Teaching resources

We have curated some resources for teaching. If you find something you like, bookmark it so you can access it quickly during a lesson. 

If you have any resources to add, please contact Di via Teams or email (coaching@theenglishfarm.com).

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ALL-INCLUSIVE

DICTIONARIES

BUSINESS FOCUS

  • General

    • Business English Materials—information about 100+ well-known companies, with comprehension exercises and a wide variety of activities (role-plays, writing, brainstorming, etc., with homework. included) related to that company. Each company could serve as a multi-lesson project!
    • Business and ESP—general business English lesson plans, and for specific purposes (body language, career readiness, HR).
    • Business Communication Etiquette (PDF)—for email, phone and video calls.
    • BusinessEnglishSite.com—good for short vocabulary, grammar, listening and reading exercises. (You'll have to correct them as homework or in a lesson because it only says if the answer is right or wrong. It doesn't provide the correct answer or an explanation.)

  • Business school/MBA entrance exam prep

TESTS

LISTENING

  • Practice
    • Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab—a bazillion exercises, organized by level.
    • 6 Minute English (BBC Learning English)—teachers' favorite!
    • Listening (LearnEnglish)—organized by level.
    • Elllo—short audio and video lessons, organized by level; some include grammar practice as well.
    • TEDEd—short videos with listening comprehension questions; for upper-level students.
  • Podcasts
    • Planet Money—transcripts available.
    • HBR On Leadership—transcripts available (other podcasts available at Harvard Business Review, too).
    • Business Daily (BBC)—variety of worldwide topics.
    • TED: Business—link goes to business topics, but lots of other topics available, too.
  • Apps
    • TEDICT—uses TED talks to practice dictation. Available on Apple and Google Play (recommended by a student).

SPEAKING

VOCABULARY

  • Vocabulary.com—thousands of word lists by theme, and a multiple choice "VocabTrainer" learning tool.
  • Word Hippo—good for teachers when looking for synonyms, antonyms, words containing certain letters, etc. Upper-level students could also use it.
  • Japanese-English false friends—good to know!

GRAMMAR

PRONUNCIATION

  • All-inclusive websites
    • Rachel's English (American accent)—transcripts for many of her YouTube videos included.
    • English Club (British accent)—includes minimal pairs with audio, and interactive phonemic chart.
    • Pronuncian.com—A variety of resources, including a podcast (bonus listening practice!). There's also an app for iPhone.
  • YouTube channels
    • Rachel's English (American accent)—LOTS of great videos for free, inc. clear pronunciation instruction, listening practice, fast speech training, etc.
    • Papa Teach Me (British accent)—fun lessons, inc. pronunciation, idioms, slang, fast speech, etc.
    • Aussie English (Australian accent)—also fun; includes some cultural info.
    • Sounds American—very straightforward; illustrated diagrams.
    • English Everyday (Indian accent)—not thoroughly vetted, but good listening practice for students who work with Indian clients/colleagues.
  • IPA
    • Dictionary.com—both phonetic respelling and IPA available. (Dictionary definitions aren't clear enough for language learners, but it's great for pronunciation.) Includes explanations of symbols:
    • PhoTransEdit—transcribes text to IPA, with either British or American pronunciation.
    • i2Speak—complete, user-friendly IPA typewriter, for manual transcriptions.
    • Unalengua IPA (iPhone/Mac/iPad app)—translates written text to IPA, and reads it aloud.

WRITING