Top Five Picks
The Top Five Picks
is a page to highlight 5 top sites on a particular topic.
We are currently featuring Free Materials.
We will feature the Five Picks on a different topic, so
email us with suggestions for the
topics that you would like to see featured on this page. For more of these resources, go to our Websites for your Students page.
- TeachKind: This website has free online lessons and activities for teachers to download, print, and use in the classroom, library, or school. The site has a wide range of topics including Creative Arts, Current Events, English, Ethics, Health, History, and Social Justice. Pick carefully, because some of the illustrations are obviously for children.
- TeachingTips.com: This website provides links to the "100 best resources and guides for ESL teachers", including the lesson plans and handouts in the class.
- EFL/ESL Lessons Using Web Sites: This "web-based textbook" is hosted by The Internet TESL Journal. It provides lessons for teaching students how to access information from actual websites.
- Word Find Puzzles: This web provides word puzzle games for ESL students.
- HippoCampus: The webpage of HippoCampus provides Multimedia lessons for teaching of Algebra, American Government, Biology, Calculus, US History, and so on.
Websites for Your Students
- PracticalMoneySkills.com "is a free Web site designed to help educators, parents and students practice better money management for life."
- 66 Ways to Save Money "was developed by a working group of representatives from government agencies, consumer groups, business organizations, and educational institutions that sought to develop and publicize money-saving tips. The initiative was managed by the non-profit Consumer Federation of America (CFA)." There are tips to money savings in transportation, utilities, insurance, housing and banking. (Available in Spanish and English)
- Consumer Action Website: Federal Citizen Information Center: A great site for your students! Resources for filing a complaint and assistance with 20 consumer topics such as banking, cars, credit, education, food & nutrition, housing, internet, investing, phones, protecting your identity, travel, utilities and health care. (Available in Spanish and English)
- Money Smart - A Financial Education Program: "The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) recognizes the importance of financial education, particularly for people with little or no banking experience. That's why (they) created Money Smart, a training program to help adults outside the financial mainstream enhance their money skills and create positive banking relationships." Modules include introductions to credit and banking services, consumer rights and managing a checking account. (Available in Spanish and English. Instuctor versions also come in Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese. The materials are Free.)
- Consumer Jungle: "is an interactive, web-based program that helps students become literate, savvy consumers. Consumer Jungle provides engaging and relevant consumer education curricula covering a variety of topics such as credit cards, transportation, living on your own, personal finances, telecommunications, and e-commerce fraud. Developed with input from teachers, Consumer Jungle delivers interactive games, activities, and relevant information directly to the home or classroom." (Recommendation from the OTAN site)
Websites for Your Students
- Rock the Vote: Voting information targeted to your students - this site provides easy online registration in addition to other resources for voting.
- Project Vote Smart: Tons of resources! This site was created to connect voters to information about candidates and government.
- The Democracy Project: This is an excellent site from PBS. It's from PBS kids, but it has excellent materials about the government and voting that also work well with adult students.
- Georgia Voting Information: This site for Georgia's voters provides links to voter registration information, voting procedures, absentee ballots, and voting on election day.
- Voting in Your County: Although this site is sponsored by Pennsylvania's State Department, it offers great resources. By clicking on a county, your students can view a video which "walks them through" the voting process on election day. Please Note: If they click on Warren County, they will be connected to a video which shows voters how to use the Diebold voting machine (used in many counties in Georgia). To find out which machine is used in your county, contact your local Board of Elections. By clicking on different counties on this site, you should be able to find your county's voting machine.
Websites for Your Students
- Colorín Colorado: A Web Site for Spanish-Speaking Parents: Tons of resources for Spanish-speaking parents - includes information, activities and advice for helping children learn to read and succeed.
- BookPALS Storyline Online: Parents can listen and read along with their children - The Screen Actors Guild produces this site, which presents audio and video clips of actors reading favorite children's books. Related activities are also included with each story.
- Create-a-Reader: (English) and Create-a-Reader (Spanish-speaking): Great activities that parents can do with their children. This site combines technology, online games and exercises to encourage the development of early literacy skills.
- Ready to Learn TV (in English) and Ready to Learn TV (in Spanish): What a fun site! Parents can help their kids learn letters with Cookie Monster and other PBS program characters. There are games on this website and suggestions for watching and learning together as well.
- Reading is Fundamental Games, calendars, contests, and stories! This site connects parents and their children to so many resources in both English and Spanish.
Websites for Your Students
- Guide to Writing a Basic Essay: Breaks down the writing process into simple and "easy to follow" steps.
- English Works! Gallaudet University's English Tutoring and Writing Center: Tons of resources! Sample letters, "how-tos" and practical explanations for writing personal and work-related letters.
- Writing-Help Central: Dozens of sample letters both business and personal.
- Writing Exercises: 100 ideas to get your students started!
- The Guide to Grammar and Writing: So many resources for students at all levels! Breaks down the writing process even for basic writers. Includes lessons from basic sentence structures and parts of speech to essay and research paper writing.
Websites for Your Students
- Manythings.org: A fun study site for learners of English as a Second Language
- Activities and Exercises for ESL Students: Linguistic Funland's links to 73 ESL activity sites.
- EverydayEnglish.com: Explores common phrases and includes audio.
- Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab: Tons of resources to improve English listening and comprehension skills.
- English as 2nd Language: Lots of links from About.com for ESL teachers and students.
Websites for Your Students
- History of the USA: This etext includes maps, timelines and narratives.
- History.com: Tons of history sources from the History channel. Your students can listen to interviews, watch videos, view exhibits, and participate in the "History Channel Classroom."
- The following site is for kids; however, it offers extremely useful and helpful information for your adult students. Fact Monster will connect your students to numerous facts and activities for learning history, science and math.
- America's Story from America's Library from the Library of Congress links your students to the largest library in the world.
- Ancient History is sponsored by the British Broadcasting System. "On this site you'll find in-depth articles, multimedia (like games, virtual tours and animations) as well as bite-size material like timelines and short biographies of historic figures" (review on Blue Web'n).
Websites for Your Students
- The Math Forum @ Drexel: This site is jam-packed with resources for all levels. This site will connect your students to an online math library.
- Number Nut.com: Hundreds of math activities for basic and advanced students!
- A Plus Math: Great for your low level math students. Gives them access to online flash cards, worksheets, games and a homework helper.
- The following site is for kids; however, it offers extremely useful and helpful information for your adult students. Math is Fun: This site connects your students to a "math trainer" which provides quick math drills in a variety of math skills for students at all levels.
- Checkbook Basics provides interactive training for your students to help them manage their checkbooks.
Websites for Your Students
- For general reading, the Scholastic News Online works well with all levels.
- Literary Terms offers many definitions and ideas for using these concepts in everyday life.
- Litscape.com gives your students access to poems, fables and songs. Themes and elements of poetry are also explained.
- Vocabulary Power: This site provides a "collection of links and is intended for Basic English Literacy students. It is designed to give students an opportunity to practice and improve their vocabulary skills.
- The following site is for kids; however, it offers extremely useful and helpful information for your adult students. Grammar Bytes: Grammar instruction with an attitude! This site offers terms and definitions, online exercises, handouts and common grammar rules.
Websites for Your Students
- DNA from the Beginning is a web site maintained by the Dolan DNA Learning Center at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory that introduces students to the concepts of genetics and heredity. I've assigned it to students to work through independently and I've given students specific questions they must find the answers to by using the web site. It's relatively easy to navigate and seems to work well with ABE4 and up students.
- Science Mystery is a web site from the National Health Museum Access Excellence Activities Exchange offers stories dealing with science issues (usually health related) in a mystery format. The teacher pages give background information and offers ideas for use.
- Chem4kids
- Biology4kids
- Physics4kids
The following sites are for kids; however, they offer extremely useful and helpful information for your adult students. The sites are very detailed offering a variety of topics in each subject.
- The ESL Wonderland - Resources for Students and Teachers: Tons of resources! This page was created by an ESL teacher for teachers and students. It contains various activities for use in your classes, as well as many links to ESL resources on the Internet.
- Dave's ESL Café: The Classic Site that has been around for many years. Highly recommended by experienced ESL instructors. Go to the Idea Cookbook to find useful materials. There are also discussion forums where students can converse.
- Lesson Plans & Resources for ESL, Bilingual and Foreign Language Teachers: Lots of links! Links to ESL lesson plans and resources, bilingual education, study abroad for teachers, employment opportunities, professional associations and educational standards.
- Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab: Great resource for improving your student's language comprehension - includes an ESL Blog, listening quizzes, ESL vocabulary lessons, language learning tips and "watch and learn" videos.
- Prof. Rick Shur's ESL and Computer Handouts: Dozens of handouts for your students - writing aids, grammar and vocabulary exercises and a variety of readings.
- Learner Retention: Tons of resources! This site sponsored by the Literacy Training Networks identifies common characteristics in programs with high student retention rates and have collected over 30 best practice Word documents that these high retention classes use.
- Ideas to Encourage Student Retention: Here are some practical ideas for you to use - over 60 specific ideas and strategies for increasing student retention from Jefferson Community College, Kentucky.
- A Summary of Suggested Strategies for Improving Learner Persistence: Tons of concrete strategies for motivating your students and improving student persistence! During the 2004-2005 fiscal year, California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project (CALPRO) sponsored study circles (composed of adult literacy instructors) across the state focusing on the issue of learner persistence. Later they met with the leaders of the study circles to identify techniques found to improve learner persistence. This document summarizes their findings. You may need to register with OTAN to receive this document. There is no cost. Registration simply allows you access to 1000s of resources provided by OTAN. (This is a pdf document. If you don't have Adobe, you can download it by clicking here.)
- Why Do They Leave?: Check out this link from Canada. It offers a summary of a major literacy study from Canada. For good reflective questions for your practice, scroll to the last page.
- Youth Cultural Competence - A Pathways for Achieving Outcomes with Youth: This Focus on Basics article discusses strategies for retention of the youth in your ABE/GED program.
- The Workforce Education LAB: This "Learning Activities Bank is an interactive resource of work-related basic skills lessons for use by instructors in the workplace or in traditional adult education programs and by adult learners." Dozens of activities that you can use in your classroom.
- Planning, Implementing and Evaluating Workplace ESL Programs: Tons of ideas for including workplace literacy in ESL instruction including suggestions for workplace curriculum topics, learner-centered instructional strategies, adapting curriculum materials.
- Essential Skills: This Canadian Site provides many ideas for teaching workplace literacy. You can use this site to find: " Ways to tailor curricula to your learners' varied occupations or occupational interests , real work examples to integrate into your program and help for your learners in setting their skill development targets."
- Focus on Basics - Special Workforce Education Edition: This issues include teachers’ innovative strategies for math, communications and problem-solving as well as research conducted by literacy instructors.
- Workforce Education Special Collection - Resources for Workforce Instructors: This site from the National Institute for Literacy and the Office of Vocational and Adult Education will connect you to many more resources - lesson plans, research briefs, and activities for your students.
- The El Paso Collaborative: Health Literacy Curriculum: These lessons were developed to meet the educational and health needs of students in El Paso. Some of the Health Information is in Spanish. Lesson topics include: Diabetes, Breast Health, Menopause, Lead Poisoning, Household Hazards and Nutrition. You might find the "Ideas for Collaborating with Health Organizations" particularly helpful. (Recommended by Joy Bates, Literacy Instructor)
- Health Education and Adult Literacy (HEAL): Breast and Cervical Cancer - A complete curriculum for teaching about breast and cervical cancer to adults with limited literacy skills. You might find the word list useful for teaching medical vocabulary. This is a very comprehensive site providing many ways to learn about Health.
- Focusing on Basics: Literacy and Health (This is a pdf document. If you don't have Adobe, you can download it by clicking here.): This 2002 issue includes articles which discuss the ways in which "literacy and health projects are enacted."
- Picture Stories for Adult ESL Health Literacy: "Picture Stories for Adult ESL Health Literacy are designed to help ESOL instructors address topics that affect the health and well-being of their students. The stories are useful for beginner and low-literacy students."
- Health Literacy Study Circles (Scroll down to select a Health Literacy Study Circle): Sample lessons and guides to create your own lesson and unit plans focused on helping your students develop healthy literacy skills. This Study Circle + program from NCSALL "enables adult educators to focus on building skills related to reading, writing, oral communication and math using health-related examples" in three areas: Health Care Access and Navigation, Chronic Disease Management, Disease Prevention and Screening, Making your Healthcare Facility Literacy Friendly, Public Health Forums and Health Literacy Study Circle + Facilitators Training(2007).
- Understanding What Reading Is All About: Teaching Materials and Lessons for Adult Basic Education Students - 13 lesson plans for low-level readers including goal-setting guides. You can integrate these lessons into your existing curriculum or use them as a mini-course for students.
- Focus on Basics - First Level Learners - Innovative ideas for teaching reading to low level learners, including a lesson plan incorporating the 5 basic components of reading.
- The ABE Reading Classroom - Tons of resources for teaching reading including: on-line lessons, tutorials, worksheets, online reading books and assessment tools. The web links are excellent - be sure to click on Literacy Cyberspace Reading Lessons and Phonics Sound Essentials.
- Reading - Just the Basics - this web-based mini-course is for your own learning. Throughout the course there are learning activities for you and your students, web links, teaching techniques and other resources for teaching reading. Use the arrows in the upper right corner to move through the pages.
- Assessment Strategies and Reading Profiles - The site provides a mini-course on assessment and instruction of reading components, as well as tests and word lists that practitioners can download and links to research. Instructors can match their own learners' reading profiles with learner profiles developed using Adult Reading Component Study (ARCS) data and make instructional choices based on the information.
- GED 2002 Teachers' Lesson Bank: Mathematics - 53 math lessons including learning activities, debriefing/evaluation activities, handouts, and ESE/ESOL Accommodations. Each lesson identifies the cognitive skill level of the activities and their correlation to the GED framework.
- Focus on Basics: Special Math Edition - Cutting edge ideas for the teaching of adults from research practitioners.
- TV 411_Math - Tons of math activities, including: How to use a calculator, multiple percents, place value, polygons and perimeter, keeping up with exponential growth, and much more. You can also order a free "Think Math" DVD, a multimedia teaching tool.
- Numeracy Special Collection - This Special Collection from NIFL provides annotated links to internet sites that are useful for teaching and learning numeracy.
- The Problem Solver: A Math Newsletter for Adult Educators - This newsletter is full of teacher observations and classroom lessons. Six issues, all in PDF.