Activities and Teaching Materials

On this page you can find a broad collection of different resources for EFL learning and teaching. Different links to websites providing activities, videos and other teaching materials for the (inclusive) foreign language classroom are listed in the following six sub-categories:

  • Speaking
  • Listening
  • Reading
  • Writing
  • Grammar & Vocabulary
  • Interesting Things for ESL Students and Teachers

If you have any other recommendations or contributions to the following collection, please feel free to contact us.

Speaking


Emoji Mindmap

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Click here to get to a short blog post on how to use an emoji mind map as an impulse for language production. Even though the author used the emoji mind map for a MFL class, the activity can easily be adapted for the English language classroom.

(picture credits: PDF provided on http://morganmfl.weebly.com/mfl-ideas/emoji-mindmap)


 Collection of Pronunciation and Speaking Resources


Listening


ESL Listening Lab

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Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab has been providing online English listening activities and comprehension quizzes for ESL and EFL learners for more than 20 years. You can find general ESL listening quizzes for three levels based on content, voices, vocabulary and natural speed. The Listening Lab focuses on everyday English comprehension skills and provides a combination of adult, teenage and children’s voices. Moreover, the website offers additional listening activities  to improve the comprehension, speaking, vocabulary and cultural awareness skills. Additionally, you can find 2o-minute ESL vocabulary lessons and language learning and life tips.

(picture credits: Screenshot of the Website: https://www.esl-lab.com)


 Listen to Metamorphosis (die Verwandlung) by Kafka

TBildschirmfoto 2019-12-15 um 16.00.09he website www.englishclub.com provides various listing activities for ESL learners. Among these activities you can find a selection of excerpts of English classics like Kafka’s Metamorphosis read by native speakers. In addition to the audio file, the website provides the text and a list of the most difficult words and their meanings. 

(picture credits: Screenshot of the website: https://www.englishclub.com/efl/podcasts/classics/metamorphosis/)


Big City Small World

Bildschirmfoto 2019-12-15 um 16.26.23British Council offers an audio fiction series for intermediate (CEFR level B1) learners. The series tells the story of a group of young people from around the world who are living in London. Each episode includes a preparation task, the audio file and the transcript, as well as four to five exercises. With this series learners can improve their listening comprehension and develop their vocabulary.

(picture credits: Screenshot of the website: http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/general-english/big-city-small-world)


Reading


Dreamreader.net

Bildschirmfoto 2019-12-15 um 15.33.31dreamreader.net provides free online English reading practices. You can choose between five categories: easy English, interesting English, fun English, practical English and academic English. In each category you can find various texts on different topics. Each text is accompanied by an audio file read out by a native speaker, a lesson plan and interactive comprehension questions. Texts and topics vary from pictograms for beginners to Einstein, dogs, Vietnam, Currywurst or the weather.

(picture credits: Screenshot of the website: http://dreamreader.net/Lesson/fun-for-all/)


 Aesop’s Fable Podcast

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The website englishclub.com offers 11 of Aesop’s most popular fables, such as The Wind And The Sun or The Peacock And The Crane, with an audio read out by a native speaker and a translation of the most difficult words. Click here to get to the podcast.

(picture credits: Screenshot of the website: https://www.englishclub.com/efl/category/podcasts/aesops-fables/)


Storynory

Bildschirmfoto 2019-12-15 um 15.33.31storynory.com offers a large number of stories which are read out by native speakers and can be read along with them. These include fairy tales, stories by classical authors, myths, educational stories and poems. In addition, certain words or phrases are explained at the beginning so that the audience can easily follow the stories. Users of the website can also download the audio files free of charge. Click here to get to the website.

(picture credits: Screenshot of the website: https://www.storynory.com/archives/)


TIME for Kids

Bildschirmfoto 2019-12-15 um 15.33.31TIME for Kids is the children’s version of TIME magazine. You can find articles on current topics, culture, sports, politics, science and much more in child-friendly language, supported by age-appropriate pictures and photos. In addition, the articles can be selected according to the language level of the reader. Click here to get to the website.

(picture credits: Screenshot of the website: https://www.timeforkids.com/g34/)


Highlights Kids

Bildschirmfoto 2019-12-15 um 15.33.31highlightskids.com is the online version of a magazine for children aged 6-12. It contains age-appropriate articles, jokes, handicraft instructions, recipes, games and podcasts. Click here to get to the website.

(picture credits: Screenshot of the website: https://www.highlightskids.com/)


Funbrain

Bildschirmfoto 2019-12-15 um 15.33.31funbrain.com is a website where kids can find fun or educational videos, books, and games for free. In addition, the search can be sorted by grade level. To get to the website, click here.

(picture credits: Screenshot of the website: https://www.funbrain.com/books)


Writing


ESL Writing Activities

The website elswriting.org provides a panoply of teaching resources in order to help teachers foster especially their students writing skills but also the listening, reading and speaking skills are addressed. The different activities address a broad target group (beginners, advanced ESL students as well as adult ESL night class students). The collection of activities ranges from logic puzzles and word games to storytelling and conversation work. For each activity a detailed lesson plan is provided including video sequences and task wording.

(picture credits: Screenshot of the website: https://www.eslwriting.org)


How to Refer to Time – Article

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This article, published on dailywritingtips.com, deals with time, or more precisely, how to refer to units of temporal measurements. The author Mark Nichols writes about the time of the day as well as months, days and years and even decades,  centuries and eras.

(picture credits: Screenshots of the website: https://www.dailywritingtips.com/how-to-refer-to-time/)


Vocabulary & Grammar


English Vocabulary & Grammar Quizzes & Activities for ESL Students

Bildschirmfoto 2019-12-15 um 14.27.15This website provides various activities for ESL students of all levels. The activities range from vocabulary and grammar quizzes, over bilingual quizzes to crossword puzzles.

The vocabulary as well as the grammar quizzes provide riddles for 6 different levels.  The quizzes for each level are sorted according to the different parts of speech, word groups or grammatical functions.

(picture credits: Screenshot of the website: http://a4esl.org)


Englisch-Hilfen.de

Bildschirmfoto 2019-12-15 um 16.58.10The website englisch-hilfen.de offers a full collection of different grammar and vocabulary exercises, ranging from the different parts of speech, over the different sentence forms and all tenses to the different word groups. Additionally, it provides different tests and exams on the subject. Whereas, students can also download worksheets, play games, read English news and other texts, use the dictionary or take English lessons, teachers can benefit from the English-forum, find daily English lessons and games and read tops news about their subject.

(picture credits: Screenshot of the website: https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/)


 EnglishCLUB – Grammar

Bildschirmfoto 2019-12-15 um 17.04.48EnglishCLUB.com offers everything that you need to know about English grammar. explanations, lessons, rules as well as games and quizzes for word-level and sentence-level grammar can be found in this broad collection. The website also provides online grammar games and recommended grammar links.

(picture credits: Screenshot of the website: https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/)


Guide to Grammar and Writing

This website provides a guide to Grammar and Writing on a word and sentence level, paragraph level or essay and research paper level. It also offers grammar questions, interactive quizzes, PowerPoint presentations and many other online resources.


Gerunds and infinitives Tutorial

Bildschirmfoto 2019-12-15 um 16.19.31Learning how to use gerunds and infinitives is considered to be one of the most challenging aspects of learning English. In order to help learners practice how to use these grammatical forms, englishpage.com has created an in-depth three-part tutorial on the subject. The website also provides 30 different exercises on the topic; 10 exercises for each level: basic, intermediate and advanced gerunds and infinitives.

(picture credits: Screenshot of the website: https://www.englishpage.com/gerunds/part_1.htm)


Rules for Verbs Followed by Infinitives or Grunds

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Do you enjoy to cook or do you enjoy cooking?

The video “The ESL 60m Hurdle Verbs Followed by Infinitives and Gerunds” provided by eslprof2 explains the most important rules on what verbs are followed by an infinitive and what verbs are followed by a gerund. It also offers a link with further exercises to practice these rules.

(picture credits: Screenshot of the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHmMzCicqiY&feature=emb_logo)


English Vocabulary Lists

Bildschirmfoto 2019-12-15 um 17.21.45englisch-hilfen.de offenes a broad range of different vocabulary lists for topics like animals, asking the way, cars, colors, family and friends, fruits, sports, jobs etc. You can also find helpful lists for abbreviations in English, analyzing texts and general vocabulary for working with texts.

(picture credits: screenshot of the website: https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/words_list/vokabeln.htm)


Vocabulary Learning Platform

Bildschirmfoto 2019-12-15 um 17.49.13The Website Learning Chocolate provides a broad collection of vocabulary exercises on different topics such as Christmas, animals, seasons, weather, expressions, feelings or housing problems. For each topic there are three match up tasks, one fill in task and a dictation task. Each vocabulary can also be heard pronounced by a native speaker.

(picture credits: Screenshot of the website: http://www.learningchocolate.com/content/housing-problems)


Duolingo

Bildschirmfoto 2019-12-15 um 17.21.45duolingo.com is an app with which foreign languages can be practiced in a game-like manner. Vocabulary and grammar are trained with the help of short sentences and phrases with listening, speaking and writing exercises. In the forum, learners can exchange ideas and compare their successes with one another. The app can be used free of charge. Click here to get to the website.

(picture credits: screenshot of the website: https://www.duolingo.com/learn)


ABCYa!

Bildschirmfoto 2019-12-15 um 17.21.45abcya.com is a website designed by parents and teachers. It features a variety of games for different age groups, which among other things train the use of different word groups, vocabulary, spelling, reading and listening as well as punctuation. Click here to get to the website.

(picture credits: screenshot of the website: https://www.abcya.com/)


Collection of Grammar and Vocabulary Resources


 

Interesting Things for EFL Students & Teachers


ManyThings.org

The website www.ManyThings.org offers activities, videos, Bildschirmfoto 2019-12-15 um 15.07.01podcasts and vocabulary lists for English language learners. Additionally, it provides texts and podcasts on topics such as American history, health, people, places, music and animals and activities to improve the hearing, listening, reading and speaking skills, to enhance the grammar and to expand the lexicon.

(picture credits: Screenshot of the website: http://www.manythings.org)


 EnglishCLUB.com

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The website www.englishclub.com offers a full range of different resources for English language learning and teaching. Learners can find lessons on grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, listening, speaking, reading and writing, ESL games, quizzes, forums, chats,  videos, articles and magazines, as well as jokes, exams and songs. Teachers can find TEFL forums, jobs, training and articles, ESL worksheets, handouts and activities, as well as worksheet marker and ELT Management tipps. Moreover, the website offers a list of eBooks, games and other resources for teachers.

(picture credits: Screenshot of the website: https://www.englishclub.com/?from=ec-topmenu)


 Language Learning Magazines and Resources for Teens

Bildschirmfoto 2019-12-15 um 16.44.46maryglasgowplus.com offers various language learning magazines and resources for teens. The authentic English language materials are written for English and English-learning teenagers and can be read on different levels. The website also offers various videos a language lab and a resource bank.

(picture credit: Screenshot of the website: https://maryglasgowplus.com)


Collection of Lesson Plans and Activities