TeachingEnglish
Best webs for self-study
Submitted by kandzia on 10 July, 2009 - 17:01
Currently there are thousands of websites where students can study on their own and improve their English. Which webs would you recommend to beginner and proficiency students?
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Hi
There are many good web-sites for learning english. However, the type of web-site you choose depends on your need. For example, to improve grammar you can see www.better-english .com. This site is very simple and easy to use.
For accents IDEA is a good web-site.
The web-site you choose depends on your need and interest.
Regards
lalitha
Drawing from my experience of being a trainer for over 8 years, I would never recommend any website for honing your English Language purely because it is superficial.
The vital point to be considered is the commitment the learner has to hone his language skills. The best way to learn the English Language is by daily interaction with people who speak fluent English. The initial focus should be on developing a passion to speak in English and have the courage to make mistakes without getting too conscious about it. The learner should also be given continuous feedback which will gradually help him raise his level. The learner can then be introduced to the nuances of grammar and pronunciation.
It is imperative for the learner to identify a mentor who can take him through this process.
I fully agree with you. Having been into Spoken English Training for the last 5 years I never could really understand how speaking skill could be developed through these web sites and the CDs offered. Perhaps the teaching fraternity in their eagerness to be upto date in the technology front soon married into these without giving much a thought about the efficacy of these as the responses to speaking from a person would be anything depending on his mood and word play whereas the CDs and websites's will be limited and there the purpose fails.
Developing passion in the students- this is the first time I am hearing from someone other than me. How do you go about it?
For me, I think that the net can be an alternative since its not every day that we could talk to a native speaker. There are many good audio articles now that can really help a non-English speaking person to be familiar with vocabulary, intonation, phrases, etc.... I have browsed some good podcasts that can contribute learning on using the language. It may not be enough in providing the best training but it could certainly help stablish comprehension and eventually build the ability to communicate.
Thank you for your comments. I probably should have explained that I am looking for good sites in order to add variety to the 'classroom diet'.
I worked in Mongolia where finding a native speaker wasn't easy at all. Having said that, access to the Internet was a challenge too, so it was vital for me to indicate which websites are really good and worth downloading. This is why I decided to ask other teachers if they have their favourite sites. I am sure there are many other teachers around the world searching for websites that would be the most suitable for their students and who believe that every little helps.
I'm from Russia and my favourite site is www.oup.com It's Oxford University Press. I and my students always use this site at the lessons - there's no problem with the access to the net. There are a lot of materials for children and adults, games, exams, business English, etc... Very interesting, simple and free.
Have you tried the following:
http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish
http://www.britishcouncil.org/fr/learnenglish-podcasts-themes.htm
http://www.literacynet.org/cnnsf/archives.html#kpix
http://depts.gallaudet.edu/englishworks/tablecontent.html
www.esl-lab.com
a4esl.com (NO www)
You could set homework using these websites too.
Let me know what you think!
Claire
I have collected some websites to practice english and the links are available on my blog http://leonardolinks.blogspot.com I hope you enjoy the links! Leonardo Ornellas
http://englishforums.com
http://visualthesaurus.com
http://quadrivialquandary.com
http://tell.fll.purdue.edu/JapanProj//FLClipart/
TE Team
Any parents helping children learn English at home might find the new LearnEnglish Kids site useful. This site includes games, songs, stories, and arts and crafts worksheets with videos of children doing some of the activites. There are also materials to develop reading and writing skills. Children can register to become members and are encouraged to send in their written work to the site.
Here's the link to the parents page - a good stating point: http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/parents