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ELL 2.0: How to Make the Most of the Web

By Larry Ferlazzo

I don’t believe educational technology is a magic bullet for our students. At the same time, I do believe the Internet can be an incredibly beneficial supplement to effective classroom instruction for English-language learners. Consider, for example, the thousands of free Web sites that offer audio and visual supports for written material. That’s a huge asset if you don’t happen to have a one-to-one tutor-to-student ratio (and not many of us do!). The Internet also provides a place for ELL students to take risks, make mistakes, and learn from them without fear of public embarrassment.

The Web offers direct advantages to teachers, too. I’ve read many books on teaching ELL students, but in my mind very few of these costly texts rise above the best free Internet resources in providing sound ideas on how to work effectively with ELL students.

Of course, the sheer number of ELL resources available on the Web can be intimidating. I have 9,000 categorized links on a site that I’ve set up for students to self-access, and more links appear every week. So, in an effort to lower the intimidation factor and give ELL resource-hunters a good starting point, I’ve pulled together my 13 favorite free Web sites for ELL...