Primary ESOL Links

Reading/Writing

• Alphabet Organizer

  Students can use this tool to create such things as an alphabet book or for discussing background knowledge on a topic they are beginning to study.

• Building Comprehension through Explicit Teaching of Comprehension

  Nell Duke's presentation to the second annual MRA/CIERA Conference, September 22, 2001 (PDF).

• English - Writing (BBC Schools)

  Short, interactive revision of structure and content of transactional and other writing.

• Grammatical Knowledge for Teachers

  A series of modules for teachers to build traditional grammatical knowledge (the UK National Literacy Strategy).

• Paragraphs Game

  Drag the pictures of a road accident or a cricket game into the right order. Practise sequencing sentences to build a paragraph (BBC - Skillswise Words).

• Targeting Text: A Guided Writing Project

  A project focusing on using guided writing to teach text types. Plenty of practical ideas. (Department of Education, Tasmania.)

• Thinking about How Language Works

  This Assessment Resource Bank resource describes sentence structures, how ideas are linked within and between sentences, and how information is condensed in academic writing. Useful for teachers and students.

• Virtual Field Trips (Kids Zone)

  Enjoy the virtual farm trips on this American site.

• 100 Best Books for Children

  Selected by the American National Education Association.

• Assessing Reading Growth with Running Records

  A clear, brief summary of Marie Clay's running record (An Observational Survey of Early Literacy Achievement, 1993).

• asTTle What Next: Writing

  Learning intentions for level two to six writing and links to 'What Next?'.

• The Author Yellow Pages

  A searchable directory of historical and contemporary author websites.

• Big Dog's Grammar

  Simple, entertaining explanations and exercises to reinforce basic grammatical concepts, especially about sentence structure.

• The Big6

  A clear outline of the steps in the research/information problem solving process.

• Bookbox

  Information and activities on children's writers and their books.

• Books and Films which Inspire Teachers

  You might find something encouraging here.

• Building Reading Comprehension Through Think-Alouds

  Think-alouds can improve reading comprehension and help students to develop the ability to monitor their reading comprehension.

• CanTeach: Writing Prompts/Journal Topics

  The "What would happen if..." prompts are useful for teaching the language of probability.

• Children's Storywriting

  Children's Storywriting guides students through the process of reflecting about ideas, vocabulary and sentence constructions as they write. Students can paste in their writing and have it analysed for grammatical structures and style.

• The Compleat Lexical Tutor

  Analyse the vocabulary difficulty of your text.

• The Compleat Lexical Tutor: Analysis of Word Difficulty in Text

  Paste a text you have written here to make a vocabulary profile of your writing.

• Dolch Sight Word Flash Cards

  Flashcards using Dolch sight words, including links to other resources using the Dolch sight words.

• DynaMo's Den (BBC)

  Interactive reading, spelling and number games. Suitable for English language learners in middle and senior primary school.

• Eats, Shoots & Leaves

  A website to accompany the Lynn Truss punctuation book.

• Everyday Routines

  An activity focusing on the present tense and its use for talking about everyday activities. (The ESL Wonderland).

• Features of Text Forms

  Structure and language of different types of text forms.

• Fluency-Oriented Reading Instruction

  This 2005 paper by Stahl and Heubach reports the results of a two-year project designed to reorganise reading instruction on fluency (Journal of Literacy Research).

• From Caveman to Spaceman

  Listen and read. A cartoon on the evolution of the human species. From BT Education.

• Further Notes on the Four Resources Model (Luke and Freebody)

  This short paper reviews the relevance of Luke and Freebody's model of the reader's roles - code breaker, meaning maker, text user, text critic (Readingonline).

• Guided Reading

  A clear description, from the Department of Education, Tasmania.

• Guidelines for Teaching Middle and High School Students to Read Well: Six Features of Effective Instruction

  16-page research-based booklet from the Center on English Learning and Achievement (CELA, 2000).

• Handbook of Reading Research

  Chapter summaries from the Handbook of Reading Research: Volume III, 2000, (Readingonline).

• How-to Guide to Writing Book Reports

  Practical scaffolding for book report writing.

• International Children's Digital Library

  More than 300 online books in a variety of languages.

• International Reading Association - Literacy Links: Resources for Teachers and Parents

  Links for teachers and parents.

• Kiz Club - Learning Resources for Kids

  Educational activities suitable for years 1-3 students. The 'Stories' section offers 3 levels for reading aloud to students. Available in both English and Korean.

• KS1 Bitesize (BBC)

  Interactive literacy games aimed at students in their first years at school. Includes phonics, sentence construction, punctuation, pronouns.

• Learn to Read

  Try this animated reading site for young emergent readers.

• Literacy Professional Development Project - Ministry of Education Report

  Findings from the a MOE literacy initiative focusing on reading comprehension and writing.

• Literature on Early Literacy Instruction in Four Languages (Chinese, Korean, Navajo, Russian)

  A summary of evidence-based research on how reading is taught to Chinese, Korean, Navajo and Russian children. The aim is to deepen understanding of how literacy is defined differently across cultures and how the language of a people affects the way reading is taught (revised 2003, University of Minnesota).

• The Magic Key (BBC)

  Unlock the secrets of sentence writing and work out new words with characters from 'Magic Key'. Suitable for English language learners in junior and middle primary school.

• Make Beliefs Comix

  Students create 3-panel comics using tools provided. Can be used for activities such as vocabulary practice, prewriting and summarising

• My Monster

  In this interactive site, students write their own monster poem using similes and adjectives.

• Myths, Folktales and Fairy Tales

  Teaching resources from Scholastic.

• National Education Monitoring Project

  2006 reports - Writing, Listening and Viewing, Health & Physical Education.

• National Geographic Kids

  Interactive site for younger students. Includes games, stories, news, animals, pictures, postcards.

• National Geographic Online

  Reading for senior students.

• OWL Online Writing Lab – Professional Readings and Online ESOL Journals

  This site has a large collection of activities for senior students.

• Paragraph Construction: The Hamburger Model

  How to teach students to write a paragraph using a real hamburger. From teacher Steven Charlton.

• Penguin Dossiers

  Monthly articles - Penguin Reader level 3. Archive of past Penguin Dossiers and worksheets. Dossiers include reading and listening practice, and vocabulary building.

• PIZZAZ! ... People Interested in Zippy and Zany Zcribbling

  Simple, creative writing and oral storytelling activities with copyable handouts for use with students of all ages.

• Punctuate This!

  From the Eats, Shoots and Leaves site, a quick test of your punctuation skills.

• Read Write Think

  International Reading Association and National Council of Teachers of English site with resources for literacy teachers.

• Readability Test

  Reading level algorithms that can be helpful in determining how readable your content is.

• Reading - Interacting with Texts

  Directed activities related to texts (DARTs) help students engage with texts and make them more critical readers (the British Council, BBC).

• Reading a-z.com

  30 books, at different reading levels, with accompanying graphics, for you to download and print. Teacher notes and worksheets.

• Reading in a Second Language

  Ppt. from San Diego University. Links to other reading resources.

• The Reading Matrix Online Journal

  This journal explores issues related to L2 reading, L2 literacy in general, and other issues related to second language learning and teaching.

• Reading Signs in English

  An American photo collection of commonly used signs.

• ReviseWise English: Reading

  From the BBC, an interactive reading site for primary school students that includes activities on deduction, reading poetry and reading non fiction.

• Sai's Lost Horse

  A bilingual Chinese folktale.

• School Journal Teachers' Notes Part 3 & 4

  The School Journal Teachers’ Notes for Parts 3 and 4 are available online only. They follow a similar format to those for Parts 1 and 2, with a focus on teaching purpose.

• Sentence Construction Game

  You must jump on the correct logs to complete the sentence and get Bryan the beaver safely to the other side. This game has sound. (BBC Skillswise Words)

• Squigly's Writing Corner

  Squigly and his friends have written some stories that students can personalise with their own words.

• Story - It

  Students use the sight words to drag and make sentences. Can be played in pairs or small groups. Players take turns to add words until they have written a sentence.

• Story Box (PIZZAZ)

  An oral method for creating stories. The stories can then be literally transcribed, or a retold version can be written down.

• Strategies for Building Comprehension of Informational Text

  Nell Duke on the importance of teaching strategies for comprehending informational text (PDF).

• TalkWorks Comic Online

  An animated comic book with games and exercises that help build communication skills. For primary, intermediate and secondary school students. From BT Education.

• Targeting Text: A Guided Reading Project

  Case study on the place of guided writing in a balanced writing programme (Department of Education, Tasmania).

• Teachit Classroom Discussion: Which Books Would You Leave on a Bus?

  Recommended reading for teachers by teachers.

• Tools for Reading, Writing, & Thinking

  This site has a wide variety of graphic organisers.

• United Nations Literacy Decade

  For those with an interest in literacy globally, in literacy statistics and best practice by region.

• Up the Creek

  This bilingual interactive website from the Department of Conservation introduces concepts about biodiversity in waterways by focusing on the life cycle of whitebait. Intended for level 3 and 4 of the New Zealand curriculum, the resource includes teachers' notes and ideas for class discussions and activities.

• Using Email with Foreign Language Learners

  From the Internet TESL Journal.

• Virtual Field Trips

  You will find virtual field trips on science, literature, social studies, and other topics.

• Wacky Web Tales

  Students supply individual words and the programme creates a wacky story using the words. Includes a focus on parts of speech.

• Webquest Directories: English Online

  A directory of useful webquest sites.

• Words and Pictures (BBC)

  Interactive games to teach phonics and high frequency words (Year 2).

• The Writing Process Web

  A writing site for students and teachers to learn more about the various stages of writing.

• Yahooligans News

  News stories (including slide shows) for school students.