ESL Teaching Resources

Native-like pronunciation is a goal for many ESL students. Having tips and strategies to help them reduce their accent and achieve a more native-like pronunciation is beneficial for any speaking-pronunciation teacher.

Intermediate and advanced students can make great use of debate-style discussions to improve their speaking and conversation skills. This site contains topics and themes for debate, including debate topics designed for younger students.

English Club offers listening and repeating activities for ESL students to practice English pronunciation. There are quizzes and tips on such things as sentence and word stress, and a list of tongue twisters to challenge even the most proficient English speakers!

English Club offers teaching ideas and activities to practice speaking skills from small talk to presentations and public speaking. Negotiation, agreeing and disagreeing, and interview skills are practiced, along with a number of dialogues on a variety of topics.

A collection of video and audio files to practice common English pronunciation and differentiation of commonly confused sounds. Audio files are in mp3 format; videos are in Apple QuickTime format. Click here to download Apple QuickTime (free).

Pronunciation lessons in mp3 audio format for beginner through intermediate students with access to a computer. Teachers can download audio files for use in the classroom.

Lessons and activities to teach and practice travel and survival English. Designed for ESL students who will be travelling to English-speaking countries, but the lessons can be incorporated into any beginner or intermediate class with access to a computer.

Topical questions to facilitate conversation formatted for easy printing. Questions and lesson ideas can be modified to suit any level.

A wide variety of speaking activities for individuals, pairs, and groups. Some are simple dialogues and exchanges, others involve filling in the blanks with the appropriate word.

Contains scripts of well known stories and songs, many linked to Real Audio files so students can listen to the story or song as they read.

Interesting conversation starters on a wide variety of topics. These can be used as warmup talks or incorporated into speaking lessons in any conversation class.

Pronunciation exercises for vowels, consonants, diphthongs, and general phonetics. There are printable, audio, and video activities and exercises to help students learn and practice English pronunciation.

Isolation, contrast, minimal pair, and word stress activities to help students practice correct English pronunciation. Also includes links to full lessons as well as the British Council's handbook on teaching pronunciation.

Some roleplaying and drama activities can be modified for beginner students, but most require a greater degree of proficiency with the language to be successful. This site contains links to pdfs of many varied themes and topics for roleplaying and drama activities in ESL lessons.

Rong-Chang is a frequently updated site with a wide variety of resources and materials for ESL lessons. The Idioms section contains links to idiom lists, slang terms from various English-speaking countries, as well as an Idiom Dictionary to help students use expressions correctly and appropriately.

Rong-Chang is a frequently updated site with a wide variety of resources and materials for ESL lessons. The Pronunciation section contains tongue twisters, accent reduction techniques, sentence and syllable stress, and many other pronunciation activities and exercises.

Videos, diagrams, activities, and tips for reproducing difficult or frequently confused sounds in the English language. Students could be invited to practice on their own using the videos on the site, or the videos could be incorporated into a classroom lesson lead by the teacher.

A wide selection of speaking activities that can be used as icebreakers or components of a speaking lesson. Some of the activities are specially designed for pair work.

Speaking and conversation are the most commonly sought skills among ESL students. This site contains scripts and ideas for use in speaking lessons.

Giving a speech can be a nerve wracking experience even for native English speakers. However, speech writing can be excellent practice for more advanced ESL students. Being able to deliver a successful speech in their second language can give a great sense of accomplishment to ESL students.

Surveys and questionnaires are a great way to collect information from your students and to get them thinking about a particular topic. These can lead to class debates, discussions, or speeches.

Role-playing activities, telephone skills, and oral presentation lessons to help students develop their speaking skills and confidence. Lessons range from high-beginner level through advanced.

Contains a selection of movies with plot summaries and suggestions for creating lessons and activities. Intended for advanced students, but the lesson ideas can be modified for intermediate classes with additional support from the teacher.

A wide range of traditional- and multimedia lesson ideas to promote conversation and speaking. Themes include Entertainment, Mysticism & The Paranormal, Natural Disasters, The News & Current Events, Shopping, and Travel.

Speaking on the telephone is different than speaking in person, and different skills are required to effectively convey meaning. In addition, specialized vocabulary is used during telephone conversations. These tips and vocabulary are useful in any business English class.

Tongue twisters can be a fun (and challenging!) way for ESL students of any level to practice pronunciation. Since many tongue twisters focus on a particular aspect of pronunciation, lessons can be tailored around a specific tongue twister. Or, they can be used as a warm-up, cool-down, or other fun activity.

Tongue twisters are a great way to practice pronunciation and phonetic awareness. Students will have fun trying these tricky phrases, and they will get a great sense of accomplishment when they are able to say them clearly and quickly.

Students can listen to the audio on the site and fill out the printable worksheets. A variety of topics and parts of speech are covered.

English Club offers listening activities to practice this all-important skill. There are audio links to stories and articles, as well as activities and tips for students and teachers.

A variety of listening exercises for communicative practice. Some themes include "immigration and customs", "getting to know you", and "asking permission", among many others.

Contains sample scripts, drills, and dialogues to practice a variety of pronunciation elements. Activities also link to Real Audio files so students can hear the correct pronunciation as they practice. For a media player capable of playing Real Audio files, click here.

Movies are an engaging way to introduce English dialogue. Not only do students have the language, but they are also exposed to it in a visual manner so they have input from body language, facial expressions, and the scene and setting. This page contains ideas for activities to use during a lesson incorporating movies.

Song lyrics, conversation cards, scavenger hunts, and handouts to help teachers develop lessons to make use of popular English music in the classroom.

Activities to teach everything from brainstorming and essay outlines, through topic sentences to full five paragraph essays. Exercises to practice sentence writing and identifying main ideas are also included.

Essay writing is an important skill and differs from other writing skills in the complexity involved. ESL students preparing for post-secondary study abroad will find lessons on proper essay writing to be very useful as they continue their studies.

Proofreading is a very important writing skill. Instilling good proofreading habits should be a goal for any writing teacher. If students know what to look for, they can improve their own writing. Not only does proofreading lead to an improved finished product, it also helps illuminate some common areas of difficulty. This can help students focus their efforts on the errors they most frequently make.

English Club offers exercises and activities for use in writing lessons to practice everything from true beginner letter formation to advanced essay writing. There are also tips for things like hyphenation and appropriate use of capitalization.

Punctuation is a key element to written communication. Mastering the use of the comma and semi-colon can be a difficult task even for native English speakers. It is useful for teachers to brush up on punctuation as they prepare to teach writing and grammar. This page is a useful resource for teachers and students alike.

Rong-Chang is a frequently updated site with a wide variety of resources and materials for ESL lessons. The Writing section has links to things such as sentence-structure writing practice, essay writing, and even touch typing lessons!

Vocabulary presentation activities, information gaps, and ideas to enhance reading lessons. Primarily designed for intermediate to advanced students, some activities could be modified for high-beginners.

Different writing skills are used for different forms of writing, and emails are no different. This page gives tips to help ESL students write effective, clear emails.

These are not sorted by level, so teachers will have to assess each lesson before attempting to use it in their classes. There are a wide range of topics represented, so it should be possible to find something to interest almost any class.

Various printable resources for use in writing lessons, including everything from story outlines to certificates of achievement. These can be used in a variety of writing lessons.

From blogs to thesis statements, every kind of writing requires different tactics and stylistic conventions. This site breaks down some of the more common forms of writing and advises on how to write appropriately for that genre. It also explains the steps of the writing process, from brainstorming through editing and proofreading.

English Club offers a variety of articles and stories to practice reading. Most contain vocabulary lists to help teachers identifiy and explain difficult or unfamiliar words.

Sample newspaper articles geared for ESL students. The articles have key vocabulary identified, along with definitions, as well as an online quiz. Teachers can opt to transcribe the quiz onto paper to have an in-class, offline quiz to follow the article.

Poetry can be introduced with intermediate and advanced students as a special unit in reading and writing classes. Exposure to other forms of writing is very important in building fluency and reading comprehension. The use of simile, metaphor, and rhyme in many poems helps expand students' understanding of the English language.

These articles include questions on the text. However, they are not divided by level so teachers will have to assess each article to determine whether it is suitable for their particular class and students.

Designed for beginner through advanced students, these worksheets and lesson ideas make use of classic English literature as well as poems and other genres of writing. There are also coloring activities and some worksheets designed for beginner readers.

Reading comprehension activities to build vocabulary and understanding in young readers. Selections are available for any level. Site requires free signup to print stories and vocabulary lists.

A variety of signs from native-English-speaking countries that contain some type of grammatical or spelling error. These can be used as discussion starters for speaking and conversation classes, or as reading and proofreading practice.

Rong-Chang is a frequently updated site with a wide variety of resources and materials for ESL lessons. The Reading section has links to written material ranging from short poems to entire books!

Newspapers are an excellent resource for English lessons. This contains ideas for lesson creation as well as tips for teaching vocabulary and other elements of a reading lesson.

These internet scavenger hunt activities each take about 90 minutes and will have students scouring the internet for particular information. Students will enjoy exploring English language websites as they practice their reading skills. Intended for intermediate to advanced students.

Worksheets, lesson activities, exercises, and discussion topics to practice adjectives. Both writing and speaking lessons can make use of adjective activities.

English Club offers a glossary and explanation of grammatical terms as well as lesson activities and quizzes for all grammar levels.

Video-based grammar lessons and exercises on a wide variety of English grammatical structures. Lessons range from adjectives for beginners to complex tenses for advanced students.

Quizzes and Tests on English grammar. Most are labelled with the appropriate level, but care should be taken to ensure the quiz or test is geared toward the correct level of competancy for your class.

Activities and exercises for beginner and intermediate students to practice indentifying the parts of speech, including irregular forms.

Although prepositions are often overlooked in favor of more glamorous verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs, they are a very useful and important part of speech. Students must learn how to appropriately use prepositions of time and place.

Flash-based online quizzes that give immediate feedback on correct and incorrect answers. These can be assigned as homework or integrated into multimedia grammar lessons. There are also online puzzles that students can solve to test their skills.

Rong-Chang is a frequently updated site with a wide variety of resources and materials for ESL lessons. The Grammar section has notes, tips, lessons, and handouts for use in grammar lessons.

Printable cards, explanations, and lesson plans for teaching a variety of grammatical structures, including modals, conditionals, clauses, and tenses, in addition to several printable worksheets and activities.

Activities and exercises to build advanced-level vocabulary, including cliches, business jargon, idioms, and expressions. Contains lesson activities to practice common conventions such as saying 'no' and making suggestions.

A variety of activities and exercises to build vocabulary, aimed at beginners. Activities on vocabulary for everyday social situations, as well as dictionaries, word lists, and vocabulary specific to particular topics such as math, sports, food, etc.

English Club offers lists and definitions of common vocabulary as well as phrasal verbs, idioms, and interjections. Vocabulary exercises cover everything from job-specific vocabulary to strategies to learn and recall new words.

A searchable and sortable database of teacher-uploaded lesson activities and exercises. Activities can be sorted by age and level, and searched by keyword.

Video-based vocabulary lessons on a variety of topics from fruits and vegetables to phrasal verbs.

Activities and exercises to build intermediate-level vocabulary, including cliches, idioms, expressions, and phrasal verbs. Links to visual dictionaries, commonly confused words, and word lists are also included.

Rong-Chang is a frequently updated site with a wide variety of resources and materials for ESL lessons. The Vocabulary section contains lists, games, quizzes, and exercises to help students build and maintain their English vocabulary.

Thematic vocabulary lessons and activities as well as tips and ideas to elicit vocabulary from students. Also includes picture sets to connect vocabulary to objects.

Bingo cards and activities to teach and reinforce letter and number recognition, including ordinal numbers. Cards are written in a few different fonts to help students transfer their recognition skills.

Kiddles.com contains over 2000 songs, sortable by topic or title. Many of the songs contain playable music that teachers can play directly from the website or download to their own computer to play in the classroom. There are also printable activity sheets for some of the songs.

Puzzles, games, and quizzes are great ways to introduce beginners to new vocabulary and grammatical structures. This site contains a variety of activities that students can do on their own or teachers can incorporate into lessons.

A variety of active and passive ESL games designed for children. These can be used as great icebreaker activities, rewards, or just as a way to break up a long lesson.

Passive and active game ideas to practice a variety of ESL concepts, including grammar, parts of speech, and conversation skills.

Categories are broken down by difficulty, ranging from Parts of the Body (Beginner) to Grammar Study Words (Advanced).

Warm-up conversational activities to introduce an ESL class or to get students of all levels speaking.

Long and short games for all levels, organized alphabetically according to title. These can be used as warmups, rewards, or incorporated into lessons.

Rong-Chang is a frequently updated site with a wide variety of resources and materials for ESL lessons. The Games section contains links to games from brain teasers to vocabulary.

Various conversation, word-recognition, and pronunciation practice games for ESL students. Most games can be adapted to any level.