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Grammar Monster
Completely free website with mini grammar lessons based on common mistakes, vocabulary building activities for ESL students, idioms, punctuation, and more. Each lesson contains an explanation, examples, and a short quiz. There are many interactive online activities for the vocabulary portion of the website.
Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab: Vocabulary Quizzes
Find 1-3 minute intermediate level listening tracks with a variety of activities for learners to test their understanding, including multiple choice questions, gap-fill exercises, and sentence and vocabulary matching.
Total Physical Response (TPR): A Curriculum for Adults
Learn about the "how" and "why" of using TPR in the classroom and explore a lesson routine that can be used for a wide variety of TPR topics. A great resource for teachers who are new to incorporating TPR into their lessons.
ESL Literacy Readers (Bow Valley Readers)
This collection of beloved theme-based readers for beginning levels of ESL literacy has been discontinued (in late 2024). They are no longer available at the Bow Valley College site. However, colleagues at the Immigrant Welcome Center in Indianapolis, Indiana, have a number of the readers posted (with permission) on their Adult ELL Pathway to Literacy website. This document outlines the changes and how to find these materials.
Rachel’s English
This YouTube channel contains hundreds of videos unpacking the sounds and rhythms of the English language, as well as videos exploring idioms, vocabulary, and recommendations for strengthening listening and learning skills.
Activities for Tutoring a Beginning ESL Literacy Student
Find activity ideas for Beginning ESL Literacy level learners in phonics, pattern based reading, meaning-based reading, checking comprehension, and vocabulary in this handout.
Global Oneness Project
According to their website, “We aim to connect, through stories, the local human experience to global meta-level issues, such as climate change, water scarcity, food insecurity, poverty, endangered cultures, migration, and sustainability. Through featuring individuals and communities impacted by these issues, our stories and lessons provide opportunities to examine universal themes that emphasize our common humanity... Our lessons facilitate the development of students' critical thinking, inquiry, empathy, and listening skills."
Adult ESL Beginning Level Instruction Videos
Find Low-Literacy Instruction and Classroom Activities videos that feature Minnesota teachers working with ESL Beginning Level learners on a wide variety of activities and skills, including phonics, TPR, speaking skills, and numeracy.
Talking Politics: Valuing Different Perspectives
This video from Edutopia demonstrates how high school students learn how to share and listen to opposing beliefs with empathy in the classroom.
Ten ESL Activities to Teach Perfect Pronunciation and Get Mouths Moving
This article from the FluentU English Educator Blog provides ten activities for teachers to use when students have difficulty differentiating between two sounds (known as minimal pairs).
Sounds of English
Sounds of English is a collaboration by Holly Gray and Sharon Widmayer that they started to help their ESL students develop their pronunciation and speaking skills. The site has been expanded to include information about their past research and presentations, lessons and activities for ESL teachers, and more.
- Assessment
- Beginning ESL
- Beginning ESL Literacy
- Emergent Readers
- Listening
- Reading
- Speaking
- Teaching Strategies
- Writing
Making It Real: Teaching Pre-Literate Adult Refugee Students
This book is a great place reference for both new and experienced teachers. It covers a variety of effective practices for teaching low-literate adult refugees, and describes techniques and activities that support these practices.
Learning Chocolate
This learner-based website contains lists of technology-based vocabulary words that learners can listen to, then check their understanding with matching, fill-in-the-blank, and dictation games.
Reading Skills for Healthcare Workers
The Reading Skills for Healthcare Workers website helps learners explore the field of healthcare. The website contains 175 readings, including pre-reading questions, target vocabulary, a text-dependent question set, and two prompts for writing practice.
New Resources
Workplace Health and Safety Curriculum
This class prepares people for OSHA 10 Training. Explore careers in janitorial, warehouse, hospital. Learners will: Build vocabulary and skills related to building maintenance, customer service, workplace health and safety; develop Speaking, Listening, and Reading skills for entry level and advanced jobs in building maintenance and customer service; earn OSHA 10 Certificate for Industrial Safety; and have access to a Counselor who will help with applying for jobs St. Paul Public Schools, or other companies. || AUTHOR: Nancy Bjorn Nordeen, Hubbs Center
College Readiness Academy Skills
This course builds knowledge, skills, and confidence in standard American English with a focus on academic writing, reading, oral communication, and digital literacy. Critical language areas are integrated throughout the course to prepare students for college-level success. The novel A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park will serve as the core text for reading, writing, discussion, and project work. || AUTHOR: Elizabeth Fontaine, International Institute of MN
HSE Coffee Talk: GED Ready Test Scores Compared to Official Test Scores
At the HSE Coffee Talk on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, we dove into an important discussion surrounding GED Ready® scores and their correlation to GED test success. Many GED educators have expressed concerns about how GED Ready® scores reflect actual test performance. This session provided insights into the latest research, explored factors that may impact score alignment, and offered strategies to support test takers effectively.
Presenter Information
Get information about stipends, reimbursements, the MN Adult Ed policy on use of images in presentations, and other instructions for presenters.
MN Adult Ed YouTube Channel
The MN Adult Education YouTube Channel is a free online PD resource that you can use to explore teaching techniques and classroom ideas in action! Find out more in this MN ABE Connect newsletter article.
ATLAS Announcements & Future PD
Check out the latest list of ATLAS professional development announcements and opportunities! This is the document that is shared at all ATLAS events.
Virtual Meeting Resources
Find resources for conducting online meetings/events/presentations! You are welcome to use and adapt these materials to fit your own needs and context.
Upcoming ABE Events
May 15, 2025
1:00 pm–1:45 pm
Online
Burlington Boost: Keeping Students Engaged Over Summer Break with BurlingtonEnglish
Online
Registration Deadline: THU. 5/15/25 In this session, we will brainstorm ways to keep students engaged and working on independent practice over the summer season. Please come prepared with ideas that you do with your students and we will also share ideas from various programs that also use Burlington… Learn More
Online
May 16, 2025
10:00 am–11:00 am
Online
Support Staff Coffee Break – TABE 13&14 Updates
Online
Registration Deadline: FRI. 5/16/25 Venue: Online (see details below) Join us virtually on Friday, May 16, 10:00-11:00 am, for a session focused on TABE 13&14. State assessment trainers Linda Keller of Metro North and Marty Olsen of SW ABE will share the latest TABE 13&14 updates. They will… Learn More
Online
May 16, 2025
1:00 pm–3:00 pm
Online
How Adult Brains Learn Languages Presented by Andrea Echelberger
Online
Registration Deadline: FRI. 5/16/25 Learn what research has to say about how adult brains learn a new language, how trauma and stress impact learning, and how this influences the teaching practices that we use in the language classroom. Participants will leave the webinar with suggestions for ways teachers… Learn More
Online