Listening for English Language Learners

Activities
Skills Other
listening & viewing materials

Activities

All levels

ESL Cafe Web Guide: Listening

Directory of links to ESL listening resources

ESL Independent Study Lab: Listening

Directory of Links, organized by difficulty

Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab

Four levels of listening materials with and pre- and post-listening questions

English Listening Lounge

Several good-quality sample activities from a commercial site

Internet TESL Journal: Listening

A collection of links to activities and resources from the internet TESL Journal

Wicked Stuff for English Learners

Several listening activities are included here

Basic

CELT Listening Activities (BASIC, INTERMEDIATE)

British English listening: puzzles, comprehension

Cutting Edge CALL

A small collection of listening activities using Macromedia's Shockwave technology

Everyday Activities

Dictation for beginners

ESL Language Lab: Listening 1

Going to the Dentist's Office

Dictation

Takako's Great Adventure

A ten-part story with cloze, vocabulary, comprehension, and inference activities; uses Shockwave.

Intermediate

BBC World Service: Learning English

Listening materials and activities

CELT Listening Activities (BASIC, INTERMEDIATE)

British English listening: puzzles, comprehension

CLTA Listening Activities (INTERMEDIATE, ADVANCED)

Short listening passages with recorded questions; answers are scored automatically.

CNN Newsroom for ESL

Grammar and vocabulary activities for viewers of the popular CNN show for students, CNN Newsroom

Advanced

ESL Wonderland

Thematic units (Death Penalty; Race Relations; Human Cloning; etc) based on US public radio broadcasts in RealAudio format.

CLTA Listening Activities (INTERMEDIATE, ADVANCED)

Short listening passages with recorded questions; answers are scored automatically.

CNN San Francisco

Activities based on current news stories; includes audio, story outline, summary, and text as well as reading comprehension and vocabulary activities. (ADAPTABLE FOR LISTYENING)

Interactive Listening Comprehension Practice

Comprehension exercises based on US public radio broadcasts from University of Illinois LinguaCenter

KXTV Interactive Learning Resources

Listening, reading, and vocabulary materials based on current news stories in audio and video; includes story outline and summary as well as comprehension and vocabulary activities.

Listening skills

Improving Your Listening

Suggestions and activities fopr listening to the news; lectures; movies; British and American English, and conversations.

Improving Listening Comprehension Skills

A couple of good tips from Randall S. Davis of Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab

Listening and notetaking tutorial

"Think more, write less" could be the motto of this series of common-sense suggestions.

Other listening & viewing materials

Yahoo! Broadcast

An audio directory of the Internet...lots of news, sports, and talk sources click on the category and follow the links to a listening source

NPR online

Hourly news and daily shows (Morning edition, All Things Considered, etc. from US National Public Radio; they also keep a searchable audio archive of past shows (audio)

CNN Audio

US and international news services (audio)

CNN Video Vault

ESL NetLinks for English as a Second Language

Annotated links to resources of interest for English language learners

Family Health

Two-minute audio files on a variety of health questions, from Ohio University's Dr. Harold C. Thompson III (audio)

Fox News Video

Video news reports (video)

On-line Listening Resource Page

A resources collection; " ...we have also collected links here to sites offering materials that can be used for improving comprehension"

Radio Broadcasts

Our collection of radio news and feature resources from around the world

Vincent Voice Library

Historic speeches and other recordings, from US presidents and others (audio)

WebActive

News and commentary from a left-liberal perspective (audio)

WebCorp Multimedia

Historic, exotic, humorous, and other (audio)

Yahoo: Radio Programs

A large collection of programs, by topic

Speaking and Pronunciation for English Language Learners

Speaking: skills
Speaking: activities
Pronunciation: skill
Pronunciation: activities
Software

Speaking: skills

ESL Cafe Web Guide: Speaking

A growing directory of resources

Conversation Questions for the ESL/EFL classroom

From the Internet TESOL Journal

Presentations and Public Speaking

Notes for non-natives on preparation, equipment, delivery, and language use; includes a self-test.

Don't Hang Up!

fourteen phone coverstions provided by BBC world service

Speaking: activities

About.com: ESL: Speaking Lessons

A nice collection of discussion and debate topics; these are written for teachers (e.g., they list objectives) but can be used by anyone.

ESL Conversation Questions

A collection of questions to talk about in the conversation classroom, sorted by topic: animals, crime, entertainment, etc; there's another list at eslpartyland.com

Karin's ESL PartyLand: Discussion Forums for Students

Read what other students are saying in online about many topics ('Dating and Relationships,' 'Extreme Sports,' 'Fashion, Fads, and Shopping,' etc); join the discussions or continue in class.

Topics of Interest

Our list of discussion and writing resources

Pronunciation: skills

American Accent Training

Tips on intonation and liasons as wall as sounds

ESL Cafe Web Guide: Pronunciation

A growing directory of resources

American English Vowels

Digitized sounds

English Pronunciation

A growing collection of online pronunciation lessons (which require the Shockwave plugin) and links to other pronunciation sites

English Pronunciation

Hong Kong Polytechnic's online course in reading the phonemic alphabet

English Pronunciation Test

An amusing poem illustrating problems of English writing and pronunciation (e.g., 'just compare heart, beard and heard')

IPA online

Reproduction of The International Phonetic Alphabet - vowels and consonants

Pronunciation: activities

English Club: Pronounciation

Supplementary activities for users of Pronunciation Power software.

Mouth Manglers

Digitized exercises for pronunciation; listen and repeat...

Pronunciation lessons

Digitized examples of vowels, consonants, and problem areas (-ed endings, stress and intonation, etc)

Stirling University on-line phonology course

An on-line course in RP (received pronunciation)

Webfolio: Pronunciation

Interactive listening activities testing segmental and suprasegmental contrasts.

Software

American Speechsounds

Windows 95 -- accent reduction...includes guides for 30+ native languages

ELLIS Master Pronunciation

Windows 3.1 -- accent reduction...includes guides for 28 native languages

Pronunciation Power

Mac/Windows -- accent reduction

Rosetta Stone

Mac/Windows -- combines listening & speaking with grammar study

Speech Communication, Inc

Windows 95/NT -- accent reduction... includes guides for 30+ native languages

SpeechWorks

Mac/Windows -- accent reduction... includes sets of vocabulary for professions, and guides for 30+ native languages

Writing Resources for English Language Learners

Writing activities

The writing process

For a friendly critique of your writing... (U. of Illinois)

Organization and style

Research and writing

Writing for special purposes

Mechanics

Reference

Reading Resources for English Language Learners
Activities
Reading Skills
Electronic texts
Et cetera

Activities

Search for "reading exercises" or "reading activities" at: DMOZ; Google; AltaVista; Go.com

All levels

ESL Quiz Zone

Comprehension quizzes

ESL Independent Study Lab: Reading 1

A links collection (similar to this page) organized by level (level 100, level 200); it's well annotated and includes some user reviews

ESL Independent Study Lab: Reading 2

A links collection (similar to this page) organized by level (level 300, level 400); it's well annotated and includes some user reviews

English Exercises Online

Reading and vocabulary activities

Independent Study Lab -- Reading

Links to Reading Activities at several levels

TOEFL Reading Comprehension

example texts and questions from ETS

UVic Study Center: Reading - Interactive reading with comprehension, summarizing, and gap-filling activities; by level...

·         200 (BASIC)

·         330 (BASIC, INTERMEDIATE)

·         410 (INTERMEDIATE)

·         490 (INTERMEDIATE, ADVANCED)

·         570 (ADVANCED)

Basic

English 200 Reading Exercises

Comprehension; story re-creation; gap-filling

Happy New Years!

By Dennis Oliver, Dave's ESL Cafe

Multimedia Language Lab

Reading 1 (Easy)

Intermediate

English 330 Reading Exercises

Comprehension; story re-creation; gap-filling

Fluency through Fables

Folk tales and reading and vocabulary exercises

Gallaudet Reading exercises

Interactive comprehension questions on a series of essays about prominent deaf Americans

Multimedia Language Lab

Reading 2 (Intermediate)

Self-study Reading Comprehension

collected by Internet TESL Journal

Advanced

CNN San Francisco (ADVANCED)

Reading activities based on current news stories; includes audio, story outline, summary, and text as well as reading comprehension and vocabulary activities.

Multimedia Language Lab

Reading 3 (Advanced)

Online Reading Club

A group or 30 readers from around the world who read classics in English every 2 weeks and send reviews to each other via e-mail

Reading Comprehension from South China Morning Post

Two modes -- practice and test; more materials at this site

Who's Who and What's What

Daily comprehension questions for new York Times feature stories

Reading Skills

• Essay reading
• Exams: remembering what you read
• Comprehension Strategies
• SQ3R (Survey/Question/Read/Recite/Review)
• Textbook reading

Electronic texts

Electronic Literature: Collections

Yahoo's index

Impact Online

Reading texts by topic (social issues, health and fitness, world news, sports and entertainment); each text has linked definitions (and often digitized pronunciation) of key words, as well as links to related topics

Online Books Page

University of Pennsylvania has a remarkable collection of thousands of online texts; you can sort by author, title, or subject; you can search by title or author; you can examine several interesting 'special interest' features such as "Banned Books online" or "A Celebration of Woman Writers."

Things to Read

An unclassed collection of web-based reading materials of potential interest to English language learners

Voice of the Shuttle

UC Santa Barbara's extensive selection of literature, neatly separated into different categories

Drama

ESL Cafe Web Guide: Drama

links for English language learners

Drama

many resources from Carnegie-Mellon U's English page

News

Bangkok Post for English Language Learners

Feature articles from the Bangkok Post, a major Asian English Language newspaper, with background information, vocabulary notes, and reading skill suggestions

Ohio World News page

News in English from around the world

Poems

ESL Cafe Web Guide: Poetry

links for English language learners

Haiku for People

classical and contemporary poems using the 5-7-5 syllable haiku structure

Popular Poets

a good collection of links for English and American poets

Stories

Short Fiction

many resources from Carnegie-Mellon University's English page

Short Story Search

search or browse web story and poetry resources by author or title; English learners may like "The shortest shorts," their collection of very short stories, which are arranged by author, title, and theme.

Storybytes

a few VERY short stories (2 words (!) to 2048 words)

Songs

Yahoo Lyrics Page

many sources of song lyrics

SongFile

searchable database of thousands of songs

Interactive Fiction

Hyperizons -- Hypertext fiction

construct-your-own-stories

Interactive Fiction page

Yahoo's collection of links

Other

Short Fiction

many resources from Carnegie-Mellon University's English page

Master Works of Western Civilization

links to (English-language) texts of a number of classics of European thought, from ancient Greece to the first half of the twentieth century

Myths and Legends

directory of links, organized by region and language group

Et cetera

Ex-Change

"writings of nonnative English speakers from all over the world"

Humor, Jokes, and Fun

Yahoo's index of sites

Projects by ESL Students

read some student writing

Speed Reading Self-Pacing Methods

Five simple methods for reading speed improvement

Grammar for English Language Learners

Activities

Reference

Special problems in English grammar

Other Resources

Activities

See also our Writing Activities. Or search for "grammar exercises" or "grammar activities" at: DMOZ; Google; AltaVista; Go.com

All levels

Business English Grammar (ALL LEVELS)

Present Forms; The Past Simple; Irregular Verbs; Present Perfect; Past Simple v Present Perfect; For or Since; Duration; The Future; Going to; Present forms for future; Will or going to?; Conditionals; Modals; The -ing form; Prepositions; Word order; Passive; Imperative; Question tags; Have something done; Non-defining clauses; A/The; Conjunctions; etc

ESL Independent Study Lab: Grammar

A links collection (similar to this page) organized by level (level 100, level 200. level 300); it's well annotated and includes some user reviews

UVic Study Center: Grammar

Interactive reading with comprehension, summarizing, and gap-filling activities; by level...

·         200 (BASIC)

·         330 (BASIC, INTERMEDIATE)

·         410 (INTERMEDIATE, ADVANCED)

·         490 (INTERMEDIATE, ADVANCED)

·         570 (ADVANCED)

Basic

CLTA Flash Zone

Gender; Relative Pronouns; Simple Present; Present Continuous; Simple Past; Adjectives; Plural Nouns; More Plural Nouns; Noun Verb Agreement; Negative To Be; There Is There Are; Good & Well; Irregular Verbs; Pronouns; Past To Be; Do Or Does Indefinite Article ; One Or Ones; Adverbs; Adjective Or Adverb; There Is Are; Days, Holidays & Seasons

CLTA Shocked Grammar

Simple Present; t, D, Ed Sounds; Simple Past; Negative To Be; Present Continuous; An Or A; Present Perfect; s Or Z Sounds; Past To Be; There Is Or Are; Noun Verb Agreement; Good & Well; There Is Are; Relative Pronouns; One Or Ones; Pronouns; Adverbs; Do Or Does; Some Or Any; Adjective Or Adverb; Plural Nouns; Superlative Or Comparative; More Plural Nouns; Superlative; Even More Plural Nouns; Comparative; Plural Of o, Y & F; Ordinal Numbers; Who Which

Dave's ESL Quiz Page (grammar) (BASIC, INTERMEDIATE)

Verb tense; Prepositions; Modals, et cetera...from the ESL Cafe

English Tests from englishlearner.com (BASIC, INTERMEDIATE)

Interactive grammar, reading, and vocabulary

Grammar Central CLTA

Contractions; Regular Past Verbs; Person; Irregular Verbs 1 A-b; Pronoun; Irregular Verbs 2 C-e; Noun Or Pronoun; Irregular Verbs 3 F-h; Noun Or Verb; Irregular Verbs 4 K-m; Verb "To Be"; Irregular Verbs 5 P-s; Negative Of Verb "To Be"; Irregular Verbs 6 S-s; To Have ; Irregular Verbs 7 T-z; To Have Negative; Confusing Words 1; (Plurals )Number ; Confusing Words 2; Plurals More ; Opposites 1; Plurals Irregular- o; Articles-1; Plurals Irregular- f = Ves; Question Forms There Is/Are; Plurals Really Irregular; Object Pronouns; Plurals Borrowed; Possessive Adjectives Plurals - No Singular Form; Past Of Verb "To Be"; Question Form "To Be"; Past Negative "To Be"; Simple Present Tense; Past Of "To Have"; Question Form Present; There Is, There Are; Simple Future Tense; Negative There Is/Are

Mind Your Grammar (BASIC, INTERMEDIATE)

"A self-access course in English Grammar for university and college students" includes reference (above) and exercise materials

Self-Study Grammar Quizzes (BASIC, INTERMEDIATE)

Collected by Internet TESL Journal: Articles; Cloze; Conjunctions; Dialogs; Plurals; Prepositions; Pronouns; Sentence Structure; Tag Questions; Verbs; Correct Sequence; Word Choice; Other Quizzes.

Super Quiz Machine for ESL Students (BASIC, INTERMEDIATE)

"Get a new set of randomly-chosen questions each time you visit the page." (thousands of questions!)

Verb Tense Introduction

Thirteen problem areas, each with an explanation pages and a quiz page (check answers to the quiz pages at the quiz answers pages).

Intermediate

Better English-Grammar

Verb tense (present; past simple; present perfect; future); Conditional forms; Modals; Miscellaneous (passive, word order; a/the, etc); also a section on phrasal (multi-word) verbs

Dave's ESL Quiz Page (grammar) (BASIC, INTERMEDIATE)

Verb tense; Prepositions; Modals, et cetera...from the ESL Cafe

Dr Richard Doneskey's writing review pages (INTERMEDIATE, ADVANCED)

Each page includes grammar explanation plus a series of problems; think about the problem and then see the correct solution. Topics: Active, Passive, and Linking Sentences; Articles; Apostrophes; Fragments; Paragraph development; Past Participles; Pronoun-antecedent agreement problems; Pronoun problems with "this" and "that"; Run-together sentences and comma splices; Sexist language; Subject-Verb agreement; Tense Shifts; Transitions

English Tests from englishlearner.com (BASIC, INTERMEDIATE)

Interactive grammar, reading, and vocabulary

English Zone Grammar Practice