News in levels (http://www.newsinlevels.com/) offers news stories at different levels of difficulty. There are currently three full levels with a level zero for very beginners still being developed. Levels one and two have audio tracks with transcriptions, while level three has videos with transcriptions.
"Knowble stimulates text understanding and vocabulary training by using authentic and recent news articles published on the web, based on the learners' level and preferences. Knowble automatically selects relevant news articles."
"StoryCorps has collected and archived more than 45,000 interviews with nearly 90,000 participants. Each conversation is recorded on a free CD to share, and is preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. StoryCorps is one of the largest oral hiStory projects of its kind, and millions listen to our broadcasts on our Listen page and on public radio. "
"ABRACADABRA is a free, interactive web-based literacy program designed for early elementary school-aged students, their educators, teachers and parents. The Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance (CSLP) continues to develop ABRACADABRA in an effort to help battle the alarmingly high percentage of low ability readers in countries throughout the world."