Favorite websites?

Hello colleagues, Many of us have a list of "go to" websites we rely on for planning and teaching English.  It would be great for us to compile a list of excellent online resources here in our community.

What are your favorites? Thanks for contributing to our list!

Cheers, Susan Finn Miller

Moderator, English Language Acquisition Group 

Comments

  • Bow Valley ESL Readers - simple, relevant eBooks with audio for beginning-level students
  • Reading Skills 4 Today's Adults - short, non-fiction passages developed for ABE/ASE students.  Includes 3 different audio files for each passage as well as a robust section of associated content (e.g., pre-reading, post-reading, Quizlet, grammar supplement, etc.). 16 proficiency levels.
  • Youglish - Great intermediate to high level pronunciation practice where students can search for a word or phrase and find it represented authentically in youtube videos. Be sure to provide content warnings for students, as there's no content filter. 
  • REEP's Adult ESL Curriculum
  • LingoClip (Formerly LyricsTraining) - Creates audio cloze exercises from music videos and other online content.  App is free and fun to use!
  • Emerging English Language Literacy Curriculum from VALRC/ReEstablish Richmond

Bow Valley ESL readers are very helpful for adults. There's another more extensive website for kids , but you can use some for adults: Unite for literacy. I think Marshall Adult Readers were expanded during the pandemic_both in terms of the number of selections and accompanying material in Wakelets. And of course, USAlearns has updated and expanded it  offerings re: Citizenship and re integration into the U.S. (Access America.)

 

Two websites that I haven't seem mentioned yet are ELLLO.org (English Listening Lesson Library Online) and Rachel's English. These are two that I keep coming back to year after year, regardless of what my teaching context is. Here's what I like about each:

  • ELLLO.org - with a massive collection of recordings, I can almost always find one (or more!) that fits with the topic I'm working with in class. I LOVE that these are unscripted conversations with folks from a variety of language backgrounds, so students are exposed to natural speech with accents, interruptions, and verbal pauses...features of speech that are rarely present in textbook audio recordings. It also has a robust search/filtering feature to help you and your students find listening practice that is appropriate for your learners. Many, if not all, lessons also include a transcript, vocabulary, and a quiz.
  • Rachel's English - So many students want to practice pronunciation, and Rachel has developed hundreds of videos to help them do just that. Rachel has videos for specific sounds in American English, and each sound video includes a segment where she puts the camera right up in her face so learners can see and mimic her mouth positions. More importantly, though, is that Rachel also has videos that focus on syllable and sentence stress, intonation and other aspects of pronunciation that are sometimes overlooked by instructors and textbooks.

Either of these websites lend themselves well to both whole-class and independent practice. I take time each semester to demonstrate the content and search features of each so my students can navigate them on their own. Both are also mobile-friendly, so students can practice during work breaks and other moments throughout their days.

 

Hello colleagues, Thanks for sharing some of your favorite websites. I value many of the same ones. I'd like to add to our list.

I love using video, and my favorite site is TED Ed (for intermediate and advanced learners) which features a wide range of videos on different topics. A lot of the videos are short -- from 3-5 mins, and I tend to use the shorter ones. TED Ed also has a section specifically for teachers that features tools for planning lessons with videos.  

Here are a few more of my favorites:

  • Learn American English Online -- videos featuring teacher Paul explaining points of grammar from beginning to high intermediate/advanced
  • All Things Grammar -- A collection of worksheets focused on components of grammar
  • Breaking News English -- audio news stories available to listen to and read with lots of related practice exercises -- levels are low intermediate to advanced
  • Learning Chocolate -- a huge collection of vocabulary games
  • abc English is an amazing site I learned about from teachers here in our LINCS community. This site is designed to teach reading fundamentals to learners who have limited print literacy skills in their primary language.

We are creating a nice list of online resources! 

Cheers, Susan

I very much like using Reading Bear with my adult literacy students because of their use of photos and live-action videos (as opposed to animation).
https://www.readingbear.org/

I've also started using VOA's Learning English videos with my Survival level class: 
https://learningenglish.voanews.com/p/5609.html

Hi,

I agree with many you've all mentioned! I'll add https://wespeaknyc.cityofnewyork.us/ which includes episodes and many supporting materials. Each one focuses on a particular topic, such as education, health care, democracy, worker rights, tenant rights, financial empowerment, and others. I've found that they really resonate with my students. My colleagues here at CUNY wrote and helped produce most, if not all, of them. They were funded by specific city agencies to get information about city resources to New Yorkers, so you could research with the class (or case manager) what exists in your area.

Here are the episodes for season 1 and season 2: https://wespeaknyc.cityofnewyork.us/episodes/ I think season 1 episodes are a little more accessible for lower level, but you can also use sections and the study guide materials for pre-viewing of other later episodes.  Season 3 videos are not yet up on the website, but you can more about them find them here. They area little longer (close to 30 min.) In brief, they are: 

  • One Home is about the sustainability of home in the largest sense of the word—the home of our planet.
  • Sofa Love: A Housing Romance is about tenant rights and taking care of home in the concrete sense of the word.
  • Under One Roof is about getting covered and taking care of yet another kind of home—our bodies.
  • Shola’s Voice is about democracy—the beating heart of our national identity, our national home.

(Shola's Voice is timely - it features a woman learning about elections and the importance of using one's voice to strengthen our democracy, after a chance encounter with a candidate for city council.)

Leah