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Websites for ELL Students
PBS Kids: Between the Lions
Between the Lions is an excellentwebsite for kindergarten and first grade ELL students. The website includes games, read-along stories, and video clips for young learners. Many of the activities are a great introduction to letter sounds and beginner vocabulary.
Starfall
Starfall offers many different phonics activities to improve reading skills. Some of the readers come with movies, which provide visual support for ELL students.
ESLGames+
ESLGames+ is a fun and interactive website with many games thatreinforce vocabulary knowledge, spelling, grammar, and phonics skills.
Kids Learning Ville
http://www.kidslearningville.com/
Kids Learning Villeoffers fun literacy lessons, games, and printable activities for elementary-aged learners at different levels.
Freddie’s Ville
This website provides beginner ESL lessons for elementary students. Each video lesson is based on a particular theme and contains structured conversations so that students can listen and view words simultaneously. Freddie’s Ville also contains a variety of theme-based worksheets, games, and songs.
Carl’s Corner
Carl’s Corner is an excellent resource with many printable activities and games. A wide variety of language arts content is available, including vocabulary activities by theme, phonics, sight words, and short stories.
Reading is Fundamental
http://www.rif.org/kids/readingplanet.htm
RIF is a fun website for young readers that includes an Activity Lab, Game Station, and Book Zone. In the Book Zone ELLs can practice reading with animated read-along stories and songs: http://www.rif.org/kids/readingplanet/bookzone/read_aloud_stories.htm
Time for Kids
Time for Kidsis a great children’s website with information about current events. Resources include news articles, photos and videos, and a homework helper. The homework helperprovides learning tools such as a flash-card maker, grammar wizard, and writer’s toolbox.
Language Guide
http://www.languageguide.org/english/
Language Guide is a simple and straightforward resource for beginner ELL students. It covers basic English vocabulary including English letters, numbers, and punctuation. Students can view images of vocabulary words while also listening to the correct pronunciation.
Interesting Things for ESL Students
http://www.manythings.org/e/easy.html
This website contains vocabulary, grammar, and spelling games.
Activities for ESL Students
Activities for ESL Students contains vocabulary building exercises, grammar quizzes, and bilingual quizzes in 50 different languages.
Shepard Software
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/
This website is a good resource for building content-area vocabulary at any grade-level. It contains video tutorials, articles, games, and quizzes. All of the information is supplemented with visuals, making it more accessible for ELL students.
Spelling Bee
http://www.learner.org/interactives/spelling/index.html
Spelling Bee is a great website to practice spelling for students of all ages. ELL students are able to listen to a passage while reading along. Some words are left out, and students must write the correct word in the blank space. Students can play words again to hear correct pronunciation and click to see a definition.
Easy World of English
http://www.easyworldofenglish.com/Grammar/Grammar.aspx?c=86794645427a1b3e
Easy World of English offers a grammar section for ELL students to learn and practice their skills. Students are presented with a written explanation of a grammar concept and can check their understanding with a quiz after each section.
iPhone and iPad Apps
Little Writer – The Tracing App for Kids
Little Writer activities help reinforce young learners’ understanding of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, shapes, and beginner spelling words. Learners trace and listen simultaneously. The app is beneficial for vocabulary building because words are accompanied with visual supports.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/little-writer-tracing-app/id515890480?mt=8
Clifford’s Be Big with Words
This app is ideal for students in Kindergarten through 1st grade. Clifford’s Be Big App enables learners to practice language development skills such as spelling and phonics in addition to building vocabulary.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id329022340?mt=8
Smiley Sight Words App
This app is a great tool to practice sight words at any grade level. Learners have the opportunity to choose from many different word lists and can create their own customized word list. When the sight word is tapped, the player can hear the correct pronunciation.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/smiley-sight-words/id361006388?mt=8
Bud’s Rhyming Words
Learners can play 3 different rhyming games, which cover 40 word families and includes more than 225 words and pictures. The app is also great for building vocabulary and exposes learners to correct pronunciation of new vocabulary words.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/buds-rhyming-words-kids-learn/id866965757?mt=8
iSort Words
This app reinforces phonemic awareness by demonstratinghow the beginning and ending parts of words combine to form whole words. The Explore part of the app contains both a Learn and Read section in which a speaker builds and pronounces words as they appear on the screen.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/isort-words/id686815010?mt=8
Kid’s Vocab- MindSnacks
MindSnacks is a fun vocabulary-building app for learners in the upper elementary grades.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kids-vocab-mindsnacks/id582128594?mt=8
ELL Information and Resources for Adults
Colorín Colorado
http://www.colorincolorado.org/families/
Colorín Colorado is a bilingual resource for parents of ELL students. It provides valuable information about ways to promote reading in the home, including fun reading tips, activities, and more. It also contains newsletters, articles, and research with current information related to the education of ELL students.
Colorín Colorado en Español: http://www.colorincolorado.org/familias/
Reading Tips for Parents of children in Preschool through Third grade: http://www.colorincolorado.org/guides/readingtips/
(Available in English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Haitian Creole, Hmong, Korean, Navajo, Russian, Tagalog, and Vietnamese)
Word Reference
Word Reference is an online bilingual dictionary with accurate translations of English words and phrases, including a verb conjugation resource.
iPhone and iPad Apps
Scholastic Book Wizard Mobile
The Scholastic Book Wizard app can be a valuable tool for selecting books that are an appropriate level for a young reader. The app allows one to scan the barcode on the back of a book and find out which guided reading level the book corresponds to.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scholastic-book-wizard-mobile/id616137439?mt=8
Word Reference Dictionary
The Word Reference App is a bilingual dictionary with accurate translations of English words and phrases, including a verb conjugation resource.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wordreference-dictionary/id515127233?mt=8
