ESL Collection

The English Language Learners’ Collection provides a basis for people learning to read, write or speak English. You can find books, tapes and CDs on pronunciation, grammar, idioms and more. Some of the most popular materials in the collection are:

Picture Dictionaries

These books show pictures of objects, professions, and places and label them with both English words and words in another language. There are English/Arabic, English/Chinese, English/Brazilian Portuguese, English/Russian, English/Spanish picture dictionaries in this collection.

Pimsleur Language Programs

Pimsleur produces CD sets for people who speak another language primarily and who want to speak English. The instructions and vocabulary are given in that language and in English in an accompanying booklet. Most sets include Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced levels. Marlborough Public Library has English for Cantonese Speakers, English for Mandarin Speakers, English for Brazilian Portuguese Speakers, English for Russian Speakers, and English for Spanish Speakers.

Workbooks for Practice

These workbooks — English Conversation, English Grammar, Advanced English Grammar, English Sentence Builder — give you a chance to try out different situations where you might use English. English Conversations may be especially useful since it provides examples of when and how to uses phrases and words that may be otherwise unfamiliar to you. Each has plenty of exercises to help you practice.

This collection should be of maximum use to you. If you’d like to see more of a particular topic, or if you know of a resource that is missing, please let the library staff know.