LibGuides: English Language Acquisition (ELA): Sarah's Favorite Websites

General English Study Sites

5 Minute English
Learning English as a second language (ESL) is not always easy, but it should be fun. 5 Minute English has been designed to give you short and easy explanations and exercises.
Activities for ESL Students
Quizzes, tests, exercises and puzzles to help you learn English as a Second Language (ESL). This project of The Internet TESL Journal (iteslj.org) has thousands of contributions by many teachers.
Adele's ESL Corner
This Australian site has lessons on grammar, and pronunciation, and stories to read or listen to for comprehension practice.
BBC Learning English
BBC Learning English has been teaching English to global audiences since 1943, offering free audio, video and text materials to learners around the world. An excellent site with many interesting ways to improve your knowledge of English.
The Blue Book of Grammar
This site contains sections on English Grammar and Usage rules, Punctuation rules, Capitalization rules, Confusing Words and Homonyms, and Writing Numbers. Also available are English Usage videos, quizzes, and a grammar blog.
Conversation Questions for the ESL/EFL Classroom
Hundreds of questions for starting conversational English practice.
ELC Study Zone
The Study Zone is from the English Language Centre (ELC) at the University of Victoria. ELC teachers create the English language lessons and practice exercises. The site is designed for our adult English language learners, but all are welcome to read the lessons and use the exercises.
ELLLO - English Listening Lesson Library Online
ELLLO has over 3,000 free listening lessons for all levels! Videos of diverse English conversations, Grammar Based Lessons (100+ short animations with 4 dialogues each). Conversations that highlight grammar points, and Academic English reading and listening practice. There is also a News Center, Idioms in Conversation, and STeP Reading Tests.
Englisch Lernen Online
This site is available in both German and English. There is a lot of information about the English language on this site. You can learn English words, practice grammar, learn basic rules, prepare for exams, do tests or have fun playing games. Enjoy yourself with more than 1,000 online exercises.
English-at-home
English-at-home offers free lessons under their 'Speaking & More' link (divided into 'Speaking', 'Vocabulary', 'Grammar', and 'Business'). Additional lessons in grammar, vocabulary, speaking, and more are available through the Lessons link on the top of the page. There is also a free blog and podcast. Additional lessons are available for a fee.
English4u!
English4u! is a free site specially made for ESL / EFL students in their first years of study. Your answers can be checked directly by clicking the 'check button' on the bottom of each page. Click the link Sitemap to see the whole website content. Sections of the site include grammar, tense, and reading exercises, quizzes & tests, irregular verbs, crossword puzzles, and vocabulary worksheets.
English as a Second Language (ESL) for Teachers and Students
English as a Second Language has many extensive lessons on Business English, grammar, pronunciation & conversation, reading comprehension, vocabulary, writing skills, and resources for teachers.
English Banana
This site offers more than 4,000 pages of free printable resources for teaching and learning English and ESL. These include free English course books, podcasts, and many other free resources. All learning resources on English Banana are free to use.
English Club
EnglishClub is a free website designed to help you learn English. You can make your own English page with blogs, photos, videos, music, groups and friends; test your level in English and get help with English grammar; study English grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation; play English games and do English quizzes; chat in English with other students and teachers; find penpals for English practice, and much more.
English Daily
English Daily includes many learning opportunities, including Vocabulary, English Conversation examples, Grammar, American and Business Idioms, Comprehension practice, American Slang, English Proverbs, English Exercises, Common English mistakes, essay examples, and a Joke of the Day!
English Exercises
English Exercises has thousands of online English exercises created by teachers from all over the world. If you are learning English language you can use these exercises to improve your English for free. The exercises are categorized in different topics and levels.
English Grammar Lessons
Short articles, often with a video and some funny images, about
English Idioms, Phrases, Memes, and How to Write. Frequently updated.
English Language Teaching Resources
Many printable handouts for grammar and vocabulary learning, for reading comprehension, and more. Designed for children, but so charming that adults will love it too.
English Learner
English Learner helps you learn English with online exercises on grammar, reading comprehension, vocabulary and listening, at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. Includes a searchable dictionary and a list of exercises.
English Maven
English Maven is an online English language resource designed for grade school (K-12), General Educational Development (GED), English as a Second Language (ESL), and all interested in advancing their knowledge of the English language. The site offers a large variety of skill building worksheets geared towards a range of ability levels (listed on the left of the page).
English Media Lab
English Media Lab has ESL Exercises, an English TV Section with Videos by Levels, Interactive Quizzesto practice, Grammar, Vocabulary, & Pronunciation Skills. There is also an Interactive Games section. For Adults there are Business English, Survival English, Idioms, and Intermediate/Advanced Level Quiz sections.
English Online
Here are British English language courses for young learners, beginners, elementary, intermediate, and advanced learners. The site also contains videos, English for business, EFL exam practice, reading practice, and English language games that can be played online or downloaded.
English Page
English Page has lessons on vocabulary, grammar, verb tenses, irregular verbs, articles, conditionals, modals, gerunds, and prepositions; as well as a reading room, games, a phrasal verb dictionary, and exercises to make learning prepositions easy. Also: English forums where you can ask questions and meet other English learners.
Englishpond
Englishpond includes: printable worksheets, self-grading quizzes and exercises, video lessons, e-books, and PowerPoint lessons. The resources cover English expressions, pronunciation, vocabulary themes, grammar, online listening exercises, idioms, phrasal verbs, Business English, kids materials, prefixes/suffixes, and much more.
The English Room
"Welcome to the e-learning website for Sriwittayapaknam School in Thailand. This website has been designed for our own students to learn English at school and at home. Students from other schools are welcome to use this resource for free." This site offers many online lessons and exercises, as well as blogs and a YouTube channel.
English Verb Conjugation
This site provides a complete and comprehensive conjugation of English verbs. The etymology is also provided. Additional languages are available by clicking 'Conjugator' in the top toolbar.
ESL Desk
ESL Desk contains vocabulary lists and quizzes, grammar explanations and quizzes, spelling tests and a spelling bee, and common errors quizzes that cover common spelling mistakes and confusing words in the English language.
ESL Galaxy
ESL Galaxy offers over 2,368 free printable worksheets for ESL learners, with more added every other day. Games, Grammar & Vocabulary worksheets, Pronunciation, Survival English, Song and Video Activities, Word Search Puzzles, Festival & Holiday worksheets, Prefixes/Suffixes, PowerPoints, and Reading & Writing Exercises.
ESL Gamesworld
ESL Gamesworld provides interactive games and exercises for ESL fun. The free games include: Snakes and Ladders, Hangman, Spelling games, Wheel of Fortune, Mazes, Memory Games, Matching exercises, Sequencing exercises, Picture Quizzes, and more.
ESL Gold
ESL Gold contains many videos of English conversations and pronunciation, see their Speaking, Grammar, Vocabulary, Listening, and Reading links for the videos.
ESL Video
Free online English listening and grammar activities - watch a video and answer questions about what you have watched. There are videos for beginners, intermediate learners, and advanced learners.
ESOL Courses
Free interactive lessons for adult ESOL students, whether you're a beginner, intermediate, or advanced learner. The lessons are organized into English for Work, Grammar, Listening, Reading, Songs, Vocabulary, Writing, Life in the UK, and Life in the USA sections.
EWE - Easy World Of English
Many grammar, pronunciation, and reading lessons are available. There is also a picture dictionary of commonly used vocabulary words illustrated with pictures and their pronunciation.
Games & Activities for the ESL/EFL Classroom
Games that will help you practice your English.
Grammar Bytes!
Grammar workouts, with detailed definitions of common grammar terms, exercises, handouts, tips & rules, presentations, YouTube videos, and more.
Isabel's ESL Site
In Inglés y Español. This site contains Grammar, Vocabulary, & Culture Exercises, Reading & Writing Exercises, Teaching with Songs, a variety of Web-Based Activities, Browsing & Treasure hunts, and Links for Teaching & Learning English.
Jokes in English for the ESL/EFL Classroom
Lots of jokes - many of them are silly, a lot of them are funny, and quite a few of them help you practice your English! Go ahead and click this link, you deserve a few good laughs!
Learn 101
"Everything offered here is free for personal use. Most of the lessons for our 104 languages include the alphabet, adjectives, nouns, plural, gender, numbers, phrases, grammar, vocabulary, verbs, and more."
Learn American English Online!
There are seven levels of instruction, from beginner to advanced. Sections include a Basic English Dictionary with a Word of the Day, English Quizzes, Pronunciation, Verbs, Idioms, a Listening Lab, American Slang, Proverbs, Vocabulary, and more.
LearnEnglishFeelGood.com
Whether your level is Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced, you'll find what you need to help you speak and write better English. Options include practicing English Grammar, Vocabulary, ESL Printables, workbooks, listening and reading comprehension, pronunciation, and more.
Learning English
Advice on how to learn English, resources for learning English, articles on learning English, and Student Discussion Forums. Free registration provides you with more access.
One Stop English
The Macmillan Dictionary blog is no longer available. However, here is a collection of dictionary-related resources from onestopenglish that you can use with your students.
Oxford University Press's Headway Student's Site
Select your level to browse interactive exercises and downloadable audio and video resources.
Preply Language Lessons
Online English tutors & teachers for private lessons. Costs vary from $1 to $40 an hour. Free video lessons are also available at https://www.youtube.com/@preply/playlists
REEPworld
REEPworld is a free English practice website for adult ESL students and teachers. No login is required.
Resources for learning English
This collection of free English learning resources - vocabulary, idioms, grammar, names, and tests - will help you study whatever aspect of conversational English is most interesting to you. Improving your English a little each day is the most effective way to learn English.
Road to Grammar
365 practice quizzes, with answers, available as printable pdfs or to do online. (No advertising!)
Step Forward, free download
Free downloads of the audio version of the Step Forward ESL books. Step Forward provides the essential language, skills, and rigorous content, Adult English Language Learners need to move confidently towards their work and academic goals. Both the first edition and second edition are available.
Student Handouts!
A vast collection of free educational materials - ebooks, handouts, worksheets, images, maps, and more - many of interest to ESL students and ESL students wanting to help their children with their homework.
Teach This
Teach-This.com provides hundreds of free printable ESL activities, worksheets, games and lessons covering the core skills associated with language learning: speaking, listening, reading, writing, pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar.
TV411
TV411 helps you read for success, fine-tune your writing, expand your vocabulary, get a grip on math, and explore science. TV411 is a collection of entertaining videos and engaging web activities, all designed to help you reach your learning goals.
USA Learns
USA Learns has free courses to help you learn English, improve your skills, study for a job, prepare to become a U.S. citizen, and more! Lessons include English speaking, listening, vocabulary, pronunciation, reading, writing and grammar.
Woodward English
Woodward English offers a variety of online English lessons, many with an accompanying video from their YouTube site. Free (with some advertising).
www.ManyThings.org
There are quizzes, word games, word puzzles, proverbs, slang expressions, anagrams, videos, a random-sentence generator, and other computer assisted language learning activities. The primary focus is for ESL, but native English speakers will also find interesting things on this site. This site is non-commercial and has no advertising!
Wyzant English Lessons
Many resources to help you with your English. The ESL section has helpful lessons for new English learners, including many essays that answer common ESL questions. The site also contains a section on Etymology so you can learn the stories behind some of the most interesting words in English. Grammar explanations, punctuation guidance, and many writing tips are also available.

Listening, Speaking, and Pronunciation Focus

DailyESL
DailyESL provides listening comprehension opportunities, organized in seven general categories: In the Community, Vacations, Around the House, Education and Work, Family, Holidays, and Hobbies. Listen to the audio, answer some questions, and read along with the audio.
EnglishSpeak
This site provides the pronunciation of the 1,000 most common English phrases, and the 1,500 most common English words. Pronunciation lessons are also available for a fee (the first five are free).
ESL Fast
"Free online English Teaching and Learning Materials. With over 2,500 conversations with audio and 3,000 short stories and essays with exercises, you are guaranteed to find something that's right for you."
ESL go
Here you will find information for current ESL students. If you are an established professional, you might be interested in our ESL Community Board. Whoever you are, friend, we invite YOU to become a member of our community and share our passion about researching and teaching English as a second language!
ESL notes
Watching English-language movies? Before you watch a movie, read the ESL notes guide and pre-learn the critical vocabulary. ESL notes offers over a hundred guides to movies that have a lot of useful colloquial English, present aspects of modern American life, and was popular enough to be widely available on DVD or streaming.
Eva Easton’s American English Pronunciation
This site has 172 video lessons and 152 audio quizzes. Focuses include words ending in ‘ed’, in ‘s’, ‘gh’ words, ‘wonder words’, and how various consonants or vowels are pronounced in confusing words.
Focus on English
Focus on English focuses on 'Everyday English in Conversation' and 'Conversation Starters', both on a variety of topics.
Lyricsgaps
Listen to songs and then answer some questions about what you heard. There are over 5,000 popular songs to choose from.
Pronuncian.com
Seattle Learning Academy offers more than 200 episodes of its American English pronunciation podcast. Each podcast is several minutes of discussion and examples of a particular pronunciation challenge. The Lessons and Video links also offer valuable pronunciation assistance.
Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab
Activities at Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab focus on everyday English comprehension skills at three levels based on content, voices, vocabulary, and natural speed. A combination of adult, teenage, and children’s voices are included.
Sozo Exchange
The Sozo Exchange provides videos, audio files, and study materials for its Episodes, as well as videos demonstrating correct pronunciation for both words and different situations. Videos about idioms and study instructions are also provided. All content is free, with a short anonymous survey about your goals for learning English.
Talk English
TalkEnglish.com helps you improve your English fluency using speaking, listening, pronunciation, and basic grammar lessons in written, audio, and video forms.

Vocabulary and Spelling Focus

LanguageGuide - English
LanguageGuide provides pronunciations of many common English words – with an opportunity to test your pronunciation or memory – as well as practice with irregular verbs.
Learning Chocolate
Learning Chocolate helps you memorize English vocabulary in a fun way that really works. The exercises use pictures, sounds, and games to make learning a new language like enjoying chocolate! Choose a vocabulary topic to start learning new words. Then you can play up to 5 fun games to see what you memorized! Visit the site every day because repetition and study time are both important when learning a language!

Reading and Phonics Focus

E-Reading Worksheets - The resources on this website cover a broad range of reading, writing, and language arts skills (scroll down to see the lists). Everything on here is free for home and classroom use.

Pumarosa (for Spanish speakers) - este sitio fonético y bilingüe está diseñado para ayudarte a aprender inglés tan rápido y fácil como sea posible.

Starfall - This is a free public service to teach children to read. It includes language arts and mathematics for preschool, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, and third grade.

Writing Focus

Idiom Connection - English Idioms and Quizzes, arranged alphabetically and by subject.

Idiom Site - over two hundred American English idioms explained.

Purdue Online Writing Lab - The OWL has resources for English Language Learners and all writers of English. The site includes explanations of citations, grammar, and much much more.

WritingDEN - has explanations and tips for writing sentences, paragraphs, and essays. The site also offers a free subscription to a Word of the Day.

Math Focus

Math-Aids.com - provides free math worksheets, on over 94 different math topics, for teachers, parents, students, and home schoolers.

Math-Drills.com - includes over 58 thousand free math worksheets that may be used to help students learn math. Math worksheets are available on a broad range of topics including number sense, arithmetic, pre-algebra, geometry, measurement, money concepts and much more.

YouTube Channels

Beginning English

Harry Kindergarten Music - HIP SONGS & VIDEOS for the K-2 classroom! Simple catchy songs are excellent English practice tools.
kidsTV123 - Educational songs and videos for children, toddlers and babies.
Super Simple Songs - Learn and explore through song and movement with Super Simple Songs! (Practice English and dance too!)
ELF Kids Videos - ELF has created a fun mix of animated songs, vocabulary videos for EFL/ESL children, and a lot of alphabet, phonics and reading videos for young learners to enjoy.
ELF Learning - More songs and educational videos, short and fun!

Television-style videos

Language Planet Toluca (Side by Side TV) - short videos of people using English in every day life.
Miss English Teacher - short videos of people using English in every day life.
Simple English Videos - medium-length videos showing how English is used in real live conversations.
Learn English with English7Levels - longer videos of people using English is every day life.

Grammar Lessons

Anglo-Link - short and medium-length videos about grammar and vocabulary to help you build confidence when speaking and listening in English.
Beta College of English - Short videos from an online English language school.
Crown Academy of English - short and medium-length video lessons on English grammar, vocabulary, listening skills, reading skills, speaking and pronunciation, punctuation and writing.
English with Ronnie · EnglishLessons4U - English lessons in pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, slang, spelling, and more!
Learn With Sam And Ash - A full IELTS course for free, and many more English tutorials (medium to long videos).
EnglishAnyone - shorter and longer videos for learning to speak confident, fluent, English!
Englishclass101 - shorter and longer videos showing how to use English to discuss many different topics.
Learn English with Rebecca · engVid - medium to long videos that help you upgrade your speaking, writing, listening, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, business English, IELTS, TOEFL, and more.
Go Natural English - short to medium videos with advice to help you speak English like a native, with real English conversation and listening practice.
JenniferESL - short to medium videos about all aspects of learning English.
Shaw English Online - Learn English conversation, pronunciation, vocabulary, and listening with hundreds of free English videos for ESL students (both short and long videos).
Learn English with Steve Ford - High quality English lessons from basic to fluency levels taught by Steve Ford (generally short videos).
EspressoEnglish - "Learn to speak English fast, and faster" (short videos).
Let’s Talk - A convenient way to learn English with short video lessons.
Oxford Online English - An online English school offering premium-quality online English lessons to suit your needs (medium to long videos).
Twominute English - "Learn English with two minute lessons". (Most of the videos are longer than two minutes.)

Vocabulary

TransparentEnglish - Short language and culture videos for learners of English.

Business English

Business English Lessons - Lessons cover business English topics and skills: English meetings, presentations in English, talking on the telephone, job interviews in English, negotiating, business English conversation, and more.
TESOL Rich English - Short to medium tutorials in Business English and General English.

Pronunciation

Rachel’s English - An online American English pronunciation resource. All videos have closed captioning to help non-native speakers understand. New videos added every week! Highly recommended.

List of Sarah's Favorite Websites for English Study (MS Word Doc)

Sarah's Favorite Websites for English Study
Compiled by RTC Basic Studies adjunct faculty member, Sarah Zugschwerdt in 2017.