Another day of trying to sort the mess (I mean the lists) out and narrow down all the sites I love using to a list of 5-10 tops. Today’s post focuses mostly on sites I use for essay writing or Academic Writing (especially with my IELTS students). Some of the sites below focus almost exclusively on Academic Writing skills required for university students, but I think they also provide great help to EFL teachers preparing students for C1-C2 level exams.
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/1/2/: An all-time favorite, Purdue’s OWL site offers great resources. I particularly like the examples on the use of Active – Passive Voice in writing as well as the notes on the use of appropriate language/register.
- http://owll.massey.ac.nz/assignment-types/essay-planning-and-structure.php: A very detailed guide into essay structure along with a list of resources. There’s also a seperate entry on Academic Writing for those interested.
- http://www.eslflow.com/AcademicWritng.html: One of my favorite sites in general! As usual you can find lots and lots of activities to choose from.I really like their Graphic Organizers suggestions!
- https://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/studyadvice/StudyResources/Essays/sta-writingessay.aspx: Apart from the very useful introduction to essay writing there also printable guides and lots of video tutorials to help you and your students.
- https://www.paperrater.com/free_paper_grader: Using a paper grader is something I’ve tried with students who were very reluctant to write and felt self-conscious about their writing. Using this site first helped them reflect on their mistakes and try to improve the quality of their paper before handing their papers in.
- http://eolf.univ-fcomte.fr/?page_id=149: Not a site on Writing only, but still one of my favorites! A great collection of exercises on grammar, pronunciation, Academic reading and writing as well as Listening. There are 3 different levels of difficulty to choose from and all activities are online so they can be checked right away. The exercises on linking words are amazing!
- Academic Wordlists: FIRST STOP HERE. THANK YOU 🙂 https://quizlet.com/gmhigginbotham/folders/nawl, http://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/resources/academicwordlist/, lots of exercises on AWL: http://www.englishvocabularyexercises.com/AWL/, http://www.uefap.com/vocab/select/awl.htm
- For younger learners: https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/sites/teens/files/an_opinion_essay_-_exercises.pdf and https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/sites/teens/files/a_for_and_against_essay_-_exercises_0.pdf
- http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice: A list comprising of lots of types of Writing including essay writing. I’ve also used their tips on Oral Presentations, really helpful!
- Last but not least! http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2008/04/06/the-best-websites-for-developing-academic-english-skills-vocabulary/: Larry Ferlazzo has a giant list of sites you can visit for Academic Reading, Vocabulary and everything related to Academic skills!
