Websites for Teachers of ESL/EFL Children

Compiled by Deborah Healey

Here are a few useful sites to use in enhancing your classes. They offer a range of items, including lesson plans, online activities, and offline possibilities.

Sites for ESL children by Deborah Healey - oregonstate.edu/dept/eli/jan2001.html. Suggestions tailored to teachers of children, including both downloadable software and web pages. Some links to start with from that page:

  • Enchanted Learning, www.EnchantedLearning.com
  • KidsClick! - sunsite.berkeley.edu/KidsClick!/ - a search tool created by librarians for children. This says what grade level each site is for and whether or not there are images. A good site for those concerned about safe content. Sample links:

    • Mrs.Alphabet has a large collection of lesson plans, plus some alphabet and number games.
     
  • Houghton Mifflin Education Place - www.eduplace.com/ - In addition to support for Houghton Mifflin textbooks, this site offers lesson plans for teachers and games and exercises for grades K-8. Some of the pages include:
  • Kids Domain - www.kidsdomain.com/index.html - another site for primary and secondary school teachers, with articles and lots of software to download organized by age group and by topic. Some software you can download (and found on the CD):


    • Beginning - Intermediate

    Alpha Book - match the uppercase and lowercase letters.
    Wordplay - scrambled words with customizable word lists.
    Storytime - illustrated stories with fill-in and other exercises. Over 30 children's stories are available, including Ants and the Grasshopper and Lion and the Mouse.
    Intermediate - Advanced
    Instant Poetry - like those magnetized words you can arrange on the refrigerator, this provides a set of words and a space to put them together at will. It also has customizable word lists.
    WAD Boggle - a version of Boggle, where you try to make words from adjacent tiles on a board.
    Word Games at Camelot - vocabulary learning with an adventure game motif.
    Internet Public Library Youth Division - http://www.ipl.org/youth/ - more links for primary and secondary students and teachers. Sample links:
    Lori Mon's Say Hello to the world!  - Hello in languages around the world.
    Picture books - Several illustrated stories (no sound) to choose from, at a range of levels. Kitty Wants a Box by Carol Moore is an example of a beginning-level story:
    The Counting Story by Rolando Merino at http://www.magickeys.com/books/count/index.html - cute animation, no sound
    A+ Math - have students work together for English language practice with math.
    UpToTen - some games, songs, and activities to use online for free, as well as pictures to color online or print to use offline; you can also order the commercial versions to use offline. Good for beginning learners.
  • Harcourt School Publishers - http:// www.hbschool.com/ - math and reading activities. The samples are free; more activities are available to those who buy Harcourt textbooks. Sample links:
    • Animated Math Glossary for grades 1-8 (in the US) and other sample math activities
    Grammar Practice Park
  • Awesome Clip Art - http://www.awesomeclipartforkids.com/crossword/crosswordpuzzlemaker.html - to make crossword puzzles online to print out.

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  • BrainPop LLC. (2002). BrainPop - www.brainpop.com. Games, video clips, and other activities related to math, science, and technology for upper primary to secondary school children. Free access is limited to three video viewings per day (other activities are unlimited).

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  • ITESL-J. (2002). ITESL-J links for students - a4esl.org. Quizzes and other interactive exercises. Sample pages:
  • Opp-Beckman, L. (1999). PiZZaZ: People interested in zippy and zany zcribbling - darkwing.uoregon.edu/~leslieob/pizzaz.html. An extensive and useful collection of online writing activities. Look at:
    • Haiku links-
    Japanese sounds for Haiku inspiration
    Create your own pseudo-Haiku
    How to create "sausage poems" - good for low-intermediate and up.
     
    Return to English for Children page
    Go to The Attic, Deborah Healey's home page
    Go to the English Language Institute home page
    Go to the Oregon State University home page
    http://www.onid.orst.edu/~healeyd/qatar/webforkids.html
    Last updated 6 March 2002 by Deborah Healey, deborah.healey@orst.edu