Useful Websites - English as Second Language

The following is an annotated list of websites useful for English as a Second Language (ESL) students. The Internet offers not only written text but audio sounds and full-motion video images that can be easily heard and seen.

Activities for ESL Students http://a4esl.org/
This website contains over 1,000 quizzes, exercises, and puzzles to help students study English as a second language.

Center for Adult English Language Acquisiont http://www.cal.org/caela/

Dave’s ESL Café http://eslcafe.com
A good introductory site for learning English as a foreign or second language, bringing together a wide variety of Internet sites into one convenient spot. By selecting “Web Guide Links” from the main screen, then Listening, Pronunciation, or Video, students can link to audio or video resources.

English as a Second Language Homepage http://www.rong-chang.com
A “starting point for ESL learners who want to learn English through the World Wide Web.”

English Exercises Online http://www.smic.be/smic5022/Nieuwmain.htm
Designed for students of English as a foreign language, this site provides both online and worksheet activities teaching English. Lessons and exercises in grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and more are included.

DICTIONARIES

Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/
An online dictionary of the English language. This website also includes links to dictionaries in other languages (Spanish, German, French, Italian, etc.), a thesaurus, and a translation service that will translate sentences into various languages.

Microsoft Encarta Dictionary http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/dictionaryhome.aspx
is Microsoft’s pronouncing English dictionary, Encarta. Students can enter words and they will be pronounced.

CLICHES

Cliché Origins http://www.businessballs.com/clichesorigins.htm

IDIOMS

ESL Café Idioms http://www.eslcafe.com/idioms/

GRAMMAR

Guide to Grammar and Writing http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/index.htm

This site contains dozens of digital handouts on grammar and English usage, over 170 computer graded quizzes, and recommendations on writing—from sentence structure to research papers.

ESL Study HaLL http://home.gwu.edu/~meloni/eslstudyhall/

Provides links to websites devoted to various aspects (reading, writing, vocabulary, grammar) of learning the English language. Clicking on “listening” will connect students to a variety of spoken English sites.

Interesting Things for ESL Students http://www.manythings.org

A “fun site for students of the English language.” This site includes puzzles, work games, quizzes, slang, flash cards, and much more.

Karin’s ESL Partyland Music http://www.eslpartyland.com/students/nov/music.htm

Popular English speaking music—everything from classic rock of the 1960s to rap—provides an excellent way for students to learn about American culture and language. This website is designed to help music lovers practice their English. It includes quizzes, a discussion forum where students can share their musical thoughts, and links to other websites about music. At this site, students can also listen to music and watch music videos.

OWL Online Writing English:
English as a Second Language (ESL) Resources, Handouts, and Exercises http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/index2.html#esl

Designed to assist ESL students with their writing skills, this site provides handouts and exercises on idioms, spelling, verbs, and sentence fragments, as well as information on writing for a particular audience. Printer-friendly versions of all the handouts are available.

Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab http://www.esl-lab.com/index.htm

This site provides a variety of audio narrations (dialog) that students can listen to. The narrations are in different difficulty levels, and there are accompanying listening comprehension quizzes.

Sounds of English http://soundsofenglish.org/

This website is designed for learners of English and their teachers. It includes English pronunciation pages—pictures, sounds, and videos to help learners with their English. The site also includes listening exercises with online activities, printable worksheets, and teacher guides.

Suggested Fiction for English as a Second Language Learners http://www.lavc.cc.ca.us/Library/bib-esl.htm

A list of novels that would be interesting to ESL students at the high school and college level.

TOEFL.ORG http://www.toefl.org

“The Office Web Site for the Test of English as a Foreign Language.” The site includes sample questions from the test.

Tower of English: The ESL Guide to the Internet http://towerofenglish.com/

Aimed at both students and teachers of English as a second language, this site covers hundreds of websites in an A to Z list that uses “endless games and fun activities to catch the interest and imagination of ESL students.”