ESOL postage stamp

"Fight For Literacy..." (1981) from Iranian Postage and Commemorative Stamp Gallery

What's the difference between ESL (English as a second language) and ESOL (English for speakers of other languages)?

For the purposes of LR/RI's work, ESOL is the preferred term as it does not assume that learners are necessarily taking on a second language (for many language learners, English is a third, fourth or even fifth language); it also shifts a sometimes invisible emphasis of the importance of English over that of other languages towards an explicit acknowledgement of the primacy of language and culture in all our lives. For a detailed discussion of the use of the terms ESL and ESOL see the strand archived on the NIFL-ESL Literacy Listserv [1997 archive (scroll down to ESL or ESOL).  To read the archives and/or subscribe to the NIFL-ESL list, click here.  (another view of ESL/ESOL from the Basic Skills Agency).

recently developed/posted resources

LessonWriter - while worksheets may not be the answer, they can provide ancillary support.  This site (with a brief demonstration) provides a template for developing worksheets based on written texts.

ello - online listening practice for language learning

Applying Research Findings to Instruction for Adult English Language Students - CAELA research brief

other Adult ESL Resources from CAELA - including work on policy, practice and the history of adult education.

ESOL and EFL, an unhelpful distinction? - A report commissioned by CfBT Education Trust, 2007.

Refugees into Teaching - will support refugee teachers to return to teaching in England, and give those with an interest in teaching more information and guidance. The final aim is to get teachers qualified up to QTS, mainly through employment based teacher training routes, particularly in Training and Development Agency for School's priority subjects.  Also provides access to a newsletter and additional other resources.

The UK’s Open University course, Who counts as a refugee, considers the interrelationships between citizenship, identity and belonging, personal lives and social policy for people who have fled their country of origin seeking asylum in the UK, and includes useful information about refugee status and related issues for those living in other countries.

Forced Migrants' Language Learning:  Rebecca Tully's research on "the way that forced migrants use language lessons to achieve their goals; they face many barriers to learning, and have a variety of needs, and formal ESOL classes are just part of a number of tools they use to succeed."

The Providence Granola Project

Color, Race and English Language Teaching: Shades of Meaning - edited by Andy Curtis and Mary Romney,  exploring the intricacies of being a TESOL professional of color.  Whose language?  Whose authority?


The Everyday Life Project - interactive, online demos involving both computer skills and application of daily tasks

ESOL research at the University of Leeds including information about the ESOL Research Group at Leeds, instructions for joining the ESOL-Research email list and links to other organisations with an ESOL connection.

Practitioner Toolkit: Working with Adult English Language Learners (PDF); (overview here in html); developed by the National Center for Family Literacy in collaboration with the National Center for ESL Literacy Education at the Center for Applied Linguistics.

BBC Skillswise - Factsheets, worksheets, quizzes and games across a range of topic areas.

CBC Ottawa ESL - interactive listening, reading exercises.

ITVS Outreach and Projects - Independent Television Service, linking to programs and resources about a number of national and international cultural, lingusitic and socioeconomic issues

My Journey Home - web site supporting the PBS series exploring notions of home, race, identity and culture.

English for Action's lesson plan collection: Taking Care of Health Care, Writing for Rights, Our Neighborhood, Our Safety, and Parents and their Children's Education.

Arlington Education and Employment Program (REEP)  Curriculum for Adults, including assessment, lesson plans and additional resources.

The Center for Applied Linguistics' Cultural Orientation Resource (COR) Center - provides important orientation resources for refugee newcomers and service providers throughout the United States and overseas.

1-language.com - The ESL Site for everyone learning English Comprehensive site including forums, realtime chat, grammar, writing, interactive quizzes and games, flashcards, phonics, streaming audio materials, world news, TOEIC modules, helplines, multi- lingual content.

My American Girls - PBS documentary focusing on a year in the life of the Ortiz family; representing perspectives of life in America through the multiple lenses of members of one family and those in their communities. Includes extensive links to supporting information and resources.

ESL Materials for Pre-literate Students from Multi-Cultural Educational Services, developed in collaboration with the Minnesota Literacy Council.

ESOL resources from Florida's Tech Net -  online Professional Development Center provides adult educators, teachers and administrators with opportunities to enhance their own professional development through: technical, web-based and professional development training.  Topic areas include teaching/learning content as well as administrative issues.

What matters to learners? by Heide Spruck Wrigley and Jim Powrie. The authors recommend that practitioners sit down with the chart (or without) and decide what pieces are important for their program - where they are strong? Where they are weak? - and then develop a few theme based units around topics that matter to learners, connecting the skills pieces in various ways ; you clearly can't teach all of those skills all at the same time, but you can provide opportunities for learners to use these skills as they grapple with hot topics or talk and write about themes that engage them.

ESL miniconference online

The Coalition of Limited English Speaking Elderly (CLESE) unique coalition of agencies representing immigrant groups and seniors. Rich collection of resources and immigrants' statements.

Adult English Language Instruction in the 21st Century - (PDF) overview of the field of adult English as a secondlanguage instruction in the US today; Spanish language version here.

Adult ESL Practice in the New Millennium - proceedings of the February 15, 2001 panel discussion touching on a range of issues critical to adult ESOL learning and teaching.

The Immigrant Experience by Nimit, age 17, Arlington, VA, PBS Online Newshour Extra, special feature, December 12, 2001

Jim Cummins - Second Language Learning and Literacy Development - resources for language minority education.

English Forum, resources for students and teachers, ESOL and EFL.


Separating immigrants from terrorism - brief article by Cyrus D. Mehta

Promoting Cultural Understanding in the Classroom and Community a response to events of September 11th, 2001.


TESOL adult education interest section - general resources and TESOL-specific information relevant to adult ESOL educators.

EL Civics. The EL Civics page contains a number of resources from this and LR/RI's advocacy page.

ESCORT - national resource center dedicated to improving the educational opportunities for migrant children; includes resources applicacble to adult education / ESOL work.

English as a Second Language - starting point for ESL learners who want to learn English through the Web.

Beginning ESOL Learners' Advice to their Teachers - by MaryAnn Cunningham Florez from Focus on Basics, Vol 5, Issue A • August 2001.  What can we learn by listening to student feedback?  A lot.  Florez writes clearly and accessibly for teachers of learners at any level, and with particular focus on learning at beginning levels.


Civics Education for Adult English Language Learners - NCLE digest, including online and print resources related to civics and citizenship preparation for ESOL learners.

A word about citizenship and immigration for ESOL educators -- please remember that we are not lawyers; we're teachers.  While much of the information on line may be of great use to adults preparing for the citizenship exam, we need to not make recommendations about immigration processes, but rather assist learners in connecting to whichever legal/immigration resources will best assist them in answering questions about immigration status.

Minigrant projects: Sandy Jacobi and Debby Venator and Amanda Huling-Hanley submitted ESOL-related minigrant project proposals, to be completed during the summer of 2000.

online quizzes and other resources from Churchill House School of English Language.

Perspectives on CALL for Project-Based Learning Principles and Opportunities - created by Heide Wrigley, with assistance from Jim Powrie. The site links principles of language/literacy learning to specific websites through which these principles are demonstrated/can be enacted. A brilliant resource.


survey on field trips and spreakers -- share resources with your colleagues; take this survey; responses will be posted if ever a critical mass is received.  For interim on the few responses received to date, please contact LR/RI.

ESOL curriculum guide and student performance levels updated from 1983 for the 1990s and beyond.

Language Acquisition and Acculturation efforts for Immigrants and Refugees in Minnesota - report for The McKnight Foundation by Chia Youyee Vang. While focussing on specific information relevant to Minnesota, it provides useful information and raises issues important to adult ESOL learning and teaching.

Learn English with Pictures - free, online, resource to learn English words. The site has over 400 words  and photographs ranging from animals to kitchen appliances.  The interface is simple and both kids and adults who are learning  English will find this educational website entertaining and useful.
Low Educated Second Language and Literacy Acquisition (LESLLA) for Adults - international forum of researchers sharing an interest in research on the development of second language skills by adult immigrants with little or no schooling prior to entering the country of entry.  LESLLA's goal is to share empirical research and information to help inform and guide further research on second language acquisition for the low-educated adult population. This research in turn will provide guidance to education policy development in all those countries in which immigrants settle and most need educational support.

Research Agenda for Adult ESL - (PDF) A paper prepared by the National Center for ESL Literacy Education in collaboration with the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy with support from Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. addressing unanswered questions about the adult English language learner, program design, teacher preparation, instruction, and assessment, incorporating feedback from learners, instructors, program administrators, policymakers, and researchers. The paper has three major purposes: to provide funders with clear priorities for funding; to provide researchers with support for proposing specific projects, and to provide a focus for discussion about how to improve adult ESL programs.

Reasearch and E.A.L.: Ways forward for the profession - Lynne Cameron, School of Education, University of Leeds. "Without appropriate evidence about what works, and what doesn't, in developing the language skills of bilingual pupils, classroom practice runs the risk of changing in the wrong direction, or of not changing at all. Research can, and should, provide us with evidence as to the effectiveness of different teaching methods and strategies, and the impact of policy decisions on practice. In this article, I want to explore some of the ways in which EAL might be enriched by having a stronger research base, and how we might move forwards to increase research activity within EAL." (EAL is an acronym for English as an additional language, a term used to emphasize the fact that many English language learners may already be proficient in more than one or two [ or more ] languages.

LESSON PLANS AND RESOURCES

Rhode Island ESL practitioner Debby Venator's informal grammar assessment / review .

Brigham Young University's English Language Cybercenter teacher resources - resources for teaching a range of ESOL levels

Colorful Clothesline -  a lesson created to introduce level 1 ESL students to clothing, colors, and color patterns.  Students can test their knowledge of colors and clothing.

The Cook's Thesaurus, cooking encyclopedia covering thousands of ingredients and kitchen tools. Entries include pictures, descriptions, synonyms, pronunciations, and suggested substitutions.

Computers in Action (lesson plans) and Computers and English for Speakers of Other Languages - sites for "teachers interested in integrating technology into the ESL/EFL classroom. Its goal is to promote the use of technology in the field, thereby bringing more equitable access to the knowledge, skills, and technology necessary to the people we teach."

ESOL and ABE Homebuying Readiness - Boston-based adult basic education and ESL/ESOL student and teacher writings about homebuying experiences, and links to online student and teacher resources.

Learn English  (flash site) a free, on-line, educational resource incorporating 40 topics, along with over 1,500 English words  and phrases. When you click on a word or phrase you can
hear it spoken.  The site is multilingual: - menus, transliterations and translations are in four languages: French, Hebrew Russian and Spanish.   There is an English Only menu, for those who prefer not to use language translations and transliterations.

Rhode lsland Housing and Mortgage Finance Corportation - local information about housing / financing

Rhode Island Women and Film Project - Pat Salazar's report on her 1998 minigrant project, "My not so Brilliant Idea," a film and discussion project for women held in Woonsocket, RI, along with print and web-based resources on using film/video with ESOL and other adult learners.

Critical issues for women in adult ESOL (Academic Session) TESOL ' 99

Papers presetned at a colloquium exploring issues facing women (both learners and practitioners) in adult ESOL contexts. Presentations focus on women in the workplace, health and literacy education, domestic violence, participatory research with women learners, and classroom-community connections. Presenters: E. Auerbach, T. Goldstein, L. Hewitt, J. Horsman, J. Isserlis, K. Rivera (this page is also linked to LR/RI's women and literacy page)

LINKS TO RESOURCES

Adult ESL Special Collection - A LINCS special collection, dedicated to providing adult ESL curricular materials and resources, news in the field, and a forum for adult ESL issues, part of the Western/Pacific LINCS website.

Adult Traning and Development Network ESOL resources

Adult ESOL Core curriculum from the Basic Skills Unit in the UK - downloadable PDF files

Adult ESL and the Web (Colloquium) - Co-presenters for Adult ESL and The Web TESOL 98/ Seattle - including links to presenters' favorite ESOL and related websites

American Language Reviw

Assessment: Report on Nancy Fritz's 1998 minigrant investigation into ESOL assessment - Nancy Fritz completed this minigrant project in the fall of 1998. Since then, she has shared her findings with others during ESOL sharing sessions, and has participated in other discussions around assessment, standards and accountability. Nancy's report provides useful background information as the state enters into a process of (re)considering adult education standards.

Center for Adult English Language Instruction (CAELA), formerly the National Center for ESL Literacy Education

Dave's ESL Café - For ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World

Email Projects Home Page - Susan Gaer's online resources for ESOL learners and teachers

American English listening practice and Audio Concentration game - on line listening practice

ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics - resources on bilingual, second and foreign language learning.

ESL A LA CARTE - "I have an excellent set of links on my website. You should find what you need there." Fe Sharp

The ESLoop - " a collection of sites relevant to English Language Teaching and Learning. Each site is linked to the next; no matter where you start, you will eventually make your way around all the sites and end up back at the beginning."

ESL Magazine on line - mostly listings of contents of the print edition, but with some interesting articles posted online.

ESL Resources - from the Canadian National Adult Literacy Database.

The English as a Second Language (ESL) Starter Kit  (Adobe PDF); Publication designed to help teachers and program administrators begin or improve an Adult ESL program, including information on getting organized, assessing students, preparing teachers, understanding adult learners, and
planning lessons, from the Virginia Adult Education and Literacy Center. [click here to download Adobe PDF]

English Language Teacher's Corner, Brigham Young University, includingAdult Education ESL Teachers Guide, by C. Ray Graham and Mark M. Walsh, Adult Education Center Texas A&I University, Kingsville, Texas.

English Online - E L Easton Language Eduction - links to materials for and about teaching reading, writing, speaking and listening, including authentic text references.

Hands On! A Collection of ESL Literacy Activities [PDF file] - resource for instructors working with adult ESL learners who have had little or no opportunity to develop reading and writing skills from Halifax Immigrant Learning Centre.

Hands on English - The web site for a publication containing practical teaching ideas, hints and tips, and copyable activities for the classroom, written by teachers for teachers. The site contains sample activities, ideas, an events calendar and ordering information for the print publication edited by Anna Silliman.

Health and wellness resources
also see health resources at LR/RI's advocacy page.

Non-English Language and Health Literacy Resources - Treadwell Library, Massachusetts General Hospital & Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners

Resources for battered immigrant women  from the Family Violence Prevention Fund

Writings about self defense - stories about a self defense workshop written by learners in Debby Venator's ESOL class at William D'Abate School in Providence.

[http://www.sccd.ctc.edu/~ssesl/" link currently not functioning]Visiting the doctor - site for ESL students.  A visit to the doctor can be a strange experience.  Not only is there new language, but customs may seem be different as well.   With this web site you can practice the language you need for getting medical care.    You can also send in your own writing on health topics and see it published here.

The Internet TESL Journal - Monthly journal for Teachers of English as a Second Language (Articles, Research Papers, Lessons Plans, Classroom Handouts, Teaching Ideas & Links).

languages - how they work, why it matters:  Understanding the structure of a language is helpful is working with speakers of that language.  Two websites that do this:  http://www.ethnologue.com/   and  http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/languageList.html.  To follow a conversation about these sites and related language learning issues, click here.

Latino Adult Education Services - designed to enhance and expand system capacity to serve Latino adult learners; includes modules addressing Advancing work and career, managing family life, promoting community participation and developing life long learning.

Learnenglish - British Council website with links to multiple resources and approaches.

Literacy Across Cultures - online journal seeking "to network people, ideas, theory, practice and experiences that can help lead to a better understanding of FLL."

Making It Real, from Tacoma Community House Training Project in Tacoma, Washington -  a guide to teaching adult pre-literate refugees. The book contains a wealth of information on techniques and activities and a checklist and resource section.  (PDF file)  (other useful documents online at http://literacynetworkofwashington.org/resources/index.html)
Massachusetts Framework for Adult ESOL - part of a larger set of curriculum frameworks developed by the Massachusetts Department of Education, with input from the field.

MATSOL: The Massachusetts Association of Teachers to Speakers of Other Languages

One Stop English - resources from Macmillan.

Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab - extensive array of listening material, arranged by level of difficulty and complexity.

Reading signs in English; 700 photos of signs, from Interesting things for ESL students

Reflect: online journal from the National Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numerac - using the reflect approach for ESOL.

REFLECT for ESOL: participatory tools, methods and approaches for teaching ESOL; available as a PDF document here; read an overview of the project.

A Resource Guide for Educators of English Second Language Learners - from TESL New Brunswick, Canada.  While focused on K-12 ESOL learning, presents elements of ESOL education that are relevant to adult learning as well. <>

UMBC's Resource Center for Language & Culture. (part of the larger site for ESOL/Bilingual Education at UMBC)

Resources for ESOL from the Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center.

From Fran Keenan, NIFL-ESL list: Sounds of the World's Animals - a site that explores how animal sounds are written in many different languages (complete with sound files on some animals), sponsored by the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics at Georgetown University.

Spanish language resources - a developing page of resources in Spanish for educators and general internet users.
Teaching Adult ESL Literacy Study Circle - (PDF ) - study circle script and supporting materials, developed by Beata I.Arciszewska-Russo; explores teaching and learning about literacy development generally, and about English language literacy learning for non-native speakers specifically.


TESL/TEFL/TESOL/ESL/EFL/ESOL Links Fast-Loading Page - links of Interest to Students & Teachers of English as a Second Language to search and browse; as well a complete list of links for teachers and students, and a listing of additional/What's New links

TESL EJ - TESL Electronic Journal

TESOL online - Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages homepage

Themes from Rural Life - A resource book for adult literacy and ESL.

A Toolbox for ESL Tutors - an instructional guide to teaching ESL to newcomers, from Frontier Colletge.

Toronto Public Library English as a Second Language page - links to Canadian, American and international resources

Trends in Staff Development for Adult ESL Instructors - Miriam Burt and Fran Keenan NCLE Q and A, June, 1998

WordChamp - online listening, speaking, translation and language learning resources

WORKPLACE ESL ONLINE - San Juan Unified School District, California Distance Learning Project

talk about it: listservs/electronic discussions: Participate in email discussions with ESOL educators

National Institute for Literacy English as a Second Language list; view archives, subscribe online.

The TESL-L Electronic Discussion list.

ESL Class: Grammar Lesson - a poem by Diane Pecoraro, long time ESOL educator and writer.

Additional teacher/tutor resources at Teacher, Tutor and Volunteer Worker Resources

page created August 29, 1998. Please send suggestions, lesson plans, ideas relevant to ESOL to LR/RI.

updated July 2, 2009

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