Computers/Digital Literacy Skills
Basic Computer Skills Curriculum
Blandin Digital Literacy Training Lesson
This site has lessons on Basic Computer Skills, Basic Internet Skills, Basic Email Skills, Basic Windows Skills, and Basic Word Processing Skills. The tutorials on this site are quite extensive, and they are not for Beginning ESL students
Goodwill Community Foundation (aka www.gcflearnfree.org)
Computer Basics This page has lessons, interactive exercises, and videos on using computers, laptops, etc.
Check out their Computers page, that has links to lessons on Internet Basics, Email Basics, Social Media, Google, Google Drive and Docs, iPad Basics, Apple, MS Office, MS Word, MS Excel, MS Powerpoint, MS Access, Tech Savvy Tips and Tricks,and Information Savvy.
St. Paul Community Literacy Consortium Basic Computer Skills Curriculum - A site created by St. Paul Community Literacy Consortium which covers basic computer skills for ABE programs, but is also useful for ESL students. Includes many Lessons (handouts), Teacher Guides, Vocabulary Lists and Activities to improve computer literacy. Some lessons were created for older versions of Microsoft, but with a few tweaks, are still relevant.
ESL Computer Literacy Skills - An ESL-friendly webpage from Edmonds Community College in Washington state, this webpage has lessons and exercises on how to use the internet, email, andMicrosoft Office.
Email Lessons
2. Sign in and sign out of email
Internet Basics
Job Scout - Free, online learning platform that teaches basic Internet skills needed to find a job, including learning about how the internet works, using email, creating a resume, looking for a job, and connecting with other job seekers. Students need to create a profile in order to enter the site. This website may also be useful for lower-level ESL teachers to present Internet basics to the whole class, not necessarily for job seekers.
Mouse Practice
How to use a mouse A mouse tutorial from gcflearnfree.org. This is an interactive lesson that shows how to hold the mouse, click, roll over, double click, drag and drop, etc.
Mouse Exercises Includes simple exercises to practice placing the mouse, clicking the mouse, drag and drop, and drawing with the mouse.
Mousercise More mouse practice (clicking, scrolling left-right, up-down).
Mousing Around Games to practice mouse skills.
MouseProgram.com a website that allows students to practice moving the mouse, left clicking, right clicking, double clicking, scrolling up and down, drag and drop, and text selection.
A tutorial that teaches mouse usage and a few other basic computer skills (pop-up boxes, cursors, drop-down boxes, etc.).
New User Tutorial - Spanish The same tutorial as above, en español.
Typing/Keyboarding
TypingWeb.com - a free online typing tutor & keyboarding tutorial for typists of all skill levels. Includes entertaining typing games, typing tests, free official typing certification and a link to ateacher's portal where you can grade and track your students' progress.
FreeTypingGame.net - offers free typing games, lessons, and tests. Useful site, but it has a lot of ads, which may distract students.
LearnKeyboardTyping.com - includes 13 lessons and opportunity to practice, including safety tips on ergonomics, posture, etc. For Level 3 ESL and above.
Computer Workstations - Good Working Positions (OSHA) - Recommendations from the US Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration regarding proper posture when working at a computer.
The Parts of the Keyboard - from GCFLearnfree.org/computerbasics. Click on "Interactives" and scroll down to The Parts of the Keyboard. Click on different numbers to see what different parts of a keyboard are for.
Keyboard Shortcuts - from GCFLearnfree.org/computerbasics. Includes a video tutorial, common shortcuts, shortcuts for browser, shortcuts for text (Windows only and Mac only), etc.
Computer Keyboarding Resources Page - This page contains links to 40+ free online typing exercises, tests and games. Links are organized according to typing level (not ESL level!).