As an ESOL teacher, I’m in constant search of free and effective websites to help streamline my planning process. One of my favorite reading activities to do with students is reading news articles. Lucky for me, there are multiple free news article websites for ELLs. Here, I’ll discuss the pros and cons of three different sites that you can use in your ESOL classroom. (These are also great for social studies/history teachers with ELLs in their class!)
- Engoo
- Pros:
- Clean layout
- New articles almost daily
- No ads on the site
- Audio available for each article
- Discussion questions for each article
- Cons:
- Only has new stories for mid-intermediate to high-advanced
- Only has speaking questions associated with the article (as opposed to reading comprehension questions, vocabulary questions, grammar questions, etc.)
- Suggestions when using this site:
- Use generative AI (or your brain) to develop your own activities for each article.
- Pros:
- News in Levels
- Pros:
- Every article is differentiated into three levels which is great for multi-proficiency level classes
- New articles almost daily
- Audio available for each article
- Cons:
- Lots of ads
- No questions or practice associated with the articles
- Suggestions when using this site:
- Use generative AI (or your brain) to develop your own activities for each article.
- Pros:
- Breaking News English
- Pros:
- Every article is differentiated which is great for multi-proficiency level classes; there are four levels for the “easier” articles and three levels for the “harder” articles
- New articles almost daily
- Dozens of activities associated with every article (speaking, writing, vocabulary, grammar, reading comprehension, punctuation, etc.)
- Cons:
- Lots of ads
- Kind of a messy layout
- No audio available
- Suggestions when using this site:
- Copy and paste the activities you want to use into Word or Google Docs so that you and your students aren’t bombarded with ads or with too many activities. Select the activities that would be best for your students and your classroom.
- Pros:
While Breaking News English is my personal favorite, there are definitely good things to be found in each of these websites. I love how News in Levels and Breaking News English both differentiate their articles. As someone who teaches mixed-level classes, it’s really nice to be able to teach the same content but have the content pre-scaffolded for my students! I also like how Engoo and News in Levels offer an audio recording for their articles. This is great for if you want to practice listening. All in all, if you’re looking to shake things up in your classroom, these free, no login required websites are sure to be a hit!