Introduction to flesl.net


the purpose

The purpose of flesl.net is simply to provide teachers and independent students around the world with free, professional-quality ESL materials.


the author

My name is Forrest Lunn. I live in Toronto, Canada.

I have more than twenty-five years' experience as an ESL teacher. Most of that teaching has been done in Canada, in the ESL programs of various colleges and universitiies. I have also taught English in China and Nigeria.

I have a TESL Certificate from the TESL Center of Concordia University in Montreal.


the materials

The materials on "flesl.net" are all my own work. In publishing them on the web, I am offering them— for free — to anyone who wishes to use them for any non-commercial purpose.

The two series of paired stories —forty stories in all — are the "core" of flesl.net. They are intermediate-level texts between 500 and 1000 words long. Both stories in each pair have a similar theme. All the stories are centered on episodes in the lives of particular people.

The stories were originally written as material for a classroom activity that integrates practice in all the language skills, but they are suitable for any sort of reading activity.They are all accompanied by a vocabulary quiz and multiple choice questions; answer keys are provided.

There are alternate "beginners versions" for approximately half the stories; all the beginners' versions are accompanied by a set of true-false questions with answer keys.

Several of the stories — "Gabriela Byrne" for example — are accompanied by an "Annotated Version." In these annotated versions, between twenty and thirty words and phrases are linked to explanatory "Grammar and Meaning Notes."

All these supplementary materials are accessible through the links in the upper right-hand corner of the "story pages."

The linguistic terminology used in the grammar and meaning notes is explained in a "Grammar Glossary."

There is also — in the form of a pdf document — a 100-page grammar text called "Complex Sentences" which might be useful for ESL teachers and advanced students who feel the need for a deeper, more explicit knowledge of English grammar. (There are many exercises in this text, all with answer keys.)

In addition, in the "Grammar Directory," there are links to a few exercises on specific grammatical points.

In the "Annex Directory," there are links to some reference material on phonetics and to a few miscellaneous exercises.

In the "TESL Directory" there is a link to "Using the Paired Stories" and links to a few other pages where I have made some comments on the theory and practice of group work, cloze tests, and vocabulary development.


a review

Kimeiko Hotta Dover, the Guide of "About Adult / Continuing Education" has written a review of the paired readings on flesl.net.


contact

To contact me, send an email to "contact@flesl.net."