Click for accessible search Skip Navigation

Best of the Web: Education & Employment » ESOL & Adult Literacy » Websites for Students of English as a Second Language (ESOL)

  • About.com Basic English

    25 lessons on essential points of English grammar, including verb tenses, articles, count and non-count nouns, prepositions, use of adjectives and adverbs and more. Link to many additional grammar lessons from this page.

  • About.com Grammar Quizzes

    A collection of interactive grammar quizzes on many topics. Beginner to advanced level.

  • Activities for ESL Students

    Thousands of quizzes, exercises and puzzles for ESOL learners of all levels. Links to audio and video podcasts for listening practice. Created by the Internet TESL Journal.

  • BBC Learning English

    Activities using videos, music, news vocabulary and more. Practice listening, pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary. Special section for Business English. NOTE: This is British English, not American English as spoken in the U.S.

  • Cambridge Dictionaries Online

    Free online learner's dictionaries from Cambridge University Press. Dictionaries include: Learner's, Advanced Learner's, American English, Idioms, and Phrasal Verbs.

  • Dave's ESL Cafe: Stuff for Students

    Lessons and quizzes to practice grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, idioms, slang and more. Registration required to post questions on the Help Center page or communicate with ESOL students around the world using the online Student Forums.

  • eflnet

    This site offers some challenging listening and reading practice activities based on Wikipedia articles as well as TOEFL level grammar exercises.

  • English Learning Centre Study Zone

    Interactive reading and grammar activities for upper-beginner to advanced level students. From the University of Victoria.

  • Englishpage.com

    Free grammar lessons and interactive exercises. Lots of practice with verb tenses and prepositions.

  • ESL Reading

    Free reading material for English language learners. Simplified ghost stories and strange news stories with reading exercises. Most stories are for intermediate to upper-intermediate level learners. Stories are written in British English.

  • eslbee.com

    This advanced composition site for non-native speakers of English offers model essays, tips and practice with organization of ideas for academic writing, and grammar exercises.

  • Internet Picture Dictionary

    Basic vocabulary practice in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

  • Literacy Net Story Archives

    Read news stories adapted for new readers and English language learners. There are stories and reading and vocabulary exercises on many topics, from business or politics to adventures, crime and more. No new stories have been added since 2005.

  • ManyThings.org

    Interesting Things for ESL Students: quizzes, word games, word puzzles, proverbs, slang expressions, vocabulary study, pronunciation practice, listening practice and many other things.

  • Merriam-Webster Learner's Dictionary

    An online American English Dictionary for ESL, EFL, and TOEFL Students. Vocabulary and pronunciation exercises and quizzes. Free registration required for some features.

  • Merriam-Webster Visual Dictionary Online

    Contains over 6,000 images. Look up a word alphabetically or browse images organized by theme (subject).

  • Official TOEFL Site

    Information from ETS (Educational Testing Service) about the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language). Register for the test, download free sample test questions and tip sheets and more.

  • Ohio University English Student Resources

    Links to websites for practice with listening, speaking, reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary and more. News, quizzes and other activities for all levels of English language learners.

  • Ohio University English Student Resources: Reading Activities

    Links to reading actitivies and exercises for English language learners of all levels.

  • OWL at Purdue: Resources for ESL Instructors and Students

    The Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) offers clear, concise review pages on many grammar points as well as useful cultural lessons on the higher education system in the US, workplace writing and other topics. Dozens of interactive and printable exercises on grammar, punctuation, and spelling are also available.

  • Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab

    Listening practice and quizzes for all levels of English language learners. Listen to conversations on everyday topics or practice listening for academic purposes with lectures and interviews.

  • Real English

    Short video lessons using interviews with real people filmed on the streets of New York, Miami Beach, and Seattle. There are exercises for many videos, but for some there is only a transcript. Materials are available for English learners at different levels.

  • The Tongue Untied Introduction to Grammar

    An online guide to grammar, style and punctuation for native speakers of English. Some practice exercises and quizzes are included. The guide follows Associated Press Style guidelines.

  • Topics

    An online magazine for English language learners. Articles are written by learners of English from around the world.

  • Voice of America Special English

    Listen to special news stories written for non-native speakers of English. There are current world news stories and feature stories on economics, education, health, American history and popular culture and other topics. You can read along with the text of the story while you listen.

  • WordReference.com

    Free online bilingual dictionaries in Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian and many other languages.

Chat with a librarian now

Customize This