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: Reading Instruction for ELLs
"Home Run Books and Reading Enjoyment"
Research article by Joanne Ujiie and Stephen Krashen on the importance of finding a "Home Run" book.
What's Different About Teaching Reading to Students Learning English?
What's Different About Teaching Reading to Students Learning English? by Dorothy Kaufmann provides teacher trainers with a research-based curriculum to guide the professional development of classroom and ESL teachers who teach reading in classes where some or all of the students are English language learners. The curriculum is available for purchase from the Center for Applied Linguistics store.
About.com: Recommended Children's Audio Books
A site that has links to six audio books as well as many links to popular children's books arranged by category, monthly themes and favorites.
About.com: The Best Sites for Free Audio Books
About.com offers a list of websites that have free audio books for download, as well as brief descriptions of each website and what is available.
AdLit.org: Literacy and Literature for High School Language Learners
An article from AdLit.org on multicultural considerations when choosing books for high school language learners.
AdLit.Org: Reading Motivation Articles
Reading motivation articles on our sister site about adolescent literacy, AdLit.org.
This resource offers comprehensive list of strategies for each phase of the comprehension lesson — before, during, and after reading.
Afro-America: Myths and Fables
Links to international folktales, as well as games and brainteasers.
Barahona Center for the Study of Books in Spanish: Books About Latino Culture
The Barahona Center for the Study of Books in Spanish for Children and Adolescents at California State University, San Marcos has created a database of recommended books (in English) about Latino culture. The site has a sorting feature so users can sort by grade level, age, setting, or publisher.
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.
Choice Literacy provides over 700 professionally-produced and edited video and print sources from and for literacy educators. Choice Literacy offers a subscription-based Web site, DVD Workshop Kits, seminars for literacy leaders, and a free weekly e-newsletter.
Determining Importance in Nonfiction Text in First Grade
This lesson plan offers ideas for helping students learn to identify the different between fiction and non-fiction text.
ESL Writing Wizard: Handwriting Practice
This site lets you create your own handouts of words that students can practice writing. The paper is lined and the word is outlined in small dot print. Good for ELL students developing initial literacy skills.
ESL/Bilingual Summer Reading List
This list from Framingham Public Schools in Massachusetts outlines the books that ESL/bilingual middle school students will read during their summer program in preparation for the next school year. The list also includes assignment and project ideas, a story map, and a rubric.
This lesson plan from The Kennedy Center's ArtsEdge program demonstrates how pictures are a visual means of communication in which we can retell the story using specific strategies. It also provides support to help ELLs grasp the elements of a story, including characters, setting, and plot.
Expository Text Structures and Signal Words
This document posted by U-46 School District in Elgin, Illinois provides an overview of five expository text structures, associated signal words, and related graphic organizers.
Florida Center for Reading Research
The Florida Center for Reading Research conducts basic research on reading, reading growth, reading assessment, and reading instruction; disseminates information about research-based practices related to literacy instruction and assessment for children in pre-school through 12th grade; and conducts applied research that will have an immediate impact on policy and practices related to literacy instruction in Florida.
This website offers a lot of different ways to experience a story: read-a-story, hear-a-story, fill-in-a-story, and finish-a-story are just some of the examples!
Keys to Comprehension: Strategies
Brief description of the strategies from "7 Keys to Comprehension" by Susan Zimmermann and Chryse Hutchins.
Bebop Books are leveled texts that appeal to children's interests and provide support as they develop into readers. Bebop offers many bilingual editions as well.
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