English Language Learning Resources | 10 Top Sites

The internet is often the first port of call for language teachers and learners looking for resources like vocabulary and grammar activities and worksheets, lesson plans, and teaching and learning tips. However, the quality of online resources can be very mixed.

This list of 10 top English learning websites will help you find reliable, high-quality resources to support your teaching or learning.

1. onestopenglish

Part of Macmillan Education, the onestopenglish platform is a treasure chest for busy English language teachers searching for ready-to-go resources—worksheets, lesson plans, flashcards, warmers, fillers, videos, and professional development articles.

Like many ESL and EFL teaching sites, most of the content is submitted by language teachers, but what sets onestopenglish apart is that the contributions are edited by their team before going online.

The search function allows you to filter by grammar point, vocabulary topic, skills focus, learner age, level, and variety of English (UK or US).

Highlights include news lessons based on articles from The Guardian and lesson plans covering seasonal topics.

While the majority of the resources are free, you need to subscribe to access the premium content.

2. YouGlish

Type any word or phrase into YouGlish, and you’ll instantly hear it spoken by real people in authentic contexts.

Let’s say you’re learning or teaching the phrase “I suppose so”; YouGlish will take you directly to the points in YouTube videos where it appears. You can rewind or fast-forward to gain an understanding of the context and skip to the next example when ready. This lets you explore different ways of using the phrase—to agree but show disappointment or cautiously acknowledge a criticism, for instance—and how its pronunciation can change in natural, connected speech.

The possibilities for integrating YouGlish into lesson plans, or for examining words and phrases as part of self-study, are endless. And you can search for examples in American, British, or Australian English.

3. ESLnotes: The English Learner Movie Guides

Movies are a rich resource for language learning, but their authentic speech and culturally specific references can overwhelm learners and make them challenging for teachers to use in lessons.

ESLnotes offers movie guides to 100 well-known films that give learners background on the plot, characters, and themes before watching, helping them to follow the story and deepen their comprehension.

The British Council’s LearningEnglish website (see below) also contains a useful guide to using video with lower levels in the classroom.

4. BBC Learning English

BBC Learning English, part of the BBC World Service, offers a wide variety of high-quality resources, such as self-study English language courses at various levels, videos and podcasts with accompanying worksheets, and grammar explanations and quizzes.

Its podcast titles include Learning English from the News, 6 Minute English, and Learning English for Work.

5. BusyTeacher.org

BusyTeacher.org hosts a vast collection of user-submitted ESL and EFL worksheets for teachers, organized into categories such as grammar, listening, pronunciation, vocabulary, writing, speaking, reading, and teaching ideas.

If you find a worksheet that works well with your learners, make a note of the contributor’s username so you can quickly find more of the resources they’ve uploaded.

6. We Speak NYC videos

We Speak NYC offers a series of beautifully produced English-learning videos that share the stories of a diverse selection of New Yorkers. Each episode comes with a full script and a downloadable study guide that focuses on practical, everyday language.

7. Breaking News English

Twice a week, Breaking News English publishes a topical news article for classroom use or self-study. Each article is available at multiple difficulty levels and comes with audio recordings in both North American and British English. Teachers can download detailed lesson plans based on the articles, while learners can practice a selection of vocabulary and grammar presented in the articles by completing a wide range of accompanying activities.

8. British Council LearnEnglish

The wealth of free resources on the British Council’s LearnEnglish website includes self-study grammar, vocabulary, reading, and listening lessons from beginner to advanced levels, and a free online English level test.

Learners can also join the Learning Hub community, where they can participate in online discussions facilitated by the LearnEnglish team.

9. Cambridge Learner’s Dictionary

The Cambridge Learner’s Dictionary is a monolingual rather than a bilingual dictionary, so all of its 35,000 simplified definitions are in English. It contains plenty of example sentences that highlight common word combinations, and you can hear the headwords spoken in UK and US English. The content is based on insights drawn from the Cambridge English Corpus, a huge database of real spoken and written English.

As well as helping learners to focus on the most pertinent aspects of the vocabulary they’re studying, the Cambridge Learner’s Dictionary is also a valuable tool for teachers for their lesson planning.

Other excellent online learner’s dictionaries include the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary and the Collins English Dictionary (the first set of definitions in Collins is written in simple English and highlights key information for learners).

10. Extensive Reading Foundation

Successful language learners tend to read a lot for pleasure in the target language, an approach known as extensive reading.

The Extensive Reading Foundation website provides information on reading-skill placement testing, showcases award-winning graded readers, and posts links to free reading materials.
It’s a great starting point for teachers looking to encourage students to read in English for enjoyment.

Frequently asked questions about English language learning resources

What is a learner’s dictionary?

A learner’s dictionary is a type of dictionary designed specifically for people learning a language, rather than for native speakers, with definitions written in the target language.

For example, in an English learner’s dictionary, all the definitions are written in simple, clear English. These dictionaries are a valuable English language learning resource because, as well as featuring easy-to-understand definitions, they also include lots of example sentences and helpful information (e.g., words that frequently combine with the headword and common learner mistakes involving it).

A learner’s dictionary is a monolingual dictionary rather than a bilingual dictionary that provides translations.

Learners can also prompt AI tools like QuillBot’s AI Chat  to provide simplified definitions and explanations for their level of English.