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Learning English

 
 

 

 

 

This site is aimed at adult students learning English as their second language (ESL) or English as a Foreign Language (EFL).

 

You will find useful programs and interactive sites for all levels – beginners, intermediate and advanced,   on communication skills,  reading, conversation,  pronunciation, spelling, writing – including academic writing - learning and study-skills.

 

All you will need is a computer, headphones and microphone plus the will to learn. 

 

I try mainly to use sites that don’t  ask you to spend money – they are freely available for anyone to use. The beauty of www.englishtalk.info is that I have done most of the finding for you.

 

You may need extra software such as Flashplayer 6.

 

ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS

Sounds of the alphabet   – Large letters with a clearly spoken voice.

 

e-Readers Reading

LiveMocha.  Useful for all levels. This is one of the best, free sites I’ve found for students to learn English, with sound.  Interact with native speakers and get your English corrected

 

English For Beginners and Early Intermediate

English Themes for Beginners and Early Intermediate

 

BEGINNERS

Keyboarding Skills .  If you don’t know how to type – this is the site for you.   First click on the Touch Typing icon.  Next, under Typing Lessons Index,  click on English.

Learn English Online   Start from lesson 1 and work your way through.  Make sure you do each lesson properly. Do not rush this. Follow all the links so you get to practise all the exercises. 

Woodlands Junior School.   An amazing site full of interactive activities from many other sites.

Crickweb. This is a huge, brilliant resource aimed at young children but adult students will enjoy the  interactive exercises.

ManyThings.  Click in the top left-hand corner on Easy Things For Beginners. There are games, listening, and grammar exercises here. Two of  my favourites are Hangman  and  Catch the Spelling.

Improve your English and Maths with BBC  Skillswise. 

Video – Basic English Grammar, Simple Past Tense. 

Easy English Grammar Quizzes

EnglishExpress – Reading and listening.

 

 

 

 

INTERMEDIATE

BBC Skillswise – try the spelling, reading, writing, and grammar sites.

Go4English (instructions in Arabic).

Behind the News – Australian TV site. Lots to see and listen to here.  

EnglishExpress – Reading and listening.

English Grammar Quizzes

Learn English Online   Start from lesson 1 and work your way through.  Make sure you do each lesson properly. Do not rush this. Follow all the links so you get to practise all the exercises

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English For Intermediate and Advanced

English Themes for Intermediate and Advanced

Bilingual Exercises For English Language Learners

 

ADVANCED

BBC English .  News, sport, quizzes, grammar, listening, business English. There is  even a section on learning English explained in other languages, including Chinese and Arabic.  Using this site could keep you learning for years.

BBC Skillswise.   Linking sentences, punctuation, verb-subject agreement, prepositions and  much, much more.

Go4English (with instructions in Arabic)

Academic English Cafe

Self Study Grammar Quizzes

Behind the News – Based on news stories from Australia and around the world. Lots to see and listen to here.  There are separate student and teacher zones, and quizzes to answer.  Most useful for students to listen to and for teachers to use to stimulate discussion.

Owl@Purdue – This has everything you need on grammar and writing.

Melbourne University (Australia). Many academic  ESL resources are here but not all the links work. Still, this is a very valuable site.

RMIT Study and Learning Centre . Here you can improve your study skills, academic writing and maths skills through the interactive tutorials and printable handouts.

St. Cloud State University’s writing centre   gives some very useful strategies for researchers and  academics. Find out how to organise your ideas, develop and improve your writing skills; give citations for online publishing and so on.

Difficult English Grammar Quizzes from a4esl.org.

 Writing a Research Paper    from Owl@Purdue.

Academic papers ,  journals and research site from the University of California. This is a wonderful research tool.

Intute: One of the best web resources for education and research, including  free online services to help you improve your internet information skills.

 

 

COMPUTER AND WEB SKILLS for beginners.

BBC Webwise .  Learn how to use the internet step by step.

BBC Computer Tutor . This shows you how to use a mouse, keyboard and computer screen.

Mouse Skills

 

 QUIZZES, GAMES, TESTS and CROSSWORDS.

Learning English should be fun. Games, tests, quizzes and crosswords really help reinforce the language so keep playing!

A4ESL    This site also includes bilingual quizzes, in Arabic,  Burmese,  Japanese, Italian, Vietnamese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Thai – and more!

Self Study Grammar Quizzes

Present Tense Quiz

En glish4U

 EnglishExpress.

EFL Classroom 2.0 .

 

USEFUL DICTIONARIES AND TRANSLATION SITES

Popsijo  Read Japanese, Chinese and Korean websites by moving the mouse over the words you want to look up.  Translated instantly for you on the page.

Wikipedia  Also in many languages.

Wiktionary

Japanese-English, English-Japanese Dictionary

 


 SPELLING GAMES

Visual Thesaurus Spelling Bee.  Play the word, try and guess what you heard and type it in.

Free Rice .  Improve your vocabulary, step by step, and support a good cause in the process. Click on the  Subjects link near the top for more options such as English grammar,  math, science, geography, art,  history, and other languages.

Manythings

 www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb

www.spellinghemscott.net

 www.englishlearner.com.au/hangman

Interactive game called, Look, Copy, Cover, Write.  Needs Flashplayer 6.

 

Other Links

British Council Test  your level here.

www.english-4u.de

Hospital English – Learn and practice medical vocabulary, including the human body. Word derivations and uses of Latin and Greek  prefixes and suffixes. Nicely illustrated.

www.bbc.co.uk/health/conditions  and First Aid .

www.esaurus.org  All medical words are alphabetically listed, and translated into Chinese. For advanced learners only.

www.engagemenow.wikispaces.com

 

Reading

Larry Ferlazzo’s best sites for intermediate readers.

Larry Ferlazzo’s best sites for beginner readers.