Resources to Explore for English Language Learners

10 Key Policies and Practices for Teaching English Language Learners | Reading Rockets - Learn about 10 instructional practices for English language learners (ELLs) that research shows to be highly effective. These guidelines emphasize an asset-based approach to teaching ELLs and can be integrated into your regular teaching routines.

11 Language Development Strategies for ELs | Brookes Publishing - Promote second language acquisition and literacy skills for English learners (ELs) with these eleven effective strategies.

36 Bilingual Spanish/English Core Board — Bilingüe AAC - This 36-symbol icon core board is based on Early Spanish Vocabulary for Children who use AAC (Soto & Cooper, 2021) and Project Core (Geist, Erickson, & Hatch, 2015). We identified overlapping words between the two sources as well as added frequently used words for daily life, such as eat, drink, yes, and no.

We made this available for FREE for all to use and begin modeling Spanish AAC!

AdLit: Teaching English Language Learners - AdLit is a national multimedia project that provides educators and families with resources to lift struggling readers and writers in middle school and high school.

Center for Open Educational Resources for Language Learning |COERLL - Funded by the U.S. Department of Education to improve the teaching and learning of foreign languages by producing resources (materials and best practices) that can be profitably employed in a variety of settings.

Colorín Colorado | A bilingual site for educators and families of English language learners

Dual Language Learners | NAEYC - Use these resources to support young children who are learning a second language while continuing to develop their home language.  

Duolingo - The free, fun, and effective way to learn a language!

Duoreader is available via web, android and iOS and offers a collection of classic texts. It currently supports Chinese, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Arabic, and Russian and provides an adjustable read-aloud feature, allowing for different accents and reading speeds.

English Language Learners | Edutopia - Discover ways to optimize instruction to address the needs of students who are learning English. 

English Language Learners - National Council of Teachers of English - If you teach English language learners, NCTE has several resources that can support you in meeting their needs and adapting your curriculum and instruction to be culturally responsive to the rich perspectives they bring.

English Language Project | Next Vista - A collection of hundreds of very short videos to supplement the language learning efforts of people around the globe.

Microsoft Translator for Education - The Microsoft Translator conversation feature translates live, in-person conversations, enabling two or more people to interact either one-on-one or for larger group interactions.

Mosaic: An Integrated Approach to Mathematics, Science, Technology, & Language | SEDL - A K–5 supplemental instructional program that provides lessons and resources that integrate math, science, and technology while supporting English learners and academic language skills.

Duoreader is available via web, android and iOS and offers a collection of classic texts. It currently supports Chinese, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Arabic, and Russian and provides an adjustable read-aloud feature, allowing for different accents and reading speeds.

Educator Support | NCELA - NCELA collects, coordinates, and conveys a broad range of research and resources in support of an inclusive approach to high quality education for English learners.  Resources for educators include practice briefs, toolkits, webinars, podcasts, and more.  

Footsteps2Brilliance - Free Library - Offers a number of bilingual (English/Spanish) “talking books” for early readers (and ELLs).

EL Education - Teaching English Language Learners -  Teachers of English language learners (ELLs) assess students’ understanding of English and school background in order to differentiate appropriately for the diversity of ELLs.

ISTE Latino COVID-19 - Spanish language resources for remote learners

Languages on the Web - Short stories in English translated into many languages in a convenient parallel text format to help you learn them more quickly and easily.

Multilingual Learners | International Literacy Association - Supporting bilingual and multilingual students starts with embracing linguistic diversity as an asset in literacy learning.

NJDOE - Title III, Part A Language Instruction for English Learners and Immigrant Students - Helps English learners, including immigrant children and youth, succeed in school by assisting them in becoming fluent in English and meeting challenging state academic content and student academic achievement standards.

Paso Partners - Integrating Mathematics, Science and Language: An Instructional Program | SEDL - Lesson plans for K-3 teachers designed to increase the achievement of ELL in science and math.

SpeakyReads - Improve your Speaking, Listening and Spelling - Advanced speaking, listening and spelling practice in English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish

Special Education and Your Child | Colorin Colorado - Special Education and Your Child: FAQs for Multilingual Families

Teaching English Language Learners: Effective Instructional Practices | IRIS Center - This module helps teachers understand second language acquisition, the importance of academic English, and instructional practices that will enhance learning for English Learners.

TeachVid - Home: Teach languages with videos - Online tool that uses flipped learning and lessons to teach foreign languages and ESL students.

USA Learns - USA Learns is a free website to help adults learn English online with three English courses teaching beginning English and intermediate English.

LRC-S Quick Tip | Translation Tools from Google - Discover new ways to support English Language Learners and bilingual families with these free translation tools from Google.

WIDA: University of Wisconsin-Madison Resources-Proven tools and support to help educators and multilingual learners succeed.

WIDA PreK-3 Essential Actions - a new self-paced workshop for PreK-3 educators! This workshop provides an opportunity for educators to build their knowledge and understanding of the Essential Actions and reflect on their own ideologies, practices and settings. Exploring the WIDA PreK-3 Essential Actions, is available via the WIDA Secure Portal for educators whose state education agencies participate in WIDA’s Self-Paced Workshop package.

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