Differentiating Instruction for English Language Learners
by Judie Haynes
Attention all elementary ESL and classroom teachers! Do you want to discover great web sites for the English language learners in your class? Here is a painless way to give students English language practice in the classroom or at home.
Here is a list of some of the sites my students are using.
Sites for Grades 1-2
- Starfall.com- Reading instruction and reading games for students in Pre-K-1. It's hard to believe this site is free.
- Kid's Lab -Great site with tons of terrific activities. Try the reading comprehension section.
- Storyplace.org -a site with online stories and activities. Grades pre-K-Kindergarten.
- Online Story Time-This site is more for teachers but has many online stories. It is advertized as a pre-school site but the stories are suitable forK-1 students.
- British Council Stories -This site has many stories that are read aloud. Check for spelling and pronunciation differences.
- Games on PBS Kids - Games for K-2. "WordPlay" can be used for students in grades 3-4.
- Arthur -Sequencing activity where students hear a story and put pictures in order.
- Printable Games -For readers in Grades 1-2.
- Storyline Online -A terrific site with stories read by actors from the ScreenActors' Guild. Grades 1-4.
- Tumblebook Library - Click on "stories." A large collectionof stories from the Los Angeles Public Library. All grades.
- Clifford - Activities pre-K-2.Try the reading and writing section with students in grades 2-3.
- Videos - Short Clifford videos. Click on "See and Hear." Grades K-2.
- Berenstain Bears Games and Songs - Great activities for young children including word games, songs and puzzles. Grades K-2.
- Enchanted learning Printable books and for students in grades K-4.
Sites for Grades 3-5
- Stories for Kids - for Advanced Beginners in Grades 3-5
- Bookhive.com -This site has multicultural children's stories told by famous storytellers. Be sure to click on "Listen to a story." For Grades 2-5
- Songs for Kids - Grammar songs for students in Grades 2-5.
- Postcards from Buster - See Buster’s adventures from various places in the U.S. Each city has video, audio, map skills and games. Grades 3-5.
- Kid's Lab -Terrific site with many great activities. Try the Science vocabulary section.
- Arthur -Games from Arthur. Grades 2-5.
- Captain Underpants - Make a comic. Grades 2-4
- Scholastic - A program for kids to make flashcards. Grades 3-8.
- Surfing the Net with KidsSite with games and puzzles in different subject areas.
- Write a book report - Students make a book report sandwich. Grades 4-8.
- Spelling Wizard - Use spelling words to make a word search or sentence scramble. Grades 3-6.
- Tumblebook Library - Online stories read from the Los Angeles Public Library. All grades.
- Poetry - Gives examples of different types of Poetry.
- Science vocabulary - Label pictures using science vocabulary. Grades 4-8.
- Songs and Rhymes- Songs for students in all grades.
- Zoom - Games, activities and science experiments from the TV Show Zoom. Grades 4-6.
- U.S. Symbols - U.S. Government information from Ben's Guide. Grades 3-5.
- Social Studies Vocabulary Games - Vocabulary from U.S. government. Grades 3-5.
- Verbs- Practice with verbs for beginners. Grades 3-8.
- Concentration Games for learning English. Grades 3-5.
Sites for Grades 4-8
- Listening Activities - Designed for older students but pronunciation and listening activities could be used for students grades 4 and up.
- ESLbears-A site for beginning students. Exercises in pronunciation, reading and vocabulary. Grades 3-8.
- Multicultural Stories -Stories from around the world by Nick Jr. Grades 3-8
- Brainteasers, Puzzles and Riddles - Kids' page from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Grades 5-8
- Translation Site - Students can bookmark this site to translate words from English to their native language. Grades 3-12.
- Interactive games and activities- Social Studies Games from Ben's Guide to the U.S Government. Grades 5-8.
- Flashcards - For kids learning English. Grades 4-8.
- Homophone game - Match homophones in this concentration game. Grades 4-8.
- Worksheets - A large variety of worksheets for ESL learners. Grades 3-8.
- Wordsearches - Wordsearches on U.S. Presidents. Grades 4-8.
Activity Downloads
Note: To view the classroom activities, you must have Acrobat Reader intalled. Acrobat is a free application available from Adobe Systems.
Modifications for ELLs (84k .PDF)