Listed below are links to some of our favorite places on the web. These resources can be invaluable in generating new ideas for ways to work with your student or class and in preparing lesson plans. Your students can use many of these sites between lessons to continue with the learning process. If your favorite site isn't listed, let us know by sending an e-mail to
susan@lvaunion.org. We're always looking for new and better resources. And don't forget to check out past editions of Tutor Talk and the Lesson Plans and Ideas page for additional resources!
Randall's Cyber ESL Listening Lab
This site offers a multitude of listening exercises for your ESL student. Chose from six groupings of Listening Exercises. Then select an Easy, Medium or Difficult level and pick a topic. There are Pre-Listening Exercises, Listening Exercises, Vocabulary Activities and Post-Listening Exercises. This is a great site for the student who needs to develop listening and speaking skills.
EnglishClub.com
Click on Learn English and select Dictation. This will bring your student to a page where he/she can select a listening activity and the speed at which the words are spoken. Your student can then type what was heard, edit the sentence and view the correct answer. You can certainly use this for writing exercises too. Have fun exploring the site!
Creative Writing Prompts
and
Prompt Generator
Need help getting started with writing something original for Connections Student Art & Literary Magazine? Check out these websites and have some fun selecting a writing prompt. My favorite is: "You have been invited to a friend's house for dinner and find a roach in your food. What should you do?"
American Dyslexia Association
The American Dyslexia Association has created a comprehensive website that can be used not only for students with reading disabilities, but is a valuable resource for Basic Skills and English as a Second Language. The site contains a visual index of 1,593 FREE worksheets that are broken down by specific needs: Visual Recognition, Hearing/Acoustical Recognition, Spatial and Body Orientation. Not sure which category your student fits into? The site provides a listing of characteristics for each need that will help you target what worksheets will best help your student.
News for You Online is a great online newspaper for adult learners. Each article includes audio where readers can listen to the whole article or sentence by sentence. Key vocabulary is shown in bold with the definition appearing by just rolling the mouse over the word. An interactive crossword puzzle provides an enjoyable activity while strengthening vocabulary skills. Each article is accompanied by two sets of interactive exercises to enhance understanding of the key concepts. Readers can get immediate feedback to their responses. If you have problems getting into the site, please contact the office for the password at 908-755-7998.
This site is a real find. It has grammar and reading lessons for students at all levels. It also includes writing ideas and a discussion of the writing process.
Reading Skills for Today’s Adults
This site contains dozens of short stories that students can read and listen to with a tutor or on their own.
It is organized by levels (.7 through 8) so you will definitely be able to find stories that are appropriate for your student or class. Each story includes pre-reading questions with definitions of a few words from the story, questions to test comprehension and ideas for related topics to write about.
Literacy Volunteers of Greater Hartford – Weblinks
The amount of resources included on this site is really incredible. Exercises are included for learners at all levels. The site is organized by subject (grammar, basic skills, math, civics, health, family, etc.) Don’t miss the “Fact Finder” section—it has great information on topics ranging from sports to U.S. geography to science that you can include in your lessons.
Everyday Life
This is a great resource for adult literacy students from GCF Learn Free. It includes interactive lessons that enable students to work on life skills such as using an ATM, writing a check and reading a bus map. Registration is free.
This site gives you options for crosswords, word searches and flashcards for students of all levels.
The California Distance Learning Project
This is another great resource to help adult learners work on their reading and life skills. The site is organized by topics ranging from work to family to housing to nature. For each topic there are stories to read and listen to with exercises.
This blog was created by PPL tutor Steve Kilduff. Steve runs ten-week citizenship classes several times a year and created this blog to help other tutors. It contains links to government and other websites relating to citizenship requirements and videos showing the interview process.
The ESL Cafe
Dave Sperling's ESL Café is a site with something for both tutors and students. For tutors, there is a section entitled “Idea Cookbook” that has lesson ideas that tutors have contributed on subjects ranging from business English to spelling to games. For students, there are sections focusing on grammar, idioms, slang, and pronunciation (with audio). A great resource!
Daily ESL
This site contains “conversation starters”--short readings relating to everyday life situations and has an audio component. It’s a great site for students at all levels because it contains not only exercises to test comprehension of the reading material but also suggestions for discussion topics, role playing and research assignments.
TV 411
We love this site! It's colorful, informative, and easy to navigate. Run by PBS, it has a plethora of lessons on reading, writing, and more.
Activities for ESL Students
This site includes hundreds of lesson plans developed for ESL students with a focus on grammar and vocabulary. One unique feature is the inclusion of bilingual quizzes on a variety of topics.
You Tube
What a world we live in! Literacy Volunteers of NJ has its own You Tube “channel” where you can watch sample tutoring sessions. Actual tutors and students are shown covering topics ranging from Basic Reading and Writing Techniques to Role Playing a Doctor Appointment to Using Sight Words from Family Photographs. Check it out!
Literacy Volunteers of New Jersey
Website for the New Jersey State Literacy Volunteers organization. Among other things, the website has a great resource called F.R.E.E. (Financial Resources and Economic Education) that contains information and exercises on financial topics such as banking and budgets. Click here for ideas on how to work with your students on their financial literacy.
This website has great tutor resources with a wealth of information on Literacy, ESL and Learning Disabilities. Check it out to get help with lesson plans, exercises, teaching tips and more.