Voice of America

Voice of America's "Special English" section is pretty amazing.  This portion of the website is dedicated to English Language Learners, and it is like nothing that I have ever seen before.  All articles are authentic, but there is an audio player that actually reads the articles.  This is great for English Language Learners - they can play the audio and follow along with the text.  Students can practice their listening skills by just playing the audio, can follow along with both audio and text to listen for pronunciation, or just read the article by itself to practice their reading and reading comprehension.  All articles are up-to-date with current events.

Above is a Special English video from Voice of America. In it, the reporter speaks slowly and clearly for ELLs.  There is also text that scrolls up the screen so that ELLs can follow along.  I think that these videos (and articles) are really great for learners of English, and can easily be incorporated into lessons and activities.  What is even better, is that all topics are relevant to what is going on currently in the world.

In addition to the articles on the website, language exercises, idiom dictionaries, and word books are also available on the website.  Lesson plans for EFL teachers are available as well.