OER Subject Guides

English as an Additional Language (EAL) is the term used in Saskatchewan to describe students who speak languages other than English and require adequate levels of English to be successful with the school curriculum.

College ESL Writers: Applied Grammar and Composing Strategies for Success is designed as a comprehensive grammar and writing etext for high intermediate and advanced level non-native speakers of English. We open the text with a discussion on the sentence and then break it down into its elemental components, before reconstructing them into effective sentences with paragraphs and larger academic assignments. Following that, we provide instruction in paragraph and essay writing with several opportunities to both review the fundamentals as well as to demonstrate mastery and move on to more challenging assignments.

With funding from Alberta Open Educational Resources, Bow Valley College and NorQuest College collaborated to create Open Educational Resources (OER) in the form of e-textbooks for English language learners.

NorQuest College created In the Community: An Intermediate Integrated Skills Textbook.

The materials presented in this book were developed for an advanced-level content-based Russian language course at Portland State University entitled “Russian Literature of the Twentieth Century: The 1920s.” Literature of this period is a major part of the Russian canon, but is notoriously difficult for learners of Russian to read in the original, due both to its stylistic complexity and the relative obscurity of its historical, political, and cultural references. And yet, this decade is crucial for understanding Russia – not only in the Soviet period, but also today. This was the period, when Mikhail Zoshchenko, Isaak Babel, Mikhail Bulgakov, and Andrei Platonov meticulously documented the birth of the “New Soviet Man,” his “newspeak” and Soviet bureaucratese; when Alexandra Kollontai, a Marxist revolutionary and a diplomat, wrote essays and fiction on the “New Soviet Woman”; when numerous satirical works were created; when Babel experimented with a literary representation of dialects (e.g.,Odessa Russian or Jewish Russian). These varieties of language have not disappeared. Bureaucrats still use some form of bureaucratese. Numerous contemporary TV shows imitate the dialects that Babel described. Moreover, Bulgakov’s “Heart of a Dog” gave rise, due largely to its film adaptation, to catch-phrases that still appear throughout contemporary Russian media, satirical contexts, and everyday conversation.

The Russian text of "The Death of Ivan Ilich" is presented for study in various formats: accompanied by an English translation; fully glossed, with explanatory and interpetive annotations; and supplemented by introductory remarks and an extensive bibliography.

This textbook of classroom activities and homework accompanies Français interactif. Français interactif,the web-based French program developed and in use at the University of Texas since 2004, and its companion site, Tex's French Grammar (2000)are open access sites, free and open multimedia resources, which require neither password nor fees. Français interactif, used increasingly by students, teachers, and institutions throughout the world, includes 320 videos (American students in France, native French interviews, vocabulary and culture presentation videos) recorded vocabulary lists, phonetic lessons, online grammar lessons (600 pages) with self-correcting exercises and audio dialogues, online grammar tools (verb conjugation reference, verb practice), and diagnostic grammar tests.

Le Littéraire dans le quotidien is an open textbook for use in French courses. The Literary in the Everyday represents a new pedagogical approach to reading and writing at the lower levels and is applicable to all languages. Teachers of foreign languages besides French can read about the approach in the Teacher's Guide. Go to Google Drive for individual chapters. Additionally, the Foreign Languages & The Literary in the Everyday (FLLITE) Project, a joint initiative of COERLL and CERCLL, two national foreign language resource centers, offers open resources for professional development in the publication of CC licensed FLLITE lessons in any language. Go to the FLLITE website for the lesson archive.

This French book is aimed at a first-year college student. Its features include:

Sons et lettres provides a set of classroom materials to train students to hear and produce the sounds of French and to recognize the regular spellings used to represent those sounds in print. The materials are inspired by a desire to help students feel more confident about their French pronunciation and more at home saying the many French words, familiar and unfamiliar, which they encounter in their studies, in French media and in their travels. In our experience, students are not given sufficient preparation to successfully decipher and pronounce French words. These materials are intended to fill that gap and to clear away the confusion that English speakers often feel when they see French words with seemingly mysterious combinations of letters.

Greek and Latin Roots: Part I - Latin is part one of a two part series. This series examines the systematic principles by which a large portion of English vocabulary has evolved from Latin and (to a lesser degree) from Greek. This book focuses on Latin roots. A link to the second part focusing on the Greek roots can be found below. Part I will try to impart some skill in the recognition and proper use of words derived from Latin. There is a stress on principles: although students will be continually looking at interesting individual words, their constant aim will be to discover predictable general patterns of historical development, so that they may be able to cope with new and unfamiliar words of any type that they have studied. They will be shown how to approach the problem by a procedure known as “word analysis,” which is roughly comparable to the dissection of an interesting specimen in the biology laboratory. The text assumes no previous knowledge of Latin, and does not involve the grammatical study of this language—except for a few basic features of noun and verb formation that will help students to understand the Latin legacy in English.

Greek and Latin Roots: Part II - Greek is part two of a two part series. This series examines the systematic principles by which a large portion of English vocabulary has evolved from Latin and (to a lesser degree) from Greek. This book focuses on Greek roots. A link to the first part focusing on the Latin roots can be found below. Part II will try to impart some skill in the recognition and proper use of words derived from Greek. There is a stress on principles: although students will be continually looking at interesting individual words, their constant aim will be to discover predictable general patterns of historical development, so that they may be able to cope with new and unfamiliar words of any type that they have studied. They will be shown how to approach the problem by a procedure known as “word analysis,” which is roughly comparable to the dissection of an interesting specimen in the biology laboratory. The text assumes no previous knowledge of Greek, and does not involve the grammatical study of this language—except for a few basic features of noun and verb formation that will help students to understand the Greek legacy in English. All students will be asked to learn the Greek alphabet.

Laura Kanost and Julie A. Sellers

Intermediarios: Introduction to Spanish<>English Community and Legal Translation and Interpreting is intended for students who have advanced skills in both Spanish and English and a basic familiarity with translation and interpretation. Activities are based on the U.S. context. Translation activities increase in difficulty. The sequencing of interpreting activities develops skills gradually by beginning with memory exercises, then moving into class role plays, and finally working with legal interpreting exercises of increasing difficulty.

Una antología crítica de textos literarios del mundo hispanohablante. Se enfoca en autores canónicos y también se intenta incluir voces marginadas. Cada texto tiene una introducción y anotaciones creadas por estudiantes.

This Wikibook aims to teach the Spanish language from scratch. It will cover all of the major grammar rules, moving slowly and offering exercises and plenty of examples. It's not all grammar though, as it offers vocabulary and phrases too, appealing to all learners. By the end, you should be able to read and write Spanish skillfully, though you'll need a human to help with listening and speaking.

This is a basic Spanish textbook that covers basic vocabulary and grammar that aligns with Spanish 102 requirements in the state of Arizona. The book presents grammar and also incorporates reading, writing and speaking activities.

This book has five chapters with three stories per chapter for a total of 15 units to work with. Each chapter has a small cultural research assignment with extra credit opportunities. It also contains hyperlinks to websites about vacations, food, and more. It is meant to be a supplement to in-class instruction.

This is a book written by a community college Spanish instructor. It contains explanations, examples, fill-in-the-blank activities, reading activities, writing activities and speaking activities. The grammar and vocabulary covered in this book are in line with the state-wide accepted goals and objectives for grammar at the 101 level in Arizona.

Acceso is a complete, interactive curriculum for intermediate-level learners of Spanish. The materials on the site are provided freely to the public and are intended as a replacement for commercial textbooks, which are generally ill-suited to the learning outcomes now considered crucial to successful language study.

Spanish Grammar in Context is a unique website that provides detailed grammar explanations and examples of the Spanish language with accompanying practice questions. Unlike traditional reference grammars, each topic is explained using authentic video examples.

Recorridos-Don Quijote are a pair of openly-licensed books for the study of Cervantes’ Don Quijote in upper level Spanish courses, including AP. The student workbook, accessible online for free, deepens students’ understanding of the text through reading, pre-reading, and post-reading activities and glosses. The companion teacher support facilitates the teaching of Don Quijote through student-centered strategies and activities, historical and cultural information, quizzes, exams and more.

Travel the world with lawyer Raquel Rodríguez as she solves a mystery for a dying man. Watch the complete Destinos series, practice your Spanish, and find new resources for learning and teaching Spanish.

Lessons, phrases, vocabulary, tests, and links to news sources in 40 languages. Site is no longer updated, but most resources are still very useful.

This resource offers full courses on Spanish language, including videos, exercises (PDF), syllabi, assignments, web pages, etc.

Lessons, phrases, vocabulary, tests, and links to news sources in 40 languages. Site is no longer updated, but most resources are still very useful.

Este es un espacio para los instructores de español que quieran colaborar, compartir y comunicarse con otros sobre la enseñanza y el aprendizaje del español como lengua de herencia. If you have found yourself searching for, adapting or creating materials for your heritage classes because of a lack of readily available commercial resources, this site is for you!

The SpinTX video archive provides a convenient web interface to search hundreds of short video clips from the Spanish in Texas Corpus. The collection includes hundreds of video clips culled from interviews of native and heritage speakers of Spanish living in Texas. Each video is accompanied by synchronized closed captions and a transcript that has been annotated with thematic, grammatical, functional and metalinguistic information.

Introduction to Oral Proficiency Levels is a free open educational resource that can help Spanish teachers gain a foundational understanding of how to evaluate Spanish speakers. The resource includes 17 video-based practice modules designed to strengthen your understanding of the ACTFL Speaking Proficiency Guidelines and to help you evaluate the speaking levels of your language students.

Spanish Language and Culture with Barbara Kuczun Nelson was formerly known as Spanish Grammar Exercises.

Actividades de práctica con aprendices del español is an online corpus of videos of second language and heritage language learners of Spanish during oral interviews and provides supplemental activities to help viewers investigate learners’ language and proficiency levels.

Audiria is an online tool which freely supports your learning of Spanish, offering podcasts to increase your knowledge of the language.

Listen to popular hits, read along with the lyrics, and use the dictionary provided to figure out new words. You can also choose "Flashcards", "Translation", or "Matching" vocabulary activities on top of some videos to learn vocabulary interactively.

From the site: "Este libro, todavía en desarrollo, se dirige a estudiantes de español en universidades estadounidenses y pretende ofrecer una breve y simple introducción a la lingüística hispánica. Incluye conceptos básicos de la lingüística, brinda ensayos que abarcan temas de interés social conectando la lingüística con la vida diaria, y ejercicios para practicar los conceptos. También hay enlaces a materiales relevantes disponibles en la red. El libro está creado enteramente por textos escritos y materiales compartidos por estudiantes mayoritariamente de pregrado y también cuenta con el trabajo y esfuerzo de estudiantes-editoras en un proyecto a largo plazo de pedagogía abierta."

ClicaBrasil was developed for intermediate level Portuguese language courses at UT-Austin. People all ove the world are now using it for different purposes: self-study, classroom instruction, tutoring, or as a pastime.The lessons in ClicaBrasil integrate reading, writing, listening and reading comprehension, grammar, vocabulary, oral communication, and cultural activities. Numerous video clips (157, to be precise!) that show different Brazilians speaking about their lives, their culture, and their country support and enhance these activities.

Português para principiantes is a time-tested text which can be used in conjunction with a variety of approaches to the teaching of beginning Portuguese. This media-rich text is designed to provide learners with a solid grammatical basis for using Brazilian Portuguese as well as regular opportunities to practice and improve their ability to read, speak, and understand the Portuguese language as it is used in contemporary Brazil.