Rob Mucklo Links

My Favorite Links for Students

of English as a Second Language

All of these links are FREE and live at the time of this posting. If you encounter any links that are not working or that are now charging for their use, please email me the link and I will update my site.

    Listening
        (minimal pairs, dictations, listening comprehension, audio books, music/movies/tv)

    Reading
        (ELI Core Vocabulary Activities)
          (timed readings, reading comprehension, books online)

    Writing
            (typing, sentences, paragraphs, transition words, essays, paraphrasing,
             proofreading and grammar, printing and cursive)

    TOEFL
            (TOEFL practice and sample tests)

    Miscellaneous
                 (dictionaries, other study tools)
            Web Links at The Robert Henderson Language Media Center at The University of Pittsburgh

ESL/EFL LISTENING ACTIVITIES

Practice identifying minimal pairs (words that are different by one sound)
Practice your listening and pronunciation skills of “minimal pairs” with these quizzes and games:
    http://www.manythings.org/pp/
    http://www.manythings.org/ac/
    http://international.ouc.bc.ca/pronunciation/
    http://www.shiporsheep.com/

“berry” vs “very”
    http://hail.he.net/~duber/CALL/bvery.html

“teams” vs “Tim’s”
    http://hail.he.net/~duber/CALL/timsteams.html

“want a prize” vs “won a prize”
    http://hail.he.net/~duber/CALL/wanttowin.html

“this store” vs “this door”
    http://hail.he.net/~duber/CALL/storedoor.html

“man” vs “men”
    http://www.anglofile.com/randomizer/index.html

Pronunciation practice of minimal pairs with self-correcting quizzes:

http://eslus.com/LESSONS/PRONUNCI/PRONUNCI.HTM

Practice hearing the difference between "tens" and "teens (ex. "fifty" versus "fiftteen"):
http://www.teacherjoe.us/Teensortens.html

You have to register for this site, but it's free. Don't pay for anything! There is one really fun game with a monkey that helps you practice comprehension with minimal pairs. There are some other really well-designed games to practice grammar, spelling and vocabulary, too:
http://ww3.free-english.com/english/Games.aspx

Dictation exercises
Self-correcting dictation exercises:
http://www.teacherjoe.us/Dicts.html

Self-correcting dictation exercises in both British and American English:
http://cla.univ-fcomte.fr/english/sites/dictations.htm

This site has some more advanced dictation activities that require some knowledge of the International Phonetic Alphabet. Scroll down the page and you'll see a comprehensive list of activities. If you start with the short training video in each section, and then proceed with the activities in the order they are given, the dictation exercises shouldn't be too difficult.

http://international.ouc.bc.ca/pronunciation/

Listening comprehension activities

Watch 1-2 minute video clips from popular TV shows and movies and then take a short quiz to test your comprehension:
http://www.clearbluerecords.com/esl/index.html

This site has short audio clips with multiple-choice comprehension quizzes. To do these, click on “Listen with quiz” under the description of the audio clip. The topic for the audio clips changes weekly. Each week they also post a song that you can listen to while you read the lyrics:

http://www.elllo.org/

Listen to the short audio recordings, fill in the blanks with the words you hear, then click to check your answers.
http://www.manythings.org/el/

Read and listen to jokes in English:
http://www.manythings.org/jokes/

Listen to these old traditional songs and sing along. Scroll down to the middle of the page and click on any of the songs that have been converted to “Flash”. With these songs you can listen and repeat and even do “karaoke”:

http://www.manythings.org/songs/

This site has audio practice with reduced spoken forms (ex. want to --> "wanna"), on the menu in the upper left hand corner of the page, you'll also see links to practice activities and a quiz:

http://evaeaston.com/pr/red-pattern.html

Lots of audio and activities to practice “authentic American pronunciation”:
http://evaeaston.com/pr/home.html

Practice listening to and identifying reductions and/or contractions by listening, typing what you hear and then checking your answers:

http://eslus.com/LESSONS/LISTEN/listen3.htm

Listen to short questions and then choose the appropriate response:
http://eslus.com/LESSONS/LISTEN/listen1.htm
http://eslus.com/LESSONS/LISTEN/listen2.htm

This is a very basic fill-in-the-blank listening activity talking about food. Watch and listen to the video and fill in the blanks with the words that you hear:
http://oscar.lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~sugiura/calico97/DictationQuiz/top.html

You can listen to and read along with short conversations in “everyday English” from over 20 different categories. Some of the conversations have fill-in-the-blank activities, but most of them are just listening/reading.
http://www.focusenglish.com/dialogues/conversation.html

Audio books online

A site by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), a professional association for actors, where the actors read books for children:
http://www.storylineonline.net/

Here you can find the audio for entire books by some of the best and most well-known writers in English. Click on the “.ra” to use Real Player to play the audio for you.
http://town.hall.org/Archives/radio/IMS/HarperAudio/

Sound clips and recordings from Don Swaim’s CBS radio show of interviews, poetry and book readings from some of the best writers in English. Includes readings of The Iliad, Macbeth, the Aeneid, The Fall of the House of Usher and The Tell-Tale Heart:
http://www.wiredforbooks.org/

This site has 10 short stories (each around 2 minutes) and 2 longer stories (6 minutes and 8 minutes) for ESL students to listen to. The site proudly says that there are no transcripts for these stories so that you are forced to listen and not read!
http://www.antimoon.com/other/shaggydog.htm

Practice with music, movies and TV

This site has lots of listening options! You can listen and read along with: the instructions for using the site, songs, stories, features, poetry, audio clips for beginners and Christmas-related audio. Within each category you have many singers (ranging from golden oldies to hits from today), famous writers and speakers to choose from. Once you've made your selections, click on “choose a mode” to decide if you want to read along, do fill-in-the-blank listening practice or play a game using vocabulary from the song:
http://www.efl.net/caol.htm

This site has songs by The Beatles, The Monkeys and Louis Armstrong that you can listen to and fill in the blanks:
http://eflclub.com/2songs/songs.html

At the sites below you can find scripts for TV shows and movies so that you can watch/listen and read along:

(movies) http://www.simplyscripts.com/movie.html

    (movies)           http://www.moviefreak.com/scripts/index.htm

    (movies & tv)    http://www.moviescripts.name/ms/index.cfm

    (tv)                   http://www.twiztv.com/

At these sites you can watch top music videos in English for free:

http://www.sonybmg.com/musicbox/video/

http://mtv.com/music/video

http://music.yahoo.com/launchcast/stations/default.asp

http://music.aol.com/videos/newthisweek.adp

Listen to different types of music online for free:

http://www.di.fm

http://www.live365.com

This site has very short sound clips and transcripts from TV shows and movies. New sound files are added frequently:
http://www.dailywav.com/

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ESL/EFL READING ACTIVITIES

Timed Readings
Three timed readings that will tell you how many words you can read per minute. The more difficult words in the texts are linked to definitions.
http://www.teacherjoe.us/TimedReadings.html

This site offers activities to help you improve your reading speed. You get one second to read a sentence that has one word in a pink. After one second you are given a multiple choice quiz to identify the word.
http://eslus.com/LESSONS/READING/SPDREAD/1/INTRO1.HTM

Improve your reading speed by practicing with over 60 timed readings with multiple choice comprehension questions:
http://eslus.com/LESSONS/READING/SPDREAD/1/INTRO1.HTM

On this site, first you read a selection and time yourself to see how many words per minute you can read. At the bottom of the page you can click to continue to a short multiple-choice comprehension quiz. The reading changes weekly.
http://www.getesl.com/sr_week.htm

This page has eight short stories with multiple choice questions to help practice reading comprehension, as well as five activities to help practice speed reading and word recognition:
http://eslus.com/LESSONS/READING/READ.HTM

Reading Comprehension Exercises

Read these timed selections to find out how many words you can read per minute. Afterwards, answer the self-correcting comprehension questions to see hom much you understood:
http://college.cengage.com/collegesurvival/watkins/learning_companion/1e/students/timed_reading.html

Here you'll find twelve short texts designed for ESL students where you can read and fill in the blanks with words from a word bank.

http://www.edict.com.hk/vlc/cloze/cloze.htm

This site has 100 very short stories to help you practice reading and/or listening skills. To listen and read along, click on the pink box next to the title of the reading. When you're done reading/listening, you can click on activities to check your comprehension. Some stories have yes/no type activities, other have multiple choice, some have dictation:
http://www.rong-chang.com/qa2/index.html

This site has more than ten short readings that are available in versions for intermediate and advanced ESL students. Some of the more difficult vocabulary is linked to definitions. Each reading has self-correcting activities to practice vocabulary and comprehension.
http://www.ihes.com/learn/contents.html

This site has a story called “Takako’s Great Adventure” that is divided into 10 episodes. Each episode features a text that you can read along and listen to. Some of the words in the text are linked to a dictionary. When you're done reading/listening, you can do vocabulary practice, answer comprehension questions and/or do crossword puzzles based on the episode:
http://international.ouc.bc.ca/takako/index.html

If you're familiar with “Mad Libs”, this is just like them. Practice parts of speech by providing examples, and then read a fun story written based on the information you provided:
http://www.eduplace.com/tales/

View photos of real signs in English from a variety of contexts:
http://www.manythings.org/signs/

Here you'll find three texts designed for American students in Texas to practice for reading comprehension tests. There are a total of 36 self-correcting multiple choice questions to practice your understanding of vocabulary and reading comprehension:
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/resources/online/2005/read/level6/level6reading.htm

Read Books Online

Read books for children by famous author Beatrix Potter. Books with text and pictures are available in English and Japanese. Audio for some of the books is available in English, French, German and Japanese. Near the middle of the page there is also a multimedia presentation of The Tale of Peter Rabbit that has text, pictures and audio. At the bottom of the page are links to complete audio for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Frog Prince, A Christmas Carol, fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm and short stories from Rudyard Kipling.

http://wiredforbooks.org/kids.htm

Here you can read a shortened version of the book "Stuart Little" designed specifically for students of ESL:
http://angolsuli.education.directnic.com/sl_index.htm

This page gives you the opportunity to read 20 fairy tales and short stories in English, as well as read national folk tales from Taiwan and

Thailand

in English:
http://eflclub.com/3stories/stories.html

You can find over 300 of Aesop’s fables here to practice your reading. Each of the fables has key words linked to a dictionary.
http://english-zone.com/index.php?ID=96

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ESL/EFL WRITING RESOURCES ONLINE

Learn to type

Learning to type:
    http://www.sense-lang.org/typing/
    http://www.goodtyping.com/
    http://www.davis.k12.ut.us/cjh/appliedtech/Business/Keyboarding/
    http://www.freetypinggame.net/free-typing-lesson.asp

Free downloadable typing programs:
    http://www.nimblefingers.com/p_prog.htm
    http://www.rapidtyping.com/
    http://www.northcanton.sparcc.org/~technology/keyboarding/freeware.html

Games to practice typing:
   http://www.powertyping.com/#pt

Timed typing test:
    http://www.learn2type.com/TypingTest
    http://www.typingtutor.org/
    http://www.sense-lang.org/typing/
    http://www.typingtest.com/

Sentence writing

Use this tutorial to combine simple sentences into compound and complex sentences:
    http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/quizzes/combining_quiz2.htm
    http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/quizzes/combining_quiz1.htm
    http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/quizzes/primer_quiz.htm

Paragraph writing
This free online program will take you through the steps of the writing process with a practice paragraph with an assigned topic:
   http://www.paragraphpunch.com/how_to.php

Divide the text provided into logical paragraphs:
    http://www.uefap.com/writing/exercise/parag/paragex1.htm

Select the paragraph topic from a list of topics and supporting details:
    http://eslbee.com/cgi-bin/quiztest.cgi?specifictopics

Transition words / Connectors
Transition words with meanings AND examples of the words used in sentences:
    http://www.mun.ca/writingcentre/transword.shtml
    http://www.dvc.edu/english/Learning_Resources/examplesofsentenceswtrans.htm

Transition word quizzes:
    http://www.mun.ca/writingcentre/transquiz.shtml
    http://a4esl.org/q/h/9901/gc-connectives.html
    http://smccd.net/accounts/sevas/esl/gramcheck/9-10.html

Essay writing
This free online program will take you through the steps of the writing process with a practice ESSAY with an assigned topic:
    http://www.essaypunch.com/

Here you can watch and listen to an 8-minute video lecture designed to teach ESL/EFL students the basics of writing an essay in English:
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaCxigjUJ7Q&search=esl

Paraphrasing
Take these quizzes to see examples of proper paraphrasing:
    http://gsi.berkeley.edu/resources/conduct/exercises.html
    http://www.amarris.homestead.com/paraphrase.html

Grammar and proofreading
Use these interactive quizzes as review for grammar and punctuation:
    http://www.grammarbook.com/
    http://www.chompchomp.com/exercises.htm

Practice printing and cursive
Downloadable worksheets to help you practice and master proper formation of letters and numbers in English:
    http://www.writingwizard.longcountdown.com/handwriting_practice_worksheet_maker.html
    http://www.enchantedlearning.com/letters/

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Other Useful ESL/EFL Sites

FREE Online Dictionaries

definitions only:
    Oxford (145,000+ entries)

definitions and sound files:
    American Heritage (90,000+ entries)
    Encarta
    Longman (click on the logo) (88,000+ entries)
    Merriam Webster

definitions, sound files AND example usage in sentences:
    www.dictionary.com

dictionary of Phrasal Verbs:
    Cambridge

Dictionaries
Take any Web page and have all of the words in English automatically linked to an online dictionary so that all you have to do is click on the word to see its definition. In the middle of the page where it says “Type or paste a URL…”, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is automatically selected. If you click on the arrow, you can choose from other dictionaries or choose to translate the page into another language. click on the arrow and select “English definitions”. Next, in the middle of the page where it says “Type or paste a URL…" you simply type or paste the web address of the site you want to use. Be sure to leave the “http://”. Finally, click “submit” and the web page you've chosen will open in a new window. (If there are pictures on the web page you may have trouble viewing them.) Now if you don't understand a word, all you have to do is click on it and the dictionary will open with a definition AND a sound file for pronunciation of that word (click on the red speaker icon to hear the word).
http://www.voycabulary.com/

Miscellaneous study tools

This site offers a number of quizzes, games and other activities for ESL students. Some students also like the bilingual vocabulary quizzes that are available in over 35 different languages:
http://a4esl.org/

Here you can print flashcards with cute, well-drawn pictures for various parts of speech and vocabulary in English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Russian, Italian or Portuguese:
http://www.mes-english.com/flashcards/animals.php

There are about fifteen different “flash” games on this site where you can play a matching game with audio and pictures to learn/practice vocabulary:
http://www.2flashgames.com/learning_english_games.htm

You have to register for this site, but it's free. Don't pay for anything! There are some really well-designed games to play to practice grammar, spelling, vocabulary… and one activity to practice listening to minimal pairs:
http://ww3.free-english.com/english/Games.aspx

Two timed quiz games to help you practice verb forms and a/an/nothing:
http://www.manythings.org/qs/

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Practice TOEFL exams

The official TOEFL practice test online. This one is NOT free:
http://toeflpractice.ets.org/

Free TOEFL practice test. Includes listening, reading and structures:
http://www.testmagic.com/Knowledge_Base/TOEFL/Structure/index.htm

Free TOEFL practice exams for reading, listening, writing and structures. Also provides 20 tips for taking the TOEFL:
http://www.englishclub.com/esl-exams/ets-toefl-practice.htm

Free full-length practice TOEFL exams and study materials. You have to register to get a user name and password, but it's still free. Do NOT buy anything!
http://www.free-english.com/

Free Reading Comprehension practice TOEFL exam designed for use with the
2001-2002 version of the TOEFL:
http://www.duber.com/toefl/quiz/flash.html

This site has two 20 item structures quizzes to practice for the TOEFL exam. Both exams are timed:
http://www.examenglish.com/TOEFL/toefl_structure_1.htm

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you'll find links to a free Toefl grammar quiz (15 items with explanations of the correct answers) and a 40-item practice TOEFL quiz:
http://encomium.com/

Free TOEFL practice activities. Includes 275 multiple choice practice items as well as a more difficult version designed for students who need to get a very high score on the TOEFL:
http://www.learn4good.com/languages/toefl/structure.htm

Free TOEFL practice:
http://www.stuff.co.uk/toefl.htm

Twenty eight TOEFL vocabulary tests as well as other resources for the TOEFL exam are linked on this page:
http://www.english-test.net/toefl/index.html#word

A list of interactive practice activities for the TOEFL exam:
http://www.eslpartyland.com/linkspages/toefl.htm#Interactive%20Exercises

Numerous links to practice specifically for the TOEFL and to practice your English:
http://eleaston.com/test-prep.html#toefl

List of more links for TOEFL practice:
http://home.earthlink.net/~eslstudent/testing/TOEFL.html

Sample student essays from the TOEFL exam along with raters’ comments:
http://www.gettoefl.com/toefl_essay_test.htm

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RobMucklo

My Favorite Links for Students

of English as a Second Language

All of these links are FREE and live at the time of this posting. If you encounter any links that are not working or that are now charging for their use, please email me the link and I will update my site.