Embedded Files
Online Resources
Online Resources
In this section, I will share some of the online resources I have used in the past. I hope to continue updating this list of resource. Besides each resource, I will indicate whether this resource is great in terms of usability.
In this section, I will share some of the online resources I have used in the past. I hope to continue updating this list of resource. Besides each resource, I will indicate whether this resource is great in terms of usability.
Government/Organization Affiliated Resources
Government/Organization Affiliated Resources
This website includes PDF and audio files for each LINC level free of charge. In each level, there are topics and instructor notes. Hence, you can search for a specific topic your students want to learn. The notes provide a guideline to use these activities in the classroom.
English for Financial Literacy
Similar to the LINC resources above, this website includes PDF resources and audio files outlined based on CLB levels 1 to 8. The resources are more relevant in terms of helping learners develop financial awareness. For example, writing cheques, taxes, work and pay. Each activity includes worksheets and a brief lesson plan sample.
Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks
This site offers some useful links and downloadable resources. I mainly use this website as it contains supporting resources for PBLA (Portfolio Based Learning Assessments). There are also exemplars for each macroskills and examples of lesson plans on certain topics.
AMSSA or Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies of BC
Funded by the federal and BC provincial government, this organization has a wealth of resources for newcomers. I have used some of their videos in my health lessons. Note: some of the videos might be geared towards the BC area.
British Council’s Learn English
British Council’s website has quite a selection of materials categorized by skills, grammar, vocabulary, business English, general English, and IELTS. Within the skills, you can select what macroskill you’re looking for. I mostly use the Listening resources because there is an audio and a transcript. At times I might have to edit the transcript to suit my learners. I simply have to record myself speaking in that case. In the vocabulary section there are flashcards and audio saying those words. The resources here are organized based on the Common European Framework of Reference for languages rather than the Canadian Language Benchmarks. Hence, be careful of the levels. I usually recommend this website for advance learners as it does take some skills to navigate this website. Advance learners can also participate in some exercises that can be automatically corrected by the site’s system.
NALA (National Adult Literacy Agency)
NALA in Ireland presents resources for reading, writing, spelling, numbers, review, and vocabulary building (e.g. word search, puzzles, crosswords). Although some materials are free, there are others free for download. You have to set up an account via calameo. (Once you click on a topic, a window will pop up, taking you to the file) I’ve mainly used this site for ideas and examples of a grammar point I wanted to teach.
Sometimes I struggle with brainstorming ideas or words for a topic so I will take a look at Kaplan for some ideas. Take food for instance, what are the words to describe tastes? The site has some authentic looking pictures to go with the word. When I was teaching a travel module, I searched through the Travel English topic for ideas. The blogs are fairly short so I could easily adapt it into my lesson.
Worksheet Focused Resources
Worksheet Focused Resources
Lanternfish ESL or Bobblesworldesl
This website contains worksheets and flashcards that you can download in WORD docs and modify. There are conversation examples like talking with the bank teller. The site is well designed in terms of heading organization. There is ESL for adults and Business English. Within the Adult ESL section, you can select level one to five to see the level appropriate materials they have. However, I would look through them all based on topic and just modify to customize the group of students I have at the moment. I use it mostly for the flashcards because it saves time. Recently, I decided to make my own flashcards because I can find real live pictures which gives it a more authentic feel. Flyers and magazines are also a good source in terms of picture quality and authenticity.
ESL Library *fee
This website is another great resource divided by themes, levels, and skills. There are worksheets for students, guides to lessons for teachers, and audio accompaniment. It is a real time saver. Unfortunately, this site requires a fee but if you share among teachers, it will be a great deal!
This website offers a wide range of resources for specific subjects and levels. The worksheets are all in PDF format in which you can download for free. It will take some time to go through the resources because some files are very long. Fortunately, the files have a table of contents in which you can quickly search for what you need. The resources are grouped based on topic but don’t let the categories fool you! There may be some hidden gems within!
This is an amazing website for worksheets! By far, they have the largest collection of worksheets supplied by fellow colleagues in the ESL teaching field. Once you register (free of charge), you can download anything. It is easy to navigate through this site by quickly typing in the search function to find what you’re looking for, categories, levels, or grammar. This site can also be used for audience of all ages interested in learning English.
Video Focused Resources
Video Focused Resources
This is a great resource for teachers and learners. Learners can utilize the videos to do listening comprehension quizzes. As the name of the site suggests, there are many videos that can focus on topic as well as grammar. The site is fairly easy to navigate. The videos are mostly authentic from TED Talks to snippets of sitcoms. Here’s one I’ve used to discuss adjectives (laughing/giggling warning).
The videos in this website are categorized based on their level division. Hence, a level one would be more like a CLB 3 and up. However, I like this site as it contains more news related videos and there is a transcript in which I can modify to create a cloze listening worksheet for students. In the past, I had discussions about the impact of technology in education and family relationships.
If your main concern is teaching phonics, this site might be just what you’re looking for. There are videos that shows you how each sound is made. Although this site is meant for children, I have used some of the teaching strategies and worksheets for adult learners at the foundation level (zero English abilities).
Don’t let the name fool you! The videos here are not all about Vancouver. You can adapt some of the conversation in any situation. The videos are also categorized by LINC levels so it’s not too different from CLB levels. There is another option to search by topic or grammar point. The best of all, the videos include a transcript. If you can’t show the video, a transcript is there! What a time-saver! This can also be a great resource for learners as there are online English review games. Learners can listen, fill in the answer, and have it checked with a click of a button.
This site mainly focuses on news and tries to update its resources relevant to what is happening now. The materials are divided into at least seven levels. I mainly use this site to create reading comprehension worksheets for students. Within each section topic selected, there is a range of activities relevant to that news report. For instance, the news about “Hong Kong Protests” can be a reading exercise with gap filling activities or a listening comprehension activity with pre-and post-reading questions.
Tools
Tools
https://naturalreaders.com/ or http://www.fromtexttospeech.com/
Both of the websites above can translate a large amount of text into speech. This is a time saver for me at situations when I did not have time. In terms of which one is better, I find From Text to Speech has more natural voices.
At times, I struggled to find the perfect infographic to use in the classroom. Hence, I use this site to help me build one that looks a bit more professional than what I could do in WORD. Some of the features will require a fee but you have the option of using other free materials available. I’ve used this to create an infographic reminder on sentence combining.
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