Recommended Resources For Teaching English

7a. Vocabularyi. There are many versions of The Oxford Picture Dictionary for purchase.You can download a free pdf of the New Oxford Picture Dictionary.Printing the index at the end of the book (pp. 106-124) would be a usefulreference if you use this regularly in your classroom.ii. On this one page, ESL Flow has English Vocabulary Worksheets thatprovide a wealth of topics, tools and teaching tips1. Teaching Vocabulary with Images2. Other Vocabulary Teaching Ideas for ESL Teachers3. Vocabulary Sorting4. More Advanced Vocabulary (IELTS, TOIEC or TOEFL Practice)5. Word Building & Word Formation Exercises & Worksheets6. Vocabulary Listsiii. Learn Prefixes, Suffixes to Expand Your Vocabulary from Voice ofAmerica lists the meaning of common suffixes and prefixes anddemonstrates how they are used.iv. The Vocab-O-Gram from the University of Virginia is a form for studentsto use key vocabulary from a story as they identify the story structure.v. YouGlish gives the pronunciation of English vocabulary words andphrases in different accents and in different contexts. The student types ina phrase, such as “Throw in the towel”, selects which accent she wants tohear and then gets results from YouTube video segments.vi. Using Pictures from Magazines describes how the teacher can utilizeimages to teach vocabulary as well as grammar, listening, conversationand writing. You could also use images from the Internet.vii. Reading Around the Room has young students reading the labels onobjects in the classroom.viii. Vocabulary Doesn’t Have to be a Bore describes Robert Marzano’s SixSteps of Vocabulary Acquisition and includes links to Internet platformsthat have resources to use in the classroom.ix. Boggle’s World ESL has many flashcards for learning vocabulary.x. Total Physical Response (TPR) is learning language through motions.1. Total Physical Response: A Curriculum for Adults is a freedownloadable guidebook from Spring Institute for InterculturalLearning.2. Genki English has videos and engaging ideas for using TPR toteach vocabulary.

8b. Idioms and Slangi. Effective Activities for Teaching English Idioms to EFL learners from TheInternet TESL Journal gives principles to follow when teaching idioms:teach in context, use idioms with illustrations and use group discussion toteach idioms.ii. Idiom Site has an alphabetical list of idioms and their meanings.iii. Language Success Press has lessons on a number of groups of idioms.They offer the lessons in idioms to advertise their books. You don’t haveto buy their books.iv. A4ESL has Self-Study Idiom Quizzes that include idioms, phrasal verbsand slang.v. Idiomatic Expressions to Use at Work from Espresso English wants you tosign up for their courses. You can use the resources on this page withoutdoing that.vi. The US Govt. Office of English Language Programs presents In the Loop:A Reference Guide to American English Idioms, a free downloadable 134page guide to idioms, definitions and classroom activities.vii. Illustrated Idioms are from English Work Group. Each idiom is definedand then illustrated in a humorous way.

9c. Grammari. ESL Flow has a page with links to resources for teaching grammar:Grammar Exercises and Worksheets, Parts of Speech Guides & Verb Listsfor ESL Teachers & Students, Brainstorming and Understanding Parts ofSpeech, Parts of Speech Exercises for ESL Students, Tenses andTimelines, and Verbs Review. Especially helpful are the Timelines toDemonstrate Present Perfect & Other Tensesii. Perfect English Grammar has effective explanations for all thingsgrammatical. Especially useful are the Tenses Infographics and theTenses Explanations.iii. Jane Straus wrote Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation.GrammarBook.com has explanations of grammar and punctuation rules ofEnglish. You can also sign up for the e-newsletter—it’s like having agrammar refresher each week.iv. The Capital Community College Foundation presents the Guide toGrammar and Writing, which covers points of grammar and how to writefrom the sentence level to the research paper level.v. The Online Writing Lab at Purdue University has a number of webpagesdedicated to various aspects of writing. Links to their articles on grammarcan be found here.vi. TEFL.net gives ideas for presenting various aspects of grammar throughgames.vii. TESOL Connections has a list of grammar games to use in the classroom.viii. Irregular Verbs from English Page gives a list of over 370 irregular verbs,flashcard and exercises.ix. Wyzant’s Grammar Lessons & Help gives you lessons on the topics listedand quizzes to check understanding.x. English Grammar Guide from Education First is a page with links toarticles that form a complete guide to English grammar.xi. TESOL Connections explains How to Teach the Dummy Pronoun “It” inexpressions such as “It’s raining”.xii. Andromeda Jones in Crush it Teaching Phrasal Verbs in English gives amethod and the rationale behind it to present phrasal verbs (such as “takeon” and “put off” plus a list of 135 common phrasal verbs organized bypreposition. A useful resource to give to your students is The Big List ofPhrasal Verbs by Preposition.xiii. Reviewing English Grammar is a 30-page book that summarizes EnglishGrammar by Lynn Stapleton, CELTA, MA.xiv. Grammar Quizzes has quizzes to provide practice on points of grammar.xv. PDFDrive has two books by Michael Swan that you can download free.Practical English Usage is the grammar reference that not only explainsEnglish usage, it has examples from natural English. Some teachers havesaid that if they could only take one grammar book with them in theirsuitcases, this would be the book. Intermediate students who want toknow more about grammar could use Michael Swan’s Basic EnglishUsage. You could also buy hard copies of these books.

10xvi. All Things Grammar has 1000 worksheets on a variety of grammartopics.d. Phonicsi. Kiz Phonics has worksheets, games, video tutorials, listening by levels,phonics flashcards, phonemes cards sentence cards and more.ii. Fun Fonix has worksheet makers, worksheet templates, readingworksheets, exercises to print and games.iii. Starfall has free resources to encourage children to read using phonics.More resources are available if you choose to pay for an upgrade.iv. English is Soup! is a phonics resource for ESL adults that providesdocuments with diagrams for how the sound is produced, the usual lettersthat produce the sound as well as some of the exceptions.e. Pronunciationi. Lane’s English Pronunciation Guide by Richard R. Lane has diagrams anddescriptions for individual phonemes as well as minimal pairs with thetarget sound in initial, final and medial positions. The Lesson Formatexplains how to use this guide and the Teaching Hints alert the teacher tothe reasons why certain sounds are difficult for English learners topronounce and to distinguish.ii. Sounds of Speech from The University of Iowa presents two video filesfor each English phoneme. One is an animated side view that shows howthe different parts of the mouth move as the sound is produced. The otheris a view of a person’s face that shows how the lips move as the sound isproduced. The site is free, but you may need to register to access thecontent.iii. Professor Evan Ashworth of the University of British Columbia presentsIntroduction to the International Phonetic Alphabet, which is a goodresource for learning the IPA symbols for North American English. In thevideos Introduction to Articulatory Phonetics (Consonants) andIntroduction to Articulatory Phonetics (Vowels) he uses animated videosto show how the parts of the vocal tract move during the production ofsounds.iv. Teaching Pronunciation: Using the Prosody Pyramid by Judy Gilbert is a32-page book that covers the fundamentals of teaching pronunciation,providing practical tips and techniques for teaching rhythm, intonation andstress.v. Master the Sounds of American English is a video course from Rachel’sEnglish that demonstrates to the student how to make each sound,understand how stress changes sounds and how to make the phoneticsymbol for each soundvi. English With Stacy is Stacy Hagen’s YouTube channel with many videoson intonation, stress, rhythm, and understanding fast English.

11vii. American English Pronunciation Practice has audio and video minimalpair practice and quizzes, “listen and repeat” videos, “L” and “R”distinction, R-controlled vowels, focused vowels, and consonant clusters.viii. ESL Flow presents pronunciation exercises and worksheets for varioustopics such as pronunciation of final “s” and “th”, word stress exercises,pronunciation of final “ed” and “ch”ix. English Club has many resources for pronouncing British English.x. Sharon Widmayer and Holly Gray host the Sounds of English website tohelp students understand how stress and intonation make them moreintelligible.xi. Lynn Henrichsen presents 21 Online Pronunciation Resources forTeaching and Learning.xii. Adrian Underhill teaches the phonemic chart of British Pronunciation inIntroduction to Teaching Pronunciation, a one-hour workshop.f. Spellingi. Make spelling more fun in the classroom with 8 ESL Spelling Games fromFluentU. Caution: FluentU will try to get you to subscribe. You don’thave to.ii. 10 Fun Spelling Games for Your ESL Class from Busy Teacher.iii. 13 ESL Spelling Games from Teach This ESL/EFL Resources have lessonplans available as free downloads.iv.Top 4 Spelling Tricks for English Language Learners from Busy Teacher.

12g. Making Inferencesi. What Happened to the Bird? by Debra Josephson Abrams gives teachers alesson for using other videos to teach students about making inferences.ii. Inference Worksheets are on three different grade levels: 4-5, 6-8, and 912.iii. Teaching Inference is a lesson plan for university students who

c. Music and Jazz Chants (page 17) 13. Teaching Children (page 18) 14. English for Specific Purposes (ESP) (page 18) a. English for Academic Purposes (EAP) (page 18) b. English for Banking (page 19) c. English for Biblical and Theological Studies (page 19) d. English for Business and Work (page 19) e. English for Healthcare (page 20) f.