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
Adult English language classes are also offered by the Adult Learning Center in Nashua, NH. These are free for adults who live within 25 miles of Nashua, NH. They also offer free tutoring, which they call Adult Learner Services on their website. Visit their website to learn how to register for classes or sign up for a tutor. Their website is: nashuaalc.org/adult-programs
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 Language Center Study Zone
The University of Victoria ELC Study Zone has lessons for different levels of English Language Learners. These lessons and exercises are available to learn and practice vocabulary, grammar, and reading and listening. This website includes useful vocabulary for college students who are learning English and English Language Learners who want to go to college.
Because this University is located in Canada, some of the vocabulary and topics on this website are related to Canada rather than the United States.
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.
Preply
Preply.com has free English lessons available in group sessions or in one-on-one private tutoring sessions. The website also has articles to help you learn grammar rules and new vocabulary words. The written lessons are also available in French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. (To choose one of these languages, click the link to go to the website, then scroll down to just below the Frequently Asked Questions.)
The Times in Plain English
TheTimesInPlainEnglish.com is a website where English Language Learners can read news articles written in simplified English. Learners can also use the menu on the left side of the screen to quickly translate the page to one of more than 100 languages. The news articles on this website include links to other news websites for further reading about the events.
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.