Resources in this section have been organized into the following categories:
Decoding and Phonics
- Citizen Literacy
Citizen Literacy
Citizen Literacy Learner web app is free to use and requires no registration from users. It features a voice driven interface suitable for low literacy learners with two virtual teachers that provide instruction and instant personalized feedback. This keeps track of each learner’s progress anonymously to provide feedback. There is multimedia interactivity and gameplay, together with voice and handwriting recognition. Enabling some of the first online independent learning opportunities for low literacy learners. From a standing start, by the end of lesson 2, learners are beginning to read and write simple sentences.
- The app features interactive exercises including voice and handwriting recognition.
- Each lesson has a symbol next to it to indicate that it requires reading, listening, writing and/or even talking.
- Tutor Hub is a couple of documents that can help first time tutors guide their learners with the app.
- No required Log In.
- The app is free to download and can be accessed online.
For tutors who are new to the use of phonics methods then working their way through the app also serves as a practical phonics training resource and at the same time informs them of the structure and content of the Citizen Literacy programme. When combined with the Tutor Handbooks, the Tutor Hub service, the online free Tutor Resources and the free ‘POST-16 PHONICS APPROACHES: TOOLKIT’, this is a powerful and growing collection of CPD resources. For more information please visit the Supporting Tutors page.
Link to the resource: https://citizenliteracy.com/app/
- Listen and Learn English 1
Listen and Learn English 1 – Adults Phonics Course via Video
This video Adult Phonics Course is geared for ELL learners but is appropriate for beginner English-speaking literacy learners who are learning the basics of phonics. The videos cover the alphabet, short and long vowel sounds, consonant pairs and vowel pairs. There are 70 separate lessons which last 10 minutes on average.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLp5zSGEKWyU6FrxaRZkxieeP7dk4Hu6H6
- Listen and Learn English 2
Listen and Learn English 2 – Basic English Course via Video This video-based Basic English Course is geared for ELL adult learners but is appropriate for beginner English-speaking literacy learners who are learning foundational grammar and vocabulary. There are 54 bite-sized lessons around 10-12 minutes in length that cover foundational grammar and vocabulary
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLp5zSGEKWyU4Xmzj3obJHMAFkiLpf7rE5
- Listen and Learn English 3
Listen and Learn English 3 – Adult Phonics Course via Video This video Adult Phonics Course is geared for ELL learners but is appropriate for beginner English-speaking literacy learners who are learning the basics of phonics. The videos cover the alphabet, short and long vowel sounds, consonant pairs and vowel pairs. There are 70 separate lessons which last 10 minutes on average.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLp5zSGEKWyU6FrxaRZkxieeP7dk4Hu6H6
- Montessori Words and Phonics
Montessori Words and Phonics Based on the Montessori learning method, Montessori Words helps develop reading, writing and spelling skills by building words from a set of 320 word-image-audio-phonics combinations using a phonics-enabled Movable Alphabet. This App encourages users to practice simple decoding and phonics exercises. The exercises start with simple CVC words and builds up to more complex words.
Costs $4.99
Download from Google Play https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lescapadou.picturespelling
Download from Apple Store https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id384334005
- PB Phonics
PB Phonics – Levels 1 – 3 and 4 – 7 This App takes learners through lessons where they learn the alphabet, letter sounds, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency. Each lesson is easy to understand, interactive, and quick.
Please note: only available for Apple devices
Find it in the Apple store here: PB phonics in the Apple Store
- Ultimate Phonics
Ultimate Phonics The Ultimate Phonics complete program consists of more than 4,400 words and 2,100 sentences organized into 262 lessons. The lessons are grouped into 12 levels, teaching the entire phonics system of English.
You get the first level (lessons 1 to 50) for free as an App and you can do a free 10 day trial of the Windows or iOS version for laptops. There is the option of purchasing additional levels or a license. To find out more about this App go to the Spencer Learning Homepage.You can learn more about this resource from an LU Tutor who is using this software by visiting our Let’s Zoom TNT recording from January 2021.
Ask the LU program director for more information on this product and getting a license.
Vocabulary
- All Things Grammar
All Things Grammar 
All Things Grammar is a free resource. The site has numerous worksheets with free downloads, including answer keys, on a variety of grammar topics. The site also has games for every level.
Subjects include: sentence structure, articles, adverbs, and adjectives
- All Things Topics
All Things Topics All Things Topics is part of the All Things site series. The site is full of English language learning resources that cover a variety of topics. The activities are grouped according to different topics (e.g., beach, cats, colours, weather). Each activity can take the form of Audio Files, Videos, Interactive Quizzes & Printable Worksheets and can be used in tutoring sessions or between sessions with learners at different levels.
Subjects include: spelling, vocabulary, grammar, reading and writing.
Please note that there are a few adverts on the site that can be distracting to some users.
- British Council Learn English
British Council Learn English This site is full of clear and simple explanations and exercises where a learner can practice their literacy skills and increase their understanding of English. Exercises are divided into different levels – beginner, intermediate and advanced. The site provides great resources to use in a tutoring session ~ reading, writing, speaking and listening and covers grammar, vocabulary and basic writing skills.
- English Lessons Brighton
English Lessons Brighton (ELB) ELB contains articles on grammar, reading, writing, vocabulary and other English skills, designed to help students at an intermediate level and above. You will find an archive of over 200 articles to help learners improve.
The site also contains links to many other great English language learning resources.
- EnglishLinx
EnglishLinx Englishlinx.com is a free resource. The site is full of worksheets that cover a a variety of topics. The worksheets may be used in tutoring sessions or between sessions and address a variety of grade levels.
Subjects include: spelling, vocabulary, grammar, reading and writing.
Please note that there are a few adverts on the site that can be distracting to some users.
- ESL with Jennifer
English With Jennifer This YouTube channel is a great place to go for any English language learner. Many of her lessons are free to view (there is a paid membership area where there are additional videos).
Lessons start from basic English language topics like: Greetings, useful expressions and basic grammar. There is lots to choose from and each video lasts between 3 and 15 minutes. Something you can share and watch in a tutoring session or ask your learner to review for homework.
- Kahoot
Kahoot!
Kahoot is an online game based learning platform. Tutors can set up fun web based activities for learners to review lessons on any subject. Once comfortable with the platform, learners can be encouraged to create a quiz themselves and share it with their family or friends – a great way to promote family literacy!
Watch this video to learn more:
- Learnhip
Learnhip – Tips and Resources, Puzzles and Games Learnhip is a great website where you can find all sorts of resources and tips for your tutoring session. It has interactive games, puzzles, activities and exercises aimed at learning and teaching English and other subjects online. Contains some great ideas for screen sharing activities in remote tutoring.
- Listen and Learn English 1
Listen and Learn English 1 – Adults Phonics Course via Video This video Adult Phonics Course is geared for ELL learners but is appropriate for beginner English-speaking literacy learners who are learning the basics of phonics. The videos cover the alphabet, short and long vowel sounds, consonant pairs and vowel pairs. There are 70 separate lessons which last 10 minutes on average.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLp5zSGEKWyU6FrxaRZkxieeP7dk4Hu6H6
- Listen and Learn English 2
Listen and Learn English 2 – Basic English Course via Video This video-based Basic English Course is geared for ELL adult learners but is appropriate for beginner English-speaking literacy learners who are learning foundational grammar and vocabulary. There are 54 bite-sized lessons around 10-12 minutes in length that cover foundational grammar and vocabulary
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLp5zSGEKWyU4Xmzj3obJHMAFkiLpf7rE5
- LU Word Puzzles For Everyday Life
LU Word Puzzles for Everyday Life
From time to time, LU creates wordsearches, crosswords and other word puzzles for everyday life, e.g., shopping, managing your money, health. Some of these puzzles are created by tutors. You can download these PDF puzzles below:
- LU Word Puzzles For Special Occasions
LU Word Puzzles for Special Occasions
From time to time, LU creates wordsearches, crosswords and other word puzzles on special themes, e.g., Halloween, Winter Holidays, Thanksgiving. You can download these PDF puzzles below:
- My Reading Words
My Reading Words My Reading Words is a great App for a learner to practice sight words. The App contains a larger set of the common sight words (Dolch and Fry sight words). You can also custom build your own list of words tailored to your learner’s needs.
Only available for Android devices. Download My Reading Words in the Google Play Store.
Free and can by used offline.
- ReadWorks
ReadWorks ReadWorks is a nonprofit organization with the mission to support the growth of successful, joyful readers. By creating a free educator’s account on this site, you will have access to a library of curated nonfiction and fiction passages, along with reading comprehension and vocabulary supports, text-dependent question sets, teacher guidance, and more! Learners create an account and join the tutors ‘class’. You can assign a learner a reading passage and comprehension questions. Learners can build their own library of reading materials.
ReadWorks resources for the teaching and learning of reading comprehension are always fully free for use by both educator and learner.
It’s easy to create an account. Just go to the website and click on the Sign Up button. The Teachers Guide section (look for the tab at the top of the webpage) gives step-by-step instructions on how to get started and invite your learner. Once you are signed up, you can use screen share in an online session to walk your learner through signing up as a student.
- Unite For Literacy
Unite for Literacy Online Books Unite for Literacy develop online picture books to encourage literacy. The site may have been developed for a young audience, however, many of the books are suitable for and interesting to learners of all ages. Each book contains vivid colour pictures and short text. There is also an audio for each book. At the end of each book is a suggested activity or question.
- World Food Program Quiz
World Food Program Free Rice Quiz – Vocabulary The UN World Food Program (WFP) have created lots of quizzes in a game called Freerice. As you answer questions correctly, ads appear on your screen. When you see one of these ads, you trigger a cash payment to WFP that is equivalent to the cost of 5 grains of rice and this is used to save and change lives. The Freerice vocabulary quiz is a multiple-choice quiz with four options to choose from. You can set the difficulty level for the quiz in a drop-down menu on the top left of the screen.
Reading Fluency
- Bow Valley Readers
Bow Valley College Readers Bow Valley College has developed seven sets of readers at different levels for ELL or beginner/intermediate learners. Each reader has content relevant and important to everyday adult life. There are lots of photos for readers to refer to. There is an audio recording for each text that a reader can listen to as they read.
https://globalaccess.bowvalleycollege.ca/learners/readers.php
- Literacy Centre for Expertise
Literacy Centre for Expertise Interactive Readers If you work with a beginning or low lever reader, this resource might be for you. The Literacy Centre for Expertise has created 40 interactive phonics-based stories for adult literacy learners.
- All stories are aimed at adults, present relatable topics, and feature photos/audio of actual students and teachers from The Immigrant Education Society.
- They can be viewed on any digital device (computers, smartphones, smartboards, etc.) and can also be printed to give to students.
- Each set of 10 stories has a specific phonics focus for different levels of literacy learners, including initial sounds, short vowels, long vowels, and comparing long and short vowel sounds.
- The interactive stories are formatted into sections, each with a different focus:
- Oral language: audio is paired with correlating images
- Story: audio paired with correlating images and text
- Explicit phonics practice: interactive review of different phonics features
- Sight words: review page highlighting sight words from the story
- Along with interactive and PDF versions of each story, you will also find teacher’s guides and instructional videos that provide direction on how these resources can be fully utilized in the classroom.
https://literacycentre.immigrant-education.ca/reading-skills-stories/phonics-stories/
- My Reading Words
My Reading Words My Reading Words is a great App for a learner to practice sight words. The App contains a larger set of the common sight words (Dolch and Fry sight words). You can also custom build your own list of words tailored to your learner’s needs.
Only available for Android devices. Download My Reading Words in the Google Play Store.
Free and can by used offline.
- Reading Skills 4 Today
Reading Skills 4 Today – Minnesota Adult Basic Education This website has a large number of reading texts written for an adult audience at different levels (1 -16). Each text has three audios that learners can listen to as they follow the text. Each recording shows a higher level of reading fluency. The short texts are accompanied by pre-reading activities and comprehension questions. A stopclock on the site allows learners to see how far they can read in 1 minute. This can be used to measure progress in reading fluency over time.
Reading Comprehension
- All Things Grammar
All Things Grammar All Things Grammar is a free resource. The site has numerous worksheets with free downloads, including answer keys, on a variety of grammar topics. The site also has games for every level.
Subjects include: sentence structure, articles, adverbs, and adjectives
- All Things Topics
All Things Topics All Things Topics is part of the All Things site series. The site is full of English language learning resources that cover a variety of topics. The activities are grouped according to different topics (e.g., beach, cats, colours, weather). Each activity can take the form of Audio Files, Videos, Interactive Quizzes & Printable Worksheets and can be used in tutoring sessions or between sessions with learners at different levels.
Subjects include: spelling, vocabulary, grammar, reading and writing.
Please note that there are a few adverts on the site that can be distracting to some users.
- British Council Learn English
British Council Learn English This site is full of clear and simple explanations and exercises where a learner can practice their literacy skills and increase their understanding of English. Exercises are divided into different levels – beginner, intermediate and advanced. The site provides great resources to use in a tutoring session ~ reading, writing, speaking and listening and covers grammar, vocabulary and basic writing skills.
- Dartmouth Learning Network – Moving On Up
Dartmouth Learning Network – Moving On Up A course consisting of 4 modules (Geography, Government, History and Lifestyle) that cover basic communications topics like reading comprehension, grammar and vocabulary. Lessons in each module contain stories written by adult learners in Nova Scotia.
Learners navigate through the modules via a series of slides that have interactive capabilities. Learners can click on tabs, drag and drop words, click boxes in quizzes and type into boxes.
- EnglishLinx
EnglishLinx Englishlinx.com is a free resource. The site is full of worksheets that cover a a variety of topics. The worksheets may be used in tutoring sessions or between sessions and address a variety of grade levels.
Subjects include: spelling, vocabulary, grammar, reading and writing.
Please note that there are a few adverts on the site that can be distracting to some users.
- Listen and Learn English 3
Listen and Learn English 3 – Adult Phonics Course via Video 
This video-based Basic English Course is geared for ELL adult learners but is appropriate for beginner English-speaking literacy learners who are focused on reading comprehension and writing. There are 70 bite-sized lessons and practice tests around 10-12 minutes in length that cover new vocabulary, speaking, listening, reading comprehension and writing.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLp5zSGEKWyU7e5qniGH3XcxwL_47hX8c9
- LiteracyWorks
LiteracyWorks – Multiple Intelligences Assessment This assessment consists of 56 questions that help your learner determine which intelligences are strongest for them. When they complete the assessment, they get descriptions of their top 3 intelligences and scores for the others. At the bottom of the results page, there is a “Practice” link that suggests tutoring strategies to engage each of the multiple intelligences.
https://www.literacynet.org/mi/assessment/findyourstrengths.html
- ReadWorks
ReadWorks ReadWorks is a nonprofit organization with the mission to support the growth of successful, joyful readers. By creating a free educator’s account on this site, you will have access to a library of curated nonfiction and fiction passages, along with reading comprehension and vocabulary supports, text-dependent question sets, teacher guidance, and more! Learners create an account and join the tutors ‘class’. You can assign a learner a reading passage and comprehension questions. Learners can build their own library of reading materials.
ReadWorks resources for the teaching and learning of reading comprehension are always fully free for use by both educator and learner.
It’s easy to create an account. Just go to the website and click on the Sign Up button. The Teachers Guide section (look for the tab at the top of the webpage) gives step-by-step instructions on how to get started and invite your learner. Once you are signed up, you can use screen share in an online session to walk your learner through signing up as a student.
- The West Coast Reader
The West Coast Reader Monthly newspaper (similar to ‘Your News’) in PDF format with news stories adapted for people who want to improve their English language skills. Newspaper content is presented in 3 different levels with accompanying photographs and downloadable teacher’s notes.
There is also a library with articles at three reading levels. Most articles have quizzes and audio readings at a slower pace and a natural pace. Each article has a downloadable PDF version and downloadable PDF exercises.
For some of their best articles, also check out Best of the West Coast Reader.
- Unite For Literacy
Unite for Literacy Online Books Unite for Literacy develop online picture books to encourage literacy. The site may have been developed for a young audience, however, many of the books are suitable for and interesting to learners of all ages. Each book contains vivid colour pictures and short text. There is also an audio for each book. At the end of each book is a suggested activity or question.
Online Books
- Bow Valley Readers
Bow Valley College Readers Bow Valley College has developed seven sets of readers at different levels for ELL or beginner/intermediate learners. Each reader has content relevant and important to everyday adult life. There are lots of photos for readers to refer to. There is an audio recording for each text that a reader can listen to as they read.
https://globalaccess.bowvalleycollege.ca/learners/readers.php
- Literacy Centre for Expertise
Literacy Centre for Expertise Interactive Readers If you work with a beginning or low lever reader, this resource might be for you. The Literacy Centre for Expertise has created 40 interactive phonics-based stories for adult literacy learners.
- All stories are aimed at adults, present relatable topics, and feature photos/audio of actual students and teachers from The Immigrant Education Society.
- They can be viewed on any digital device (computers, smartphones, smartboards, etc.) and can also be printed to give to students.
- Each set of 10 stories has a specific phonics focus for different levels of literacy learners, including initial sounds, short vowels, long vowels, and comparing long and short vowel sounds.
- The interactive stories are formatted into sections, each with a different focus:
- Oral language: audio is paired with correlating images
- Story: audio paired with correlating images and text
- Explicit phonics practice: interactive review of different phonics features
- Sight words: review page highlighting sight words from the story
- Along with interactive and PDF versions of each story, you will also find teacher’s guides and instructional videos that provide direction on how these resources can be fully utilized in the classroom.
https://literacycentre.immigrant-education.ca/reading-skills-stories/phonics-stories/
- Unite For Literacy
Unite for Literacy Online Books Unite for Literacy develop online picture books to encourage literacy. The site may have been developed for a young audience, however, many of the books are suitable for and interesting to learners of all ages. Each book contains vivid colour pictures and short text. There is also an audio for each book. At the end of each book is a suggested activity or question.