There are many excellent ESOL websites that offer a wide variety of interactive activities. These sites include English Media Lab, ESL Party Land and Live Mocha. Users can sign up to create a free profile. The sites keep track of the student's progress, grading him on the tests and games on the site. Activities include pronunciation videos, quizzes and writing activities. Some of these sites, such as Live Mocha, let other users grade work and interact with each other.
On-line games are a great way for ESOL students to have fun at home while learning. These games are perfect for younger students but may also inspire adult students. Sites like ESL Galaxy, Teaching English in Asia and TEFL games offer a diverse group of games, including typing and translation games. Typing games are controlled by typing the correct letters on the screen at the right time. The player may control a vehicle like a space ship or race car.
Flash cards are interactive because students must make the cards and track each other's progress. Each flash card should have an English vocabulary word on one side with the word from the original language on the other. Students pair up and use the flash cards to test each other's knowledge. Encourage them to keep track of repeatedly missed words. They can then focus on these words the next day.
Split the class into four equal groups and have each group appoint a team leader. If you have a small class, create only two groups. Two teams face off at a time. Give each competing team a small bell to ring. Write a sentence in English on the board using poor grammar. The team leader rings the bell if he thinks his team can correct the grammar. If they successfully fix the grammar, they earn a point. If not, the next team can come up to the board to try. This game can also be modified to include translations from the student's original language or it can focus simply on spelling.
Test your student's English comprehension with a quiz writing activity. Split the class up into two equal teams. Give each team the information you want them to use to create a quiz. The students have to use their own words in English to create quiz questions for the other team. Once they've come up with at least 10 questions, check each quiz to make sure it's well written. Print out both of the quizzes and hand them out. Give students points for correctly answered quiz questions.