Brandon Harville
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9 Sites for Worksheets to Help Your EAL Classes Go Smoothly
Looking to fill awkward silences in your EAL class?
Wracking your brains to come up with unplanned activities on the fly?
Sometimes your lessons might go a little too well.
Students breeze through the textbook exercises in no time, and you’re stuck improvising supplemental activities to cover the last 20 minutes of class.
I quickly learned to prepare for the unexpected by keeping some worksheets on hand for when my students finished the coursework early.
It gives them the opportunity to practice the material they’ve just learned, and eliminates uncomfortable pressure and wasted time.
So whether you’d like to include more worksheets in your lessons, or you just want supplemental exercises for when your class works extra efficiently, check out our worksheet site list.
There are worksheet sites out there for every type of lesson, so finding one that works for you has never been easier!
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
9 Sites for Worksheets to Help Your EAL Classes Go Smoothly
EAL Worksheets for All Lesson Types
Lesson Planet
Lesson Planet is more than just worksheets. They also carry games, presentations, lesson plans and other teacher-reviewed K-12 materials for a variety of subjects and aims—including teaching English as an additional language.
They have a few different pricing options, starting at $2 a month, that currently give you access to well over 3,500 worksheets for EAL students (in addition to their other materials).
To access these worksheets, select “ESL & ELD” as a subcategory of “English Language Arts” and then select “Worksheets” under “Resource Types.” You’ll be able to find everything here from basic vocabulary sheets to advanced grammar topics to cultural activities. This is a great option to have on hand when you need some insurance against empty class time for a specific subject you’re teaching.
You can also find a huge variety of formats at Lesson Planet (matching, multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, word search and lots more!).
EAL Worksheets to Improve Vocabulary
Stickyball.net
Stickyball has a comprehensive list of worksheets designed to help beginner and intermediate students improve their vocabulary.
The website is well organized, with worksheets arranged into topics such as:
- Travel and Vacation
- Law and Justice
- Government
- News and Media
- Traffic
Most worksheets come with a glossary of terms, as well as reading comprehension activities that let students practice building vocabulary using contextual clues.
The nice thing about Stickyball’s worksheets is that they help students learn practical English that they’ll need to know when living or traveling in an English-speaking country, like how to book accommodation.
One Stop English Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)
One Stop English’s premium service gives teachers access to a number of high-quality teaching materials, including vocabulary-building worksheets for EAL students of all ages and proficiency levels.
For $54 a year (£42 / €48) you gain access to a database of worksheets and resources for teaching English vocabulary. The CLIL section covers topics like science, technology, business, mathematics and history, making it ideal for instructors who teach a wide range of subjects to EAL students in English.
As you can see from the sample biology and geography worksheets, the handouts come with a number of different exercises that test EAL students’ understanding of vocabulary words and how to use them correctly in sentences.
But keep in mind that One Stop English’s CLIL worksheets are designed for students who already have a strong foundation in English, so they’re not the best choice for beginners and pre-intermediate EAL students.
EAL Worksheets to Improve Speaking Skills
BusyTeacher Speaking Worksheets
BusyTeacher has earned the reputation of being an excellent resource for teaching EAL for a reason—it’s comprehensive and has some of the best free material available on the web.
In the area of improving speaking skills, BusyTeacher boasts more than 930 worksheets designed to help beginners all the way to advanced learners. And since you can filter worksheets by proficiency level, finding the right one for your class should be a piece of cake.
A couple of my favorite worksheets to get students talking are…
- I’m a Star: Beginner students learn how to make introductions by filling in the blanks while pretending to be a celebrity. Once everyone has finished, each student introduces themselves to the class.
- Speaking Cards: The worksheet has six cards with different topics. Cut out the cards and give one card to each student. Once every student has a card, give them five minutes to think about what they want to talk about. Then, go around the room and have your students take turns giving a short speech to the class.
EnglishClub Conversation Worksheets
EnglishClub’s worksheets are designed to help intermediate and advanced students practice their conversational skills and learn how to communicate just like native English speakers. The great thing about this website is that the worksheets cover a number of relevant topics, like crime, lifestyle, traveling and more. This means that students get to talk about subjects they can relate to, like becoming successful or dealing with stress.
Every worksheet comes with a variety of activities for students to complete, like pronunciation exercises, fill-in-the-blank and vocabulary-building activities. Every worksheet is a little different, but they all have a speaking component where students are expected to talk about the theme of the worksheet.
And best of all, worksheets also come with an optional teacher’s edition, making it easier for you to review answers with the class.
EAL Worksheets for Improving Grammar
UsingEnglish Handouts and Grammar Worksheets
When it comes to worksheets covering English grammer, UsingEnglish is one of the most in-depth resources on the web. Suitable for beginners all the way up to advanced EAL students, UsingEnglish covers everything grammar-related that you can think of—and it’s all conveniently arranged into categories.
The nice thing about UsingEnglish’s setup is that you get some flexibility with how you want to integrate it into the classwork. Worksheets can be printed out and handed to the students, or you can also have the class complete the exercises as online quizzes. This makes UsingEnglish excellent supplemental material to help students get more time practicing their grammar, which is especially useful when teaching some of the more challenging grammar topics, like phrasal verbs and irregular verbs.
ESL Library Grammar Practice Worksheets
If you’re looking for something that’s less like worksheets and more like proper EAL curriculum, ESL Library is right for you. This service costs $55 a year, but comes with in-depth grammar worksheets that cover verb tenses, subject-verb agreement, parts of speech, question tags and anything grammar-related that you could imagine.
And as you can see from the sample worksheets, you definitely get your money’s worth. In fact, you’re essentially paying to have access to an online workbook that’s regularly updated and comes with other resources, including flashcards and English lessons.
EAL Worksheets for Reading and Writing
English for Everyone Writing Practice Worksheets
English for Everyone has a massive selection of writing worksheets for beginner, intermediate and advanced EAL students. The nice thing about this website is the comprehensive selection of worksheets and writing exercises they have. And since the worksheets are organized by proficiency level, finding the right handout for your class shouldn’t be hard at all.
Some of my favorite writing worksheets are the practical writing exercises, which give students the chance to improve their written English skills by making grocery lists, writing to an employer about payment errors and writing a letter explaining absence from work.
Overall, English for Everyone’s writing worksheets are great because they combine practical exercises with storytelling, essay writing and persuasive writing. This gives students the opportunity to improve their English skills with the help of a number of different exercises.
ESLflow Reading Comprehension
When it comes to reading comprehension worksheets, ESLflow is one of the better resources out there. Here, you can find worksheets that cover a number of different interesting reading topics, including the effects of technology and shopping at the weekend market.
ESLflow’s reading worksheets include a medium-length passage and a series of comprehension questions students must answer after finishing the reading. Since most questions require more than one or two-word answers, students also get to practice their writing skills as they answer questions.
So say goodbye to awkward silences in class!
These worksheets are also great for homework assignments and regular in-class exercises to test your students’ knowledge and understanding of various subjects.
With the help of these EAL worksheet resources, you’re guaranteed to always have material on hand for whenever your students finish their textbook material earlier than expected.
You’ll never have to worry about improvising again!
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
