ESL Resources and References
Below is a list of resources and references of information pertaining to
anything relating to ESL learning and support.
www.tesl.ca
General-use sites
Adult Education ESL Teachers’ Guide
(http://humanities.byu.edu/elc/teacher/teacherguidemain.html)
Beginning and Intermediate Lesson Plans and Accompanying Teacher Training Modules. The site also
presents a general orientation for teaching of ESL.
Adult Learning Activities from the California Distance Learning
Project
(http://www.cdlponline.org/)
Designed for self-access, these numerous and slick materials (typically with both reading and listening
options, plus associated learning activities) are specifically intended for Adult Basic Education not ESL
students, but they could definitively interest ESL teachers working at CLB 5-6 or higher. For in-class use,
teachers would need to highlight and copy desired reading materials and then paste them into Word or
WordPerfect; the audio (RealAudio format) seems not to be downloadable but could readily be re-recorded.
Audio for ESL/EFL
(http://www.manythings.org/el/)
A modest site that includes 7 American folk songs that can be downloaded and played in class using the
Real Audio player (free download for ‘Basic’ version). At the time of listing, this site had not been updated
since 2004, but the songs (plus interactive online interactive cloze activities) are potentially useful.
Azar Grammar Exchange
(http://www.pearsonlongman.com/ae/azar/grammar_ex/index.html)
Online Resource for ESL Teachers and companion website to the Azar Grammar Series, providing a forum
where teachers can share ideas, questions, and grammar-teaching materials.
BBC Skillwise
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/index.shtml)
Skills-based BBC site full of worksheets, fact sheets and fun on-line games and quizzes to help practise
spelling, punctuation, grammar, reading comprehension, etc. There is also a section for tutors which
provides further teacher support and ties materials into curricula in the U.K.
Best of the Reader
(http://bestofthereader.ca)
An online series of e-books called Best of The Reader. The content is based on some of the best stories
from the last 27 years of the newspaper. There are nine e-books and a 2010 calendar of special days and
holidays. The material is organized by topics: People and Jobs, Special Days and Holidays, Many Ways to
Help, Families, Keeping Safe, Sports, Amazing Stories, Canada’s Aboriginal People, and Word Games and
Puzzles. Each e-book has 6 to 8 stories with exercises and an answer key. Photographs, maps and
illustrations are also included. The stories are written at three levels of reading ability, according to the levels
Acosta developed for use in The Westcoast Reader.
Business Emporium
(http://www.emse.fr/~yukna/business/businessemporium.html)
Business-oriented vocabulary quizzes, tests, eccentric and ESL Business lessons as well as tools to help
teach or master the T.O.E.I.C (Test Of English in International Communication). Fun yet informative
activities with detailed instructions for tomorrow's class, homework or tutorials in Business English.
Canadians and Their Government
(http://www.pch.gc.ca/special/gouv-gov/cont-eng.cfm)
A resource guide containing ready-to-use material for various types of learning environments. The activities
use creative tasks, role-playing, research and discussion-oriented tasks to illustrate how government works.
The information provided within the guide gives a comprehensive and concise explanation of how Canada
has developed, and continues to develop, as a strong democratic country.
CBC Podcasts
(http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/)
Free, downloadable MP3 files for potential use as part of listening activities; even broken into parts and well
scaffolded, probably useful no lower than CLB 5.
Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks
(http://www.language.ca)
The CCLB lesson plans were compiled as part of a cross-Canada project. ESL teachers submitted samples
of successful lesson plans for learners at Stages 1 and 2 of the CLB (CLB 1 –8). These lessons outline
ideas for activities and tasks to help learners develop CLB competencies in all four skills.
CNN Student News
(http://www.cnn.com/studentnews/)
Student-oriented CNN site with podcasts, transcripts, one-pagers, maps etc.
Compleat Lexical Tutor
(http://www.lextutor.ca/)
Under the ‘Tutorial’ title on the left—you will find links to resources and tools for teaching ESL vocabulary. In
the middle, there is also a ‘Research’ list with tools for use in analyzing the vocabulary of texts.
Dave’s ESL Café
(http://www.eslcafe.com/)
One of the oldest and most enduring sites for ESL teachers, including an ‘Idea Cookbook’(in the menu on
the left) with lists of materials under a series of headings such as ‘Business English’, ‘Games’, ‘Grammar’,
etc; these are mostly explanations of activities (often quite detailed), not actual worksheets.
E. L. Easton's English Online
(http://eleaston.com/)
A teacher's resource website with links to materials for teaching such as country profiles, holidays, libraries
and museums, pronunciation, sports and teaching ideas as well as links to online courses in English and
other useful ESL websites.
Employment Skills
(http://eslprograms.vcc.ca/ESLWEB/EmploymentSkills/employmentskills.html)
Links to TOWES-Test of Essential Skills, HRDC-Occupational Profiles, Authentic Workplace Materials,
Workplace Skills Training Project, Conference Board of Canada-Employability Skills 2000+.
English-4U
(http://www.english-4u.com/index.html)
This site offers very slick downloadable PDFs of lesson materials (in both student and teacher versions, the
latter including a lesson outline and answer key); while these colour materials may lose some impact when
printed in monochrome, they do look appealing provided that teachers can locate the right theme to match
their educational plans. Much of the material on the site is not free (see Subscription-based Online Teacher
and Student Resources list), but there is a good deal that can be accessed either by any visitor or by those
who register for free, without a paid subscription.
English Lessons Online
(http://www.smic.be/smic5022/)
Belgian-based website which gives teachers free access to more than 100 vocabulary and grammar
resources, interactive quizzes and exercises, ready-to-use handouts and lesson ideas.
English Teaching Materials
(http://englishteachingmaterials.com/default.aspx)
This site contains documents for teaching English as a second or foreign language. Teachers may find ideas
regarding teaching games and activities, classroom English expressions (along with translations in Korean),
study tips for English language learners, and tips for teaching English.
ETNI Teacher Ideas and Projects
(http://www.etni.org.il/index.html)
The Israeli English Teachers Network site appears to be designed for teachers of high school students, but
has some Lesson Plans that all teachers might find useful(e.g. Book Reports, Computer Applications,
Crossword Puzzles, etc).
ESL Activities
(http://www.geocities.com/teacherraquel/archives.htm)
Set of ESL materials (grammar, vocabulary, and communicative); because the Home Page link to activities
is somewhat obscure, the URL given here goes straight to the Archive. This site requires WinZip or a similar
utility to open the files, which are all zipped for faster download.
ESL Lesson Plans/Activities and Resources
(http://www.csun.edu/~hcedu013/eslplans.html)
Mainly a teacher's resource website but also has links for ESL students. Includes links to CNN Newsroom
and Worldview for ESL, Conversation and Questions for ESL/EFL classroom, ESL Lessons and Games,
ESL Teacher Connection, Dave's ESL Web Guide, etc...
ESL Lounge
(http://www.esl-lounge.com/siteguidetop.shtml)
A large selection of downloadable lesson materials (graded according to 7 different levels, not related to the
CLB but relatively clear: http://www.esl-lounge.com/siteguidelevels.shtml). Some materials are in Word but
most are in PDF; permission is given for individual, non-commercial classroom use.
ESL Teachers’ Board
(http://www.eslteachersboard.com/)
Some useful material available via the links in the ‘ESL RESOURCES’ list: teaching tips and techniques
(most for children, some for older learners) under ‘ESL Lessons’; various exercises under ‘ESL Printables,
Handouts’; and links re. free software or materials under ‘Free Stuff for Teachers.’
ESL Through Music
(http://www.geocities.com/eslmusic/)
A variety of resources including a Lesson Plan Archive for using music in ESL classes; free downloadable
PDFs sponsored by Forefront Publishers.
ESLhome Teacher Page
(http://home.earthlink.net/~eslteacher/index.html)
A good compendium of links for teachers to materials from various sources on the web, including lesson
plans, thematic units, teaching methods and ESL home pages. One section of the ESLhome website.
GVTV
(http://gvtv.ca/)
Hundreds of video stories about issues, people and ideas shaping Greater Vancouver. Learners from CLB 5
and up can search for stories and videos on various topics.
Hall Houstons Random ESL Idea Gene...
(http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/flats/7947/rand.htm)
A list (in enormous font size) of short activities to use as warm-ups or time-fillers.
Historica: History by the Minute
(http://www.histori.ca/minutes/default.do;jsessionid=F6A53E487A6CD310283350591767F1CD.tomcat1?pag
e=.index)
Historica Minutes: one-minute movies from Canada’s past, Footprints: stories of Canada’s athletes,
Radio Minutes: short dramas on various Canadian issues and personalities. All for Upper Intermediate to
Advanced (CLB 5-7) students.
Holidays on the Net
(http://www.holidays.net/)
A teacher's resource for holiday celebrations on the World Wide Web. This site provides information on
each holiday celebration including its history, as well as related activities.
Hot Potatoes
(http://hotpot.uvic.ca/index.htm)
A suite of software tools for teachers to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence,
crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web. On September 1, 2009, a
freeware version will be released.
Internet Projects for Learners and Teachers of English
(http://www.wfi.fr/volterre/inetpro.html)
A compilation of links to websites for Internet projects from around the world.
John and Sarah’s TEFL Pitstop
(http://www.lingolex.com/jstefl.htm)
Once you get past the links to advertisers like Oxford Seminars and edHelp.com, there are links to games,
resource books, and other contributions at various levels by ESL/EFL teachers.
John’s ESL Community
(http://www.johnsesl.com/)
Teachers should check out the extensive menu on the right of the Home Page, to find online software to
create worksheets for games, quite extensive ready-made printable sheets, detailed directions for activities,
dialogues with vocabulary and exercises, etc.
Lanternfish
(http://bogglesworldesl.com/)
This site includes (among other resources) a wide range of quite well organized free downloadable
worksheets in Word format. The Terms of Use specify: “You may use any resource, including photocopies,
for the purpose of teaching and distribution to your classes. You may not redistribute them, electronically or
otherwise, in any other form, package, or collection.”
Linguistic Funland
(http://www.linguistic-funland.com/)
A list of various links to resources for language teaching and learning, linguistics study, and other
miscellaneous resources.
National Film Board of Canada
(http://www.nfb.ca/explore-by/title/)
Hundreds of films that are viewable online for free, available for potential use as part of listening activities;
the films vary widely, so that careful selection is required with respect to appropriate scaffolding and
matching to the proficiency level necessary for pedagogically effective listening/viewing.
National Public Radio
(http://www.npr.org/)
News, podcasts and other high-quality but also high-CLB-level recordings (you will find little other nothing
that would be suitable for students below at least CLB 5).
Oral English Activities
(http://www.waze.net/oea/)
Oral English activities for adult learners (developed and field tested in an EFL setting in China); seem to be
generally at least CLB 4; plans and procedures for role-plays, discussions etc., organized according to a
variety of topics.
Oxford Teachers’ Club
(http://www.oup.com/elt/select?url=/eltnew/teachersclub/?oup_jspFileName=teachersclub.jsp)
Signing up for a free subscription to this site provides access to purpose-designed supplementary materials
for use with ESL materials from the Oxford University Press.
Passage to Canada
(http://www.passagestocanada.com/index.asp)
A national storytelling initiative that provides Canadians with a greater understanding and appreciation of the
contributions that immigrants and refugees make to Canada. Educational resources are available and
teachers can connect to the Speakers’ Bureau and invite a speaker to their classrooms or community
events.
Pizzaz
(http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~leslieob/pizzaz.html)
According to a note on the home page, “PIZZAZ! is dedicated to providing simple creative writing and oral
storytelling activities with copyable (yes, copyable!) handouts for use with students of all ages. Permission is
given to use these resources for in-class, non-profit use only.”
Puzzlemaker
(http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/)
Teachers can create different types of puzzles online such as mazes, crossword puzzles, word searches,
cryptograms, etc. Puzzles can be saved online or printed.
Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab
(http://www.esl-lab.com/)
A site with recordings of “everyday conversations with adult and children's voices”, rated at “easy”, “medium”
and “difficult”, and supported by vocabulary tips, vocabulary work, and interactive comprehension
questions. The audio files may not be downloaded, but they can be used in class; the print materials
supporting them can be downloaded and printed out for student use (see full details in “Randall’s Copyright
Notice”). Note: there are few if any truly low-level materials here; the “easy” listening passages tend to be at
least CLB 4-5.
RCI – Radio Canada International
(http://www.rcinet.ca/rci/en/)
Upper Intermediate to Advanced (CLB 5-7) learners can read national and world news, listen to web radio
and daily/weekly programs on immigration news and stories, plus much more.
Shaggy Dog Stories
(http://www.antimoon.com/other/shaggydog.htm)
Downloadable MP3s of 10 shaggy dog stories; potentially useful, but no transcripts available.
Simons ELT Activity Land
(http://semumf.tripod.com/)
Simon Mumford’s English Language Teaching (ELT) website with original word games, drills, speaking and
grammar practice activities, all written by him. A heavy emphasis on decontextualized grammar potentially
made fun by using games and puzzles. British English.
StoryCorps Audio Archive
(http://www.storycorps.org/listen)
Literally millions of life-history recordings in the form of free, downloadable MP files for potential use as part
of listening activities; even broken into parts and well scaffolded, probably useful no lower than CLB 5.
Teaching English: Tips, resources, materials, downloads and more…
(http://www.teachenglish.ws/resources/)
This is a rather general site for EFL materials developed in Japan, but instructions for some potentially
interesting games (click on ‘Game ideas’ in the menu on the left); also, an appealing ‘Bingo Card Generator’
to make bingo cards with words, phrases etc.
Ted Power English Language Learning and Teaching
(http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/phono.html)
This pronunciation website helps to identify common errors based on language background and
recommends resources for practice.
TEFL Magic
(http://www.tefl-magic.com/)
A British-based website with teacher-designed worksheets on English Skills, Good/Bad, Numbers/Statistics,
Everyday Life, Business English, Health/Body, Idioms/Phrases, Travel/Countries, as well as information
about the ESL teaching experiences of the author.
TESL English Lessons from the Internet TESL Journal
(http://iteslj.org/links/TESL/Lessons/)
Mainly a teacher's resource website but also has links for ESL students, such as reading comprehension
activity, vocabulary games, advanced English skills for ESL students, etc.
TESOL Tasks
(http://www.tesoltasks.com/)
Free worksheets designed for teen-aged ESL students. The page owner notes that, as posted, the sheets
are not in a printer-friendly format, but that they can readily be printed by highlighting the desired lines,
copying, and then pasting into Word (and we’ve tested that technique: it works fine, for ordinary text and
even for tables). “The materials found on this site may be copied and/or adapted for use in the classroom or
for private study. Any other use is strictly forbidden.”
Tower of English
(http://towerofenglish.com/
A guide to the internet with about 300 fun and interesting websites in 34 different categories.
Type IPA Phonetic Symbols online
(http://ipatypeit.org)
This website enables teachers to write out IPA transcriptions and paste them into Word documents.
University of Iowa: Phonetics
(http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/frameset.html)
Animated mouth diagrams and sound files for how to pronounce specific sounds (separate sounds, plus
sounds within example words: typically initial, medial and final positions). The materials are designed for
online use, not downloading, but they do illustrate the sounds very clearly and could therefore be well worth
using in class via a WWW link.
Using English in China
(http://www.xiangtan.co.uk/teachers.htm)
Web page of a British teacher who worked in China for 4 years. Teacher resources include Lesson Plans at
higher levels (CLB 6+), plus links to English Newspapers Online, World Headlines, Online Translation and
Dictionary Tools, Quote of the Day, Article Database, Watching English and Foreign TV Online For Free,
and Chatting Online with ICQ.
Voice of America
(http://www.voanews.com/english/index.cfm)
Streaming audio of news reports and other programs; specially simplified versions in the Special English
section: http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/index.cfm (with transcripts and downloadable Real Audio
and MP3 audio files).
VoicePrint – Canada’s Broadcast Reading Service
(http://www.voiceprintcanada.com/)
Authentic listening to top stories — international, national, regional and local — from more than 600
Canadian newspapers and magazines. For advanced level students – CLB 6 and up.
Volume 41(1) of English Language Forum
(http://eca.state.gov/forum/vols/vol41/no1/)
Downloadable MP3s (plus PDF transcripts) for 4 Blues songs.
Westcoast Reader
(http://www.westcoastreader.ca/)
Archived copies of issues of this award-winning monthly newspaper for CLB 1-4, including Teacher’s Notes.
Western/Pacific Literacy Network: Learning Resources
(http://www.literacynet.org/cnnsf/index_cnnsf.html )
CBS and CNN new stories, in both full-length and abridged versions (plus outlines), including RealMovie
and RealAudio files for online viewing /listening (can also be saved to a computer for use offline).
Mainly for teaching children
Children Only ESL/EFL Games
(http://www.childrenonlyesl-efl.com/mainpages/maincategories/gameshomepage.asp)
Quite detailed instructions for printable games of various kinds, suitable for young learners: Board Games,
Action Games, Counting Games, etc.
EFL Playhouse
(http://www.esl4kids.net/)
Resources for teachers of young English Language Learners, including educational games, songs,
fingerplays, action rhymes, craft ideas, printable materials, and tongue twisters.
English Raven ESL/EFL Resources
(http://www.englishraven.com/)
Extensive free downloadable flash cards and similar resources, mainly suitable for child learners (note: PDF
page size is A4, slightly longer than a 9.5 x 11 inch letter-size page).
Exchanging Letters with the World
(http://www.angelfire.com/ut/elww/)
An EFL teacher-developed website for a pen pal-type project where elementary and possibly high-school
students write letters about themselves and exchange them with students in another country.
Frankie’s ESOL Worksheets
(http://www.geocities.com/frankie_meehan/)
A collection of resources for Middle School ESOL and International Baccalaureate (IB) English A2/B
classes, written for students in an international school in Singapore. Strong reading and writing materials –
probably about CLB 6 and above - but listening/speaking is limited.
Genki English
(http://genkienglish.com)
Elementary School English Games, Songs and Lesson Plans and Ideas! Self-described ‘Leading Site for
ESL teachers in elementary schools’ in Japan. As seen on NHK TV.
Language Works
(http://www.lang-works.com/)
An on-line curriculum for young learners which uses flashcards with no audio, starting at Beginner Level 2
and going to Intermediate Level 4. The syllabus for the curriculum includes units entitled Noun Wizard
(nouns), Action Wizard (verbs), Lesson Wizard (nouns , pronouns and prepositions), Game Show (Q & A
activity), Role Plays and Photo Talk.
Taiwan Teacher
(http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/1979/index.html)
Under ‘EFL Ideas’ this site offers a series of descriptions (reasonably detailed) for carrying out languageintensive games and activities.
The EFL Playhouse
(http://www.esl4kids.net/)
This site offers suggestions for “educational games, songs, fingerplays, action rhymes, craft ideas, printable
materials, tongue twisters” etc for use with children learning ESL or EFL. While potentially quite useful as a
memory-refresher, the site provides only basic “ideas” for activities, not detailed instructions.
Tiddlywinks!
(http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/Fountain/2131/tiddlywinks.html)
The site from Quebec provides actual worksheets for puzzles, cooperative activities, reading exercises, etc
suited for use in K-8 ESL classes. To print the materials, you need to highlight the section you want, copy,
and then paste into Word or WordPerfect (which works fine, even for graphics).
Way Ahead
(http://www.macmillanenglish.com/younglearners/wayahead/wayahead.html)
All about a new resource for young EFL learners from MacMillan, including a selection of downloadable
tests from the first level of the Way Ahead Teacher's Resource Book.
Resources for literature-based teaching
Great Books Online
(http://www.bartleby.com/)
Classic books and poems for free downloading; includes short poems by Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, and
Gerard Manley Hopkins.
The Gutenberg Project
(http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page)
Over 100,000 online books are now available from Project Gutenberg and its partners.
The Online Books Page (University of Pennsylvania)
(http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/)
Over 35,000 free online books, updated regularly.