Index of Free ESL Lessons

This blog post features an index of free lessons and advice posts about learning English as a second language. Look through them and consider improving your English language skills so much more by signing up for Kingston University USA courses for any skill set.

The Basics of English Words


Practice: The Basics of English Words


Punctuation Marks


Educational Vocabulary


Singular and Plural


Practice: Singular and Plural Nouns


Pictures: Singular and Plural Nouns


Possessive Nouns


Introduction to Symbols


Possessive Pronouns


Symbols w/ Pictures


Possessive Adjectives


Pictures: Signs


Contractions


More Contractions

Even More Contractions

Asterisk


Formal English and Informal English


ESL Lesson: Tenses (Part 1)


ESL Lesson: Tenses (Part 2)


Practice with Pictures: Tenses


Writing Letters


Casual Letter Writing


Writing Business Letters


Internet Part I


Internet Part II

Do you have any questions or comments about any ESL subject? Leave them in the comment section and we will answer them. Stay tuned for more free advice on this and other subjects as well as promotions and news! If you want individual tutoring and help in learning English, contact Kingston University USA today!!

If you want individual tutoring and help in learning English, contact Kingston University USA today!!

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ESL News: ESL Class Incorporates Slang

This article by David Britto of the Daily Pennsylvanian discusses a  learning strategy used in an English as a Second Language (ESL) class. This class embraces informal English with slang, idiom and other overlooked components of English. Here is an excerpt of the article:

While most would easily call the presidential election a ‘big deal,’ foreign students may be stumped by these kinds of idioms.

Thankfully, one English as a Second Language program, that is celebrating its 15th anniversary at Penn, helps internationals cross the language barrier.

‘SLANGuage,’ a free ESL class hosted by The Christian Association at Penn, aims to educate students about idioms and slang language that they might not learn in a more formal English language course.

According to William Kelly, the founder of SLANGuage and the Coordinator of International Programs at the Christian Association, the ESL course is designed to allow foreigners to interact more successfully with Americans.

The full article can be read here.

ESL Lesson: Internet Part II

This blog entry is about helping you better navigate the internet in the English language. Here are some more terms to help you know more about internet web browsing:

URL: This stands for "uniform resource locator." In other words, this is where you type in the "address" of the website you wish to visit. Normally businesses', clubs', individuals', etc. websites feature .com, .net, .uk, etc...while schools might feature .edu and governments might feature .gov

Attachment: This is a file that you can send along as part of an email. The message of the email will appear as will a chance to view/listen and/or download the file, which might be a word document, excel document, image, video or audio file.

SPAM: This is unsolicited emails sent to a mass number of email addresses. SPAM is the internet equivalent to junk mail. Some email servers offer users spamblockers to counteract and remove these annoying spam emails.

CC: This stands for carbon copy. Select this option when drafting an email if you wish to send the email to multiple recipients. Recipients can see other recipients email addresses in carbon copy emails.

BCC: This stands for blind carbon copy. A blind carbon copy is used to send a message to a large number of recipients without them being able to see each other's addresses.

Email List: This is a subscription you can sign up for including announcement lists, discussion lists, ezines, email newsletters, etc. For instance, your favorite website to shop at can send you notifications for sales and coupon codes or your favorite newspaper can send you periodical updates with headlines and links to articles.

Emoticon: This is an internet cultural phenomenon that uses punctuation marks like the colon, semicolon and parentheses to represent facial expressions like a smiling face.

For instance, combine the colon and the right parenthesis (control + 0) and you get this smile :)

Combine the colon and the right parenthesis (control + 9) and you get this frown :( 

Combine the colon and a capitalized letter D and you get a big grinning smile :D


Filter: A search or filtering function within your email collection. Find emails with certain subjects or keywords using your filter.

Signature: A promotional device used at the bottom of email posts submitted by senders to recipients automatically showing things like contact information, title, an inspirational quote, etc.

ESL Lesson: Internet Part I

This blog entry is all about writing English on the internet. Now, the English language has a lot of different rules and usage, but the English language on websites and messages over the internet takes some unique characteristics. There are slang terms, abbreviations (or acronyms) and cultural idioms born from internet use and popular culture. Perhaps you have seen some of the following terms while using the internet. Keep in mind that these are all very informal instances or writing

AFK: Away from keyboard....announcing that you are taking a break and stepping away from your computer
ATM: At the moment 
OR 
At this moment
B/C: Because
Blog: Web log; a site like this one to read posts by writers.
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions...a part of a website where pre-written questions and answers are displayed for web browsers. 
FB: Facebook
FWIW: For what its worth
FYI: For your information
GTG OR G2G: Got to go 
IIRC: If I recall correctly
IM: Instant messaging...a communication service for real time chatting with other users. This is like email, except very fast since it is instant.
ISWYM: I see what you mean
LOL: Laughing out loud...to find something funny or humorous.
TTYL: Talk to you later
TTYS: Talk to you soon
W/: With

Literacy Volunteers help adults with reading, ESL

This article is from News and Sentinel 

A fifth of all adults in West Virginia have difficulty reading beyond a fourth-grade level, according to the National Institute for Literacy.

The Literacy Volunteers of the Mid-Ohio Valley, a member agency of the United Way Alliance of the Mid-Ohio Valley, is working to change that.

The Literacy Volunteers is a community-based nonprofit organization serving adults 18 and older in Wood and Wirt counties who need to learn or improve their reading skills and who need to learn English as a second language.

Book award program benefits ESL students

This article is from Lake County News

A new program started by the Mendocino College Foundation is providing financial assistance for books to English as Second Language (ESL) students, and the foundation is seeking additional funding to benefit more students.

With donations from the Ukiah Branch of the American Association for University Women (AAUW), the ESL Book Award program began in fall 2011.

The AAUW and the Sons of Italy, Ukiah, have agreed to donate funds to continue the program in the fall of this year.

In the schools: Clarkstown South students raise Make a Wish funds; more

This article is from lohud.com

Guests braved the dreary weather to support a fundraising dinner Feb. 29 at the Jesse J. Kaplan School.

The dinner coordinated by the Rockland County Welcome Committee and the Nanuet Lions Club raised more than $3,000 to support scholarships for Rockland BOCES adult English as a Second Language (ESL) students who are continuing their education through a CareerTrack program.

The buffet-style meal featured five family recipes from BOCES ESL students: Carmelle Mehu Milien and Dunie Ferdinand from Haiti, Regina Rivas from the Dominican Republic, Rolando Martinez from El Salvador and Matanat Imanova from Azerbaijan. The recipes were chosen from the “Bring Your Ancestor’s Best Family Recipe” contest open to upper level ESL students.

National Geographic Learning Secures Significant Customer Adoptions in Florida and Texas

This article is from The Sacramento Bee

 National Geographic Learning, part of Cengage Learning and a provider of quality educational and ELT materials for the K‐12, academic and adult education markets, today announced significant adoptions of their K-5 Science and K-8 English as a Second Language (ESL) products in Floridaand Texas, respectively.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20070724/NYTU125 )

National Geographic Learning (NGL) Science has been adopted by 21 school districts in the state of Florida, including Hillsborough County, the third-largest district in the state. This innovative and forward-thinking science product is a newcomer to the K-5 science sector and has achieved 28 percent market share in the state – reaching more than 320,000 elementary students. These students will have the opportunity to experience a research-based program that brings science learning to life.  Covering all aspects of science – science inquiry, science content and scientific literacy – NGL Science works with educators to immerse students in the nature of science, unlock big ideas, build scientific and content literacy, and get students to think objectively as scientists. The product was created to be customizable, so as to target the specific individual science standards in any given state.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/03/08/4322184/national-geographic-learning-secures.html#storylink=cpy

SES teacher wins grant from Johnston Ed Foundation

This article is from The Selma News
Selma Elementary’s John Altamirano was recently named a recipient of one of the coveted Johnston County Education Foundation’s grants.

Altamirano is an English as a second language teacher (ESL) at the school, and he received a grant for $370 for a project he calls “Do You Speak English?”

According to Altamirano, he will use the funds to enhance his ESL classes, so that his 31 second and third grade students can learn English in a way that suits their individual needs.

Texas District Selects Android Tablet for ESL Students

This article is from The Journal

A Texas school district is deploying 100 education-oriented tablets across several middle schools specifically to assist with ESL programs.

Garland Independent School District will distribute Brainchild’s Kineo tablets for use with the company's Achiever! software to help English language learners prepare for STAAR testing, the Texas state assessments.

The ESL students will use the tablets for individualized instruction. When Achiever! is used online, students can view lessons in both English and Spanish. The company's remedial software, Mechanics, will also be used with some students to help build fundamental skills.

ESL Schools Grow in 2012

This article is from PR Urgent
ESL Schools are opening, or have recently opened, offices in six new places. They are Amsterdam, London, Winturther, Valencia, Anvers and Noumea (in Holland, the UK, Switzerland, Spain, Belgium and New Caldeonia respectively). The Amsterdam and London offices are the first in their countries. Opening new offices helps ESL Schools get close to the people who they hope to provide language travel for. ESL Schools won the Best Language Travel Agency in Europe award in 2011, because of their demonstrable commitment to their students' needs. 

ESL Schools are, as part of this commitment, taking a leading role in sustainable development in the language travel industry. They have developed a CSR (corporate social responsibility) tool for the language schools with whom they work. The tool helps the schools work out how good their own CSR performance is in the areas of management & operations, community and education. The tool can be used by students to help them decide which school they want to learn at. ESL Schools also look at their own CSR practice. They have a full-time CSR manager, helping them to do things like encouraging their staff to use green travel modes. 

In our schools: Keys to helping non-native speakers learn

This article is from pnj.com 

Neftali Martinez, 10, walks into the classroom and gets right to work.

He looks up the words "universe" and "biology" in the dictionary. He reads part of a story about outer space. He participates in a review session for the vocabulary test he will take in two days.

Sounds like a fairly typical third-grade reading class. But Neftali's class at Navy Point Elementary School has only three students, and those children aren't just learning about science and vocabulary words. They are still learning English.

ESL Lesson: Tenses (Part 2)

This blog entry is more about tenses in English. The verbs showed here in Lesson 1 are actually the exceptions. Most verbs are formed around certain rules based on tense and how they are spelled.

Consider the following verbs:
Play
In the present tense:
For plural nouns and pronouns (they/we/you/etc.) and “I”, the verb is play.
For singular nouns and pronouns (he/she/it), the verb is plays.
In the past tense, add -ed:
For plural nouns and pronouns (they/we/you/etc.), the verb is played.
For singular nouns and pronouns (he/she/it), the verb is played.
In the future tense, add the word will:
For plural nouns and pronouns (they/we/you/etc.), the verb is will play.
For singular nouns and pronouns (he/she/it), the verb is will play.
Clean
In the present tense:
For plural nouns and pronouns (they/we/you/etc.) and “I”, the verb is clean.
For singular nouns and pronouns (he/she/it), the verb is cleans.
In the past tense, add -ed:
For plural nouns and pronouns (they/we/you/etc.), the verb is cleaned.
For singular nouns and pronouns (he/she/it), the verb is cleaned.
In the future tense, add the word will:
For plural nouns and pronouns (they/we/you/etc.), the verb is will clean.
For singular nouns and pronouns (he/she/it), the verb is will clean.
Walk
In the present tense:
For plural nouns and pronouns (they/we/you/etc.) and “I”, the verb is walk.
For singular nouns and pronouns (he/she/it), the verb is walks.
In the past tense, add -ed:
For plural nouns and pronouns (they/we/you/etc.), the verb is walked.
For singular nouns and pronouns (he/she/it), the verb is walked.
In the future tense, add the word will:
For plural nouns and pronouns (they/we/you/etc.), the verb is will walk.
For singular nouns and pronouns (he/she/it), the verb is will walk
Try
In the present tense:
For plural nouns and pronouns (they/we/you/etc.) and “I”, the verb is try.
For singular nouns and pronouns (he/she/it), the verb is tries.
In the past tense, drop the y and add -ied:
For plural nouns and pronouns (they/we/you/etc.), the verb is tried.
For singular nouns and pronouns (he/she/it), the verb is tried.
In the future tense, add the word will:
For plural nouns and pronouns (they/we/you/etc.), the verb is will try.
For singular nouns and pronouns (he/she/it), the verb is will try.
Cry
In the present tense:
For plural nouns and pronouns (they/we/you/etc.) and “I”, the verb is cry.
For singular nouns and pronouns (he/she/it), the verb is cries.
In the past tense, drop the y and add -ied:
For plural nouns and pronouns (they/we/you/etc.), the verb is cried.
For singular nouns and pronouns (he/she/it), the verb is cried.
In the future tense, add the word will:
For plural nouns and pronouns (they/we/you/etc.), the verb is will cry.
For singular nouns and pronouns (he/she/it), the verb is will cry.

Do you have any questions or comments about this or any other ESL subject? Leave them in the comment section and we will answer them. Stay tuned for more free advice on this and other subjects as well as promotions and news! If you want individual tutoring and help in learning English, contact Kingston University USA today!!

If you want individual tutoring and help in learning English, contact Kingston University USA today!!

Kingston University USA
Live Locally. Learn Globally.
Official Website
Facebook Page
Twitter
Youtube

ESL Academy makes sense here

This article is from Hurley Dust:

I have made several submissions in the past to the local EDC, which should be on file, making the case for Lillooet being particularly well situated and favoured for the establishment of an ESL (English as a Second Language) Academy here.




Lillooet offers lower operating costs than the ESL Academies in Whistler and Vancouver, yet is situated weekend-close to Whistler recreational amenities, while providing a safer and more inexpensive locale. Lillooet also offers its own riches of alpine, horseback riding and Fraser River recreational experiences.

MCC's Adult Education Program Gets Financial Boost

This article is from Huntley Patch 

McHenry County College is getting $20,000 from the Chicago Tribune Charities to develop a new class for its Adult Education program.

The Friends of MCC Foundation received the funding through the charity’s Holiday Campaign_ a fund of the  McCormick Foundation, according to an MCC press release.

MCC will be able to develop a first year student orientation class for Adult Education students transitioning from GED or ESL classes into post-secondary education.

Second chances: Variety at Community College of Aurora ESL program knows no limits

This article  is from Aurora Sentinel 

Tara Dhimal often thinks back to his schooling in Nepal, to classrooms where cruelty seemed like a prerequisite for teachers and where corporal punishment wasn't a taboo.

"In Nepal, the teachers are so mean," Dhimal said, recalling the beating that came after he let another student use one of his assignments as a study guide. "Someone from security called me at home. They bent me down. They hit me with a big stick. I will never forget that day."

McGraw-Hill Higher Education and Cambridge University Press Partner to Distribute Content for Digital and Traditional English Language Learning Programs

This article is from Market Watch The Wall Street Journal

McGraw-Hill Higher Education today announced a partnership with Cambridge University Press that will expand the reach of McGraw-Hill's leading "English as a Second Language" (ESL) teaching and learning content in the United States. This agreement brings together two leaders in education to further support the needs of English language learners, preparing students for success in an academic or career setting.

McGraw-Hill publishes more than 150 ESL titles, including Interactions/Mosaic, All-Star, Grammar, Form and Function and Excellent English, that support English instruction through both digital programs and traditional instructional models. Beginning in March, Cambridge University Press will be the exclusive distributor of all McGraw-Hill ESL content in the United States. Bringing together McGraw-Hill Higher Education and Cambridge University Press's full range of ESL titles will meet the diverse needs of learners across the field.

Bernie Paumier one of four ESL tutors in county

This article is from Lancaster Eagle Gazette 

After living in the U.S. for more than a decade, Pickerington residents Ana Maria Leal and Lupita Andreno will have the opportunity to do something this November they've never done before: vote for a U.S. president.

It was with the help of their tutor, Baltimore resident Bernard Paumier, that the two women passed their citizenship test in August after two years of weekly tutoring sessions.

ESL Classes Offer a New Opportunity in West Harrison

This article  is from Harrison Patch 

Opening doors to educational opportunity is what community colleges are all about, and it's become a part of the culture at Westchester County Community College over the years.

"Community is our middle name," said David Bernstein, the assistant dean of the English as a Second Language (ESL) at WCC, quoting a phrase he said is common on the campus.

In keeping with that theme, the college began offering ESL classes free of charge in surrounding communities almost 10 years ago. The original programs, held in White Plains and New Rochelle, have grown to a total of nearly 350 students. After the success of those programs the department has decided to expand to more communities, West Harrison being one of them.

Sleepy Hollow Addresses 'Needs Improvement' Rating

This article is from Tarry Town 

Sleepy Hollow Middle School has already begun implementing a number of recommendations to help improve its “School In Need of Improvement” designation under the No Child Left Behind Act, officials said during Thursday's board of education meeting.

The programs address the sub-group of students in English classes that did not meet state test standards in the 2010-11 school year, which was English as a Second Language (ESL) students who have passed a language proficiency test but are still not fluent in the English language. To remove the SINI designation, the school must show that every sub-group in every subject meets standards for two consecutive years.