Close your eyes. Imagine teaching online, and you come to class. You enjoyed your free time, and you have a GIANT collection of FREE websites you can open to start your class, just with a little planning on a post-it note.
Isn’t it magical?
Sometimes we all have days like this where we cannot design anything or are not inspired to come up with new activities. If you have your syllabus and your curriculum outcomes, you are destined to find a ready-made ESL resource on some of the websites below. These are all teacher-tested, so you can rest assured that whatever you open will be useful and have some quality.
P.S. The websites below are easily used even if you just started teaching online, and only a few might be more complex. Make sure to check out the games before class, and if you are not very much into those types of games, don’t feel pressured to play. Game learning is only effective if the teacher is enthusiastic as well!
Let’s dive into the list – no photos, just a list with content description, so you don’t have to scroll in a hurry through 40 photos if you come to search for websites to use in your class!
- Starfall – Starfall focuses on phonics and reading skills, providing engaging games and interactive stories targeting letter recognition, phonemic awareness, and early literacy.
- Funbrain – Funbrain offers educational games, books, and videos to reinforce language skills, problem-solving, and critical thinking in a fun and entertaining way.
- ABCya! – ABCya! provides a collection of educational games covering various subjects, suitable for different learning levels, to reinforce language skills and core concepts.
- PBS Kids – PBS Kids is a trusted source for educational content, offering games and videos that promote language development, creativity, and social skills in an immersive educational environment.
- Seussville – Seussville provides interactive games and activities that encourage language exploration and creativity, aligning with the whimsical style of Dr. Seuss’s books.
- ESL Games Plus – ESL Games Plus specializes in English language learning games for children, offering interactive activities like vocabulary games, grammar exercises, and pronunciation activities.
- British Council – Learn English Kids: Learn English Kids offers a plethora of games, songs, and stories designed for young learners, focusing on developing listening, speaking, and reading skills.
- ESL KidStuff – ESL KidStuff provides a collection of ESL games, songs, and activities designed for young learners, emphasizing interactive and creative language learning.
- Lyric Training – Lyrics Training has a special English children’s music category where you can practice listening skills and writing with virtually every children’s song that exists on YouTube.
- ESL Games Box – ESL Games Box offers ESL teachers a collection of games and activities suitable for various age groups, emphasizing interactive and engaging learning experiences.
- Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab – ESL Cyber Listening Lab provides listening activities and quizzes for ESL learners, improving listening comprehension skills through real-life scenarios.
- LearnEnglish Kids – British Council – LearnEnglish Kids – British Council offers interactive games, videos, and songs for young English learners, focusing on building language skills in a playful environment.
- Games to Learn English – Games to Learn English offer amazing, up-to-date grammar, vocabulary, and phrases games. Make an account so you can pick and mix among the many categories you can use – some are not easily seen on the outside.
- Learning Apps – Learning Apps is a 100% free platform where teachers can make or reuse hundreds of thousands of different practices for grammar, vocabulary, and practically any aspect of English.
- Bingo Bongo Learning – Bingo Bongo Learning has a lot of interactive PDFs and a lot of free ppt games you can use for free in your classroom. There are paid ones, but a vast majority of materials is free.
- Splashlearn – Splashlearn has ELA games, reading, and writing games from pre-k to grade 4, including a lot of art, motor skills, and even math games in English.
- ABC Net Au – ABC Net Au offers a lot of fun and simple spelling and basic ESL-themed games with famous characters your very young learners might know. They are not necessarily ESL which will make them even more interesting to your students.
- Beano – Beano has food games, logic games, action games, Halloween games, and more. From puzzles to challenges, whatever you want, they might have it, just do a quick search!
- National Geographic Funny Fill-Ins – National Geographic Funny Fill-Ins are games where your students can practice spelling, parts of speech, all while creating a fun story collaboratively!
- TATE Kids – TATE Kids is an amazing website with art-related resources, games, and quizzes, so if you are using theme-based instruction, CLIL, or you simply want to add some arts and crafts to your online ESL classroom, this website might come in handy.
- Live Worksheets – Live Worksheets offer hundreds of ready made interactive worksheets for your class, in case you are in a hurry and want to have a quick worksheet. Make sure to check the quality as the worksheets are 100% teacher-made.
- Room Recess – Room Recess is loved by many teachers, and it has games for math, reading, and word skills. Personally, I find it outdated, but it’s been online for a long time, so it’s a staple for many teachers.
- Twinkl – Twinkl – Another teacher staple that has thousands of free worksheets and easily playable ppts for more educational side of ESL. I am sure most teachers know of it by now, but we shared a few that are a staple and that might be unknown to new teachers.
- Storyplace – Storyplace is full of great storybook activities for you to explore. Choose a theme to start the fun and explore storybooks through interactive games.
- Unite For Literacy – Unite for Literacy is a UN website with easily organized mini digital books you can open at the last minute to expand your topic and unit since you can easily find a book on any ESL topic. These are not games, but they function in a similar way – open and take your pick.
- Highlights – Highlights are an adventure in themselves, so I will not write ANYTHING about them. Explore it with your students in class to promote creativity, critical thinking, and speaking skills.
- Arts and Culture with Google – With Google’s Arts and Culture, you can explore the art world interactively, observing it from some amazing perspectives. This one is truly a gem and will complement your online classroom, even if you just want to have one reward or warm-up activity.
- Cbeebies – Cbeebies offer interactive, modern games with various pre-k and primary topics, and while not being ESL strictly, early childhood themes overlap with very young learners’ ESL and primary ESL topics.
- ISLCollective – ISLCollective offers hundreds of thousands of interactive worksheets and videos. I am personally sharing it to feature the video options because I use them constantly – my students love the interactive listening practices, and you can do any aspect of ESL. Just search for a ready-made video. Make sure to check it before class, as the exercises are teacher-made, so you need to check the quality.
- Anglomaniacy PL – Anglomaniacy PL has it all – games for spelling, songs, games, grammar, and more! Aimed at very young learners, they also provide a lot of ready-made printables to follow the digital games.
Bonus: Fredisa Learns – Fredisa Learns has a lot of paid content, but also offers 9 free units. It has videos, followed by games and worksheets, and it’s fun. You can use it at least for those 9 units to spice up your teaching and bring something new once these themes come up naturally in your curriculum. My students loved it so it’s shared as a bonus feature.
To conclude
These websites collectively offer a diverse range of ESL games, activities, and resources to support teachers in creating dynamic and engaging language learning experiences for kids and young learners. We hope they help you with some last-minute prep for your classes! Are there any MUST HAVE websites that you use that are not on the list? Let us know and make sure to link them down in the comments below this post!
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