Teachers' resources
Free worksheets ISLCollective
Teachers’ resources: Free worksheets ISLCollective
Time is money and sometimes you don’t have the time to create your own worksheets, or you just don’t know what to do. Then some free worksheets are always welcome!
What?
https://en.islcollective.com/ is a free online website that lets teachers share worksheets. All you need to do is register and you are ready to go.
Who for?
This is for any teacher who needs a quick worksheet to supplement materials they are already using with their course book. Still, I would say that most worksheets there are for Primary and Secondary English teacher, or ESL teachers who teach children and/ or teenagers. You can also, if you feel like it, share some of your worksheets with other teachers, but you do not need to share worksheets to let you download other teachers’ work.
What do you need?
Just register and you are ready to go.
How long does it take?
The worksheets depend on what’s on the worksheet and what kind of ‘exercises’ or activities they are. Still, I would say somewhere between 5 minutes to sometimes even 30min.
How to use it?
- It is very easy, you log in and search for a worksheet you need. Then, you look through the different available worksheets and you just download the worksheet. In class you follow the instructions, give it to your students and correct it. That’s all there is to it.
Why use it?
- It saves a lot of time. Trying to create your own worksheets is really admirable, but it’s not that easy. That’s why https://en.islcollective.com/ let’s you search for and select worksheets other teachers have made.
- It can also spark some creativity and make your lesson go into a different way, since other teachers might have had different ideas on how to teach it, what game to play with it, or how to approach it.
- It’s also useful for beginner teachers, TEFL and CELTA trainees, as it gives you some nice ideas on how to approach making worksheets.
Watch out for!
- As I said before, most of the worksheets are for teaching children and/or teens. This means you might need to find a different worksheet for adult students or adapt it where needed.
- It’s made by teachers, not material design experts. This means the quality of the worksheets vary from nothing I would use to some rare gems you will love.
- It has varying file extensions. This means that sometimes when you download you can’t edit it because it is a PDF. Or it happens that the layout is all messed up because you are using a different program to open it.
How have I used it?
As any worksheet is intended to be used. I have used some of the worksheets:
- as warmers
- as restricted practice
- as free practice
- to get the students to mingle
- to get them to play some game with the language
- To use the idea and create my own worksheet
- To adapt the worksheet, so it fits my students’ needs
- In kids classes
- In teens classes
- From time to time in adult classes
- In group classes
- In private one-to-one classes
So, have a look at some worksheets from https://en.islcollective.com/ and tell us in the comments below which ones you loved the most.
Spread the word
Kristof Abrath
Teacher, Trainer, Course Designer
Teaching in English on 4 different continents since 2006.