Lesson Planning Resources

On the Web

Activities for ESL Students ~ http://a4esl.org/

This website is a companion of The Internet TESL Journal (iteslj.com). It has a
catalog of resources for grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. For technology savvy
learners and tutors, there are podcasts to download. The site also offers bilingual
activities that would help beginning students with vocabulary building.

Many Things.Org ~ http://www.manythings.org/

This is also a great all-in-one stop for ESL resources. This site is great for
developing thematic units and will vary its featured content with seasonal and special
events. For great cultural education, check out the Voice of America Materials. These
specifically designed units link to NPR broadcasts on a variety of topics from country
music stars to ragweed and allergies to California vineyards.

Dave’s ESL Café ~ http://www.daveseslcafe.com/

Although not as deep as the two previous website, this site also contains a variety
of materials for tutors and learners. It has great, short quizzes on a variety of grammar
and cultural topics.

EdHelper.Com Graphic Organizers ~ http://www.edhelper.com/teachers/

graphic_organizers.htm?gclid=CMbW8M7Y54gCFSV4NAod4AQCbw
If graphic organizers help you and your learner organization information, this site
is a great resource. It features a variety of printable graphic organizers, from KWLH to
Venn diagrams and (for fun) forms to create your own family crest. Simple topic
breakdowns can help beginning writers and more complex diagrams can organize
information from reading passages.

EnglishClub.Com ~ http://www.englishclub.com/index.htm
This is also another great website with a variety of content. The ESL Learning
Centre and Clubhouse focus on student activities while the ESL Teacher’s Lounge
provides links to lesson plans and to sites for tutors and teachers to generate their own
materials.

English Maze ~ http://www.englishmaze.com/main/home.html

This is a very interactive site. The “rooms” provide the opportunity for students
to practice listening, speaking, spelling, and vocabulary while listening to English
speakers with a variety of accents and emphasis. The printable worksheets and mazes
compliment the computer activities or can serve as stand alone exercises.

TEFL Games.Com ~ http://www.teflgames.com/games.html

This collection of free, online games is meant to challenge students and vary the
classroom routine. The site provides instructions and printable materials for teachers to
create classroom games, as well as interactive, online matching games.
ESL Wonderland ~ http://www.eslwonderland.com/activities/index.htm
This website provides a variety of on-line activities, from “WebQuests,” mini-
research projects for advance students, to timed reading activities and listening activities
that play segments of news broadcasts and ask students to answer questions after the
briefing.

DiscoverySchool’s Puzzlemaker ~ http://www.puzzlemaker.com/

Use the puzzlemaker to create lesson specific resources. These tools allow
teachers and tutors to generate vocabulary lists and support materials quickly. You can
input specific or target vocabulary and create word jumbles, crossword puzzle, and word
searches, along with other puzzle types.

The ESL Center ~ http://members.aol.com/eslkathy/esl.htm#voc

An online bibliography, linking you to a variety of sources that can serve as ESOL
classroom tools. Some sites are specific to ESOL education, while others are community
resources, such as links to Wikipedia and the CIA Factbook. The site organizes resource
by need or theme, allowing you to pick the site that best meets the need of your learner
and your lesson.

Learning Vocabulary Can Be Fun ~ http://www.vocabulary.co.il/

Make learning more fun and interactive with this great website! The variety is
tremendous and the topics (especially under the quizzes) can boost your learner’s
vocabulary and cultural understanding without being intimidating. There are great topics
including “At the Movies,” “Emergency Measures,” and “Law and Order” that will
introduce more advanced learners to culturally aware vocabulary, while other topics such
as “Fruits” and “Houses” will help beginning learners.

Holidays on the Net ~ http://www.holidays.net/dailys.htm

Celebrating Cathode Ray Tube Day? Maybe World Peace Day? Or the Feast of
the Radishes? Find activities, games, and learning materials for all holidays at this site,
which offers link to the resources of the web. There are more resources for larger
holidays, but the daily holidays feature could serve as a great conversation starter or an
end of lesson wrap-up.

English is Tough Stuff ~ http://www.unique.cc/ron/estuff.htm

If tongue twisters haven’t done the trick to help your learner with the difficult
sounds produced by spoken English, try this (lengthy) poem, allegedly created to help
NATO personnel master pronunciation. The poem could also serve as a great vocabulary
lesson (I had to double check some meaning and pronunciations myself!).

BBC Learning English ~ http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/

For students interested in soccer, or current events, or both, this BBC managed
website offers a host of language learning games, quizzes, and media resources. There is
a unit dedicate to soccer/football vocabulary, a link to “vocabulary in the news” and a
weekly “Song lines” unit that teaches idioms, vocabulary, and popular cultures using
song lyrics.
EFL/ESL Lessons and Lesson Plans ~ http://iteslj.org/Lessons/
This site contains a variety of ready to go lessons for ESL classrooms, with topics
ranging from cultural awareness to table manners. There are also conversation guides
and starters and links to additional outside resources and sites.

Verizon Literacy Network ~ http://literacynetwork.verizon.org/

These free, online courses are available to tutors and program coordinators.
Topics of interest include: working with adult learners, working with English Language
learners, working with migrant and refugee communities, engaging Hispanic parents in
education, lesson planning, using graphic organizers, community literacy programs and
more! Course can be completed in 30 minutes to an hour and include substantial
resource lists.