Best Websites for Teachers of ESL and ELD

The following collection websites offer the best free resources for teachers of ESL/ELD students in middle school, high school, and adult classes.

(Note: ESL has many synonym acronyms including ELD, EFL, and ENL that you will see on the following websites. TESL and TESOL refer to teaching English as a Second Language or Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages)

Boggle's World

Boggle's World contains a large collection of worksheets to assist the teacher in a variety ESL/ELD levels and themes. Worksheets are categorized by type, including vocabulary, flashcards, verbs, creative writing, phonics, holidays, crosswords, wordsearches, and more. Each worksheet can be opened with Microsoft Word. The Boggle's World flashcards are especially well done and include suggestions on how to use them in conversation practice and classroom games. Boggle's World also includes articles on teaching ESL/ELD, and ESL job board and more.

Boggle's World homepage: http://bogglesworldesl.com/

The Internet TESL Journal

The Internet TESL Journal has a wide variety of resources for the ESL teacher, including articles, lesson plans, conversation questions, games, jokes, and activities. There is also a teacher's guide to instruct teachers on the best ways to use the website.

Conversation Questions for the ESL/EFL Classroom is especially comprehensive. This page contains a huge list of journal, discussion, and writing topics compiled by The Internet TESL Journal. The questions are organized into dozens of topics. Each topic contains dozens of individual questions.

The Internet TESL Journal homepage: http://iteslj.org/

Conversation Questions for the ESL/EFL Classroom homepage: http://iteslj.org/questions/

Heinle's Newbury House Dictionary of American English

The Newbury House Dictionary of American English is by far the best dictionary resource for teachers of ESL/ELD. The online version offers all of the benefits of the dictionary at your fingertips. Each word has the part of speech, pronunciation, a definition written in easy to understand English, and a sample sentence. Many words also have a list of synonyms and a couple of antonyms. A list of activities for using the dictionary is also included on the website.

Heinle's Newbury House Dictionary of American English homepage: http://nhd.heinle.com/

Web English Teacher's ESL Page

If you are looking for more quality links to ESL/ELD teacher resources, the Web English Teacher's ESL Page has three pages of links with descriptions of what you will find on the site. The first link directs you to a site with 100 more links to a variety of ESL sites. Web English Teacher is a guide for all types and levels of English teachers, so teachers of advanced English learners will also find plenty of resources to help mainstream their students into regular English classes.

Web English Teacher's ESL homepage: http://www.webenglishteacher.com/esl.html