Languages
English and ESL Resources
TRANSPARENT LANGUAGE ONLINE (formerly Byki) : 'Web-based Language Learning that's easy, fast, and effective! Byki is a powerful language-learning system that uses flashcards to teach you a set of words or phrases. It is the fastest possible way to lock foreign words and phrases into your long-term memory. Byki offers over 80 language options, ESL, personal progress tracking, pronunciation analysis, international language and cultural resources, and more!' NOTE: New users will have to set up a personal username and password by clicking on the 'Sign Up Now' button. If you're logging on at home, you'll need to enter your name, library card barcode number, and PIN to get started. From Recorded Books
PETERSON'S TESTING & EDUCATION REFERENCE CENTER : Free practice tests, study tips, test prep eBooks and related resources for the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) and TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication). If you're logging on at home, you'll need to enter your name, library card barcode number, and PIN to get started. Once you've logged in, click on 'INTERNATIONAL TOOLS' to find TOEFL, TOEIC, and U.S. Citizenship materials.
UNIVERSAL CLASS : Free online non-credit courses in language arts and many other subjects. Courses are accessible 24/7 via the Internet. You will have up to 6 months to finish each course, and each course has a real instructor you can communicate with by email! If you're logging on at home, you'll need to enter your name, library card barcode number, and PIN to get started.
Signing Savvy : Signing Savvy is a sign language dictionary containing several thousand high-resolution videos of American Sign Language (ASL) signs, fingerspelled words, and other common signs used within the United States and Canada. Signing Savvy also allows you to build custom wordlists and share them with others, create virtual flash cards and quizzes, print signs, build sign phrases, and much more! (From Recorded Books) NOTE: New users will have to set up a personal username and password by clicking on 'New User? Sign Up!' in the upper left corner of the page.
Acronym Finder - Need to know what acronyms like GPS or VDT stand for? Acronym Finder is searchable database of acronyms, with links to additional information for your search term. (Site includes advertisements)
Boggle's World / Lanternfish ESL Teaching Resources - Worksheets, lesson plans, puzzles, flashcards, and other aids for teaching language arts, TESOL, TEFL and English as a Second Language. (Maintained by a group of ESL teachers in Asia and North America; site includes advertisements)
Business English for Adults - Free lessons, tips and games. Scroll down to get to the list of exercises and other materials. (By teacher Pearson Brown; site includes advertisements)
Confusing Words - Searchable collection of thousands of words that are troublesome to readers and writers (by Richard & Anne Wanderman et al.; personal site). See also Commonly Confused Words (Oxford University Press; site includes advertisements).
Connect With English 
- This series of video lessons tells the story of Rebecca, an aspiring singer on a journey across America, touching on issues such as leaving home, parenting, education, work, love, success, and loss. Each episode features dialogue that is slightly slowed down and simplified. NOTE : Free registration is required to view the videos. (Annenberg/CPB)
Dictionaries : Farlex Free Dictionary 
- 'English, Medical, Legal, Financial, and Computer Dictionaries, Thesaurus, Acronyms, Idioms Encyclopedia, a Literature Reference Library, and a Search Engine all in one.' The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary & Thesaurus also includes pronunciation audio. Or use the
OneLook® Dictionary Search (below) to search dozens of web-based dictionaries from one site. (These sites include advertisements)
Do You Speak American? - An exploration of modern American English, including slang, regional dialects, and the influence of different ethnic groups. (PBS; site includes advertisements)
Elements of Style - William Strunk's classic reference book on 'the principal requirements of plain English style... the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated. (Bartleby.com; site includes advertisements)
English as a Second Language - Use the menu on the left-hand side of the screen to find links to resources for listening, reading, writing, and speaking English, as well as newspapers, magazines, quizzes, games, dictionaries, and more. (By Ron Chang Lee [Rong-Chang Li]; site includes advertisements)
English as a Second Language Podcast - Free podcast using everyday phrases and expressions in English. Phrases are spoken slowly and clearly, followed by explanations of what they mean and how to use them. (By ESL professors Dr. Lucy Tse and Dr. Jeff McQuillan; site includes advertisements)
English online : Materials for Teaching & Learning - A large set of links to useful ESL materials covering grammar, quizzes, vocabulary, reading, writing, listening, speaking, and much more (by Eva L. Easton, personal site). You can find smaller selections of good links at Language Links : ESL / EFL Resources (By Lauren Rosen, University of Wisconsin Collaborative Language Program) and ESL Resources (Purdue University).
English Phrasebooks - 'These phrasebooks are designed to supply refugees with the appropriate English phrases and supplementary vocabulary for use in the daily activities of American life (rather than simply word-to-word translations, as in a dictionary). Phrases contained in the books have been selected for their directness, brevity and relevance to the needs of newly arrived residents of the United States. Among the nineteen units included are sections on Giving Information About Yourself, Signs, Money, Health, Food, Clothing, Housing, and Jobs. Each phrasebook is approximately 140 pages and can be downloaded for free.' Separate editions are available for native speakers of Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, Chinese, Czech, Farsi, Haitian Creole, Hmong, Hungarian, Khmer, Lao, Polish, Russian, Somali, Spanish, and Vietnamese. (Cultural Orientation Resource Center)
ESL Beginners & Primary Resources - Links to hundreds of ESL websites which have been reviewed and selected by ESL instructor Dianne Dogan. (Shelby County [TN] Schools)
ESL Gold - Another site with lots of resources for ESL learners and teachers. The site's front page may be viewed in English or any of 16 other languages, including Chinese (simplified or traditional), Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Arabic, Thai, Russian, Polish, Italian, French, German, Turkish, or Indonesian. (Site includes advertisements)
ESL Links - Links to lots of English quizzes, games & puzzles, plus vocabulary, reading, grammar, and more. Separate sections for students and teachers. (Internet TESL Journal)
ESL Teachers' Toolkit - 'This toolkit provides a variety of materials to help language and literacy instructors who are new to serving adults and families learning English... includes a first-day orientation guide, lesson plans, and research-to-practice papers on English language and literacy learning.' PDF format. (Center for Adult English Language Acquisition, Center for Applied Linguistics)
Frequently Mispronounced Words - A list of one hundred commonly mispronounced English words, along with advice on the correct pronunciation. If you click on a linked word you will get the definition and pronunciation audio, but the audio is not very clear. See also Frequently Misspelled Words. (YourDictionary.com; site includes advertisements)
Interesting Things for ESL Students - Word games, puzzles, quizzes, slang, proverbs and more, for students of English as a second language. (By Charles I. Kelly & Lawrence E. Kelly, Aichi Institute of Technology, Japan).
Language Arts Games 
- Games to teach you and text you on grammar, punctuation, SAT/GRE words, vocabulary, and medical or computer terms. (Sheppard Software; site includes advertisements)
Literacy Programs of New Jersey - Programs and services to help adult, native speakers of English, and those whose native language is not English, to acquire the basic skills in reading, speaking, and writing English necessary to participate more fully in the daily tasks of family, school, job and community. (Formerly Literacy Volunteers of Middlesex)
Literacy Services in Middlesex County - A PDF directory of service providers in Middlesex County who offer training in English as a Second Language (ESL), Citizenship/Civics, Adult Reading & Math, GED Preparation, and more.
Literacy Volunteers of New Jersey - A nonprofit educational organization which provides training, technical assistance, communications, and program support to adult literacy organizations in New Jersey. Website includes contact information for local/county literacy groups, and links to groups with their own websites.
Literacy Volunteers of Plainfield - A local organization where you can get a tutor, or volunteer to be a tutor.
OneLook® Dictionary Search - Enter a word or phrase in the search box and OneLook quickly searches dozens of web-based dictionaries for definitions or translations. 'If you don't know how to spell the word, we'll help you do that too.' Indexes more than 5 million words in more than 900 online dictionaries (site includes advertisements).
Oxford Dictionaries - An authoritative source of guidance for those wishing to write or speak English correctly. The site includes English FAQs, dictionaries, quizzes, crossword solver, language links, and more. For American English, choose 'US English' near the upper right-hand corner of the page. (Oxford University Press; site includes advertisements)
Perfect Pronunciation - Listen-and-repeat exercises to help you learn proper pronunciation of English, plus a Learners Dictionary of American English for ESL, EFL, and TOEFL Students. (Merriam-Webster; site includes advertisements)
Phrase Finder - Meanings and origins of over a thousand phrases, sayings, quotes and cliches in English. Also includes a discussion board. Site is based in the UK. (By Gary Martin et al.; site includes advertisements)
Reverse Dictionary - OneLook's Reverse Dictionary indexes hundreds of online dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other reference sites. Enter a word or phrase to describe the concept you're looking up, and you'll get a list of related terms with the best matches shown first. (By Doug Beeferman; site includes advertisements)
TOPICS Online Magazine for Learners of English - On this site, 'learners of English as a second language express their ideas and opinions on topics of interest to them. Readers can explore an international world.' (By Sandy & Thomas Peters)
Visual Dictionary Online - Thousands of detailed, labelled images with audio pronunciation, organized by 15 major themes including plants, animals, humans, food, clothing, house, science, society, and others (site includes advertisements). A similar site is
Visual Dictionary, which offers images labelled in English or French in the categories of Biology, vegetable; Biology, animal; Human body; Music; Transport; and Clothing (by Bernard Déry et al.; site includes advertisements)
Vocabulary Web Games is now Language Arts Games, above.
Wordsmyth - An easy-to-use English-language thesaurus and dictionary. Free registration is required to use extra tools & features. (Site includes advertisements)
Word Spy : The Word Lover's Guide to New Words - Definitions of newly-coined words and phrases such as phantom fat, weisure, and flotsamatrics, with links to sources where the new words have been used. (By Paul McFedries, an author of numerous computer books; site includes advertisements)
YourDictionary.com - Online English dictionary, thesaurus, grammar, and more. Also offers specialized dictionaries for dozens of technical, occupational, and hobby-related topics such as accounting, medicine, photography, and sports. (Site includes advertisements)
Other Language Resources
TRANSPARENT LANGUAGE ONLINE (formerly Byki) : 'Web-based Language Learning that's easy, fast, and effective! Byki is a powerful language-learning system that uses flashcards to teach you a set of words or phrases. It is the fastest possible way to lock foreign words and phrases into your long-term memory. Byki offers over 80 language options, ESL, personal progress tracking, pronunciation analysis, international language and cultural resources, and more!' NOTE: New users will have to set up a personal username and password by clicking on the 'Sign Up Now' button. If you're logging on at home, you'll need to enter your name, library card barcode number, and PIN to get started. From Recorded Books
UNIVERSAL CLASS : Free online non-credit courses in language arts and many other subjects. Courses are accessible 24/7 via the Internet. You will have up to 6 months to finish each course, and each course has a real instructor you can communicate with by email! If you're logging on at home, you'll need to enter your name, library card barcode number, and PIN to get started.
ASL University - Extensive resources for learning American Sign Language, including a photographic sign language dictionary; by ASL educator Dr. William G. Vicars (site includes advertisements). See also
American Sign Language Browser (Michigan State University), and videos for
Classifiers in American Sign Language ; classifiers are used in American Sign Language to show movement, location, and appearance (John A. Logan College).
BBC Languages - Interactive online courses in French, Spanish, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, and Chinese, with audio and video. Also offers resources for learning Japanese, Polish, Urdu, and several other languages, plus common phrases in dozens of languages, and news from BBC World Service in more than two dozen languages.
Bing Translator (formerly BabelFish) - Type words or a website URL in the space provided, use the dropdown menu to choose your 'from and to' languages, and Bing Translator will translate for you. If you enter a single word, it will also give you the dictionary entry for the target language. See also Google Translate and ECTACO Online Dictionaries (scroll past the advertisements for the list of languages). (These sites include advertisements.) CAUTION : These translation sites are highly useful, but not always entirely accurate.
Chinese : ZON - 'A multiplayer, online learning environment designed to teach Chinese language and culture through gameplay.' Registration required (Michigan State University). For more Chinese language learning resources, see Centre for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (Oxford University, UK).
Fodor's Foreign Languages for Travellers - Basic travel-related words and expressions in French, Italian, German, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese. Includes audio and written pronunciation. (Site includes advertisements)
Foreign Language Resource Centers - A large collection of online materials for learning or teaching foreign languages. Searchable by language, age group, level, skill, medium, and more (Michigan State University and US Department of Education). The Language Materials Project is a searchable directory of teaching resources for less commonly taught languages (UCLA).
French in Action - A free online video instructional series in French, using active participation to increase fluency in French, while introducing French culture (Annenberg Media).
Visual Dictionary offers images labelled in English or French, in the categories of Biology, vegetable; Biology, animal; Human body; Music; Transport; and Clothing. Click on the 'Language' button to switch from English to French (by Bernard Déry et al.; site includes advertisements).
FSI Language Courses - Free, high-quality language courses originally developed by the U.S. Foreign Service Institute. Use the left-hand menu bar to choose from among dozens of languages, including the most commonly spoken languages, as well as many less common languages. Includes text and extensive audio lessons. (Non-profit organization)
IATE (Inter-Active Terminology for Europe) - A multilingual dictionary of technical and specialized terminology in European languages, including Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, German, Greek, English, Spanish, Estonian, Finnish, French, Irish, Hungarian, Italian, Latin, Lithuanian, Latvian, Maltese, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, and Swedish. (European Commission et al.)
Languages on the Web - Scroll down the page for parallel translations of stories in 55 different languages, plus language-related links. (By language teachers Crystal Jones and Robert Behar Casiraghi; site includes advertisements)
LearningLanguages.net - 'A portal that brings together the best online foreign language resources for English-speaking K-12 students and teachers.' (2003; by a team of staff and students at University of Wisconsin)
Study Spanish - Free online lessons, audio exercises, and other resources (Study Languages, LLC, site includes advertisements). See also Colorín Colorado, offering information, activities, and advice for educators and Spanish-speaking families of English language learners (WETA public television / radio); and Destinos video lessons in speaking, listening, and comprehension skills in Spanish (Annenberg Media).
Word Reference Dictionaries - Searchable, easy-to-use dictionaries for Spanish, French, Italian, German, Russian, Portuguese, Polish, Romanian, Czech, Greek, Turkish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Arabic. Also offers verb conjugators, and language discussion forums where you can post a question. When you look up a word, the search results will include links to discussions of phrases, usage, etc., related to that word. (By Michael Kellogg; site includes advertisements)
YourDictionary.com : Foreign Language Dictionaries - Links to online dictionaries for more than a hundred languages. (Site includes advertisements)
