ESL/EFL Teaching/Learning Resources
Reading

See also Concordancing and Vocabulary

Text-to-Speech Programs
See also Kilickaya, Ferit (Jan. 2006). Text-to-Speech Technology: What does it offer to foreign language leaners? CALL-EJ Online 7 (2).

TextAloud MP3 <http://www.nextup.com/download.html>-- Reads text from email, web pages, reports and more, aloud on your PC. Files can be uploaded or text pasted on a page to be read.  TextAloud can also save your daily reading to MP3 or Windows Media files ready for playback on your iPod, PocketPC, or even on your TV with Tivo's Home Media Option.

NaturalReader <http://www.naturalreaders.com/download.htm> -- reads (text-to-speech) in different accents and male or female (Text files, MS Word files, MS Internet Explorer Webpages, Adobe PDF files, Emails

ReadPlease <http://www.readplease.com/> -- free text-to-speech software; ReadPlease and ReadingBar for Internet Explorer read out loud to you; ReadPlease reads any text you see on your screen; ReadingBar 2 reads any Web page in synthesized speech; click to download the free 30-day trial version of ReadPlease http://www.readplease.com/english/downloads/#rp2003; download the 30-day free trial version of ReadingBar 2 at http://www.readplease.com/english/downloads/#rb2

ReadPlease Plus 2003 <http://www.readplease.com/> -- a fully-featured, easy-to-use, and natural sounding text-to-speech program that can read anything on your screen (as long as it can be copied onto the clipboard). The Plus version is compatible with the AT&T Natural Voices speech engine allowing for some of the highest quality voices (8k and 16k) on the market today. The basic voices that come with both versions are Microsoft Mike, Mary, and Sam, but there are hundreds of free international/multilingual Microsoft voices available for download.

BrowseAloud.com <http://www.browsealoud.com/home.asp> -- The software is free to download and the information service provider pays an annual charge to enable a web site with speech. Browsealoud will assist in the navigation of a site for the following sections of the population: Low literacy and reading skills, Where English is not the first language, Dyslexic Community, Mild visual impairment.

RESOURCES FOR READING

Extensive Reading

free graded reading materials <http://www.eslreading.org> -- by Kieran McGovern; includes original stories & adaptations of classic texts: Ghost, Adventure, and Children's stories, History of football, Daily Cartoon, Horoscope and Today in History; graded by vocabulary, grammar & readability (Flesch/Kincaid), Exercises or quizzes to help build vocabulary; Links to full versions of source texts.  See also reading materials for young learners
New: Orwell: Shooting an Elephant, A perfect Language?, Soccer, and more

Stories with Worksheets <http://www.edhelper.com/ReadingComprehension.htm?gclid=CM6PnM_BzYsCFSUeGAodcSNNHw> -- suggested grade levels; Flesch-Kincaid grade level given

Extensive Reading Pages <http://www.extensivereading.net/> -- a repository for information on Extensive Reading, with an emphasis on its application to Second or Foreign Language Learning.

Select Readings <http://www.oup.com/elt/catalogue/teachersites/selectreadings/?cc=global> -- pre-intermediate, intermediate, and upper-intermediate readings and quizzes by Oxford University Press; free registration necessary

Materials for Extensive Reading <http://www.langconcepts.com/er/materials2.html>

Literature/Books/Stories

SearchLit.org <http://www.searchlit.org/> -- super site for extensive reading; collection of 6,657 public domain, classic eTexts (Web books) for students ages 5 to 17 (beginning/middle/strong readers) by grade level, including 5,868 Stories, 273 Novels, 621 Short Stories, 114 Essays, 238 Collections, 48 Plays, 601 Poems, Classic and Modern Fairy Tales, Nursery Rhymes, & more; searchable by grade level, subject, time line; includes readability stats, supplementary links.  Click the eLibrary tab for an author list, to download books. The Resources tab includes major web tools, e.g. dictionaries, encyclopedias, almanacs, maps, etc. The Educators tab includes links to stories with lesson plans, stories with quizzes.

Project Gutenberg <http://www.gutenberg.org/> -- 18,000 free books; includes a searchable catalogue (http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/), includes human-read audio books, downloadable .mp3 files

Project Bartleby <http://www.bartleby.com> -- a vast array of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, a search engine, quotations, biographies, and much more

The Online Books page <http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu> -- searchable by author, title, subject

Candlelight Stories <http://www.candlelightstories.com/> -- Here are some wonderful stories with great illustrations written in EASY ENGLISH. Just choose a story and then click on the hands to go forward or backward.

Vermont Readings for ESL Students <http://academics.smcvt.edu/lwilliams/VT_Readings/student_page.htm> -- by Dr. Richard Yorkey

EnglishClub.com-English Reading <http://www.englishclub.com/reading/index.htm> -- English reading resources for ESL learners, including texts, short stories (by proficiency level), tales, biographies, proverbs, news, learning the alphabet, etc. 

The Intersect Digital Library <http://intersect.uoregon.edu/DigitalLibrary/default.html> includes The Intersect Digital Library Catalog (complete works--Opal Whiteley, American History Sourcebook, On the Run, Your Genes, Your Choices, Web de Anza, Romeo & Juliet, Short Stories of Edgar Allen Poe, Eugene Wetlands Fieldguide, Balboa Trail Fieldguide) and famous documents, including The Mayflower Compact , Common Sense by Thomas Paine, The Declaration of Independence, The Articles of Confederation, The Constitution of the United States, The Emancipation Proclamation, The Gettysburg Address),  The Teacher's Center (Lesson plans and activities for the resources above), Development Guidelines (Specifications for how to make Supported Text Books)

Grimms' Fairy Tales <http://www.nationalgeographic.com/grimm/> -- Do you know the story of Cinderella or Snow White?  Those are two of the fairy tales that were collected by the Grimm Brothers in the early 1800's.  You'll find 12 famous fairy tales at this site.  These are the original stories, which are quite different than the stories that you might know.  The original stories are "darker" than the more modern versions.  The English is written in an old-fashioned style, and may be a little difficult.  But try to read for the main idea.  Four of the stories have audio versions, also, so you can read and listen. 

Aesop's Fables <http://www.pacificnet.net/~johnr/aesop/aesopsel.html> -- online collection of selected fables, with lesson plans, comments/suggestions, and suggested morals; main site of 656 fables, some with audio recordings -- http://www.aesopfables.com/

National Geographic School Publishing: Content Literacy to Achieve Success  <http://www.ngschoolpub.org/c/@jtTFFWHugGmQs/Pages/index.web> -- science and social studies materials classified by standards, subject, method, and media; includes Windows on Literacy (pre-K-3), Language, Literacy, and Vocabulary (K-8+), Content-based Fiction (K-8+), Reading Expeditions (grades 3-8+), Theme Sets (grades 3-8+), Nonfiction Reading & Writing Workshops (grades 3-8) (Click on TELL ME A STORY.)

The Complete Lexical Tutor  < http://132.208.224.131/CallWild/> -- includes a link to The Call of the Wild for reading and listening

The Moonlit Road <http://www.themoonlitroad.com/> -- Story tellers telling southern American ghost stories, accompanied by texts.

Children's Literature Web Guide <http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/index.html> -- A list of links to folktales and myths.

Children's stories online <http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/stories.html> -- See also Dafne Gonzalez's article on how to use myths and folktales for reading lessons at <http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/vols/vol36/no1/p14.htm> 

Center of Book Culture <http://www.dalkeyarchive.com/context/no3/powers.html> -- context for reading modern and contemporary literature and cultural issues

The Short-Story: Specimens Illustrating Its Development <http://www.bartleby.com/195/> -- With a selection of 23 short stories from the Middle Ages to the beginning of the twentieth century, Brander Matthews—a pioneer of dramatic scholarship and professor at Columbia University—demonstrates, “the slow evolution of this literary species through the long centuries of advancing civilization.”

Reader’s Theater Editions <http://www.aaronshep.com/rt/RTE.html> -- free scripts for reader’s theater (or readers theatre) adapted from stories written by Aaron Shepard and others—mostly humor, fantasy, and world tales from a variety of cultures. A full range of reading levels is included, with scripts aimed mostly at ages 8–15. The scripts may be freely copied, shared, and performed for any noncommercial purpose, except they may not be posted online without permission.

Biography Magazine <http://www.biography.com> -- has message boards on movie stars, historical figures, and even mythical and fictional characters, a wonderful writings supplement to a reading unit or course

BitBooks <http://bitbooks.com/> -- lots of interesting stories.  You can search for a story, or choose one of the 32 categories.  Some of these stories are complete stories, and some are excerpts from the stories.  For an easier reading level, try the STORIES FOR KIDS or STORIES FOR TEENS categories. 

eBrary <http://www.ebrary.com> -- a fully searchable online library with full-text documents and maps; viewing is free; copies can be made at a small fee.

Folktales, Proverbs, Famous Quotations

Folktales From Around The World <http://www.otan.dni.us/webfarm/emailproject/folk.htm> 

Creative Proverbs <http://creativeproverbs.com/cp-index.htm> -- from 100 cultures and countries, indexed by country; search engine available

Commonly-used Proverbs (and online exercises/activities) <http://www.manythings.org/proverbs/> -- proverbs with missing word quizzes, crossword puzzles, and matching quizzes

Famous Quotes and Quotations at BrainyQuote <http://www.brainyquote.com/> -- alphabetized by topic, author, type

The Quotations Page <http://www.quotationspage.com/> -- by author, subject, quote of the day, motivational, random; quote search available
 

Reading & Listening

Project Gutenberg <http://www.gutenberg.org/> -- 18,000 free books; includes a searchable catalogue (http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/), includes human-read audio books, downloadable .mp3 files

Voice of America--Special English <http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/index.cfm> -- articles and audio in special (simplified) English.

BBC Learning English: Watch and Listen <http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/> -- articles for English language learners with audio (some with video), vocabulary--definitions in text and audio, and script, web casts

Breaking News English <www.breakingnewsenglish.com/> -- English news lessons: Free EFL/ESL lesson plans, handouts and podcast for current events lessons, business English and listening.

ReadEnglish.net <http://www.readingenglish.net>-- a FREE reading program; connects to news stories/articles at the Voice of America Special English site, rates the articles by difficulty, and indicates a word count.  When reading the article, students can click on unknown words and get linked to a dictionary of their choice—English-English (choices include British or American English) for a dictionary definition.  In addition, when in the VOA site, students can download the article for listening and read along while they are listening!!!!

The Complete Lexical Tutor <http://132.208.224.131/CallWild/> -- includes a link to The Call of the Wild for reading and listening

The Moonlit Road <http://www.themoonlitroad.com/> -- story tellers telling southern American ghost stories, accompanied by texts.

Efl.net <http://www.efl.net/index.htm> -- large library of audio/video material for ESL/EFL (British site); contains ComAudio (Listen and read: Songs, stories, poetry and speeches)

The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor <http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/archive.php> -- daily podcast of Garrison's Keillor's poems and stories, broadcast on National Public Radio; podcast subscription at http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/podcast/

Literature <http://home.online.no/~anlun/literat.htm> -- sites with texts in digital format, libraries and tutorials and other material related to literature in English

Movie Scripts <http://www.script-o-rama.com/table.shtml> -- Watching movies is a fun way to improve your English! At this site, you'll find original movie scripts for lots of movies.  To read the script just click on the name of a movie.

Lyrics to Pop Songs:
SongLyrics.com <http://www.songlyrics.com/> -- search by artist in alphabetical order
Lyrics to Pop Songs @ Universal Music <http://www.umusic.com> -- contains links to all of their bands' sites
Lyrics to Pop Songs @ Time Warner <http://www.music.warnerbros.com> 

Grimms' Fairy Tales <http://www.nationalgeographic.com/grimm/> -- Do you know the story of Cinderella or Snow White?  Those are two of the fairy tales that were collected by the Grimm Brothers in the early 1800's.  You'll find 12 famous fairy tales at this site.  These are the original stories, which are quite different than the stories that you might know.  The original stories are "darker" than the more modern versions.  The English is written in an old-fashioned style, and may be a little difficult.  But try to read for the main idea.  Four of the stories have audio versions, also, so you can read and listen.  (Click on TELL ME A STORY.)

Aesop's Fables <http://www.aesopfables.com/>  -- online collection of selected fables, with lesson plans, comments/suggestions, and suggested morals; main site of 656 fables, some with audio recordings
 

News

Voice of America--Special English <http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/index.cfm> -- articles and audio in special (simplified) English.

The New York Times Learning Network and The New York Times Daily News Quiz -- lesson plans, articles, quizzes for English Language learners on American History, Global History, Civics, Language Arts, Math and Economics, Science and Health, Fine Arts, Social Studies, Geography, Technology; includes THE NEW YORK TIMES UPFRONT--A newsmagazine for teens published by Scholastic and The Times; News Summaries, Daily News Quiz, Word of the Day

Newsademic.com <http://newsademic.com/free_issue_A_form.php> -- free newspaper subscription for young learners of English--American English; distributed as a PDF file by e-mail every 2 weeks. The PDF file can be read on screen but has been designed to be printed out and read as a paper news copy. Each subscriber also has access to an on line version; includes search for key words, mouse over explanations, and an alphabetical glossary

POP-UP <http://www.pop-up.org/> English & German; POP-UP is a European youth magazine. Meaning not an English, German, French, Spanish etc., but a European one. POP-UP offers you information and contributions from the various countries and regions about training, profession, music, studies, leisure time, culture, politics and much more.

Time for Kids <http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/news/index.html>

Breaking News English <http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/index.html> -- Ready-to-use EFL / ESL Lesson Plans & Podcasts; level selections: easier or harder; includes articles with activities and fill-in-the blank quizzes and .mp3 files for listening (British English)

Learning English - BBC Worldservice <http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/index.shtml> -- Useful English learning/teaching opportunities blended into a newspaper format.  Includes current world news, study quizzes, special feature articles, opportunities to join discussion groups and chat lines via the Internet, plus exercises to improve English speaking.

It's Online! <http://www.its-online.com/> -- a network of six Internet sites for learners and teachers of English as a foreign or second language; registration necessary

Newseum <http://www.newseum.org> -- collection of headline stories of major newspapers at Today's Front Pages News Analysis; lesson plans available for news stories; timed news Trivia Game at different levels

The ESL Study Hall <http://home.gwu.edu/~meloni/eslstudyhall> (by Christine Meloni)-- includes READING (literature, Notable Citizens of Planet Earth), US Culture (painting, cinema, literature, music)

CNN Learning Resources <http://literacynet.org/cnnsf/archives.html> -- News stories accompanied by RealVideo and/or RealAudio! Stories come in original, abridged and outline form.  Many exercises to check reading comprehension (vocabulary, word selection, multiple choice, sequencing, conclusions) and practice writing reactions (Your Turn). 

Online Newspapers.com <http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/> -- newspapers from all over the world; search by country

Impact Online <http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/Impact/index.html> -- Materials from 1994/5! A hyper textual news reader for intermediate and advanced ESL students. Here you will find many news stories to read. Each story has certain vocabulary items highlighted. You can click on any word to see its definition and to hear its pronunciation. Or you can use the Glossary at the end of the new story to see all of the words with their definitions at the same time. 

One Stop English <http://www.onestopenglish.com> -- Lessons with news articles and exercises at three different levels

CNN Interactive <http://www.cnn.com/> 

USA Today <http://www.usatoday.com> 

The New York Times <http://www.nytimes.com/>

The Washington Post <http://www.washingtonpost.com/> -- free registration required

The Global Newsstand <http://www.mcs.net/~rchojnac/www/tgn.html>

CRAYON: Create Your Own Newspaper <http://www.crayon.net> -- students can construct a personalized electronic newspaper, creating an opportunity to read on a regular basis
 

Magazines

Discover Magazine <http://www.discover.com>

Environmental News Network (ENN) <http://www.enn.com/>

Space Science News <http://spacescience.com/default.htm>

Air & Space <http://www.airspacemag.com/>

National Geographic News <http://news.nationalgeographic.com/>

Scientific American <http://www.sciam.com>

Time Magazine <http://www.time.com/time/> -- 4 free trial issues

Wired News <http://www.wired.com/> and Wired Magazine <http://www.wired.com/wired/> -- has articles on culture, technology, politics

Free Trade Magazine Source <http://www.freetrademagazinesource.com/index.aspx> -- free subscription all types of magazines

Fashion magazines -- has links to many onilne magazines for
       Women -- <http://dmoz.org/Arts/Design/Fashion/Magazines_and_E-zines/Women/>
       Men -- http://dmoz.org/Arts/Design/Fashion/Magazines_and_E-zines/Men/

Strategies for Reading Comprehension

i-Lighter <http://www.i-lighter.com/home/index.html> -- free download; see demo video on page (3 min); one click transforms your mouse pointer into the i-Lighter marker. As you work, highlight any information of interest -- text, tables or images. The desired information is shown highlighted in yellow on the screen. At the same time, your selected information is automatically stored in your free i-Lighter.com account. You can email and retrieve your saved information anytime (and from any PC) by clicking on the i-Lighter icon in the Windows taskbar tray.

Timed Readings <http://college.hmco.com/collegesurvival/watkins/learning_companion/1e/students/timed_reading.html> -- 24 passages, free, by Houghton-Mifflin; After you read a short passage and click the "finished" button, your reading rate for that passage will be displayed. Next, answer a few comprehension questions about what you read.

TV411- Reading Skills <http://www.tv411.org/reading/> -- TV 411 is a multimedia adult literacy program that is based on video. Their website provides some interactive activities, including these on reading.  Lessons on Comprehending Business Problems, Finding Faulty Logic, Parts of a Newspaper, Reading Charts and Graphs, Reading Maps, Reading the Fine Print, Scanning for Specifics, Strategies for Better Reading, Structure of a News Story, Summarizing, Using Context Clues

S.C.O.R.E. CyberGuides: Teacher Guides & Student Activities for literature/language arts, K-12 & Foreign Languages <http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/cyberguide.html>
S.C.O.R.E. Teacher & Student Activity Bank -- includes Graphic Organizers, Journaling, Literature, Rubrics;
Literature: Geometric Character, Interrupted Book Report, Dialog Jacket, Collaborative Talk, Literary Report Card, Found Poem, Grand Conversation, Summarizing, Dewar's Profile:
Journaling: Metacognitive Journal, Dialectical Journal, Learning Log, Double Entry Journal, Journal Activities, Synthesis Journal, Reflective Journal, Response Journal (To Student), Speculation About Effects Journal

Reading for a Purpose <http://www.jcu.edu.au/studying/services/studyskills/effreading/readingpurpose.html> -- from JCU Study Skills Online

ReadingQuest.org: Strategies for Reading Comprehension <http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/readquest/strat/> -- This site truly focuses on helping instructors teach metacognitive skills to their students. Includes Worksheets for schema-building, pre-reading brainstorms, graphic organizers

Graphic Organizers provided by
        Education Oasis <http://www.educationoasis.com/curriculum/graphic_organizers.htm>
        Education Place <http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/>
        Graphic.org <http://www.graphic.org/goindex.html>
        WriteDesignOnline.com <http://www.writedesignonline.com/organizers/> -- 5 Main Types: Star/Web, Chart/Matrix, Tree/Map, Chain, Sketch
        EdHelper.com <http://www.edhelper.com/teachers/General_graphic_organizers.htm> -- General (topic-main points - supporting points), Cause-Effect, Storytelling, Misc.

Lessons for Reading

LessonWriter <www.lessonwriter.com>   -- Create your own free reading lessons from electronic materials, e.g. the e-books on Project Gutenberg; based on materials copied and pasted into Lessonwriter, it generates vocabulary to be pre-taught (teacher selects from generated list), the text itself, vocabulary exercises (e.g. fill-in-the-blank), pronunciation guides for selected vocabulary, exercises for selected grammar points, exercises for selected roots/prefixes/suffixes; demo available at http://www.lessonwriter.com/April_2_demo/April_2_demo.htm

One Stop English <http://www.onestopenglish.com> -- free registration necessary; photocopiable lessons with news articles edited to 3 levels (beginner, intermediate, advanced) for adults of all levels; click Lesson Share Archive--Reading or Reading Skills Lesson Plans; news lessons based on articles from The Guardian Weekly

New York Times Teachers Lessons <http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/index.html> -- The New York Times' free daily lesson!  Professional done, and the articles on which they are based have the option to "turn vocabulary on" so that difficult words are hyper linked to a dictionary!

Breaking News English <http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/index.html> -- Ready-to-use EFL / ESL Lesson Plans & Podcasts; level selections: easier or harder; includes articles with activities and fill-in-the blank quizzes and .mp3 files for listening (British English)

Extensive Reading Pages <http://extensivereading.net/er/index.html>  -- A web site dedicated to exploring all aspects of Extensive Reading (ER). It contains a large annotated bibliography of works on ER, information on how to start your own ER program, information on resources for ER such as graded readers, and even an interactive chat page for your questions and advice.

ReadWriteThink <http://www.readwritethink.org> -- lessons by the International Reading Association (IRA) and National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE); targeted to K-12 teachers

Reading Comprehension Exercises

ESL Independent Study Lab—Reading (Michael Krauss) <http://www.lclark.edu/~krauss/toppicks/reading.html> -- activities for all levels, quizzes, puzzles

To Learn English <http://www.tolearnenglish.com/> -- searchable database for lessons and exercises at all levels; site includes a placement test

Stories and biographies with web-based Exercises/Quizzes <http://homepage.smc.edu/reading_lab/online_readings.htm> -- some from CNN, some timed; Santa Monica College Reading Lab

English For Tourism Interactive Reading Mazes <http://www.grahamstanley.com/englishfortourism/units/010/mazes.html>  -- by Graham Stanley; adaptation of the popular Reading maze, a classroom activity that has adapted well to the Web.

Reading Comprehension Texts with Questions <http://www.edict.com.hk/vlc/comp/readcomp.htm> -- A selection of Reading Comprehension activities using an active online dictionary; written by Eric Collins

English-Zone.com's <http://www.english-zone.com/> -- interactive reading exercises

University of Victoria English Language Centre Study Zone  <http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/index.htm> -- readings at different levels with exercises (in Hot Potatoes) to recreate the stories and fill in gaps

Testing Your Reading and Reading Effectively <http://www.tsd.jcu.edu.au/netshare/learn/effreading/testyourself.html> -- by James Cook University's Learning Center (site required long loading time; 10/22/06)

The Apartment: Introduction to the Game <http://www.duber.com/thegame/> -- The exercise provides plenty of practice with intermediate level listening & reading skills, and can easily be adapted for discussion and/pr writing work as well.  Both a student and teacher study guide are linked as further support.      

Eduhound <http://www.eduhound.com> -- large collection of resources for K-12

Kaboose  <http://www.kidsdomain.com/> -- resources on many different topics, movies, videos

Software for Reading

See Online Demos of Software
See Using Technology to Support Skill-Based Activities for software in reading and many other areas
See TESOL CALL Interest Section Software List--Reading: <http://oregonstate.edu/dept/eli/softlist/callreading.html> -- Deborah Healy and Norman Johnson, editors; alphabetized list, classified by area