This course pack is designed to meet the learning outcomes for Adult Literacy Fundamental English Level 1 (roughly equivalent to beginner to grade 1.5 in the K-12 system). Every of the nine chapters includes a level-appropriate, high-interest reading of approximately 100 words. The readings are freely available in a separate reader with convenient links to the readings in each chapter of this course pack.

This course pack is designed to meet the learning outcomes for Adult Literacy Fundamental English Level 2 (roughly equivalent to grades 1.5 to 3 in the K-12 system). Every of the eight chapters includes a level-appropriate, high-interest reading of approximately 200 words. The readings are freely available in a separate reader with convenient links to the readings in each chapter of this course pack`

A well-known website offering a wide range of lesson plans based on current news articles. Each lesson is differentiated by level, making it adaptable for learners at various stages of English proficiency.

Evergreen is a series of three books (beginner, intermediate, advanced) that have 10 stories each about interesting people, places, and things all around Oregon. The stories come from ESOL News Oregon, a free local news site for students of English as a second language. Each story has a picture, comprehension exercises, and discussion and writing prompts. An appendix contains an answer key.

A reading course based on the novel The Wishtree

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a classic, and in this era of selfies and Instagram, the themes of beauty and image are particularly relevant. This reader was written for high-beginner/low-intermediate ESL students. Lines of text are numbered, so students and instructors can more easily locate words and phrases that are being discussed. Definitions of more advanced vocabulary words are in the footnotes on the pages where the words are first used. These words are also listed alphabetically in the glossary at the back of the book. The worksheets include grammar review and speaking practice.

This low intermediate reading skills workbook for English learners at Portland Community College is built around the engaging theme of hobbies. Each unit focuses on a specific reading skill—such as finding the topic, identifying the main idea, supporting details, summarizing, and interpreting visuals—through hobby-related content like gardening, music, sports, and social media. Units include illustrated vocabulary previews with self-correcting H5P exercises, warm-up discussions, audio-supported dialogues, skill presentations with practice, short reading passages with comprehension checks, annotation tasks, and wrap-up prompts to reinforce learning and promote discussion.

An excellent website where students can read fables and complete interactive gap-fill exercises focused on English articles. It’s a useful tool for both teaching and reviewing the use of articles in context.

Practice English reading and listening skills with these engaging short stories from American folklore, retold by S.E. Schlosser specifically for ESL learners.

The Double Entry Journal is a note-taking technique for English Composition courses that encourages students to become active readers.

When Alma tries to write a song for her boyfriend Quang, she learns that actions speak louder than words.

A website of readings to familiarize ESL students with US history, contains short bios and Q&A

Intermediate-level reading/writing textbook uses themes from the novel Uprising. Includes pre-reading, comprehension questions, graphic organizers, and writing prompts.

Your English Detective is a website that offers adapted Sherlock Holmes stories at the B1 Common European Framework of Reference level. Each story is about 10-15 pages and could be used as extensive reading. In addition, there are Sherlock-inspired lessons and ideas for the ESL classroom, including fanfiction writing prompts.

Each unit begins with a fiction chapter about an ESL class, followed by reading comprehension and vocabulary exercises. Lessons focus on prefixes, suffixes, and Academic Word List terms. Non-fiction texts then expand on unit themes, reinforcing vocabulary and reading skills through topics like academic preparation and cultural adjustment.

This version of the classic holiday story has been slightly abridged and lightly adapted for advanced students of English language. The text includes comprehension checks, discussion questions, and collaborative activities. 

ESOL Reading Short Story Workbooks including supplemental materials.

This global short story anthology is grounded in the belief that English belongs to all who use it, however they use it. Featuring stories from countries where English remains influential post-colonization, the collection embraces the legitimacy of all English varieties—regardless of grammar, vocabulary, or pronunciation differences. Each authentic story highlights the power of language to honor cultural diversity while also revealing shared human experiences, affirming that all forms of English have a rightful place in the literary canon.

An excellent website offering digital books that can be used with students. It features a range of classic titles such as 1984, Animal Farm, Fahrenheit 451, and more.

Readings from Marginalized Voices and Identities – This anthology offers links to short fiction pieces by living authors whose lived experiences have been marginalized due to race ethnicity, gender or ability. This book is intended as a starting point for future collaboration in celebrating and sharing voices and stories that need to be shared.

This book uses authentic freshman-level reading materials to teach important reading skills and prepare students, including English Language Learners, for university. In each chapter, you’ll find passages from freshman textbooks, explicit reading skill instruction, reading comprehension questions, vocabulary activities, and discussion topics. Together the materials in this book will help students better understand typical readings from their freshman year of college by giving them the tools to succeed.

This advanced-level reading skills workbook (Level 8 at Portland Community College) uses a social justice theme and primarily authentic texts to develop key academic reading skills. These include vocabulary in context, main ideas, supporting details, implied ideas, inferences, infographics, organizational patterns, and identifying purpose and tone. Each unit features vocabulary activities, a graphic organizer, interactive Google Slides for instruction and practice, comprehension checks, and extension activities that deepen understanding and engagement.

This is an unabashedly practical guide for the student fact-checker. It supplements generic information literacy with the specific web-based techniques that can get you closer to the truth on the web more quickly. We will show you how to use date filters to find the source of viral content, how to assess the reputation of a scientific journal in less than five seconds, and how to see if a tweet is really from the famous person you think it is or from an impostor. We’ll show you how to find pages that have been deleted, figure out who paid for the web site you’re looking at, and whether the weather portrayed in that viral video actual matches the weather in that location on that day. We’ll show you how to check a Wikipedia page for recent vandalism, and how to search the text of almost any printed book to verify a quote. We’ll teach you to parse URLs and scan search result blurbs so that you are more likely to get to the right result on the first click. And we’ll show you how to avoid baking confirmation bias into your search terms. In other words, we’ll teach you web literacy by showing you the unique opportunities and pitfalls of searching for truth on the web. Crazy, right?

“It’s All Greek to Me!” has everything—entertaining stories, academic articles in a variety of disciplines, vocabulary crossover in literary and academic readings, connections to local, American, and Western culture, and plenty of chances for critical thinking for advanced students of English as a Second Language (ESL). All readings are authentic with minimal adaptation from a variety of sources.

Speaking of Culture is a book designed to define and explore the broad concept of culture and related ideas. Its purpose is to help readers develop a deeper understanding of what culture means and to build a more precise vocabulary for discussing it. Since culture is often used loosely in everyday English, the book aims to clarify its meaning by drawing from a range of academic disciplines, including anthropology, biology, history, mythology, political science, psychology, and sociology.