ISLCollective is an ESL learning platform that offers a wide variety of educational materials such as ESL worksheets, ESL PowerPoints, and video lessons. You can either search for and use ready-made materials created by the ISLCollective community or upload your own.
ISLCollective is especially ideal for ESL students and teachers but can also be used by anyone interested in language learning. I particularly like the video lessons section and I wish I had these materials when I used to teach EFL. They would have made my life way easier.
Materials provided by ISLCollective can help ESL students improve their language proficiency and fluency in key areas such as listening, speaking, reading, spelling, and writing. They are also focused on two main language learning aspects: grammar and vocabulary. ISLCollective is also part of my favourite resources for printable worksheets.
What is iSLCollective
ISLCollective stands for the Internet Second Language Collective which is an international group of ESL and EFL teachers and educators sharing self-made educational resources to help in language teaching.
ISLCollective provides three types of materials:
1- ESL Worksheets
ISLCollective provides access to a huge library of ESL worksheets spanning various topics and subject areas including grammar and vocabulary. You can use the site's search functionality to search for specific worksheets.
You can further narrow down your search by applying filters such as level (e.g., advanced, beginner, or elementary), student type (adults, business/professional, elementary school), material type (e.g., activities with music, activities promoting classroom dynamics), Language exam (Cambridge Advanced, BULATS, etc.), Dialect (e.g., Scottish English, Irish English, British English, Canadian English, etc.), Communication Function (e.g., how to apologize, how to say sorry, how to arrange appointments, etc.), or by trending topics.
When you find the worksheet you are interested in, click to open it. You can then choose whether you want to download it, save it to your favourites, print it, or edit it. The new feature called Fill and Send is especially helpful. ESL and language students can use it to write their answers on a worksheet and send it via email to their teachers.
When you scroll down under the worksheet you will find more information about the worksheet including date of publication, author, levels suited for, and copyright license type.
2- ESL Powerpoints
Another type of educational material provided by ISLCollective is PowerPoint presentations. As is the case with ESL worksheets, you can also search for ESL PowerPoint presentations using the site's search service. You can apply the same filters I talked about earlier.
When you find ESL presentations you are interested in, click to open them. Next, you can download, save them to your favourites, edit them, share them via email, or embed them in a blog or website using a generated code. Also, make sure you scroll down to see which levels the presentation is suited for and which copyright license type is used.
3- ESL Video Lessons
ISLCollective offers a wide range of ESL video lessons that you can use with your students to teach them key language skills. Video lessons embed interactive pop-up quizzes that are based on YouTube videos. As students watch the video, pop-up questions are displayed on the screen. Students click to type their answers.
Users can easily create and share video lessons using ISLCollective video quiz editor. The process is simple and easy:
- Log in to your ISlCollective
- Click on Video lessons or Upload
- Paste a video URL Under Create an ESL
- Select whether you want to generate vocabulary quiz, grammar quiz or make your own custom quiz.
Watch this video to learn how to create a video quiz from scratch.
You can also search for ready-made video quizzes to use in your class. You can search by video URL or by keywords. You can also apply the search filters I mentioned earlier to narrow down your search query.
When you find the video lesson you are interested in click to access it. Choose one of the four play modes: video without quiz, interactive mode, casino mode, and non-interactive mode. You can also assign video quizzes as homework so students can work on them at their own pace.
When you scroll down the video, you will be able to access printable version of the video quiz questions as well as information about the video quiz (e.g. levels suited for, scene summary, video source, video length, video genre, lesson type, and copyright license).
Is ISLCollective free?
As of right now, ISLCollective is free. You can donate as a form of thank you to the authors and site staff but you are not required to make any payment to download or use the site materials. You only need to be registered to access the site's materials. Registration is free.
