esl resources

Minnesota Literacy
This website has high-quality lesson plans and curriculum for a variety of ESL levels. Good beginning level lesson plans 

Teaching Excellence in Adult Literacy
This guide to effective lesson planning is a little wordy but the graphics and summaries are useful

Drama Techniques for Teaching English
Drama and theatre activities used in ESL learning

ESLHolidayLessons.com

Good ideas here but note the British English that might pop up when spelling

ManyThings.org

"Interesting Things for ESL Students" - Interactive games, videos, and activities for reading, writing, and listening

Games & Activities for the ESL/EFL Classroom*
Tons of ideas for warm-ups and games 

Teaching for Change
Activities for classroom settings based around popular education and using education for liberation and empowerment -- can be adapted to 1:1 tutoring sessions too

My English Pages
Teaching resources about a variety of topics for ESL

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (PDF)
An ESL textbook/workbook with vocabulary about recycling. This workbook is in 6 languages - Spanish, Russian, Bosnian, Somali, Hmong, Vietnamese

*What is EFL? English as a Foreign Language - this would be for someone teaching English outside an English-speaking country. It's a little different than ESL but a lot of the lessons can be adapted

News for You
News articles written for adult learners to practice reading. Requires a subscription to get full access - but ask your coordinator if your organization already has a subscription

The New York Times in Plain English
This website has almost 3,000 news articles that include current events and high-interest topics. Each article is written in 7 levels. While you are getting to know your learner’s reading comfort level, you can print a few different levels so you can switch it up if the article was too easy/too hard.

Breaking News English
Like Breaking News English, this website has a wide range of articles written at different reading levels. It also groups articles by themes which work well for specific units. While it is designed for K-12 students, many of the articles are also relevant for adult ELs. You have to sign upfor a free account to get the articles.

Newsela
Leveled articles and current events including comprehension and discussion questions

Digital Dialects
ESL Games for learning vocab, grammar, numbers, spelling, and pronunciation

Lingua Press (best for advanced learners)
Crossword puzzles meant to help teach vocabulary

English Page
Interactive exercises about modal verbs - what they are and how to use them

Modal Verbs in English
Video explaining modal verbs - helpful to tutors that need a refersher too

Teaching Tenses to ESL Students (presentation)
A good explanation of how to teach tenses and how to talk about them with ESL learners

Leo Network
Tons of lesson on grammar and how to teach it, plus ready-made activities too

English for Everyone
While this is designed for K-12 learners, there are plenty of printable worksheets that can be useful for adults too. Worksheets are broken down by grammar point.

Better @ English  (dialogs)
There are three sections here for students at ESL Levels 3-6. The dialogues are interesting and natural with grammar points and vocabulary on the website. 

Lyrics Training (songs + music)
This is a website designed to learn English through music. It has tons of music videos and CLOZE (fill in the blank) lyrics to practice listening comprehension

VOA Learning English Podcast 
Offers different podcasts for beginner, intermediate, and advanced ESL learners (plus other materials and ideas)

Breaking News English (podcast)
This podcast of news and information is appropriate for advanced ESL. Note the British and American accents when listening. 

ELT Podcast
A collection from the beginning of podcasts (2007!) They are still relevant and helpful, especially for low to intermediate level students, plus the intro music is really good :)

ESL Help Desk  (podcasts + other activites)
Great for ESL Levels 2-3 and has a variety of topics relevant to adult learners

Puma Rosa (pronunciation for Spanish -speakers)
Here is a colorful, Spanish-supported ESL site for students at Levels 1-3. Each English audio segment begins slowly, is repeated at normal speed, and then translated.

Rachel's English (pronunciation with videos)
American English pronunciation videos - good for every level of ESL

EngVid  (pronunciation with videos)
15-20 minute video lessons on a variety of topics, sortable by beginner/intermediate/advanced; excellent for self-study

ESL Discussion
A huge variety of topics with ready to print handouts and thousands of questions. Lots of ads :/

25 ESL Speaking Activities from FluentU
This is a great list of games and activities for small groups. Most can be used in 1:1 settings too

Engaging Conversations (presentation)
A Literacy Works original! It was not recorded but there are lots of ideas and resources included in the slides

"Know your Rights" resources for Illinois residents
Information from the Attorney General's office in English, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, Hindi, Polish, Urdu

Know Your Rights: Stopped by the Police from the ACLU
In English and Spanish and has a variety of scenarios 

Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
A great place to go when your learner has a question you can't answer. They have an accessible helpline too

Citizenship lessons for English Learners
Lessons about the US Government and Civics specifically for ESL students

Preparing for the Oath (self-study)
Self-paced website for US History/citizenship by The Smithsonian

TV411.org (video lessons)
Life skills lessons intended for ABE learners, but can be used with intermediate ESL. Great topics like finance and health, and video lessons and supplementary materials for reading prescription labels

GCF Global (video lessons)
Interactive lessons on a variety of topics from reading and math to digital literacy