Student Resources

Here are some free, easy to use websites to help adults improve their reading, writing, speaking, listening, pronunciation and/or test taking skills. They are fun and at many different levels!

365 ESL Short Stories

This is one of the best sites for easy conversations and stories – literally hundreds of them.  It is also appropriate for ABE students.  Be sure to go beyond the home page to take advantage of the wealth of lessons – some of them very life-skills oriented.

American English

This website has a wealth of language resources and skills practice for all level students.  Use either the “Teach” or “Learn” tab and watch a menu of different skill practices appear.  These can be either simply displayed or printed out as PDF files.  Just use the menu bar to the left to specify your student’s characteristics and wait for the list of useable resources to pop up.

American English – Stories

This is from the American English website and is a specific area where you can find many short stories.  They are complete with printable activities and quizzes along with a printable PDF of the stories themselves.  Great practice for intermediate to advanced students that need activities to enhance their familiarity with new vocabulary and sentence structures.

Awesome America

This site has fun facts, history, and photos of each of the 50 states and much more.

California Distance Learning Project

The California Distance Learning Project has compiled dozens of stories – each with a “Basic Story” or a “Full Story” version.  Stories can be printed out (ctrl + P) or listened to and read on-line (some stories have accompanying videos).  Follow-up activities are for online use only.  (Click on “Pick Another Topic” to find hundreds of additional stories by topic area.)

Cell-Ed – 1 Million Learners (NEW! Free through December 2020)

3-minute lessons in: English on the Go, SkillBuilder Reading, Civics & Citizenship, WorkReady Skills, SkillBuilder Math, Vamos a Leer, COVID-19, SkillBuilder Writing.  This program is accessible by call-in, texting, smartphone app, and computer.

EL Civics for ESL Students

This is a great website for stories with pictures and easy words on U.S. history, landmarks, holidays, and geography.  Copy and paste stories into a word document and print them out.

EnglishClass101.com

Learn English with fun, interesting and culturally relevant lessons that are easy to listen to. They are a fun, effective tool! Join the hundreds of thousands of people already learning English through the power of our mobile apps, desktop software and website with free English lessons released every week!

Hands On – A Collection of ESL Literacy Activities

This site has tons of beginning-level activities with many teaching tips, plus games and flashcards. Sample topics: alphabet, numbers, time, parts of the body and weather.

Many Things

This website is a rich resource for English language learners.  It has so many activities for listening, speaking, vocabulary building and many, many, others.  It also has great audio to use along with story reading to reinforce the way English looks and sounds.  Use the many learning videos which make the lessons much more engaging!

Marshall Adult Education

The “Reading Skills for Today’s Adults” series on this website contains adult-oriented graded stories (1st – 8th grade) that can be printed out (ctrl+P). Stories have  pre-reading questions, vocabulary definitions and comprehension questions.

North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles

When you are ready to prepare for the NC written driver’s test, this is the site to visit.  Rules of the road, registration requirements, signs and signals, and sample test questions are available for car, truck, and motorcycle drivers.

PCs for People (NEW! 9/8/20)

This service allows individuals who are eligible to purchase desktops, laptops, and high-speed internet at deeply discounted rates.  Visit the site to determine eligibility.  Purchases can be made on-line.  Students may use MCLC wi-fi to explore available options.

Picture Stories for Adult ESL Health Literacy

Check out the great picture stories on Picture Stories for Adult ESL Health Literacy (for beginning literacy and ESL students)!  The Center for Adult English Language Acquisition has a wealth of information on their website, and these half-dozen cartoon picture stories, complete with a one-page guide on how to use them, is one of the best.

Union Test Prep – GED Preparation

NEED HELP WITH THE GED® TEST?  Our Practice Tests, Flashcards, and Study Guides will help you get a better score in less time – for FREE.

USA Learns – English & Citizenship Prep

This 100% FREE educational website has:

  • Video lessons and 1000s of activities
  • English speaking, listening, vocabulary, pronunciation, reading, writing and grammar
  • New U.S. Citizenship course!

Wise Old Sayings

Wise Old Sayings is one of the oldest collections of wise quotes, proverbs, and sayings gathered from all over the world.  Since 2000, we have been providing curious visitors with hundreds of hand-picked humorous, informational, and inspirational sayings.