Active Language online staffroom

Websites Galore!

There are so many incredible resources on the Internet that at times it’s hard to know where to start…so let’s start here!  We’ll list the sites alphabetically with a brief description.  Remember you can use Ctrl+f to open a search box at the bottom of the screen if you’re looking for something in particular.  And I’ve also tried to add in tags to each link to make it easier to hunt for something specific, such as “grammar”.  Happy browsing!

ABC of Teaching Children – Carol Read’s site is well worth a read if you’ve got YLs as it’s packed full with interesting articles about development and tips on classroom management (articles, YLs, classroom management)

(Almost) Infintite ELT Ideas – A great collaborative blog from Sandy Millin which asks readers, “How would you use this resource?” (resources)

An A-Z of ELT – Scott Thornbury’s blog based on his popular methodology book (articles)

Barry Fun English – A site with lots of free resources to add some panache to your classes, including a dartboard and random student selector (resources, games, classroom management)

Burlington – this publisher’s page has a variety of resources, including free audio books (resources)

Cádiz Inglés – Chris and Fiona’s site has a heap of fabulous resources to help our students be more autonomous…show them a couple in class so they can see them in action! And for younger learners, you could listen to some songs or watch videos of their favourite stories from this page. (listening, reading, grammar, vocabulary, YLs, learner autonomy, self-study)

Conversation Generator – A site where random discussion topics pop up at the click of a mouse (speaking)

D.U.S.T – A blog full of practical ideas from Steve O, an Active TESOL trainee (resources, games, speaking)

Edmodo – You can set up classes on here and share links and resources with your learners (resources, online learning)

elllo – A wealth of listening resources with different accents, topics and levels (listening, lesson plans, self-study)

ELT Podcast – Listening materials for self-study or for use in the class (listening, self-study, resources)

ELT Training – Professional development resources, including a free monthly video on different aspects of teaching (professional development, videos)

English Central – Videos on a variety of different topics, from recent news to special topics such as Business English or English for Shopping! (listening, self-study)

English Club – Lots of resources for students and teachers, with listening materials, activities, lesson plans and more (resources, self-study, lesson plans, listening, games, speaking, reading, writing)

English Corner – A site for adults and older teens to connect with English speakers around the world to practise speaking and writing (self-study, speaking, writing)

ESL Bits – A site with a variety of audiobooks for different levels (listening, reading, self-study)

ESL Games World – Lots of interactive games for use in the classroom and at home (self-study, resources, games)

ESL printables – A site where you can upload and share worksheets with other teachers around the world (resources, worksheets, grammar, vocabulary, skills)

Exam English – A handy site for learners and teachers with materials for many different exams (exams, resources)

Film English – Kieran Donaghy’s site which is regularly updated with lesson plans based on short films, ads and excerpts (video, lesson plans, listening)

Free and Fair on facebook – free, legal reources from around the Internet, updated regularly with new links (resources)

Global Issues SIG – IATEFL has a number of SIGs (Special Interest Groups) and this one has the catchy sub-heading of “Care global, teach local!”  (blogs, resources, TEFL organisations)

Graded Readers – this site has a number of free graded readers (mixed in with some adverts!).  A great resource to use in class or set as homework (resources, reading, self-study)

iSLCollective – User-uploaded worksheets – just sign up to start downloading (resources, worksheets)

iteslj.org – The Internet TESL Journal has lots of great articles, ideas for games, discussion questions and more (speaking, games, articles)

Jeremy Harmer – Another TEFL great with a blog about all things in the business (articles)

The British Council’s Learning English Kids page has lots of great videos, songs, games and activities (YLs, games, videos)

Leoxicon – Jam-packed with activities with a lexical focus (resources, lexis)

Lesson Stream – Jamie Keddie’s site has a great variety of lesson plans and you can filter by level, activity type, language aim and more (lesson plans, grammar, vocab)

Lyrics Training – A great site for learners of different languages where you can complete gapfills of songs of different genres, levels and accents (listening, resources, self-study, music)

Open Language Exchange – A site for adults to arrange language exchanges with people in Cádiz.  Could be handy for teachers looking to improve their Spanish too! (self-study, speaking)

OUP blog -The Oxford University Press blog has some interesting articles (articles)

Project Gutenburg – Thousands of free ebooks – perfect for extensive reading projects (reading, resources, self-study)

QuizBreak! – This site allows you to make Jeopardy-style quizzes for your students (games)

Reading Room – This page has a wide variety of free online reading resources with magazines, newspapers and links to online libraries (reading, resources, self-study)

Real English – Videos and lesson plans for different levels (videos, lesson plans, speaking, listening, self-study)

Rolf in Eastbourne – A great YouTube channel for FCE Speaking exam prep (exams, speaking)

Simple English Videos – Lots of fun videos resources on grammar, vocab and more! (videos, listening, grammar, vocab)

Splendid Speaking – Lots of resources to improve the skill of speaking (speaking, resources)

The British Council and the BBC have teamed up on the Teaching English site – full of resources with everything from lesson plans to professional development…well worth having an explore (resources, lesson plans, articles, games, professional development)

Teaching Frenzy – This site has some fun ideas for the Primary classroom (classroom management, games, YLs)

teflgeek – This site has some great lesson plans and activities.  This link will take you directly to the exam preparation page, which has useful resources for FCE, CAE, CAE and IELTS. (exams, lesson plans, Cambridge, resources)

Training English Language Teachers – Vanessa Reilly’s site has loads of great resources for YLs (resources, YLs)

Tune Into English – Fergal Kavanagh’s site works with music – there are worksheets for teachers, games, karaoke and more (songs, lessons plans)

Voscreen – Short video clips with subtitles to help improve your English (self-study, video, listening)

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? – An online version of the game to play in class (or at home) (games)


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