LibGuides: English Language Learners Resources: Lesson Plans and Teaching Activities

Lesson Plan Resources

Activities for ESL Students: Over 1,000 online activities to practice grammar and vocabulary skills. Skills are organized by easy, medium and advanced, as well as by browser requirements. The crossword puzzles, bilingual quizzes and other activites are contributed by teachers through The Internet TESL Journal.
Grades: K - 12

American English: Developed by the U.S. Department of State this website is designed to help English learners acquire English language skills and understand American culture. The website provides extensive resources to teachers and learners. Trace Effects is a videogame within this website that was created to help students from grades 6-10 learn English.
Grades: 4 - 10; American English Resources
American English Resources provide materials for teachers' professional development and for students in the classroom. Find classroom activities, audiobooks, MP3s, videos and pedagogical material to assist in learning English as a second language. Students can also explore American culture through various materials. Resources include popular American classics, in-house publications and links to U.S. government websites and podcasts.

Grades PreK-12

BrainPOP ELL

Discover 90 scaffolded lessons to build vocabulary and grammar skills for English learners at every level.

Grades K-8

Colorin Colorado: Subtitles: A bilingual website for families and educators of English language learners. Colorin Colorado contains information, strategies, activities, and resources for teachers who work with English learners. Activities are designed for PreK-3, but many can be adapted for older students. Sponsored by WETA (a public television station) with support from the American Federation of Teachers, National Institute for Literacy and the U.S. Department of Education.
Grades: PreK - 3; Continential's ESL Resource Center for Teachers; We know teaching English Language Learners (ELLs) can be a challenge, and a little support can go a long way. In this ESL Resource Center for Teachers, you’ll see our best online resources—like our blogs with classroom experts, freebies, and budget-friendly tools to energize your instruction while meeting standards and testing goals.; DC Public Schools ESL/ELL Resource List; Helpful list of ESL/ELL resource list for teachers, parents, and students.; Grades: PreK-Adult

Education Place: Provided by textbook publisher, Houghton Mifflin, this website provides online support for their textbook series, as well as lesson plans (for a variety of topics), graphic organizers, handouts and activities for themes, outline maps, and links current event websites for kids.
Grades: K - 8; Ellevation; Ellevation empowers educators to make informed instructional decisions that improve outcomes for English learners (ELs). By combining real-time student data with tailored professional development, Ellevation provides EL educators with the tools needed to build exceptional systems of student support.; Grades K-12

ELLLO (English Listening Lesson Library Online): Using video and audio recordings, ELLLO helps students learn English. Searchable by level, topic, country and media, most video or audio recordings are accompanied by a transcript. Vocabulary and phrases are defined in writing as well as through audio clips.
Grades: 6 - 12

Englishclub: Focusing on British English, this website offers ESL learners and teachers links for listening, speaking, reading writing, grammar, writing, vocabulary, and pronunciation. Founded by Josef Essberger, it includes games and quizzes to test students' knowledge in ESL. Students can also participate in ESL forums with teachers, find ESL schools around the world and get exams off the Internet.
Grades: K - 12; English Media Lab Homepage
Exercises for all English learners including online grammar exercises, vocabulary videos, pronunciation exercises, and interactive quizzes for beginning, intermediate and advanced learners.

Grades: PreK-12

ESL Kidstuff: ESL KidStuff is geared toward teachers of younger ESL students. It includes an extensive library of flashcards, worksheets, games, songs, and links to other ESL websites. While some resources may be accessed for free, a Membership fee is required for full access to resources.
Grades: PreK - 5; ESL Videos
ESLvideo.com provides educational resources for English as a Second Language Students to improve their listening, speaking, grammar, and vocabulary skills. The quiz activities and lessons are created by teachers, and are free to use in class, lab, or at home.

Grades: PreK-12

Interesting Things for ESL Students: Word games, puzzles, quizzes, exercises for practicing grammar, reading, pronunciation, slang and proverbs. Authors Charles and Lawrence Kelly also give guidelines for designing your own website for ESL students.
Grades: K - 12; International Children's Digital Library
Free digitized picture books in multiple languages. Great for ESL students.

Grades: PreK-5

Into the Book: Into the Book provides both a student and teacher website to focus on interactive reading strategies. The videos and online learning activities were developed by the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Grades: K - 5

LearnEnglishFeelGood: ESL portal with a wide variety of exercises and resources for students and teachers of English. Includes free grammar and vocabulary exercises, worksheets and media-based listening comprehension exercises, lists of idioms and phrasal verbs. Developed by three ESL teachers.
Grades: 3 - 12; LearnEnglish Kids
LearnEnglish Kids has lots of free online games, songs, stories and activities for children to have fun and learn English too.

Grades: 1-12

Learn English Using Online Resources
Free ESOL Websites listed by New York Public Library: These general ESOL websites offer many types of activities (grammar, listening, pronunciation, vocabulary, reading, etc.) for language learners of all levels.

Grades PreK-12

Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab: Using Real Player or Divace, students can practice their listening skills with a variety of listening quizzes written at different skill levels. Randall S. Davis created these exercises for ESL teachers and students. Pre and post activities provide additional support.
Grades: 3 - 12

Starfall: Designed to teach reading through phonemic awareness, systematic phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension this free program includes interactive games, stories and other activities. Divided into four levels: ABC's, Learn to read, It's fun to read and I'm reading.
Grades: PreK - 2; 35 Peer Recommended Resources for ESL Teachers (Rutgers); New Jersey Alternate Route candidates specializing in English as a Second Language (ESL) Education recently recommended free web resources that they’ve consulted when preparing lessons and engaging, relevant activities for students. Their suggested resources are a part of our blog series featuring go-to-websites, blogs, and other online teaching and reference materials for helping our state’s youth achieve the NJ Student Learning Standards. More than 300 teachers participated in this professional swap and share, with many contributing lesser-known resources that even seasoned educators will be excited to discover. Read why our ESL educators love the resources they recommend.