- This is a site that appears to be for the primary and intermediate elementary student
through middle school. This site has an abundance of spelling games and activities. Some of the games and
activities include spelling unscramble, match it sentence, and word o rama (the word o rama talks, so it can be
an interactive game on the interactive whiteboard) and many more. These games offer many different topics
within the actual play of the game. Does that make sense? (May need to get to this website through)
www.linguistic-funland.com
www.englishinteractive.net (English Interactive) A wonderful interactive website focusing on activities that
engage the learner in the academic areas of vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. It also offers learning
activities in the areas of speaking, listening, reading and writing. The levels of learners are from basic to
advance. This is another website where the interactive white board would be a great sidekick.
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www.eflgames.com (Matching Words) This website offers matching games. There are games that match
antonyms, synonyms, phrasal verbs, general knowledge, and mystery words. Each of these games gives you
one half of the answer and you have to match the connecting part. For example, under mystery words; one
word might say drink, and then you have to find the match of: milkshake. If you get a milkshake first, then you
must find the first half. The levels are from beginning to advance.
www.digitaldialects.com - This is a marvelous website in my opinion. I think it is wonderful because it can be
used from students through adults. (parents and teachers) This website allows you to practice learning 60
different languages through audio and/or text type games and activities. Students can even practice other
languages other than their own. Non-ELL’s can also benefit from this website.
www.eslkidstuff.com This is a website that provides activities and games in the following areas: classroom,
flashcards, songs and the alphabet. It is a site for primary students, but could easily be tailored to upper
elementary. Each of the sections is alphabetically arranged.
www.esl-lounge.com This website is geared toward the advanced learner. At the beginning of the site there is
a note that basically says even though this is an advanced site, it is not for those that have studied English for 45 academic years and are preparing to take the (TOEFL, FCE, or CAE) examinations. The website offers
games, and activities in many areas. Just to name a few: L-arts including grammar, paired activities,
conversation, and vocabulary activities.
http://a4esl.org/: This web site is a great tool that can help ESL students learn. It provides the opportunity for
students to take bilingual test and that way students can also learn in their own language.
http://www.eslpartyland.com/: This is another great site where both teachers and students can find great
information and resources. This site has helpful tool to learn English as a second language and also provide
tools to teach English grammar games.
http://www.eslamerica.us/: This is a site that provides different activities for English learners. The can listen for
pronunciation of different subjects.
http://www.englishpage.com/: This site allows English learners to practice different things. One thing I really
like is the fact that students can work and find the correct answer right on.
http://www.esl-lab.com/: This is a site where students can practice great listening skills. It has a great list of
conversations between adults and children so that children can relate to.
http://www.5minuteenglish.com/: This web site also provides grammar, reading, vocabulary, listening,
pronunciation, slang/Idioms.
http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/elementary_sites_ells_71638.php: This is a great link to many sites
that can be really helpful to teachers and students.
http://www.uni.edu/becker/TESOL_ESL2.html: I really like this web site for its children friendly look. I can
really see elementary students surfing through to find some great ways to learn English.
http://www.manythings.org/: This website is linked to other website to provide adequate resources. It provides
help the language component of learning English.
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http://www.uic.edu/depts/tie/coolsites.htm: Although some of the sites in this link may probably be on the list
above already, it has lots of great websites that can be really helpful to all teachers, students, and parents. It’s
like a one stop resource for English learners to find resources.
www.starfall.com Starfall.com teaches children to read with phonics. This website is good for students in
preschool through third grade and is great for students that are English Language Learners Students love to use
Starfall.com. Their website offers direct instruction in phonics and reading. It also has calendar activities, math
and nursery rhymes.
www.pbskids.org Students love this website. It is for children in the early elementary school years. This
website has video clips, games, activities and resources for children to interactively engage in reading. This site
is a great resource for creating lessons and helping educators provide instruction in all aspects learning how to
read from vocabulary development to fluency and comprehension.
http://www.abcfastphonics.com
This is an interactive site where children learn alphabet letters, consonants, vowels and vowel rules, letter
blends and common words, along with many pictures to enjoy. It also teaches children what each part of
reading is as far as describing the alphabet, letter sounds, words, how words are made, letter repeats,
consonants, letter blends and vowels.
http://www.storylineonline.net
This website features famous people reading a variety of different books aloud to children. Each book contains
lesson plan ideas and activities. You can also subscribe to a newsletter.
http://www.funbrain.com/funbrain/grammar/
Funbrain is a website geared towards students in K-8th grade. It has math and reading games. It also has a blog
for girls and boys. This site also has a curriculum guide to match the activities to the lessons being taught. As
well as a curriculum guide it has a standards guide to match the activity with the national standards in grade
levels K-8.
http://www.harcourtschool.com/menus/language_arts/grammar_park_g3.html
This website is geared towards third grade. There are many different games for students to learn and work on
their grammar skills from parts of a sentence to nouns and verbs and punctuation.
http://www.manythings.org/
This site is geared towards ELLs to help increase vocabulary usage, grammar, speaking, listening and reading
skills. There are multiple choice, true/false and fill in questions and quizzes with sound. I have not tried this
website with my students, yet but I am definitely going to use it.
http://www.learner.org/interactives/spelling/
This website provides spelling practice for students in 1-12th grade. Sentences are read aloud and the spelling
word is pronounced but students need to fill in the correct spelling of the word. There is a help button that
students can link to if they need to hear the word repeated or see its part of speech or definition. Students can
check their scores and see what they have misspelled or spelled correctly.
http://www.colorincolorado.org/
This website is in both Spanish and English. It is geared towards parents and teachers. It is a great site since it
is not only in English but also students whose parents speak only Spanish can read information contained in this
site. One of the great features of this site it that it contains a book and author list. Some of the books listed are
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bilingual or picture books. The lessons and activities focuses on K-3 but the activities can be modified for any
grade level.
http://www.speakaboos.com/ Speakaboos is a collection of online stories read by celebrities. Each story is
read aloud with flash illustrations and the words are on each page. If you sign up for a free subscription you can
download stories. This site helps students with reading, writing and listening. There are also lesson plans,
spelling activities, word jumbles and word activities. You could utilize these activities on a Smart board or
print them.
www.starfall.com This website is great for grades k-2. It has reading activities and is very user friendly.
Students can learn their sounds and practice various reading activities.
http://www.readinga-z.com/
This website has leveled reading books, phonics activities, alphabet cards, and vocabulary activities. All
students can read books on their reading level. It also has various reading books and activities translated into
Spanish.
http://www.tumblebooks.com/
This website has plenty of story books that are read out loud to students. Students are then given the chance to
take a comprehension quiz at the end. All the questions are read aloud, so it works well with struggling readers.
http://www.english-4kids.com/lessons.html
This website has many reading and math activities. It also shows power point presentations on different skills.
http://www.visuwords.com/?word=figure+of+speech
This website is an online dictionary where you can look up unknown words and their association with other
words.
http://www.cheney268.com/learning/organizers/Reading.htm
This website has many graphic organizers for different skills such as analyzing characters, words, plot,
summary, etc.
http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/vocab/wordo.html
This website has various word activities. One of the games is called “wordo”
http://www.aacompcenter.org
Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center provides technical assistance and resources that support
improved student learning and achievement.
http://www.promisingpractices.net
Peer assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) are provided on this site. Lessons that are 25-35 minutes for math and
reading activities suggest implementation 3-4 times per week and are designed to complement not replace
existing reading and math curricula. PALS combine peer tutoring with instructional principles and practices.
Teachers identify and pair children who require help with specific skills (“players”) with children who are the
most appropriate to help other children learn those skills. The pairs of students have the opportunity to be
coaches and players
http://www.schoolfamily.com
This site supports parent in helping to keep children focused on their schoolwork and learning.
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http://www.everythingesl.net
Excellent site! This was given to us in the linguistics class. I continue to use it as a resource. Lesson plans,
teaching tips resource pick, and even access to Judy Hayes, the author of so many resources for teaching ELLS.
http://www.dropbox.com/
This site gives tools to access your information from all of your technical sources. Download is free. A great
way to manage documents, pictures, and other important information that you use in your daily life, either
professionally of private.
http://www.corestandards.org
Learn about common core standards that provide clear expectations for learners in public schools. These
standards are relevant and rigorous to apply real world knowledge and skills for the future of the nation.
http://www.huffenglish.com
This web resource gives ideas, and discusses issues that confront English education and technology. I used to
research writing quality essential questions. There are links to teaching ideas, books, handouts, Web quests,
treasure hunts, and other information to help make your teaching style “pop!” An excellent resource for
American Literature and British Literature teachers/professors.
http://stenhouse.com
This is a good resource for professionals, created by teachers for teachers. The RESA reading certification
program used this site extensively. I found an article written by Eric Palmer, for the Colorado Reading Council
Journal, Reading Like A Speaker: Using the Oldest Language Art and Web Tools to improve Reading
Instruction. We should not ignore technological realities and the ways technology increases the demand to be
well spoken. This article led me to the following web sites that are fun to use and should be useful in the
classroom
http://www/vacaroom.com
This is free, easy to use site that records voices. The recordings can be embedded in a web page or wiki and
you can obtain a link to share so that anyone with web access can listen to the recordings. A great way to
encourage children to read, listen and practice there speaking skills.
http://www.showbeyond
This is another free site that students can use to create digital stories with print and narration.
http://www.zooburst.com
A free storybook website that students can use to create on line and sometimes interactive digital books.
http://voicethread.com
A teacher or student can create a page with image, text, or narration that will allow comments to be posted and a
group to actively interact.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/ BBC: Learning English
The BBC "Learning English" webpage offers English language-learning multimedia tools such as short courses
and quizzes to test grammar and vocabulary. They offer some material in other languages, including Chinese,
Russian, Arabic, Portuguese, and Spanish. Grammar Challenge
Worksheets for teachers to use with individual episodes of our Grammar Challenge series.
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http://www.miguelmllop.com/index.php My Own Resources
This site is for teachers and students of English (ESL/EFL) with selected links. It includes a Practice section
with graded grammar exercises, reading comprehension exercises, false friends, cartoons, songs, irregular verbs,
word searches, crosswords and more.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/writinglab/ Purdue OWL Engagement - Welcome to the Purdue University .
The Purdue OWL Engagement CWEST ESL Materials: materials and quizzes on English grammar and
mechanics.
The Community Writing and Education Station (CWEST) resource area for ESL writing materials provides
information about a number of ESL writing issues that can be identified as important. Here you will find
information on and exercises for the following:
•Combining sentences •Prepositions
•Pronouns •Punctuation •Paraphrasing and summarizing.
They also provide suggestions for further reading and studying on the Purdue OWL.
http://edvista.com/claire/internet-esl.html The Internet for ESL Teachers: This is Claire Braden's collection
of pedagogical articles. Follow the link to her homepage for more technical information.
Basic Internet Tools for Foreign Language Educators - by Jean W. LeLoup & Robert Ponterio. Using the
Internet - by SOFWeb at the University of Victoria
http://www10.bogglesworld.com A plethora of activities and planning materials for ESL teachers.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/teachingenglish/grammar_vocabulary/funky_phrasals/
Worksheets for teachers to use in tandem with our series about phrasal verbs - Funky Phrasals.
www.manythings.org - This site offers a diverse amount of activities centered on listening, speaking, reading,
and writing. This site can be used across the grade levels. It can be used for all levels of entering through
bridging.
http://www.scholastic.com/kids/homework/sandwich.asp
http://www.starfall.com/ The Starfall Store. This is a wonderful kid friendly website. I like this website
because the students can hear the sounds of each letter in the alphabet. There are great visuals of adults saying
the different sounds along with other words. This is a website for younger children who are beginning to learn
English.
http://www.cmlibrary.org/bookhive/zingertales/
Bookhive-Your Guide to Children’s Literature
This website has story tellers that tell stories. The students can listen to stories being told by different
people. The children could pick a story that they would like or pertains to their culture and listen to a story
teller.
www.englishpage.com Amazing website! This site would be good for many different ages. There are weekly
lessons that can be done. Someone could type their answers (verb tense, nouns, etc.) and check to see if it is
right. There is also a dictionary link where you can type in a word and it can translate the word to English or
any other language. There are games, vocabulary development and much more. Great Resource!
http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/elementary_sites_ells_71638.php
This is a webpage that list numerous websites for ELL in elementary school. There are songs, games,
vocabulary, story telling, etc.
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www.nickjr.com This website is primarily for preschool students. There is a huge selection of resources for
little children. Such as connect the dots, find what doesn’t belong, create crafts, sing songs and much more. This
is a very kid friendly site with many cartoon characters to which children could relate. The website also gives
tips for parents and kids health issues along with recipes and videos of topics concerning children.
www.5minuteenglish.com This is a great website for adolescents and adults. A student would need to know
many words in English before going to this site. There are lessons in grammar, reading, listening,
pronunciation, idioms, etc. For example, during the reading lesson the student reads a section and then takes a
quiz to check for understanding.
http://hubbs.spps.org/Conversation_for_ELLs.html I chose this website because it will help students with
their functional conversational skills. Skills such as ordering food, getting medical advice, starting a
conversation, etc. are included on this site. This website offers a listening component as well as a written
component. So the student can hear how the words are pronounced. There are many sponsors on the site and
some links are not accessible. However, there were many links that could be very helpful so I included this site.
http://www.esldesk.com/spelling/words This is a wonderful resource for beginners at any age. There are
spelling words to learn from grades 1-7. There are conjunctions, prepositions, nouns, pronouns, etc. This is
primarily a spelling website and a great way to learn vocabulary words!
http://www.scholastic.com/kids/homework/sandwich.asp This is a helpful concept for children writing book
rports. It compares parts of a book report to parts of a sandwich. There are also reading activities and links to
other helpful sites.
http://www.ixl.com/math/grade-1/counting-up-to-100 Excellent Math website for skills from Pre-K to 8th
grade. There are practice exercises for counting, comparing, classifying, shapes, money, etc. on the left side of
the webpage. There are several practice exercises for each grade level with immediate feedback as to whether
the answer is correct
http://www.ehow.com/list_7214699_esol-reading-exercises.html This site offers ESOL reading exercises that
can be accommodated for all grade and proficiency levels. These fun motivating activities serve as strategies to
increase reading comprehension, vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar skills. Some of the activities include:
find the missing word, true or false, and text mazes where the student must find a section of text not just
individual words in order to solve the maze.
http://www.ehow.com/list_5979023_esl-problem-solving-games.html having fun with a variety of games help
to eliminate the frustration of learning a new language. This site offers engaging esl games such as people
guess, picture bingo, guess the object, and story picture play. These games are designed to increase
comprehension, vocabulary and communication.
http://www.starfall.com/ This is a great site that many of us are familiar with. Starfall promotes English
Language development and offers many activities that are easy to navigate along with the instruction being
student-directed. This site is geared toward the primary grades with a focus on reading, phonics and phonemic
awareness. This source serves as a support to ELL students and all students struggling with reading.
http://www.rif.org/kids/readingplanet/bookzone/read_aloud_stories.htm This site features read along stories
and songs, some of which are read and sung in Spanish. The collection of stories and songs are targeted for the
primary grades. As the stories are being told each individual word is highlighted.
http://www.literacycenter.net/lessonview_en.php This site is a product of the Literacy Center Education
Network and is a non-profit organization. Here you will find easy child friendly activities for learning the
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alphabet (upper and lower case), shapes, colors, numbers, words and writing. In addition you can choose from
four languages to access these activities. These lessons are suitable for pre-school and kindergarten, however,
many first graders may benefit too!
http://pbskids.org/lions/videos/ The PBS site offers games, stories, many wonderful short video clips teaching
letter/sound recognition, blends, vowel pairs, letter songs and more. If you haven’t seen between the Lions on
PBS it’s a must see for language development. Primary age children especially young Ell’s will be excited to
watch and learn from these resources. Admittedly, I found myself watching several of the videos! In addition,
PBS offers resource information for teachers and parents as well.
http://www.storylineonline.net/ Storyline online presents stories read by actors from the Screen Actor’s Guild.
These great stories are also accompanied with lessons and activities. The stories illustrations come to life
through animation to add excitement and are very engaging to young readers! This site is recommended for
grades first through fourth.
http://www.storyplace.org/preschool/other.asp This site offers several online stories with many stories pre-k
and kindergarteners will find interesting. Along with these stories include activities and suggested reading lists.
Also, there are resources for parents to access for suggestions and ideas to extend activities related to the stories.
http://www.scholastic.com/kids/homework/spelling.htm this site offers a fun alternative to learning spelling
words. Students can create their own word searches and spelling scrambles. These activities are for grades 3-5,
however, these learning strategies could be modified for the younger grades. Also found on this site are more
links for activities and free printable worksheets for grades pre-k though five.
http://www.funbrain.com/plurals/index.html Fun brain provides fun animated games focusing on grammar
skills. Students can choose the level of difficulty. This will be helpful to accommodate different English
proficiency levels. A few games to choose from include Grammar Gorillas, played at a beginner level focusing
on nouns and verbs or at a higher level practicing other parts of speech. If the correct part of speech is chosen
the gorilla gets a banana. Another game is The Plural Girls where the student selects the correct plural form of
the word. In addition, these and other games on this site can be played in the form of fill in the blank and
multiple choices along with selecting the level of difficulty. These games are recommended for advanced
beginners in grades 3-5.
www.esl-kids.com/eslgames/eslgames.html This is a great website for flashcards, worksheets and classroom
games for ESL students. It also has children’s songs and nursery rhymes you can use in your lessons.
http://www.eslkidstuff.com/index.htm ESL online learning Games: This is a great site for ESL resources.
The site is for teachers and parents. It has flashcards, worksheets, crafts and games to help you in your
classroom. It also has lesson plans, song sheets, terrific ESL articles and links. I really like the ESL lesson plan
helper feature. All you do is type in the subject that you want and it shows you all the resources it has in each
of the categories. (for ex., if I type in the word “ verbs” it will show me worksheets, crafts, flashcards, etc…
that they have available on their site.
A4ESL.org Activities for ESL Students: This is a great website for classroom teachers of middle and high
school teachers. There are quizzes on different categories of nouns, verbs, adjectives, body parts, etc. There are
also different levels for each part of speech. You can even take Bilingual Quizzes. This site also offers easy and
hard Crossword Puzzles. Students can take a test and then print the results. Then students can retake the test
with the words shuffled for a different order. Newcomers can go to this site and practice tests with pictures of
all the vocabulary.
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http://www.english-4kids.com/ This website offers printable ESL worksheets, games, video tutorials, PPT
lessons, and interactive vocabulary and grammar activities. This is a super site for elementary grades PK-5. I
love all the links that this site has for ESL teachers and parents. I especially like all the flashcards and printable
worksheets that you can print for FREE.
http://esl.fis.edu/index.htm The Frank International School: I really love this website. I found it when I was
in the Linguistic class. This website has a lot of information to help learners of English find enjoyable and
effective ways of improving their language ability. This site also offers a lot of information on language and
language learning. It can be used as a great resource guide for teachers, (ESOL and mainstream) and
administrators, students and parents. On the parent, teacher and student pages there are links, information, and
activities to help you be successful as an ESOL teacher. This site also contains grammar, vocabulary, idioms,
and picture quizzes at all levels.
http://www.colorincolorado.org/about/ This is a bilingual site for families and educators of English language
learners. It is a free web-based service that provides information, activities and advice for educators and
Spanish-speaking families of English language Learners (ELLs). This website has so many wonderful features
for educators, administrators, librarians, and families. I love that this site focuses on reading. I love their book
section. It has an endless supply of books for ELLs at every age level. It also has many links and strategies that
you can use in your classroom to help your ELL’s become proficient in reading.
http://www.starfall.com/ This is a great site for grades K-1. It has wonderful visuals and pictures for letter
recognition and games. The site also contains great phonic lessons and stories for emergent readers. Starfall
also added a section where students can practice their math skills. On this page there are links to number facts,
calendar, math songs and addition and subtraction problems. This site also has many children and nursery
rhymes and is very user friendly. My daughter who is four loves this site and can easily navigate it by herself.
http://www.eslmania.com/index.html I picked this website for the ESL teachers that teach English to adults.
This website could also be used in a high school setting as well. It has two sections, one for students and one
for teachers. On the student page they can practice idioms, grammar, vocabulary, and accent reduction. On this
page it also has information on ESL courses references and links to other ESL websites. On the teacher page,
there are ESL games, classroom worksheets, pronunciation and phonic exercises.
http://bogglesworldesl.com Lanternfish This site contains crosswords, word searches, flashcards, verbs,
songs, creative writing, worksheets, phonics, ESL science, survival English, ESL articles, lesson plans and
holiday worksheets. I also love that it has ESL for adults as well and survival English. This page would be very
helpful for parents who have just arrived in the United States and need to know how to conduct bank
transactions, or order food at a restaurant, or go the doctor.
http://esl.about.com/ About.com English as a 2nd Language: This website has a lot of resources for
improving your reading and grammar skills for ESL students. It also has a page for students who are in the
beginning stages of learning English. On this page there are English basics such as ABC’s, 123’s, grammar
sheets. There are also listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities to help students build their vocabulary
and practice their English. The teacher page includes lesson plans and strategies on how to help ELL students
that are at different levels in your classroom. This website would benefit high schools teachers as well as
teachers who are teaching adult learners.
http://www.manythings.org/ This website has quizzes, word games, word puzzles, and proverbs, slang
expressions, listening and reading activities. I really enjoyed the English vocabulary games with pictures. This
would be great for students who are just beginning to learn English. This site also has podcast and songs as well
as grammar activities.
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www.freeology.com Freeology.com is a website with a plethora of free graphic organizers. These organizers
are not only good for ESOL students but are helpful for special education and regular students as well. It is
very helpful for students to have a way to organize their thoughts especially if they are being asked to compare
and contrast different concepts.
http://mset.rst2.edu/portfolios/1/landrigan_k/10%2031%20esl/social_stud.htm Social Studies Strategies for
English Language Learners There are several things that are difficult for ESL students in social studies
including syntax, complex sentence structure, and specialized vocabulary in the content area. Students may not
have prior knowledge of past events because they were not born nor educated in the U.S. Students may not
have had prior exposure to maps, graphs, or charts. This site provides strategies for: checking for
understanding, identifying new and relevant vocabulary, activating prior knowledge, using visual aids, use
small group instruction, scaffolding activities, and using cooperative learning groups.
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/graphic-organizers/printable/6293.html
This web site contains many graphic organizers (some of which were in # 1 above). However, there is one set
of organizers that is especially useful for social studies teachers – Timelines and Sequence Charts. Social
studies teachers are always teaching about dates and students often have a difficult time being able to sequence.
http://www.everythingesl.net/lessons/organizing_newcomers_day_65730.php Organizing Your Newcomers.
Where do you begin with a student who speaks no English? This web site offers several solutions. For
example, set up a language learning center. Select a corner in the room where a small desk or table can be set
up with several chairs. Find a large box or shelf to keep the equipment and materials for the new language
learners. Label everything and organize it so that students, buddies, tutors and volunteers can easily find what
they need. Allow students to work in this area or take materials back to their desks. Draw pictures or write
page numbers on the schedule to show what work you want done. Students should feel free to go to this area to
work when they are having extreme difficulties with the regular work. Limit the amount of materials in the
work area so as to not cause greater confusion.
http://sally-bunch.suite101.com/teaching-social-studies-to-esl-students-a129303 Teachers should determine as
soon as possible which content words are most essentialand to use a variety of strategies to teach these words.
Always preview vocabulary before teaching the lesson. Display the words in the classroom, play games with
the words, etc. If at all possible, use texts written at the reading level of the student and scaffold content. Use
visuals to represent key vocabulary and always keep graphic organizers on hand.
http://www.usca.edu/essays/vol162006/ahmad.pdf Making Social Studies Meaningful for ELL Students:
Content and Pedagogy in the Mainstream. If I were a high school social studies department chair, this would be
the subject of professional learning. We must learn that ELL students, if educated in their home countries at all,
come here and must learn a different interpretation of history, geography, culture, government and philosophy
of citizenship. The last sentence is the article may be the most important. “The social studies classroom has the
potential to demonstrate civic duty in action, as teachers and schools come together with families to help new
immigrants participate actively in the social, political and economic life of the United States.”
http://lessonplanplace.com/history/cfm Teachers Network. There are dozens (if not hundreds) of lesson plans
already written for social studies on this site. Teachers can skim through the list and find the title of the lesson,
topics covered, the level and differentiation for ESL.
http://bcsd.k12.ny.us/academics/ESL/esl_resources.html Bethlehem Central School District: Resources for
Teachers of ESL Students. There is a list of resources on this site to use with ESL students including “Current
Events for High School Students”, “Time for Kids”, and “Pete’s PowerPoint Station” which is a collection of
PowerPoints on a variety of topics in social studies. All are designed with the ESL student in mind. Also, there
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is a link to “Modifying for ESL Students” for tips on making changes to content, instruction and assessments
for ESL students.
http://larryferlazzo.com/englishdetails.html This site has hundreds of links to all kinds of topics (social studies
included) that relate to teaching ESL students. Included are Blogs, articles, Podcasting, Listservs for ESL,
Chatboards, and social studies content sites.
http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/tannen01.html “Alternative assessment refers to procedures and techniques
which can be used within the context of instruction and can be easily incorporated into the daily activities of the
school or classroom.” Alternative assessment is especially useful because it asks students to show what they
can do. Jo-Ellen Tannenbaum says that students should be asked to focus on documenting individual student
growth over time rather than comparing students to one another. Also, the teacher should consider the learning
styles of the students, their language proficiencies, their cultural and educational backgrounds and their grade
level. Some alternative assessment strategies include: nonverbal assessments, K-W-L charts, oral
performances or presentations, oral and written products and portfolios. There is a benefit to both the student
and the teacher if the alternative assessment is developed and administered with care
www.MySkillsTutor. This site allows the teacher to supplement classroom instruction with on-line practice.
There are lessons in reading, writing, math, science, employability, and career skills. The teacher can
individualize the lessons to differentiate between students by posting the lessons on-line. Each student has
her/his own password. This site would work well with ELL’S and on level students. It would not work as well
for AP or upper level students
www.a4esl.org This site offers different activities for ESL students for learning English. There are grammar,
vocabulary, and bilingual quizzes and crossword puzzles. Under this site there is another one:
http://itesl.org/questions called Conversation Questions for ESL/ ELF Classroom. This site offers over 2000
questions in 33 topics for conversation practice. The questions range from easy to thought -provoking. They
also ask for posting of questions you might like to use if you do not see them on their site. Good for middle-tohigh school.
www.dailyesl.com This site provides conversation strategies for English students. This site is useful for
acquainting ESL students with the language of reading, vocabulary, and daily discussions. It provides audio
where the student listens and reads along with the audio. At the end of the story, there are vocabulary exercises,
discussions, and role playing.
www.learningchocolate.com This site provides both audio and pictures of different categories e.g. “ARM”- a
picture of an arm is shown with all parts labeled. The student can listen as a voice says the word that an arrow
is pointing to. The student sees and hears different parts of the arm. He can then go to matching, or fill in the
blanks where he must spell the word indicated in the picture. It is a colorful site that provides conversation
starters or readings in everyday language.
www.rong-chang.com This is a great site because it is geared specifically for the English learner. The site refers
you to hundreds of other high-quality, free ESL/EFL sites and resources. We use this site a lot. Some categories
are “Top Sites”, “For Beginners, and “Learning Strategies”.
www.clorincolorado.org Good site for resources. Bilingual Spanish/English. Very colorful, geared toward
younger students, although could be used for very low level high school students.
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http://www.khanacademy.org Great site for math, science, though for higher level students. Lessons could be
altered for differentiation. It was provided by for us by the administrator over these 2 domains.
http://www.eslfast.com This site is very good for reading. They have over 300 stories that you can use. At the
end of the story it has vocabulary, yes/no answers, puzzles, and other activities. Good site for ELL’S
www.superteachers.com This site offers some free worksheets in math, reading writing, spelling, phonics and
grammar. The site is pretty good- we have used some of the worksheets with our high school IEL’S. It would be
good for younger students. The drawback is you would have to become a member to access all of their products
www.talkingenglish.com Good site as it offers audio. Student can listen and practice as often as necessary.
There are questions to answer after listening –multiple choice. The only negative was the speakers were pretty
fast and I think it would be difficult for some students to follow
Scholastic, the global children's publishing, education and media company; they have created quality products
and services that educate, entertain and motivate children and are designed to help enlarge their understanding
of the world around them. They offer a wide array of resources from being the Home of Parent and Child
magazine, books & reading, school help, activities, and kids sites, to name a few. What caught my eye is that
for the ELLs many of the kids’ sites are in audio and visual. It’s great for all teachers and parents. The site is
exhaustive and user-friendly.
http://www.eslkidstuff.com/MembersMenu.htm This site contains many resources for the elementary ESOL
teacher. The site offers many resources such as flash cards (with pictures), worksheets, craft ideas, on-line
games & activities, teaching tips, and links to various articles. It provides many ideas for activities to use in the
classroom.
http://www.efl4u.com/ Fun photo-reproducible English lesson worksheets that are professionally designed.
Downloadable, communication based lessons and activities including games, pair-work, group work and whole
class exercises.
http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/kuster4/part88.html Do You Hear What I Hear? Listening Activities This
website offers great online listening activities for ESOL kids. I think this would be great for students to use
during computer center to help them develop listening skills and to decipher various sounds and speaking in
English.
http://www.wordcentral.com The best game on Word Central is called BIGBot. It helps to teach vocabulary
words for ELL’s.
www.funbrain.com/words.html This website offers fun word games for kids to do online. Some of my favorites
are plural girls, mad libs and the online journal for students to practice their grammar and reading skills.
www.spellingcity.com Spelling City is a website that I use often in my classroom for students who struggle
with memorizing their spelling words. You type in the spelling words and then play games that help you
memorize them. I think this is great for ELL’s because they can learn the words in a hands-on way and see the
words multiple times.
http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/fun-with-english Fun with English This is a great website to use
in a computer center or in whole group on a SMART Board. My favorite game is called Word Shake. It gives
scrabble like letter tiles and the students have to see how many different words they can make out of the
letters. This would be great in lower grades to practice sight words or to challenge older students.
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http://www.first-school.ws/theme/onlinestory.htm This website reads stories to students online. It is best for
grades K-2, but could be used for older Emergent ELL’s. It is very engaging and interactive.
www.tumblebooks.com Tumblebooks is another great website that reads to students. It has animation,
sounds and text that displays while the computer reads to students. My kids love it!
www.A4esl.org Actvities for ESOL Students This website offers grammar quizzes, vocabulary lessons and
online crossword puzzles. I think it would be great for assessments as well as to give students opportunities to
learn language skills in a fun setting.
http://www.eslgo.com/resources/sa.html I love this website! It offers different “role plays”
http://www.eslsite.com/ This website has numerous resources that can be used to build a lesson for students.
The web resource includes activities and vocabulary worksheets, business English worksheets, printable ESL
images, reading and listening activities, games for all levels, writing ideas to improve the skills of the student,
and pronunciation activities. I feel like this resource is so vast you could not get through it all.
www.superkids.com In my opinion this website is very good for preparing students for the SAT and ACT. This
gives the student the resource of building their vocabulary improve their knowledge of parts of speech. On this
website you can design and print your own word puzzles, play hangman for vocabulary building, provide
iPhone/iPad apps, practice with logic games and also have a Keyboard Classroom that help users learn to type
through a series of drills.
www.wordcentral.com The Wordcentral website helps students to build their own dictionary, provide games,
daily buzzword, and the resources for teachers include a catalog of books for students, state standards
alignments for 23 states and historical information about Noah Webster. When using the daily buzzword it
provides the pronunciation through sound, it provides the meaning of the word, gives an example how to use the
word and it also gives the origin of the words.
www.usingenglish.com This site has resources for teachers that are broken down in the categories such as
beginners and intermediate handouts. The areas include all parts of speech. There are lesson plans and worksheets for ESL teachers, tests and quizzes, reading comprehension, a text analyser that will provide statistics for
a word count, unique words, and number of sentences, average word per sentence, Lexical Density and Gunning
Fog readability index. The site is well organized and easy to find resources that you might need as a teacher.
www.manythings.org Resources organized on this site begins with “Easy Things for Beginners,” which gives
an introduction of what the site can provide. This area includes English vocabulary games with pictures,
clicking of the letters to find the days of the week, months and numbers one to ten. It also includes vocabulary
quizzes, wordweb games, speedword, every other letter games and hangman to name a few. The site also
includes the following: vocabulary, grammar, vocabulary & grammar quizzes, sentence patterns, proverbs,
slang & idioms, pronunciation, listening, hearing, songs, reading, spelling, crossword puzzles, tongue twisters
and poems. This is a very good site and it also allows you to listen with a MP3 player.
www.a4esl.org It includes grammar quizzes for the three levels of easy, medium and difficult; vocabulary from
the three levels, crossword puzzles, iPhone & iPod capabilities, Voice of America which allows a student to
read the text while listening. This site includes ESL podcasts and ESL videos. Teachers should note the “Flash
Quizzes for English Study.” This section has numerous activities to assist the ESL student such as easy Am, Are
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or Is, Tag Questions, Prepositions and numerous other resources that generates and online test for the students.
These could be a great warm-up before the actual instructional element of your lesson. I think this resource of
the generation of tests is a very valuable tool for the teacher.
www.esl-lab.com The main focus of this website is listening. It is broken down by easy, medium followed by
difficult. Some listening quizzes include calendars and dates, conversation starters, clothing and fashion and bus
travel. The next area for listening is for academic purposes such as First Day of Class, Saving the Earth, The
Four Seasons, The Christmas Gift and a Visitor from Space. Each of these academic areas are broken down
from medium, difficult to very difficult. This site also includes 20-Minute ESL vocabulary lessons such as
Airplane Travel, Beauty Salons, Car Rental, Dating and Marriage and Hotel Reservations to list a few. There
are also other life-skill tips with discussion questions such as Finding Friends on the Internet, Student Credit
Cards and Free Email Accounts. Finally, the site has watch and learn videos that include interviews and
conversations. This is a very good site I think for ESL students that do not speak any English.
http://yaseries.bettendorflibrary.com/index.php/Main_Page I really like this site because it assists students and
teachers with reading options. You can find books by author, series, booklists (G, I, O, S & T have lists) or by
genre. This is an excellent site for Language Arts teachers.
www.discoveryeducation.com This is an excellent website for ESL and regular students. The site has teacher
resources that include lessons from K-12. Each lesson has the standard listed. There are puzzle makers and
featured programs that have videos along with the lesson plans. Such resources as brain boosters, worksheets to
go, web math, science curriculum, clip art are all great, but I really like the section on learning adventures under
“other resources” is great. It has lesson plans on all levels and the standards!
www.StarFall.com The StarFall website assist students to read with phonics. This site is very user friendly
with icons that has a calendar, grandparent, pumpkin, 100th day, groundhog, clover, flower, word hunt and earth
day with sound to allow the student hear and repeat the information. Some other areas are reviewing of the
ABCs, Learning to Read, It’s Fun to Read and I’m Reading. These areas include art, magic, plays, nonfiction,
comics and so much more. I really like this site for all levels of students that cannot read.
www.colorincolorado.org This is a free site for the educators and parents of English language learners,
offering advice, information, and activities. Although it is mainly aimed at Spanish-speaking families, it is
adding content and resources for other languages as well. This bilingual website is of good quality and is very
useful for families and educators of ELLs!
http://eslcafe.com This site was created by Dave Sperling and hosts forums and activities for ELL students
and teachers from around the world. Activities for students include practicing pronunciation, interpreting
idioms, and taking tests in various content areas. This website is of good quality and is very useful for teachers,
students and everyone for that fact!
http://dww.ed.gov This U.S. Department of Education site translates research-based practices into practical
tools to improve instruction. The literacy area includes tips for teaching ELLs.
http://everythingesl.net This site is the work of Judie Haynes, an experienced ESL teacher. It contains lesson
plans, teaching tips, and links to other resources for English language learners.
http://iteslj.org This site provides articles, research papers, lessons plans, classroom handouts, teaching ideas,
and links for teachers of English as a second language. This website is of good quality and is very useful!
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http://www.manythings.org This website is for people who are English language learners and includes quizzes,
word games, word puzzles, proverbs, slang expressions, anagrams, a random-sentence generator, and other
computer-assisted language-learning activities. This site is noncommercial and has no advertising. This website
is of good quality and is very useful!
http://www.usingenglish.com This site offers a large collection of ELL tools and resources for students,
teachers, learners, and academics. Helpful tools include a grammar glossary and references of irregular verbs,
phrasal verbs and idioms, ELL forums, articles, teacher handouts, as well as useful links and information on
English. This website is of good quality and is very useful!
www.inspiration.com This is an interactive site for grade-level graphic organizers, with common topics listed
for the subject areas. You select the topic, and the program creates colorful graphics organizers.
http://www.esl-lab.com/index.htm This site provides a wide selection of listening exercises and quizzes. It is
good for students' self-study and homework. This website is of good quality and is very useful
http://www.english-forum.com/00/ This is an online, interactive site with self-study activities covering grammar, vocabulary, idioms, business English, daily quotations and much more. It includes resources for teachers,
students and parents as well as BBC news service links. This website is of good quality and is very useful!
http://a4esl.org/ This website is pretty amazing. It has grammar, vocabulary and crossword puzzles for English
Language Learner’s. The quizzes are designed from easy, easy-medium, to difficult. Some of the vocabulary
quizzes also have pictures associated with the word. It also provides quizzes and exercises for dual languages.
For example, Arabic-English, Korean-English and Spanish-English. It is easy to use! You will love it!
English-4kids.com This website is pretty good. It has a variety of activities, grammar exercises, and
vocabulary, reading/writing interactively, and quizzes. The grammar is pretty intensive; it has all parts of speak
in English articles, past tense, participles, everything. Because it has so much for teachers and students, it’s easy
to get lost in it. The site is also supported by my Google ads which makes it confusing at times.
Quiz-tree.com This website I got from a teacher in my school that is doing her Education Specialist Degree in
ESOL. I was so glad I asked her because the site is very impressive. The site opens up with a tree and in the tree
there are several different content areas you can choose from, English, Math, Social Science, Foreign Language
and Math Games. Click on English and it brings up links to spelling words, Sight Words, Idioms, ESL for
Spanish Speakers, Pronunciation and vocabulary. IT appears that it designed for elementary users. You can see,
click here and repeat too many of these interactive sites.
www.starfall.com This site is designed for the early pre-school to second grade elementary child. It teaches
reading using the old phonetic system.
Esl.fis.edu/index.htm I found this website to be very interesting for ESOL teachers. It has resources like
working with technology and your ESOL student, using computers in language teaching. The teacher pages has
a lot of academia written articles about ESOL. There is also a parent and student section . The student section
has grammar and vocabulary quizzes. I can see this site being a useful source for a teacher.
Manythings.org This site focuses on 4 of the language domains of ELL’s, listening, speaking, reading and
writing. The listening component has content related material. It also has a links to songs to learn.
www.eslkidstuff.com This site has flashcards, worksheets, lesson plans and many word games for kids. The
site is designed for elementary. The games are also divided by content. Holiday games or flashcards.
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Eslflashcards.com This site is very well designed. You can choose up to 1000 or so flash cards, in Spanish,
English or Chinese. The flashcards are letters of the Alphabet, nouns, and adjectives to name a few. The
flashcards also come in pictures that ESOL students can recognized and would be good to practice
pronunciation. The flashcards are designed for classroom or small group setting. And the best of all you can
download and print them for FREE.
www.eslgamesworld.com This website has games for both students and teachers. IT contains interactive and
printable board games. The games are vocabulary and reading. They also have ESOL classroom games.
Pronunciation Interactive games seem the most fun
http://www.learningpage.com/free_pages/galleries/basics.html Learning pages provides printable .pdf format
of the worksheet. This website houses are over 470 worksheets. Worksheets are available for many areas
including the alphabet in manuscript and cursive, calendar, money, time and days of the week beginning
sounds. Register for a membership and additional resources are avails such as e-books for vocabulary books
and clip art which can be used to create your own worksheets.
http://www.brainpopesl.com Brain Pop ESL is an interactive web-based teaching tool that supports the teacher
and the student. There are printable plans for the teacher as well as interactive lessons for students that
teach English and address the four areas of language listening, speaking, reading and writing. You can get free
lessons and games for this website.
http://beaconlearningcenter.com/ This website has an array of teacher resources that include lesson plans, unit
plans, assessment tools and modules. Plans and activities are developed for content areas for grades K-5. There
are links to resources for students to use independently as well as auditory books. Great resources for
independent, small group and center activities for students.
http://prometheanplanet.com/en-us/ This website is a teacher focused site. Teachers have created lesson plans,
flipchart lessons and assessment for all subject areas to share with other teachers. Find what to need to teach all
content areas. Beware some resources are free and some for a small fee.
http://www.eduplace.com Houghton Mifflin has developed this website to support teachers, students and
families. Topics include Bilingual Resources, Current Events, eServices, Graphic Organizers, Link Library,
Monthly Themes, Outline Maps, Shape-Book Patterns, Spelling Lists and Using the Web (activities to support
instruction). There are hundreds of resources for the development of lesson plans, individual and center
activities. Materials are correlated to state standards as well as the Houghton Mifflin reading books and other
resources. Use of materials on website is free. The Link Library in a clearing house of resources.
https://media.iearn.org/projects iEARN provide projects that are designed and facilitated by educators and
students worldwide. This website has projects that provide relative experiences while facilitating a collaborative
relationships around the world that end final "products." Projects include experiencing the native dress of other
cultures, building relationship with others around the globe/pen pals and dispelling cultural stereotypes.
http://www.spellingcity.com/ Spelling City seeks to connect students to the world of Spelling and English
Language Arts. There are many options for spelling on this site. The teacher can create a word list that can later
be used by students. Many options are available on website; students can take spelling tests, vocabulary tests,
practice spelling words, make flashcard and play games. Lots of activities are free. More is for membership fee.
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http://www.eslpartyland.com/students/nov/music.htm This website has lots of resources for the ESL learner
and teacher. Lots of links to worksheets, games, videos, grammar activities, speaking reading, listening and
writing activities. There are online resources for translating tools for English to Spanish and Spanish to English.
Also there is a link to an online Spanish Radio which contains links to over six hundred Spanish radio stations
over the Internet.
http://www.teachers.cr.k12.de.us/~galgano/elemkids.htm This website provides resources for grade levels K-5
and encompasses ELA, math, science, and social studies among much more. It also has a section titled “Online
Stories,” which has many links that reads books aloud to students. There is also a section titled “Research,” in
which consists of many links to online dictionaries, almanacs, encyclopedias and other resources necessary to
perform research. There is a wide range of online games, teacher resources, and printables available to users.
http://www.internet4classrooms.com/esl.htm This website is useful for general education teachers K-12, but it
has an entire section dedicated to ESL resources, as well as Foreign Languages-Spanish. There are online
games, printable games and activities, listening labs, picture dictionaries, and vocabulary resources. This
website also provides resources for special education and gifted students.
http://www.esl-kids.com/index.html This website is useful to an ESOL teacher because of the resources made
available. There is a worksheet generator, which did not initially appeal to me, but you can generate bingo
boards with colored images. There is also a section that provides flashcards for many topics and would be
useful to new L2 learners. There is a games section that has a wide range of online, interactive games, as well as
a section that provides words for many traditional children songs.
http://www.carlscorner.us.com/ This is a well-known website that has many sects, such as alphabet avenue,
little book lane, and word way. Overall, this website consists of printable and activities for Kindergarten
through fifth grade, mostly related to Language arts. Although there are many resources for science, social
studies, math, and writing. This website provides many center and activity ideas that can be adapted based on
student need. Many of the subject areas that are addressed on this website are areas that EL students struggle,
such as vowel sounds and suffixes. While it is not specifically designed for English Language Learners, it can
be a valuable resource.
http://www.learningchocolate.com/?st_lang=en This website focuses primarily on vocabulary development.
What is exceptional about this site is that it provides a variety of visuals that are labeled and enhanced with
audio. It covers a wide range of subject areas, many related to content standards. It would be useful to students
who are new to the English language. This site is not only limited to Spanish and English, but also provides
audio for many Asian languages as well.
www.arcademicskillbuilders.com Elementary games
http://kids.aol.com/KOL/2/koljrstories/archive/arthur-stories This site is rather limited, but what I do enjoy and
find useful is the tab titled “Stories.” This section provides a variety of online books with audio to read aloud
the book as each word is highlighted so the child can follow along. This website would be most useful to Pre-K
to 2nd graders. There are also videos, games, and online books that relate to rhyme and spelling.
http://it.pinellas.k12.fl.us/Teachers3/gurianb/bookmarks.html This website provides many printable student
resources, such as bookmarks that remind students of reading strategies learned. To the left side of the screen
there is a wide range of resources such as printable games, teacher websites, reader’s Theatre scripts, interactive
read alouds, and vocabulary work. This website is a second grade classroom teachers webpage, but she includes
many valuable resources for EL learners, as well as the general education population.
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www.ferr.org This website was primarily designed to conduct research as to promote the most efficient
reading instruction through the assistance with the Florida school system and the state department. The website
is specific to K-12 grades, but the section that I was impressed with was to the right column, titled
“Instructional Materials for Teachers.” In this section there are “Student Center Activities” for grades levels K1, 2-3, and 4-5. This section provides printable games that are geared towards the five domains of reading:
vocabulary, fluency, phonics, phonemic awareness, and comprehension.
http://www.speakingofspeech.com/Language_Materials.html This website is devoted to only language
development and would be appropriate for developing English Language Learners. There are many colorful
printable resources made available. The most useful area for ESOL teachers would be the prepositional phrases
section, as well as the ESL materials section that provides many bilingual resources (Vietnamese and Spanish).
http://www.sanchezclass.com/downloadcafe.htm This website is somewhat limited on range of resources, but it
does provide a variety of printable resources that could be beneficial to English Language Learners, such as
graphic organizers and printable posters.
www.mathwire.com This is a great resource for solely math. This is most appropriate for the primary age
range. There are wonderful printable games that can be found based on standards or topic searches. The most
appropriate website for English Language Learners can be found under the “Topics” tab and is titled “Writing
in Math Class.” There is a breakdown of think-write-pair-share and making connections between speaking and
writing, as well as many teacher references to gain information about writing in math.
www.learners.com www.sanchezclass.com This website is most useful to the primary grade levels and
encompasses wonderfully colored printables for math, reading, writing, and much more. There are many visual
aids that would be beneficial to English Language Learners. This website also provides a section for special
needs students, but more specifically a section titled “English as an Additional Language resources.” This
section provides resources such as verb action cards and comprehension self-monitoring posters.
Grammar Hunting: Resources for ESL Teachers and Students
http://www.eslpartyland.com/grammar-resources-esl-teachers-students The website provides a plethora of
resources that will help English Language Learners build their grammar skills with these fun online activities.
For example, activities include students engaging in an Internet scavenger hunt, reading online articles and
looking for grammar structures (i.e., fragments).
http://www.esl-galaxy.com/ In the above website, teachers can find access to free PowerPoints (with built in
audio) that can English Language Learners at varying levels, from beginners to intermediate learners.
Help Your Newcomers Develop Pride in Their Heritage
http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/culturedisplay.php This website presents another look at strategies that
can aid teachers, native students, and “newcomers” in the classroom. This website brings appreciation to
different cultures as students (and teacher) learn from English Language Learners.
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Andrews-Beginners.html Tips for Teaching ESL Beginners and Adults
If you are a teacher of adult learners, then this website is for you! Make sure to cue into the part about age
appropriate examples and/or manipulative. In fact, sometimes this part of teaching may sometimes get
overlooked. Andrews does a great job of sharing teaching strategies to help engage the adult English Language
Learner. Take a look and see for yourself.
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http://www.esl-lab.com/tips.htm In the above website, the creator shares with us one unique way of helping
English Language Learners build their listening skills via videos and handouts. In addition, while English
Language Learners are sharpening their listening, they will also be given opportunities to hone in on their
critical thinking skills.
http://esl.about.com/od/esleflteachingtechnique/a/classroom_management.htm Classroom Management
Rumor has it that it is difficult to manage the behavior of an ESOL classroom. Take a look at this helpful
website and find creative tips to make learning meaning for your English Language Learners.
http://www.squidoo.com/eslteachingtips Teaching Tips for Advanced Students In the above website, there
are great tips advanced ESOL students (teachers will find handy). The website speaks to tips that address
reading, listening, vocabulary, and speaking.
http://www.scsk12.org/scs/subject-areas/ESL/PDFs/Hurleys-ESL-Modifications.pdf The following link
provides teachers with ways to modify lessons for [young] English Language Learner students. Although most
of the information was recycled, the part about assessing students using “show me” techniques was the most
interesting.
http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/teaching/esl/warmups.cfm Warm-up Ideas If you are an ESOL teacher
looking to find more creative ways to ignite your English Language Learners, here is a great website that will
show you how to hook your learners (and focus their attention).
http://esldramagames.com/ ESL Children’s Drama Games This website introduces a different spin on
ways to incorporate fun, using puppets and props, to teach English to English Language Learners. It is a really
cute website for younger children; check it out.
http://esl.about.com/od/.../a/math_vocabulary.htm Topic: Math This website helps students, teachers, and
parents. It includes basic vocabulary terms in math, a number pronunciation guide with audio, and a number
pronunciation quiz. The number pronunciation can be used with emerging ELs or even your students you don’t
know all their numbers. You could also use this site with the quiz for RTI data if applicable.
http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html This website helps students and teachers. It includes a lot of virtual
manipulatives. This will provide ESL students of all levels with comprehensible input. This website has bar
graphs, clocks that you can make the analog and digital times match, hundred charts, etc. Teachers can use this
website on the smartboard to introduce concepts and also provide guided practice in the classroom.
http://www.primarygames.com/math.htm This website isn’t specifically for EL students but it has several math
games in the areas of measurement, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and fractions and so many
other math concepts. These games will give EL students of all levels repeated practice in the math concepts.
http://www.aplusmath.com/ This is a great website for students and parents. It includes games, self-checking
flashcards, practice worksheets (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) with the answers, and a
homework helper. In the homework helper, you can type in your math problem and it checks it for you! This
website will help EL students of all levels.
http://david-r-wetzel.suite101.com/teaching-strategies-in-math-for-esl-students-a152018 This website is an
article on teaching language concepts in math. It includes seventeen strategies for teachers to help EL students
increase their comprehension in math and gain mathematical understanding. It also includes good classroom
management tips.
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http://www.mrshurleysesl.com/englishpractice.html This website is for teachers and EL students. It provides
games and tutorials in vocabulary, reading, writing and math. If you scroll down to the math section it has a
plethora of resources, games, and tutorials. There are games for identifying numbers, addition, fractions, place
value, etc. There is even a tutorial that explains fractions in Spanish! This will help EL students of all levels.
http://mset.rst2.edu/portfolios/l/landrigan_k/10%2031%20esl/math.htm This website is for teachers and
students. It provides teachers with areas that ELs may have difficulties in Math, Science, and Social Studies. It
also includes strategies for helping EL students become successful in these areas, especially in all four language
domains (reading, writing, listening, and speaking). At the bottom of the page, the website provides on-line
practice for EL students.
http://margaretmwilliams.suite101.com/strategies-to-support-esl-students-in-math-a116386 This website is an
article on teaching math to EL students. It encourages teachers to teach math through the four language
domains (reading, writing, listening, and speaking). It gives tips and stra-tegies to help ELs understand
mathematical concepts. It includes tips such as using a variety of learning moda-lities to teach math,
encouraging parents to teach concepts in the primary language and differentiating homework.
http://esl-methods.wikispaces.com/Math This website contains several resources for teachers, students, and
parents. It includes a math dictionary for kids, which has pictures for every mathematical term. It also has
math movies made by students, math sentence frames (to develop oral language in math), math graphic
organizers (for older students), videos and other resources.
http://www.mathwire.com/ This is an excellent website for teachers. I have used this website to get several
math games. It includes an A to Z search line for standards-based activities. Thus you can type in any math
topic and instantly receive several ideas for classroom activities and games in mathematical concepts. The
activities will help EL students of all levels.
http://bogglesworldesl.com/ This website (which has been renamed Lanternfish) has many practical
applications for teachers and students alike. ELLs can practice telephone and job interviewing skills with online
worksheets and games. This site has lessons and worksheets for all ages pre K to adult. There are Phonics and
Alphabet worksheets and even a monthly online science magazine. Lessons cover many aspects of language
such as superlatives, inferences, irregular past tenses and prepositions etc.
http://www.eslamerica.us/ This website has an auditory function that allows the ELL to hear the correct
pronunciation of words and sentences. It was created by American English teachers, Donna Barr and Blair Roy.
ELLs can learn about a wide range of useful topics: holidays in the US and throughout the world, past tenses of
the most common English verbs, internet safety, books appropriate for beginners to advanced readers and
phrases and idioms. ELLs can also listen to dictation and write the sentences that they hear.
www.esl-kids.com This website has many interesting activities for young children. There are worksheets that
can be customized by educators to fit numerous themes and applications (bingo, multiple choice, dice game
etc.). ESOL teachers can also learn from another educator about learning styles and pedagogy in the section
entitled: In Class. And there are over eight pages of games that young ELLs will enjoy.
http://eslplayground.com/ This website has an online forum for educators to discuss ESOL pertinent topics.
There are online games for ELLs Kindergarten through adult that help with English acquisition. And there are
articles about ESOL teaching strategies and job hunting. A directory includes such diverse topics as business
English, slang and colloquialisms, and etymology and world history. There is even a link to an international
ESOL job board.
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http://www.everythingesl.net/ This website has resource picks, teaching tips, lesson plans and a teacher forum
moderated by the website’s originator, Judie Haynes. She is a thirty- two year veteran teacher from New Jersey
who has coauthored and authored four books on ESOL. Judie offers helpful tips to teachers concerning a wide
range of educational concerns. She suggests teaching on a level just past the student’s capabilities but not
exceeding their language proficiency.
www.BrainPopESL.com This is a wonderful resource for interactive games. It also has word lists and lessons.
It is, however, a paid site with payment options for different users. There is a free trial which allows the user to
peruse the site before making a purchase. The site features animated movies to help an ELL learn in his own
time frame and according to his learning preference. Interactive games help to teach vocabulary, grammar,
pronunciation, reading comprehension, and writing skills.
http://www.eslcafe.com/ This website created by Dave Sperling features both teacher and student forums, a
Today in History calendar, teaching ideas and strategies, a teacher and student online chat, a photo gallery, a
link to Alta books which is a source of ESOL related material, a teacher training forum, videos featuring correct
enunciation, and national and international job boards.
http://www.starfall.com/ This website has both free and paid features. There are a variety of free downloads
that are available. It emphasizes vocabulary, phonics, comprehension, and fluency. It is good for the beginning
reader because it reinforces language skills in a fun and challenging way. It is entirely interactive with
imaginative games covering a wide range of topics such as art, magic, music, and poetry. It has an auditory
component so beginning readers can hear the words being pronounced.
www.digitaldialects.com This website features interactive games for learning language and a teacher’s resource
page. The goal was to create a relaxed way to learn language. It highlights the world’s major languages (sixty)
and provides entertaining and rewarding ways to learn English. It has an auditory component so ELLs could
hear English words being spoken. It hosts a number of fun games to help ELLs learn vocabulary in the
following areas: animals, colors, math, and food etc.
Esl-lab.com This website provides teachers with listening activities. The website has recorded passages in a
variety of voices to use in class to help build listening skill. The passages are provided at various levels in a
variety of subjects. The site also provides response questions and quizzes that are easy, medium, and difficult
to help teachers diversify instruction. These listening exercises can be used with the whole class or students can
work on them independently.
Englishmaven.org This website provides an assortment of language based activities. Reading, writing,
listening and speaking exercises and activities are available for students of all levels. Writing exercises are
broken down into basic parts from writing complete sentences to paragraph construction. The site includes
exercises for students to work on independently and they can increase difficulty as they master each level.
Breakingnewsenglish.com This website provides current events articles to use for all areas of the curriculum
as well as any non-fiction instruction. The articles are updated every three days therefore, the articles remain
current. The site has free downloadable lessons and which include a warm-up and pre-reading exercises;
reading and listening questions; post-reading activities and suggestions for writing. The articles are also
available as an MP3 download and can be used for listening practice.
English-daily.com This site provides daily English exercises that focus on language acquisition with daily
vocabulary and grammar activities. The site includes a word of the day and language games which will keep
students engaged. It also includes activities to help students understand figurative language concepts like
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idioms, riddles, and slang. This site appears to provide an approach which will be fun and engaging and
intended to maintain the students’ interest.
Word-power.us Word-power.us focuses on frequently used words and expressions. These words and
expressions are recorded and defined for students. The site also allows the user to organize word groups and
create categories. The organization feature is helpful for teachers who want to use categories for vocabulary
instruction.
Owl.english.purdue.edu This site contains a wealth of information for teaching English. The site includes
exercises for grammar with concise definitions which are written in student friendly language.
Owl.english.purdue has extensive information about research writing and has organized the writing instruction
based on specific subject area writing. The also has an entire section dedicated to ESL students and teachers.
Usingenglish.com This is a websource for teachers and students with resources at the higher grade levels. The
site includes online and printable worksheets for student practice in English grammar. It also has printable
lesson plans and worksheets for teachers with answer keys. Students can participate in a blog, browse articles,
and get answers to questions in the ask a teacher section of the site.
Eslgold.com This site is dedicated to ESL study and is extremely user friendly. The clearly marked tabs on the
home page provide links to exercises in topics of speaking, listening, reading, writing, grammar, pronunciation,
and more. The user can get information on best practice before doing any of the activities and the activities are
categorized by skill level. The site also provides links to other useful resources and book recommendations for
every topic.
Everythingesl.net This site was developed by an ESL teacher with 32 years of experience. The site includes
lesson plans for teachers of ESL in a variety of content areas. The author also provides a forum for teachers to
ask questions and receive feedback. The site has several links to other resources and a variety of book and
strategy recommendations.
www.readwritethink.org This website has a wealth of resources including Lesson plans, graphic organizers
etc. There is also a section to help students develop writing skills. The website covers grades k-12. One lesson
that caught my eye was the Fairy Tale Autobiographies. The students analyze Fairy Tales and then work in
small groups to compose a fairy tale using events from their own life or the life of someone they know. The
students then share their fairytales with one another.
http://www.elllo.org This site features an English Listening Lesson Library online. You can either listen or
view the captions for the various topics. Topics range from talks about other countries, news topics, hobbies,
sports, social issues.
http://www.englishclub.com/esl-worksheets/index.htm This site is an excellent resource providing Vocabulary
and quiz worksheets. The options include idioms, sayings, slang, and phrases.
http://www.visuwords.com/?word=figure+of+speech This site offers an online graphical dictionary. The
students seem to enjoy looking up their vocabulary online as opposed to looking in a paperback dictionary.
http://www.brainpopesl.com This is the companion site to the brainpop.com site. Students enjoy the little robot
and visuals. The lessons are short and have quizzes you can complete with the students at the end. There are
also other resources you can access worksheets, etc
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http://www.wordcentral.com This is a fun site connected to Merriam-Webster. There are several game and
vocabulary sites like Alpho-bot, Robo bee, Big Bot and Jumble Kids-word scrambles. The games provide
learning experiences with anonyms, synonyms, spelling, and vocabulary.
http://www.everythingesl.net There are several resource links on this site with lesson plans to study holidays,
famous historical figures and events with students. Students can build comprehension and vocabulary through
the lessons.
http://a4esl.org This site offers quizzes, tests, puzzles and exercises in grammar and vocabulary. The neat thing
is you can have the students take the quiz in a bilingual format. This supports what we have been learning about
how strengthening the language of origin helps students build the bridge and acquire skills in English.
http://www.manythings.org This site has a variety of resources to build vocabulary and word recognition.
There are videos where the student can see words with the same letters, flash matching quizzes for nouns, verbs,
adjectives and adverbs and puzzles.
http://www.eslamerica.us This web site is an English learning language website where every exercise has a
listening component. There are exercises in grammar, pronunciation, writing, listening, conversation and
diction. Many of the links have a beginning, advanced, and intermediate level of exercise
http://www.eslkidstuff.com/MembersMenu.htm This site has many resources including flash cards with
pictures, songs, worksheets, craft ideas, on-line games and activities, teaching tips, links to articles, and more.
It is user friendly, activities to use in the classroom and organizes them alphabetically.
www.readinga-z.com This site consists of leveled books that support any theme, corresponding student
activities and worksheets that go along with the standards, and fluency assessments. This program is an
excellent tool for teaching literacy, vocabulary, phonics, and high frequency words. Books can be printed in
both English and Spanish for use in class and at home. They help in expanding the English vocabulary of ELLs.
www.pbskids.org/lions This site is based on the PBS kids show “Between the Lions.” It has a lot of resources
for phonics instruction, phonemic awareness, vocabulary development, fluency, and comprehension. The
games on the site are engaging and fun. The site has a section for educators and parents. It provides ideas for
lessons. There is a section on specific research studies that have looked at the effects of viewing the show on
school children. One of the studies specifically addresses ELLs.
www.vocabularyspellingcity.com This site is for students in primary, intermediate and even middle schools. It
has a lot of spelling games and activities like spelling unscramble, match it sentences, ABC order, handwriting,
parts of speech, and Word-o-Rama. The Word-o-Rama speaks. It’s interactive and can be used on the Smartboard. There are teacher resources, printable activities, monthly lesson plans, and efficient learning of literacy
skills or word study. Activities can be customized and appropriate for ESL and special education.
www.funbrain.com This site provides fun animated games focusing on grammar skills. Students can choose
the level of difficulty. Activities can be differentiated. There are books to read, games, and puzzles. One game
to choose from is Grammar Gorillas, played at a beginner level and focuses on nouns and verbs or at a higher
level practicing other parts of speech. Another game is The Plural Girls, which requires the student to select the
correct plural form of a word. These games as well as others can be played in the form of fill in the blank and
multiple-choice, along with selecting the level of difficulty. These games are recommended for advanced
beginners in grades 3-5.
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www.Raz-kids.com This site is an online leveled book library that has reading and listening activities for
elementary age children. Students improve their reading skills by listening to stories read aloud, reading for
practice, recording their reading, and checking comprehension with quizzes. The program provides Book Level
Correlations, DRA, Reading Recovery, and Fountas & Pennell Reading Levels. Books are also printable. This
site is very similar to Reading A to Z and is an excellent resource teaching ELLs language development.
www.brainpopjr.com This site provides curriculum-based content geared specifically for K-3 students. There
are word walls, animated movies, activities, recommended grade appropriate reading, writing, and discussion
prompts, leveled quizzes, lesson ideas, games, and interactive features across the curriculum. All content is
aligned to and searchable by state standards. Resources meet students’ different learning styles and abilities.
www.manythings.org This site is primarily for ESLs. There are a variety of activities including vocabulary
lists, word games, puzzles, anagrams, random-sentence generators, slang & idioms, grammar, songs, listening,
reading, and speaking.
www.literacysites.com This site has numerous activities to help ELLs learn English. There are vocabulary
quizzes with images, tests, puzzles, grammar, exercises and other activities which are differentiated easy,
medium, and difficult.
http://www.eslgold.com/writing/describing_action.html Writing This website is called ESLGold.com. The
site includes Listening, Speaking, Writing, reading, vocabulary and idioms for ESOL students. It can be used
for different grade levels. It includes readiness LEVELS that are low beginning, to high intermediate for ESOL
Students. This site gives samples of writing techniques from texts. The site links recommended books for
purchase to Amazon.
http://www.esl-galaxy.com/writing.html This website is called ESL Galaxy.com ESL Resource Planet. This
site includes downloads for games, PDf files, worksheets free online exercises and recommended sites. The site
offers levels of proficiency for ESL students. This site would be useful for all grade levels of ESOL students.
The site offers about 15 free pdf exercise for writing for the beginner.
http://www.rong-chang.com/eslread/eslread/dict/d007.htm This site is called rong – chang.com. I visited the
dictation portion of this site. The student is allowed to listen to the audio for less than 6 seconds and must type
what the audio says with a capital letter in the beginning of sentence and end with the appropriate punctuation.
The dictations range from 1-100. My guess is the first 20 or so would be the easiest for beginners because the
more advanced the greater the vocabulary.
http://www.manythings.org/e/patterns.html This website is called many things.org. It is useful for students to
unscramble sentences with technology. This site is known for interesting things for ESL.
http://www.englishdaily626.com/dialogue.php This site is English daily626.com. It offers dialogue and
opportunity for students to fill in the blank with words that belong in the blank.
I don’t see various levels of proficiency here.
http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~leslieob/pizzaz.html This site includes simple creative writing and oral activities
for ESL students. It includes poetry, fiction, and bag of tricks. This gives lesson plans for the writing. This
covers from beginners to advance. This site is called dark wing for the University of Oregon.
http://www.english-the-easy-way.com/ This is a fee service. This site looks as though it’s focused for high
school students that are ESL. It includes resume’ writing for English Learners.
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http://www.eslbee.com/ This site is for ESOL students that write academic papers. This is for advanced levels.
This site is called ESLBEE.COM. It is for composition papers.
http://www.eslus.com/LESSONS/WRITING/REV1/LD.HTM This site is for the advanced ESL student. This is
from the ESL Resource center. Students will need to read and edit a paragraph that is content based in science.
http://eslsite.com/resources/pages/Resources_and_Teaching_Ideas/Writing/ This site is called ESLsite.com
Resource Center. This offers a variety of proficiency levels for ESL students in any particular content area.
It includes teacher notes, types of activity, and level of proficiency.
http://www.readingquest.org/strat/ Making Sense in Social Studies: Strategies for Reading Comprehension
Numerous strategies and resources which teachers can utilize when helping their students access and make
sense of social studies content. Strength ~ content-based reading.
http://kucrl.org The University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning: SIM ~ Strategic Instruction Model
is a research-based model for middle and high school students at risk of failure. The strategies are based on the
premise that consistent, intensive, explicit instruction and support are key ingredients of instructional success.
There are varied strategies related to reading, storing and remembering information, expressing information,
writing, test-taking, social interaction such as cooperative thinking, community building, and motivation.
Weakness ~ teachers must borrow or purchase the instructional guides for each strategy
http://www.rif.org/kids/readingplanet/bookzone.htm Reading Planet: This website is part of the Reading Is
Fundamental site which allows children and families to explore a variety of online reading material. They can
do a book search, watch and listen to animated stories and songs, and select books from the Heritage Shelf,
which focuses on different cultures. After signing in to Reading Planet, they can create a list of books that
they’d like to read called “My Bookshelf.” Strength ~ the site is divided into age level groups (6-8, 9-12,13+)
http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/ Reading Rockets: Classroom Strategies and differentiation ideas
with examples and downloadable templates to help struggling readers build phonics, fluency, vocabulary,
comprehension, and writing skills. Strength ~ good for many levels of reading
http://www.esl-kids.com/ ESL-Kids has collections of ESL flashcards, games, songs, and links to other
teaching resources. Strength ~ timesaver Weakness ~ uses lots of color printer ink
http://www.eslteachertalk.com/ ESLTeacherTalk offers archived podcast episodes about teaching English,
especially grammar and vocabulary. Teachers can create and print a variety of board games (with or without
text), Game of the Week printables, and strategies. Strength ~ love the board games;
http://www.moramodules.com/Pages/4x4activity.htm Dr. Jill Kerper Mora’s website is called MoraModules
which has several methods for teaching ELLs. The 4X4 thematic planning pages list strategies and activities in
the areas of listening/speaking and reading/writing on four Language Learner Levels. She uses this as a guide
for her students preparing to be teachers of ELLs. They plan their differentiated lessons to integrate content-area
standards with language standards. Strength ~ numerous activities already organized in appropriate lists;
Weakness ~ not crazy about the spinning and flashing color lines—distracting to me.
http://www.spellingcity.com Spelling City enables teachers to set up free accounts to put their spelling lists on
the website (listed by teacher and school). The students can also play 10+ games for practice and take a
spelling test. Plus there’s handwriting and ABC order practice included. Strengths ~ all students love
technology and learning fun.
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http://reading.ecb.org/ “Into the Book” is an interactive site for grades 4 + that focuses on the eight researchbased reading comprehension strategies: using prior knowledge, making connections, questioning, visualizing,
inferring, summarizing, evaluating, and synthesizing. When students log in for the first time, they will be given
a key code to use each time. Strengths ~ user-friendly and truly emphasizes HOTS (higher order thinking
skills). Modifications, Tips and Techniques for ESL Students
http://www1..scsk12.org/scs/subject-areas/ESL/PDFs/Hurleys-ESL-Modifications.pdf This site offers tips and
techniques for teachers of ELL students. Strategies for oral and written assignments are provided along with
assessment options. Perfect for beginning teachers or those struggling to find ways to engage learners!
http://www.ovec.org/esl/ESL%20Other/survival_packet/Questioning_Techniques.htm Questioning Techniques
by Language Acquisition Stages ELL students enter our classrooms with varying language abilities and it is
sometimes difficult to know how to reach them. This site provides a list of questioning options based on the
varying language acquisition stages. This is a good way to get students talking.
http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/twenty_five_quick_tips_classro_70733.php Twenty-Five Quick Tips
for Classroom Teachers Struggling with ways to improve instruction for your ELL student? These 25 tips are
divided into categories: before, during and after the lesson. This is a great site for lesson planning and teacher
collaboration.
http://www.coolmath4kids.com/ A “cool” math site for everyone! Students can play math games, complete
jigsaw puzzles, print flash cards and reference a math dictionary all for FREE! Teachers may assign activities in
class as a way to remediate skills or include as a math rotation. Kids and parents will love this site and
bookmark it for frequent use.
http://esl.fis.edu/learners/index.htm This site was developed by the Frankfurt International School for students
who are attending a school where instruction is provided in English. Each academic subject is broken down into
categories and content vocabulary as well as an online dictionary of terms and quizzes are provided.
http://www.eslmonkeys.com/student/esl_learning.php Free Online Language Learning Resouces. Looking for
help with lesson planning or ideas for your guided reading groups? ESL Monkey has what you need. An online
English Story reading room provides hints and information needed to engage and excite your reader. Students
can learn and practice a new word each day. A sure way to increase vocabulary in your classroom.
http://www.esl-galaxy.com/lessons.htm ESL Lesson Plans, Materials and Activities A one-stop shop for lesson
plans, games, videos and printable worksheets. Teachers will enjoy using these resources during whole group
and small group instruction. Online grammar and vocabulary quizzes are provided along with interactive games
like Hangman, Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.
.http://www.esldesk.com/ Learning English Language ELL students looking for ways to enhance their language acquisition will find this site interesting. The ESL Desk provides a myriad of tools developed to help the
English learner. English and Grammar practice worksheets along with leveled vocabulary and spelling activities
are included. Lesson plans and other teacher resources are also included. Pay close attention to the online book
section. When you click on a word, the phonetic spelling of the word appears as well as a defi-nition. Books
may be translated back and forth from one language to another helping the reader make connections.
http://iteslj.org/games/ Games & Activities for ESL/EFL Classroom Tested and approved – this site provides
games and activities other teachers have already used in their classrooms and found to be successful. There are
great activities to use for activating prior knowledge and for review at test time.
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Website URL: http://www.teachingenglishgames.com/ The owner of this website is an ESOL teacher who
designed 175+ classroom activities and compiled an eBook which can be purchased. The classroom games are
created to make learning a fun experience for students. The activities are age-specific. The website provides free
newsletter and teaching tips.
http://www.english-online.org.uk/games/gamezone2.htm This website offers interactive, computer-based
games for ELL students. Some games can be downloaded and played in local drive. I found the games fastpaced, interesting and appealing to the students.
http://www.vocabulary.co.il/ This website has interactive online games aimed to improve ELL students’
comprehension of English vocabulary. It covers all aspects of English vocabulary building including phonics,
idioms and expressions, oxymoron, root word, prefix and suffix, etc.
http://www.reggie.net/teaching/ This website has some creative games that are suited to specific series of
textbooks. I find the games to be fun and interesting in general as well.
http://www.teachenglishinasia.net/tefl-tesl-games-and-activities-directory This website has a section that
introduces some fun game and activities that teachers can use. It explains each game in details. I find some
ideas that I can use right away in classroom.
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/taufiqabuziyad/teaching-english-through-drama-games This section
of the website introduces many drama or games that are specific to different age groups. It also has details on
the props needed.
http://www.eslgamesworld.com/ This website has a wealth of information on a vast variety of games for ELLs.
This is perhaps the best website on this topic that I have found so far. It covers almost all areas of English
language learning.
http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/spiele.htm This website lists some interesting games for ELLs. I found some
games to be stimulating to the mind.
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/language-assistant/games This website is developed by BBC Language
Series which is an excellent resource. The website lists multiple fun games with video instructions. I cannot
wait to use some of them in classroom!
http://english-preparation.blogspot.com/2011/06/speak-english-through-games.html This is a website that is
rich in tips, topics and games for ELLs. It offers tips and advice on how to improve English learning overall,
and using game is definitely an integral and effective part of it.
www.educationcity.com Education City For Learners in grades K-6 is an innovative, engaging and fun
learning solution for children. It is great to use with white boards for whole group instructions. Students can
work through a variety of activities to master standards in an engaging platform.
www.studyisland.com For Learners in grades K-12 Study Island helps students master the specific content
outlined in the GPS and Common Core standards, improve performance in skill areas tested in state
assessments. Students practice, review, and reinforce key concepts, and Study Island pinpoints areas of mastery
or where help is needed as well as provides remediation for those students needing assistance.
http://welcome.eslreadingsmart.com/ For students grades 4 -12
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http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/vocab/notebook.htm Student Vocabulary Notebook For Learners in grade K-8
The website offers strategies for learning vocabulary lists and cards by grade level and content area. The student
vocabulary notebook allows students to create a vocabulary notebook that they can write terms and draw in.
http://www.smartskies.nasa.gov/flyby Fly By Math For Learners in grade 5-8 NASA's Smart Skies provide
an interactive way for students to work on math problems. Students are able to manipulate the rate-distancetime and speed of an airplane. The site includes free student workbooks, assessments, and teacher guides.
http://www.esl-kids.com/worksheets/worksheets.html ELS Kids ELS Kids website is a great resource for
teachers of ESL students. The website offers flashcards, worksheets, games and even songs.
http://photographicdictionary.com Photographic Dictionary For Learners in grades K-12 The photographic
dictionary has visual representation of words that children don’t understand. The definitions are short.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/label/plants.shtml Label Me The Enchanted Learning website that features
Label Me is a great website. The website offers teachers print outs of almost everything including maps. The
teachers are able to print out a diagram or map and have the students to label according to the previous taught
vocabulary words and definitions.
http://www.coolmath4kids.com. This website is for Teachers parents and children. It is an educational website
geared at providing math resources for children in-school as well as at-home. It is very interactive and lots of
visual effects. One very interesting feature is the on-line dictionary for children and teachers. It’s an excellent
resource for math.
http://www.eric.ed.gov. “Strategies For Linguistically Diverse Schools and Classrooms” This is a paper written
to raise awareness on issues of diversity in our Nation’s public school systems. The paper gives examples to
Teachers on how to address issues of student diversity in the classroom. This site is geared more towards high
school students and Teachers.
http://www.everythingesl.net . This is another interesting web-site for ESL Teachers. It is a resource for
students to give them practice at-home or in-school with language. It is user friendly for students as well as
parents and or teachers. Students are able to get that extra help they need with learning a second language.
Good site.
http://www.globalclassroom.org This web-site is called “Teachers, Parents, and Educators Celebrate Diversity”
It is some type of classroom project. Teachers from around the world share information and communicate
about how to say words and phrases in their own languages.
http://www.iearn.org.au/fp/efphome.htm The “First Peoples Project” allow indigenous students from around
the world to work together on collaborative projects. Projects include writing, art, and science projects. It’s a
great site that allows students to interact with each other from around the world.
http://www.libguides.libmsu.edu This website is geared toward Teachers an Educators. This is a resource that
helps to identify quality children’s literature for children that fosters a healthy, anti-bias approach towards
differences in people.
http://www.pbs.kids.org This is a Parent /Teacher resource designed for children. Students love this web-site.
Its student-friendly and it has a variety children games and activities.
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http://www.prel.org/eslstrategies This web-site illustrates ways to meet the needs of ELL students in their
classrooms and communities. It addresses issues of immigration with several activities to use in the classroom.
http://www.esl-galaxy.com/ What is most interesting about this site is the large variety of printable ESL
worksheets and activities with more and more being added daily. Kindergarten through the eighth grade is
represented with worksheets that include Powerpoint downloads, reading & writing exercises, complete lesson
plans, board games, crosswords, grammar worksheets, theme or topic lessons as well as vocabulary worksheets,
pronunciation, video activities, festivals & holiday worksheets, kids resources, E-learning self study, free ESL
printable, ESL fun games, as well as close and gap fill exercises.
http://www.eslcafe.com/ This informative website lists jobs, stuff for teachers, students, and everyone. In a
nutshell it's "the internet's meeting place for ESL & EFL teachers and students from around the world".
http://www.elovivo.com This is a free multilingual dictionary which has more than 207276 words in 42
languages. The entries are provided by native speakers and has definitions and pronunciations in one own's
language. Has a popular dictionary tags for the following categories: people, travel, grocery store, places,
school, health, nature, occupations, body parts, numbers, animals, kitchen, clothes, food, recreation, time, tools,
bathroom, transportation, and the bedroom. When you submit a word in text search you often are able to see a
picture and hear the sound in the target language.
http://www.developingteachers.com/ This is website for the developing language teacher. What is interesting
about this is that it provides lesson plans, teaching tips, critical thinking from both a mainstream and ESL
perspective. Also there are many interesting articles sorted by an index on a host of topics including teaching
vocabulary in business english classes.
http://www.thinkbuzan.com/us/products/books What intrigued me about this website was the topic of mind
mapping and how it is used by millions around the world. Tony Buzan has written books from using your
memory, fulfilling one's own mental potential, learning the latest ways to revolutionize the way language is
learnt. One of my favorite selections is called "The Power of Verbal Intelligence". In brief it's about becoming
brilliant with words - reading, speaking,remembering, and understanding across all language registers.
http://www.usingenglish.com/resources/text-statistics.php What caught my attention with this website was the
fact it contained so many useful tools including: text content analysis tool, word analyzer, word checker,
bibliographies, and language tips for ESL, ESOL, EFL, TESL, TESOL, &TEFL.
http://www.eslall.com/learn_english_88_3.html This is a wonderful website which lists automatic translators,
writing guides, etc. to help learners evaluate their abilities using web bases resources.
http://conjugator.reverso.net/conjugation-english.html This is a wonderful site for the student to review english
very conjugation, grammar for models, irregular verbs, etc. It provides the most popular verbs used in English.
http://www.eslbee.com/ What intrigued me about this site was that this website was designed specifically for
non-native speakers of English for academic purposes providing the organization of the classic five-paragraph
essays including writing sentences, adjective clauses and appositives.
http://a4esl.org/q/h/grammar.html This is a website with self-study grammar quizzes. What was appealing was
that there were three levels of difficulty of quizzes involving various grammar concepts from articles,
conjunctions, dialogs, functions, plurals, prepositions, pronouns, verbs, and correct sequencing.
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. www.aesopfables.com This is a great side full of fables for children to encourage reading writing and
listening and speaking you do not have to force them to go to this website to talk about their favorite story.
Always illustrates a particular moral and teach a lesson for the students. They will enjoy it.
www.readingrockets.org This is a digital site that provides practice with reading. It helps children to read with
meaning. Also they can write, play with words and rhymes. I like the way they show tips to help kids
understand what they read.
www.manythings.org If the students like games this is a perfect site. They have songs, word games, grammar
activities. Teacher can select variety of strategies to make students enjoy learning in a funny way. One part they
would like is the English vocabulary games with pictures.
www.english-4kids.com It is site full of activities for listening and learn vocabulary. They have printable flash
cards free. This web site offers for ESL worksheets, games, video tutorials. They have an interactive
vocabulary and grammar activities.
www.englishpage.com Incredible website with available lessons every week. They read the answers for the
activities that the students can check after they finish the lesson. It contains verb tense, nous, adjectives,
adverbs, etc. There is a dictionary link to translate in different languages. Also it has vocabulary development
and games to practice vocabulary.
www.conversationforells.com This provides students with functional conversation skills. It contains practical
activities they can use in their daily lives. They conversation like when someone goes to the doctor, goes to the
restaurant to the supermarket. How to order food and ask for advice. The students can practice intonation too.
www.schoastic.com This site offer learning strategies that can be modified for all grades. They can learn how to
spell words and the same time have fun. They can create their own activities with spelling. Also teachers or
students can print some material to practice vocabulary.
www.bskids.org This is a great site for all subjects. Learn with songs. They have math games, dress up games,
animals spelling, and matching games. Also teacher can use the short video clips teaching letter/sound
recognition, blends, vowel pairs.
http://www.visuwords.com I have to admit it is one of the most useful in my toolbox to ELL. It eliminates the
guess work that eludes the most educated professional educator. Love the visuals.
Technology and Software for Language Learning
http://www.language-learning-advisor.com/language-learning-product-reviews.html
Look online at one or more websites that have promotional information about software and technology for
language learning. I chose to look at Rosetta Stone because I was curious about how useful it would be to
English Language Learners. I’ve seen the product being sold at kiosks in the mall, but never paid any attention.
For the technology you investigated, post the following information for the class:
Which software did you investigate? Rosetta Stone
What theoretical perspective on language learning does this software use? Visual, oral, immersion, trial and
error without translation
What do you think are the pros and cons of this particular software? The product appears to provide basic
information for beginners in the language. On the other side, the product does not appear to help the language
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learner get to a higher level of the language and there is no translation there is no cultural information about the
countries of the native language.
Do I agree or disagree with the online review? There were many, many reviews of this product. One review in
particular stated that if you love to travel, then Rosetta Stone is helpful in learning conversational language.
However, if you need to speak another language for business purposes, then Rosetta Stone might not be the best
product.
What software is available for ELLs (at Smitha Middle School)? Read 180, Skills Tutor, Oxford Picture
Dictionary
What do they think about it? Read 180 seems to be very good. It uses guided interest level reading and
supports the learning of reading. It is delivered in centers. I have never used the product. Skills Tutor is used
on a regular basis and so is the Oxford Picture Dictionary. I discussed this software with my mentor, Derek
Kamal who has used all of this software at one time or another believes that all of the products are helpful to
students learning English.
What other technology could you envision using with ELLS? Tony Vicent of “Learning in Hands” talks about
using IPads to create stories, listen to stories, make presentations, develop and listen to Podcasts. This would
make the learner use reading, writing, listening and speaking in a hands on fashion.
Look online at one or more websites that have promotional information about software and technology for
language learning (ideally, ESL)—for instance: Rosetta Stone, Tell Me More, Transparent Language, Byki,
Pimsleur, Imagine Learning, etc. If a demo is available, or your school has, try it.
What theoretical perspective on language learning does this software use (this may be explicitly stated, or you
may have to read between the lines)?
The company says that the software builds nouns and verbs to make complete sentences and this software also
includes national and state standards. It focuses on the proficiency levels of ESL listening, speaking, reading,
and writing.
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