ESL General Online Resources

 

General ESL Sites

Headway Online by Oxford Dictionary 
https://elt.oup.com/student/headway/?cc=ca&selLanguage=en 
This series of e-books is sorted by the following levels: Beginner, Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate, and Upper-Intermediate. It includes sections on grammar, vocabulary, listening, and self-testing.

Study Zone by the University of Victoria 
http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/courses/elc/studyzone/ 
This site is run by the University of Victoria and is for all levels. Topics include grammar, reading, and vocabulary.

Skillswise
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/english 
This BBC site has resources (videos, exercises, games, etc.) on reading, writing, grammar, speaking and listening.

Dictionaries

Cambridge Dictionary:  English-Chinese (Simplified)
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-chinese-simplified/ 
Type in an English word and get definitions in simplified Chinese.  Examples of how the word is used in sentences are given in both English and Chinese.  You may also choose the English - Chinese (traditional) online dictionary.

Collins English-Chinese Dictionary
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-chinese 
Type in an English word and get definitions in traditional Chinese.

Grammar

Activities for ESL Students 
http://a4esl.org/ 
Over 1,000 activities to help students learn English as a second language, including crossword puzzles and quizzes for grammar, vocabulary, idioms, slang, phrasal verbs, and much more.

Grammarly Handbook 
https://www.grammarly.com/handbook/  
Covers grammar, punctuation, mechanics, sentence style and clarity, and writing

LearnEnglishFeelGood.com 
http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/esl-english-grammar-exercises.html 
Contains a variety of online ESL grammar quizzes/tests 

OWL 
http://depts.dyc.edu/learningcenter/owl/grammar_topics.htm 
Covers sentence construction, parts of speech and punctuation 

OWL Purdue Online Writing Lab: Grammar Exercises 
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/exercises/2/ 
Covers adjectives, adverbs, appositives, articles, count and non-count nouns, prepositions, and tense consistency 

UVIC ELC Study Zone 
http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/grammar.htm 
Covers grammar exercises and lessons for a range of levels 

UW-Madison Writer's Handbook
 
http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/GramPunct.html 
Includes explanations and examples pertaining to grammar and punctuation 
 

Listening

Activities for ESL Students
http://a4esl.org/p/ 
Contains links to various podcasts for ESL students and native English speakers; some cover the news and include transcripts

Learning English with CBC Manitoba
http://www.cbc.ca/manitoba/eal/ 
Contains language lessons (listening and other skill areas) for ESL students based on authentic CBC Manitoba radio interviews and CBC news stories (newscasts). Both are updated weekly. There are two versions of the CBC radio lessons – one for use in the classroom (instructions written for teachers) and one for self-study (instructions written for students). Classroom lessons are for intermediate level students (CLB 5 and up) and the self-study lessons are for high intermediate to advanced (CLB levels 6/7 and up). The CBC newscasts are adapted for high beginner to low intermediate level learners (CLB 3 and up). In addition, there is a teacher’s page containing suggestions for adapting both the radio and newscasts lessons to different levels.

CBC Radio and TV 
http://www.cbc.ca/ 
Contains current Canadian and international news from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Read text, listen to audio clips from CBC radio, and watch video clips from CBC TV.

Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab 
http://www.esl-lab.com/ 
A variety of listening activities, including stories, conversations and lectures, for beginner to advanced level students.

Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) 
http://www.ami.ca/ 
Listen to Canadian and international news, business, entertainment and sports as well as a variety of TV shows.

Pronunciation

The Internet TESL Journal 
http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Pronunciation/ 
Contains various ESL pronunciation links

Interesting Things for ESL Students 
http://www.manythings.org/e/pronunciation.html 
Pronunciation practice using minimal pairs 

LanguageGuide.org 
http://www.languageguide.org/english/vocabulary/ 
Listen to English vocabulary and test your knowledge with an interactive game 

Rachel's English
 
http://rachelsenglish.com/ 
Click on the "videos" link to view tutorials on pronunciation of various sounds. 
 

Reading

Learning English with CBC Manitoba 
http://www.cbc.ca/manitoba/eal/ 
Contains language lessons (listening, reading and other skill areas) for ESL students based on authentic CBC Manitoba radio interviews and CBC news stories (newscasts). Both are updated weekly. There are two versions of the CBC radio lessons – one for use in the classroom (instructions written for teachers) and one for self-study (instructions written for students). Classroom lessons are for intermediate level students (CLB 5 and up) and the self-study lessons are for high intermediate to advanced (CLB levels 6/7 and up). The CBC newscasts are adapted for high beginner to low intermediate level learners (CLB 3 and up). In addition, there is a teacher’s page containing suggestions for adapting both the radio and newscasts lessons to different levels.

CBC Radio and TV 
http://www.cbc.ca/ 
Contains current Canadian and international news from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Read text, listen to audio clips from CBC radio, and watch video clips from CBC TV.

Using English for Academic Purposes 
http://www.uefap.com/reading/readfram.htm 
Contains information on reading, note-taking, paraphrasing, scanning, skimming, summarizing and text structure/organization; exercises are provided

The Westcoast Reader 
http://www.thewestcoastreader.com/ 

Best of the Reader 
http://bestofthereader.ca/ 
Online version of the newspaper for ESL readers; published by Capilano University 

UVIC Study Zone 
Click on the applicable level for reading comprehension activities.  
 

Vocabulary

The Academic Word List (AWL) 
http://www.academicvocabularyexercises.com/ 
Contains 150 gap-fill exercises using high frequency vocabulary in different contexts found in academic texts and popular media; useful for students improving their understanding of academic vocabulary in various academic subjects and in popular media: television, movies, magazines and newspapers

Interesting Things for ESL Students 
http://www.manythings.org/e/vocabulary.html 
Includes many quizzes, games, slang, proverbs, and a number of different kinds of word puzzles to help students learn vocabulary.

Self-Study English Vocabulary Quizzes 
http://a4esl.org/q/h/vocabulary.html 
Quizzes are organized according to level

Writing

OWL Practice Exercises in Paraphrasing 
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/owlprint/619/

Other ESL Links

A Huge Collection of ESL Links 
ttp://iteslj.org/links/ 
A superb collection of interesting links for ESL students and teachers, frequently maintained by The Internet TESL Journal.

TOEFL 
http://www.toefl.org/ 
The official web site for Test of English as a Foreign Language programs and services.