Find resources to help better work and communicate with your partner as well as activities for weekly Workplace meetings. The resources on this page are for all Workplace programs.
Please also see Workplace ESLA Resources and Workplace LC Resources for current volunteers.
Jump to sections of this page
Teaching/Tutoring
Bus Stop English Resources
Conversation Tips & Tricks
Common Workplace Topics
Pronunciation & Conversation
Vocabulary
Listening
Grammar
GED®/ABE Resources
Teaching/Tutoring
The Tutoring Experience – Tutoring tips and strategies for volunteers.
Tips for being a Conversation Partner – Tips and tactics for effectively communicating in groups and one-on-one with learners.
Bus Stop English Resources
Voice of America News – Good for beginners.
Current English – Each Culips episode is designed to teach you the natural English vocabulary, idioms, expressions, slang, phrasal verbs, pronunciation, and grammar that is needed to take English to the next level. Comprehensive site with natural sounding fluent speakers at different speech paces.
Randall’s ESL Café Short Videos – Short 30-60 second video clips about dozens of cultural/daily life topics and comprehension questions afterward.
English Audio and Video Library – Fluent speakers with different accents on audio and video tracks speak about a variety of topics, incl. current events and grammar. Transcripts are included. Some games, workshops and lessons as well.
English 101 YouTube Videos – Top 25 English phrases Alisha hosts this “English 101” YouTube. You can find episodes on just about anything.
Randall’s ESL Listening Lab – A wonderful, large collection of listening and practice resources for English language learners. Try one of the dozens and dozens of listening “quizzes” which can provide a springboard for building listening skills, conversing with your language partner, vocabulary-building, and other insights. About 160 brief, realistic, often humorous dialogues—easy to difficult—on a variety of topics; self-scoring listening comprehension quizzes, vocabulary activities, and transcripts
Many Things: Listen and Read Along – Short to long narratives shown line by line and spoken slowly. User can have the program repeat each sentence multiple times. (Site is very slow at times of heavy use.)
Real English – Videos of “real people” recorded in public places in the USA with exercises, beginning to intermediate levels.
Story Corps – Short, natural, very personal conversations and monologues, many on difficult topics, organized by theme, good for high intermediate or advanced learners.
Newsy – Features short news segments across a variety of topics from business to entertainment, international to US news. One of the best things about Newsy is that each video is posted with a transcript of the news report, giving ESL students the choice of just listening, or listening and reading. Advanced.
Breaking News English – This website features short news stories at seven different levels in addition to various activities that accompany each story.
HEALTH
Health English – Health interactive language activities for ESL beginners.
FAMILY
Family Stories – Family interactive language activities for ESL beginners: includes very simple real family stories AND life skills, such as parent teacher conference prep.
WORK
Work English – Work interactive language activities. Excellent stories from real people about dealing with real problems at work. Slow reading for beginners with visual back-up.
CITIZENSHIP
USCIS Government Website – Student self-guided study and information about the test.
Civics Flash Cards – Flash cards to study for the naturalization test.
Civics Practice Test Videos – These short videos simulate the civics portion of the naturalization test.
Conversation Tips and Topics
Conversation Starters – Questions to jumpstart conversations on a variety of topics.
Activities – Activity ideas for improving literacy.
Wordwall – Wordwall is a wonderful online tool for easily creating simple activities for matching, sorting, unscrambling and more!
Common Workplace Topics
Health – Health interactive language activities with vocabulary, pictures, and relevant questions.
Family – Family interactive language activities that include simple, real family stories and life skills.
Work – Work interactive language activities. Stories from real people dealing with real problems at work.
Citizenship – Comprehensive resources for citizenship test preparation.
Citizenship and Job Training – Select “Resources” or “Curriculum Content” to view citizenship and job readiness materials.
Themes – Bank of common themes for beginning learners.
Pronunciation and Conversation
Sounds of English – Provides practice for diphthongs, word endings, etc. Includes many activities.
Rachel’s English – Video with common American English phrases.
Text-to-Speech Tool – Input text into the box and a pronunciation is generated and said out loud.
American Accent – Interactive grammar boxes for pronunciation of phrases in American English.
Practical English Conversations – Many exercises, articles, activities, etc. Listen and practice with different English conversation situations, like traveling, going to the bank, shopping, or renting an apartment.
English Conversations for Beginners – Practice conversations for beginners on many topics, like school, food, safety, and health.
Vocabulary
Chemistry – Chemistry vocabulary interactive website with videos about all the elements.
Medical – Medical terms about illness.
Business and Economics – Interactive website with pictures and fill-in-the-blank activities about business vocabulary.
General – Vocabulary for standardized tests and English in general, great for students studying for TOEFL, CLEP, etc.
Listening
StickyBall – English dialogues categorized by level, as well as worksheets, e-books, printable resources, and vocabulary resources.
Grammar
Tenses: Explanations and Exercises – Well organized explanations and exercises on all kinds of tenses.
Learn American English Online – This website includes seven color-coded levels of instruction, ranging from beginner to advanced. Each lesson is introduced by a video that explains the relevant grammar point and includes a series of grammar quizzes and dictation exercised (with answers).
English for Emails – A helpful guide to sending, receiving, and organizing emails. This website also talks about email etiquette, and ways to successfully ask and answer questions via email.
Basic Sentence Structure – This is a really nice SVO explanation link with lots of examples and a video. Give it a look and see if it could work with your learners who are working on SVO and basic sentence structure.
Everyday Grammar – Videos and fun lessons that show how Americans use English grammar in everyday conversation.
GED®/ABE Resources
ABE Tech (day classes) – keyboarding and digital literacy skills
4Tests – Your free, practice exam site
Dads Worksheets – Free math worksheets, calculators and more
Engage NY – Free lessons, language arts, math and more
English Grammar 101 – Power up your writing
EReading Worksheets – High quality reading worksheets, activities and resources
GED.com (MyGED) – The official home of the GED® test on the web
GED® FAQ – Frequently asked questions about the GED® Test
GED Flash – Aztec Software
GED® Test Tutorial – The official test tutorial from GED® Testing Service
GED® Language Arts Extended Response – Videos and tutorials on how to write the extended response
GED® Math Strategies – Provided by GED® Testing Service
GED® Practice Tests – Practice tests for all subjects in English and Spanish by GED® Testing Service
GED® Practice Questions – Free practice questions for the GED® Test
GED® Study Guides – Sign in with your ged.com account to view these valuable guides
GED® Test Calculator Tutorial – Learn all about using the on-screen calculator
GED® Virginia – GED® Test resources brought to you by VCU
HippoCampus – Free educational resources from middle school to college
Jefferson Lab – Virginia State Standards of Learning practice tests
KhanAcademy – Learn anything, for free, forever
LizardPoint – The best way to learn geography. It won’t even feel like a test
Math Aids – Math worksheets organized by topic
Math is Fun – Practice your math skills
Mometrix – GED® Test preparation videos
PBS Math Club – Video lessons and quizzes
PhET – Interactive Simulations for Science and Math brought to you by the University of Colorado Boulder
Reading Skills For Today’s Adults – Reading fluency practice arranged by level
Reasoning through Language Arts Guide – Very helpful overview, listing of topics, and links to get started!
StudyJams! – Math and Science lessons brought to you by Scholastic
TABE/GED Academy (Essential Education) – Students see your teachers for login information
TABE Online Tools Training for Test Takers – Practice taking a TABE Test (Google Chrome recommended)
ThatQuiz – Math test activities for students and teachers of all grade levels
Varsity Tutors – Practice tests, flashcards and more
Virtual Nerd – Real math help brought to you by Pearson
Ms. Dillard – Ms. Dillard’s ABE/GED Class Page
CAELC's VISAS Program at UVA 