The Library has a collection of books for English Language Learners located near the second floor Reference Desk. These books can be used inside the library, or can be taken home for three weeks using your library card. The collection includes books for studying English and books to read for fun that are written for adults who are learning English.
If you are looking for English language classes for adults, Lowell Public Schools offers free classes to adult residents of the Greater Lowell area at the Abisi Adult Education Center. Visit their website to learn how to register for classes. Their website is: www.lowell.k12.ma.us/adulted
Citizenship classes are sometimes offered by the Abisi Adult Education Center at the Pollard Memorial Library in Lowell. You can find more information about these classes at lowelllibrary.org/services/citizenship. The Greater Lawrence Community Action Council also offers citizenship classes. You can find out more about this class on their website: www.glcac.org/adultlearning
The Library also recommends these free websites for learning and practicing English language skills:
The Britannica Dictionary
Britannica.com/dictionary is a website where English Language Learners can look up new words to find out what they mean and how to pronounce them. The website also has answers to user-submitted grammar questions in the “Ask the Editor” section, a Word of the Day that learners can get emailed to them each day, and lists of core vocabulary words.
Culips Everyday English Podcast
esl.culips.com offers hundreds of 15-minute to 25-minute podcast episodes for improving English listening skills. These episodes can also be found on podcast apps such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify by searching for Culips Everyday English Podcast.
Duolingo
Duolingo.com or the Duolingo app for iPhones and Androids is a fun way to learn a language. With Duolingo, you can earn points for correct answers and level up. Each lesson only takes a few minutes to complete, so it is a great way to learn even when you don’t have much time.
Currently, English courses are available for speakers of Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Ukranian, and Vietnamese.
English courses are being created for speakers of Bengali, Punjabi/Gurmukhi, Tagalog, Tamil, and Telegu, but these are not available yet.
All the course levels are available for free. You will need an email address to create an account.
English Listening Lesson Library Online
elllo.org has more than 3,000 free listening activities for all levels of English Language Learners. The website has video lessons and audio-only lessons, and each lesson has a transcript, a vocabulary list, and a quiz to check your understanding.
Transparent Language
Transparent Language for Libraries is a website for learning languages that you can access through the library’s website. Click on the Transparent Language Online logo to the left to go to the Transparent Language website.
There are English courses for speakers of Amharic, Arabic, Czech, Dari, Farsi, French, German, Greek, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Mandarin, Norwegian, Pashto, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Tagalog, Tamil, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, and Vietnamese. There is also an immersive English course for speakers of any language.
You can create a free account to save your progress, or you can use the website without an account as a guest. You do not need an email address to create an account.
USA Learns
USALearns.org is a free website that helps adults learn English online for free using engaging videos and educational activities. This website also offers a free U.S. Citizenship course to help adults prepare for the U.S. Citizenship Test.
You will need an email address to create an account.