Teachers who work with English as a Second Language learners will find ESL/ESOL/ELL/EFL reading/writing skill-building children's books, stories, activities, ideas, strategies to help PreK-3, 4-8, and 9-12 students learn to read.
Teacher Resources: Classroom ELL Instruction
This site by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) offers lots of information about ELL instruction. Although designed to promote instructional materials sold by ASCD, the site has a wide range of resources for ELL teachers, mainstream teachers, and content-area teachers.
The BBC "Learning English" webpage offers English language-learning multimedia tools such as short courses and quizzes to test grammar and vocabulary. They offer some material in other languages, including Chinese, Russian, Arabic, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Best Evidence Encyclopedia: ELLs
The English-language Learners section of the Best Evidence Encyclopedia summarizes the impact of a few online reading programs for English-language learners and other language minority students in the elementary grades.
CAL: What Teachers Need to Know About Language
This digest from the Center for Applied Linguistics summarizes a paper by Lily Wong Fillmore and Catherine Snow, "What Teachers Need to Know About Language." Discusses areas such as language acquisition, why English is difficult to learn, and error correction for ELLs.
Center for Applied Linguistics
CAL provides language education products and services to educators, service providers, and businesses.
Center for Applied Linguistics: The SIOP Model of Sheltered Instruction
The SIOP Model is a research-based and validated model of sheltered instruction. Professional development in the SIOP Model focuses on helping teachers plan and deliver lessons that allow English learners to acquire academic knowledge as they develop English language proficiency. Learn more from about SIOP from the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL).
This website from The Internet TESL Journal offers many kinds of ESL lesson plans and activities for teachers, including games, vocabulary exercises, and conversation practice.
The ELL Outlook is a bimonthly e-newsletter dedicated to providing the latest research, news, program models, and interviews with ELL researchers, educators, and policymakers.
This site offers English grammar resources, such as charts and explanations.
ESL resources for English teachers can be found here, including printable flashcards, worksheets, lesson plan ideas, games, clip art images, and ESL jobs.
ESL/Bilingual Resource Guide for Mainstream Teachers
For a quick guide to working with ELL students, check out this resource from the Portland Public Schools (OR). You'll find useful, practical information in an accessible format that you'll return to again and again, including an excellent language acquisition chart and a glossary of ELL terms.
This comprehensive site includes content-based lesson plans, activities, recommendations on classroom materials, and discussion boards for working with minority students.
Everything ESL: Classroom Lesson Plans
Everything ESL offers more than 45 content-based lesson plans for beginning through intermediate ELL students. Subjects covered include literature, social studies, science, and holidays/culture.
Everything ESL: Stages of Language Acquisition
Simple description of the stages of language acquisition and recommendations for instructional strategies according to level.
Everything ESL: Understanding Second Language Terminology
Here are some essential terms that you need to know in order to understand basic second language acquisition theory.
Help! They Don't Speak English Starter Kit
"Help! They Don't Speak English!," is an ESL resource developed by a team of teachers. The handbook is available for free and can be downloaded from this site in PDF format.
From a toolkit for educators to scholarships and local organizations, the Illinois Research Center has many resources available for teachers, parents, and students.
Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day
Larry Ferlazzo maintains an award-winning educational blog and free monthly newsletter where he disseminates links to innovative Web sites for teaching ESL.
LD OnLine: Effective Instructional Strategies for English Language Learners with Special Needs
Students struggle in school for a variety of reasons. Unless these students receive appropriate intervention, they will continue to struggle, and the gap between their achievement and that of their peers will widen over time.
The National Center for Research on the Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners (CREATE) is a research program designed to improve educational outcomes for ELLs by using a combination of strategies focused on readers in Grades 4-8 and teacher professional development. The CREATE Web site includes webcast seminars hosted by CREATE researchers, and listings of CREATE conferences and presentations around the country.
NCTE: English Language Learner Instruction
Here educators can find information and downloadable resources related to K-12 ELL instruction published by the National Council of English Teachers.
PBS Teachers: To Triumph in This Country
A teacher writes about using technology to help his ELL students succeed in the 21st century in this PBS education blog.
Article by David and Yvonne Freeman, "How to Make Your ELL Students Feel at Home." Describes benefits of promoting use of a child's first language.
Schools Moving Up: ELL Webcasts
Schools Moving Up has an archived collection of educational Webcasts and resource materials on topics such as formative assessment, closing the learning gap in California schools, and quality teaching for English-language learners.
Strategies and Resources for Mainstream Teachers of English Language Learners
This downloadable booklet is one in a series of "hot topics" reports produced by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. These reports briefly address current educational concerns and issues as indicated by requests for information that come to NWREL. Each booklet contains a discussion of research and literature pertinent to the issue, a sampling of how Northwest schools and programs are addressing the issue, selected resources, and contact information.
The Stages of Second Language Acquisition
This chapter from Classroom Instruction That Works with English Language Learners Facilitator's Guide, by Jane D. Hill and Cynthia L. Björk, offers information on the second language acquisition process and effective ELL instruction. It includes a a simplified chart of language acquisition levels and the kinds of language teachers can use to help students at each level.
The TESL Reading and Writing Forum
A forum to share teaching tips, handouts, syllabi, lesson plans and more!
Understanding the "Silent Period" with English Language Learners
This article describes some strategies used by two kindergarten teachers to communicate verbally and nonverbally.
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