Bow Valley College (Alberta) has developed a series of graded audiobooks for Literacy learners, with seven levels to meet the different stages of reading development. Level A books present a single sentence per page and large images; Level G books contain images and paragraphs with more complex language and concepts. You will find two versions of each reader along with information on the complexity of the text, structure, and vocabulary. The Audio Book has a preview of the contents. The printable PDF has print settings beside each reader. There are a total of 40 audio books to choose from, with five to seven readers at each level.
Free access:
https://globalaccess.bowvalleycollege.ca/esl-literacy-readers#section-1264
BBC Learning English is a department of the BBC World Service devoted to English language teaching. The service provides free resources and activities for teachers and students, primarily through its website.
ELLLO - English Listening Lesson Library Online. ELLLO has over 3,000 free listening lessons for all levels! Most lessons have audio or video, a transcript, vocab support and interactive quizzes.
The English Listening Lessons and Library Online (elllo) site offers audio and video lessons with some printable worksheets. There is a wide variety of topics, including job search, job offer, job ads, dream job. Non-CLB. Many Canadian references.
Free access:
Listening Lab for students
This YouTube quiz plays 22 different audio clips of native speakers of regional varieties of Englishes (British, New Zealand, Australian, Canadian, Singaporean, Jamaican, Welsh, Indian, South African, Irish etc). It is a really effective way to demonstrate to students that native speakers of English can sound very different from one another, and that there are many unique varieties of English spoken around the world, (even within different regions of the same country). Have your students take the quiz for fun, or better yet, have them watch you take the quiz!
The Learning English with CBC website is a project between CBC Edmonton and the Alberta government. The website contains interactive tools - a podcast, video news stories and interactive quizzes at CBL levels 4 and 6, which may be adapted for other levels. New content is posted weekly. The focus is on soft skills to support real world interactions, using local stories from Alberta with broad appeal. Learners can use the site with mobile devices or in school settings.
Public Legal Education (PLE) Learning Exchange of Ontario has produced a series of 4 podcasts with accompanying CLB lesson plans and assessments. The podcasts vary in length from 15 to 20 minutes and cover common problems for newcomers, such tenant and workplace issues. In each episode, the host interviews a legal expert who provides advice. The podcasts are suitable for CLB 6 and higher.
This British storytelling website contains audio and text for each story. The intended audience is children; however, the stories are universal and applicable to English learners of all ages. The site includes myths and tales from around the world, plus audio chapter books including the Wizard of Oz and Sherlock Holmes. Suitable for intermediate and higher level students.
First launched in 2000, StoryPlace has been newly redesigned to present favourite stories and activities in a format compatible with desktop and mobile devices. The site also now includes early literacy information for parents and caregivers.
Learning English is Voice of America’s (VOA) source of digital news and information for English learners worldwide. VOA is a news network and radio station that broadcasts a wide range of programming around the world. The video and audio resources, which are drawn from current news, are separated into beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. There is also a free assessment that will help English language learners determine their level of English proficiency. The various resources that are available on the website work well for group work or independent learning. There are also a variety of teaching materials that instructors will find useful for lesson planning. These resources are free to use.
Last reviewed August 2023
