Need resources for teaching English learners?

Do any of the following describe you?

My school does not provide a curriculum or teaching resources for ELLs
I need something affordable
I need something with a variety of resources

You’re in luck. There are a lot of options out there.

Let’s take a look at the different options. Whether you’re searching for the best curriculum for English language learners or an all-encompassing online English teaching curriculum, there are numerous choices to explore. These are carefully designed to align with the needs of English language learners, ensuring effective and flexible instruction for diverse teaching styles.

#1 ELL Curriculum: Kid-Inspired Classroom

Overview: A comprehensive K-12 language program with a step-by-step curriculum covering a wide range of grade and proficiency levels with engaging, student-centered activities and content-based instruction, integrating academic skills with language learning.

Drawback: It isn’t free but the price covers the cost of keeping the site ad-free and the continued development of teacher-tested resources that are actually engaging for English learners.

Best Features:

Wide variety of teacher-tested resources
Research-based ELL teaching strategies
Complete unit plans with printable materials
Differentiated lesson content
Focus on getting students using content they are learning to build fluency

Pricing:

Standard subscription: $7.99/month or $79.99/year
Pro subscription: $12.99/month or $129.99/year

Accessing the Curriculum:

Option 1: The Standard Membership – Includes all PDF printables for the entire curriculum and all supporting resources
Option 2: The Pro Membership – Includes everything from the Standard membership but adds landscape PPT slides and hosted interactive slides for online teachers or classroom teachers with projectors or whiteboards.

Education.com ESL Collection

Overview: A resource bank featuring diverse English language teaching materials across multiple proficiency levels.

Best Features:

Printable worksheets organized by grade level
Phonics-based activities and reading comprehension exercises
Picture dictionaries and vocabulary cards
Interactive story-based lessons
Grammar practice sheets with colorful illustrations

Pricing:

$15.99/month or $119.88/year (Usually have a special offer for first month.)

Accessing the Curriculum:

Education.com
Free basic access with premium features available

ESL Kids World

Overview: A platform focusing on elementary and early middle school ESL instruction. This isn’t a curriculum but has a lot of worksheet downloads that can be used with English learners.

Drawbacks: The site is covered in paid advertisements which isn’t ideal. There also aren’t any real pages designed for teaching the content. It is mostly a collection of printable worksheets.

Best Features:

Themed vocabulary worksheets
Printable flashcards and game materials
Simple conversation practice worksheets
Basic reading comprehension activities
Seasonal and holiday-themed materials

Pricing:

Free but Many, Many Ads and Popups

Accessing the Curriculum:

Free access through website
Direct download of materials

ISL Collective

Overview: A collaborative platform for ESL teachers featuring customizable resources. Again, it is not organized into any kind of curriculum so you have to know what you want but there are a lot of resources to be found on the site.

Drawbacks: I’ve found that many of the resources are of questionable quality. They also often cram a lot on a page in order to reduce the amount of printing. This makes the pages much less engaging for students, harder to teach for teachers, harder to complete because there is not much space for writing, and harder to grade without reading glasses.

Best Features:

Wide Variety of Resources
Topic-based vocabulary exercises
Reading comprehension passages with questions
Grammar practice worksheets
Speaking activity handouts

Pricing:

Free but Many Ads

Accessing the Curriculum:

Free to Use

Breaking News English

Overview: Current events-based ESL instruction platform for more advanced learners. Lessons are based around news articles.

Drawbacks: It is covered in ads. Lesson pages are overwhelming for students. The pages are just a little too busy and require a lot of teacher help to get through.

Best Features:

Current events lessons at multiple difficulty levels
Discussion questions and writing prompts
Vocabulary and idiom worksheets
Listening comprehension activities
Academic writing templates

Accessing the Curriculum:

Free access to recent materials
Archive access with subscription

ESL Library / Ellii

Overview: Digital library of ESL teaching resources with a focus on academic topics.

Drawbacks: Lessons are not drawn together into a curriculum with standards and benchmarks. Pricing option on site is a little deceptive. They list it as low as $14/month but then you find out after inputting your details that the lowest price is only for a yearly plan.

Best Features: